Birth of a Novel

Watch a writer go from concept to outline to Chapter One

My friend Elizabeth and I have known each other since 1998, when I was a reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer with an unpublished manuscript and a dream, and she was pregnant with her first child, who’s now twenty-five

Here we are, circa 2008, photographed by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi.

Elizabeth is one of the kindest people I know, and is, hands-down, the most worried (seriously, if you stopped her on the street and asked her what she’s worrying about, she could rattle off a list of ten or fifteen things without blinking). She’s a great friend and a very talented writer. She’s published three adult novels and co-authored a fourth, along with one YA book, one book of nonfiction (they’re all excellent! Check them out!). Her most recent book, PIE IN THE SKY, was about a down-on-his-luck NFL player and a YouTube chef who is living a highly invented life, pretending to be married (she’s not) and pretending she can cook (she can’t — at least, not by herself). Once upon a time, Heidi and Tucker were each other’s first loves. After they hit rock bottom, they end up at the town on the Jersey Shore where they first met…and eventually, find their way back to each other.

I adored this book. Lots of editors did, too, and there are some still reading it. Everyone loves the writing, the characters and the setting, and the rejections have been as complimentary as rejections can be. For example:

Thank you for sending me PIE IN THE SKY. It was such a delight to read and a lovely reprieve. LaBan is a wonderful writer and really brings to life her central characters, Heidi and Tucker, in a way that made us immediately want to befriend them both and enjoy one of their meals all together. We are undeniably suckers for second chance romance stories and this hits the mark. While we couldn’t wait to get to the end, it felt as if we knew what was coming all along and we wished there were a bit more surprises along the way. However, we are rooting for this book and we have absolutely no doubt that it will find a perfect home.

Other editors had different critiques, which all seemed to boil down to a version of we loved this book/the writing/the characters, but we can’t quite see how to break it out in this marketplace.

So how do you write a book that’s got enough surprises and twists and newness to get editors to bite? How do you come up with an idea that feels special and break-out-able?

I think is something lots of writers – debut and established – have been struggling with. What do readers want?

Of course, it depends on the reader. One word I keep hearing is “big.” As in, a story that’s big enough to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

But what does big mean? Big, as in dragons? Big, as in a premise or a subject matter no one’s seen before? Big, meaning name-brand author? Obviously, known quantity bestselling authors are where publishers make most of their money…but there should still be room for word-of-mouth, organic hit; books with great plots or surprising twists or standout characters.

I still see those books finding their audience. Whether it’s Taylor Jenkins Reid breaking out with her sixth novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or something as quirky as Remarkably Bright Creatures staying on the bestseller list for over a year, or Bonnie Garmus hitting the big time with her debut – at 65 years old – there’s still room for those word-of-mouth hits. And even though word of mouth is happening on TikTok instead of at the water cooler or the playground these days, it’s still happening. Readers are still falling in love with books and telling their friends, and their friends are telling their friends, and everyone’s buying.

While she’s waiting to hear from editors, Elizabeth has done the smartest thing possible. She’s started on her next book. And she’s been generous enough to let me show you her premise, the discussions we’ve had about her work in progress, and how a book goes from a glimmer of a premise, a concept of an idea of a character, to an outline, through revisions, to the finished product.

Here’s her pitch:

I worry that there are elements of The Guy Not Taken (and a little of What Alice Forgot) and if that is bad in any way I can rethink this - but this is the idea.

So one day the main character goes to get a colonoscopy and the other man (her ex not the man who she knows to be her husband) picks her up. She is so confused, but they blame it on the anesthesia, and so she is brought home to a home that is familiar since he lives in his childhood home but it is not her home. There is much to deal with and much that is different in this life:

I have to decide, but in one world she has kids and in the other she could not - so there is a lovely dog - but so much to explore here...

In the world she believes to be her own her mother has died, but in this new world her mother is alive.

In the world she believes to be her own she has a great best friend, but in this new world they have had a falling out and she has to figure out what happened.

I have to decide which world has better sex.

Initially I wanted her to be in love with the ex in the 80s so I could pull any lyric from an 80's song to be the title - Bright Eyes? Or I also thought of Someone Else's Party (not an 80's song). The problem there is that then the characters will be my age and I am not sure if that is good or bad. Did you see the Emmys and what they said about Hacks which won - I love that show! About there being a huge audience for women over 60 or near 60 etc. but very little out there for them? I am sure you have thought about age of characters, etc, many times so maybe you have a take on this. The thing you lose is the possibility of them going through fertility treatment or something like that but even as I write this I could possibly do it in flashbacks. Also, one secret will be that she did at one point actually have a conversation with her ex and did agree to meet him and maybe had a brief affair, which makes seeing him at the colonoscopy even crazier but the reader won't know this for a while. I wanted to name them Brooke and Andy - two very 80s names - but I am open to other possibilities. I have also liked the name Penny lately but that is not very 80s - if I stick to that. 

As soon as Elizabeth sent me this, I was sold. I love body-swap stories like “Freaky Friday” and dual-timeline stories like “Sliding Doors” and “Peggy Sue Got Married.” I love the idea of a character exploring the roads not taken, and learning that the grass isn’t always greener. I love the colonoscopy kick-off – the poop jokes practically write themselves! – and having a protagonist in early middle age.

Here are my notes (Elizabeth’s in bold, my responses are in italics):