At book events, I’m often asked about my writing process. Usually this question comes from a reader who’s also an aspiring author or other artist of some kind. They’re probably hoping my answer will provide The Key or at least A Key to help them with their own process.

Sorry, babes: the only key I’ve got unlocks nothing but a sprawling graveyard of dearly departed book ideas. Some of them died of natural causes. Others I murdered in cold blood. Occasionally I dig up one and resurrect it or at least reanimate a twitching limb or two. Sometimes that works out, other times I end up whacking the poor idea in the skull and bury it all over again.

This is the view from my office window now, so you can expect many more somewhat-tortured graveyard metaphors from me.

Here are just a few of the literary ghosts that haunt The Favorites:

🪦 My original ice dancing book, a thriller / murder mystery with the working title Take It All. Terminated after I finished a full zero draft, but some bangers from its playlist live on in my Spotify soundtracks for The Favorites and The Ice Queens.

🪦 My first stab at a Wuthering Heights adaptation on ice, which included the second generation characters and also gender-swapped Catherine and Heathcliff. Put out of its misery for being way too complicated and trying to salvage elements of Take It All that simply could not be salvaged.

🪦 The dark and twisty literary thriller version of The Favorites, where Heath died and Bella was much, much worse (yes it’s true, haters, she could be worse!!). Time of death approximately 8:30pm Central Time on May 14, 2022, during the Stars on Ice show at the United Center, when the performers’ palpable joy made me realize I didn’t want to write a book with such a bummer ending.

That’s not even counting all the dead subplots and discarded characters, most of which I can’t even remember at this point (though who could forget Heath’s torrid age-gap hate sex affair with Veronika Volkova… tbh I regret cutting that one a little bit).

Every time I start a new book, I hope this project will be the exception. I convince myself I won’t have to try out and discard so many different versions of the story before finding the one that feels right. I’m a professional, full-time author. I’ve learned so much! Surely this time around, I can get it right the first time.

But no matter how fervently I wish (and oh, I do wish!) there were a shortcut I could take to this final resting place, all those dead ends seem to be essential to bringing my work to life. Sometimes, as the metaphorical bodies start to pile up in the corners of my brain, I feel like I’ve really gone psycho this time.

That’s where I’m at with The Ice Queens right now: some ideas crumbling to dust in my hands, others rising from the grave to haunt me again. It’s frustrating, sometimes terrifying, and definitely not an efficient way to write a book on deadline. In the end, though, I know my books are always better for all the books they almost became along the way.

So here’s to slaughtering your darlings, and trusting the process! (Even if you can’t explain the process…)

Ghost Books 👻