The Path to You: My Initial Inspiration and the Journey to Make a Readable Story
Back in 2016, I got my first post-college corporate job. It was terrible—I was severely underpaid, and I worked ridiculous hours. But at the end of my first week, I remember texting my friend, “I have a crush on my new boss!” She was nearly a decade older than me and very, very straight. She quit soon after, but for the short amount of time we worked together, I absolutely adored her.
Several years later, when I was first getting back into writing, I immediately thought of her. The old adage “Write what you know,” obviously isn’t true—after all, mystery writers don’t need to commit crimes so they can write about them—but sometimes it’s easier to start with something familiar.
I’ve always adored workplace romances, so it was an easy choice to set my novel in an office and have the romance be between a boss and an employee. From there, it became slightly more difficult. As much as I adored my first boss, I didn’t want to replicate her (or myself!) in novel form.
Writing can be isolating, and sometimes it feels like you’re the only one struggling. It’s especially difficult when you compare your draft words to the polished words you’ll find in a published book. It was a long road to get from that initial idea to where I’m at now. I want to share the story of my many, many drafts to assure you if I can do it, so can you. And, hopefully, you won’t make nearly as many mistakes as I did.
The first draft went a little bit like this: I threw everything into the cooking pot. And by everything, I mean everything. Drama, angst, tragic backstory, approximately 900 subplots. I feel like, as a new writer, it’s common to write a story and cram in every single plot and subplot you can think of. If I had closed out every angsty plotline I’d given Caroline, the draft would be sitting at over 200,000 words. Looking back at it now, I’m grateful that I got it out on paper. And I’m equally grateful that nobody ever has to read that draft, because yikes. It was a workplace romance, but I’m not sure they ever left the office.
I decided to scrap that draft and start over. In the much better second draft, Elise became more than just a generic character. She had Harper and a life in Eastport. Her motivations were clear, and it was so much easier to sink into her point of view. I was grateful that she wasn’t an amorphous blob like she had been in the first draft, but I then had to rediscover who Caroline was. Considering I’d taken out approximately 890 subplots, a lot of her initial story needed to be revamped. It was back to the drawing board. Again.
In between scrapping the first and restarting the second draft, I picked up Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes. For such a small book, it packs a tremendous punch. As the title would suggest, lists all the beats expected of a romance. More importantly, she also explains what makes a romance impactful. Each character needs to have something that makes them believe they’re unworthy of love. The story then revolves around that. She calls it “hole hearted” to “whole hearted.”
From there, I was able to reframe my book in a way that made sense to me. I had likeable, relatable characters and a plot that centered around the romance (and not the workplace). I created a very drafty outline with all of the beats I needed to hit.
On the third draft, I kept the skeleton of the second. The scenes still took place, but much of the order was swapped around. More extraneous plots were removed. Without all the extra bits, it felt like the story finally had room the breathe. Instead of trying to resolve ten subplots, I focused on three: one for each character, and a shared problem they could work together to overcome.
Instead of an exercise in writing, the third draft felt like a cohesive story finally coming together. While I’m still not completely finished with The Path to You—and is anyone ever really done with their story?—it’s now something I would proudly share.
Whether you’re a reader or a writer, I hope you found this helpful! It was an arduous journey getting to where I’m at now, and I really hope the next book is easier. I anticipate I’ll need less drafts, but I’m sure it will be difficult in new, unpredictable ways. It sounds a little cliché, but I can’t wait to find out.
The Path To You by Sam Callaway
