The Art of Fiction:
Letting Go

At some point in your writing life, you’ll need to say goodbye, not just to a poor word choice, extraneous sentence, or do-nothing scene, but to an entire manuscript. Admitting that a fiction you’ve spent weeks, months -- even years -- working on will never be what you had hoped is akin to separation from a loved one. That’s why it seems to me that ceremony is called for.

Funerals for Manuscripts

Ceremony is humanity’s way of acknowledging marked change, be it birth, marriage, death, or something in between. That’s why, no matter what our denomination, when a loved one dies, we step away our daily lives to attend a wake, service, or other ceremony. We do this not only to honor that person, but to help us move on to life without him or her.

Letting go of a manuscript that you’ve spent a lot of time with will leave a similar hole in your life. Having a ceremony to acknowledge that hole will not only ease your pain, but be the first step toward whatever is next for you.

I’m not suggesting anything as radical (or verboten) as book-burning. Rather, I encourage you to put your manuscript in a container (file folder, envelope, box, drawer?) that honors the time you spent together -- and then to bid it adieu. Say something to it (whether it’s a prayer, “It’s been fun,” or “Hasta la vista, baby,” spoken words are part of saying goodbye), then set it ceremoniously in its container. At the conclusion of your ceremony, put the container away.