all about project eden

the story, where i'm at, & your juicy q's.

I have simultaneously been so excited and yet so hesitant to write this one.

On the one hand, I adore project Eden. It’s the first story in a long time where I feel like i am in it with my characters. I genuinely want to work out story kinks and dive deeper into the character flaws and create as much conflict (and work for myself) as possible. On the other hand, I have pitched the book to two people (coworkers no less) and hearing the words come out of my mouth had me like “is this seriously what I’m writing about?! AND I JUST TOLD PEOPLE?!”

Yeah. Yeah. BUT — we are overcoming the cringe because, on the whole, I do want to share as much as i can about it. So, let’s talk about Project Eden.

Project Eden Mood Board

Project Eden is what I hope will be my debut literary fiction novel. It is technically the third book I’ve written, and I’ve just started revisions. I managed to crank out a rough 50,000 word draft in about four months (all of which I documented on my channel), and it was the first rough draft where I felt fairly decent about the story I was trying to tell.

What’s It About?

The story follows Peter Woodruff as he returns home to Eden Grove to take care of his mother, only to find that his estranged childhood best friend, Laurel, is a ghost with no memories of who she is or their history. Peter semi-begrudgingly agrees to help Laurel regain her memories in exchanged for answers as to why she turned her back on their friendship almost 10 years ago.

It’s a story about young love, loss, small towns, and the quirky characters that fill them. It’s not at all a story I ever envisioned myself telling, and yet it has been so much fun getting to explore the intricacies between characters. I’ve been crudely pitching it as a “90s east coast autumn ghost story.”

Why This Story?

My writing career started aaaaall the way back in elementary school when I would fill up my notebooks with handwritten Nancy Drew knock-off novels. Then, like any self-respecting writer, I dabbled in poorly written fan fiction. In college I played with short stories and science fiction, and when I picked up writing again in 2023 I dove into fantasy. My shelved piece from last year is a horror. How did I land in literary fiction? Because I needed to make sense of my own life.

For me, writing is not only an act of self-expression, it is also an act of self-discovery. I am constantly trying to get to the core of who I am, cutting myself open and moving the pieces around. Where’s the pain originating? Where’s the bleeding coming from? While my best friend never turned into a ghost, I grew up in a small town. I grew up feeling like I was constantly missing out on the traditional teenage experience. I went to a painfully small school — my graduating class was 30 people, half of which were foreign exchange students (whom I loved, but it was tough being in such a small group of kids).

My mini mood board for Peter Woodruff

In a strange way, Eden is a love letter to all the things I loved and hated about my home town, about the relationships (platonic & romantic) I experienced, about the life I didn’t live. It’s not autobiographical in anyway, but there are certainly pieces of me sprinkled throughout the pages. It’s the first time a story has ever felt that way. Getting this story to the finish line isn’t just for my characters, it’s for me, too. I don’t think I’m trying to answer some great question or make sense of anything I experienced, I just wanted to explore. That sense of exploration has really fueled me up until now.

Thematically, there were also a lot of things Eden naturally developed that fascinated me. For example, I wanted to play with the idea of parents and how they serve as literary devices for main characters. They cause trauma, they die, they’re absent — they push the main characters forward in someway. But I wanted to play with the idea of present, supportive, emotionally mature parents and how that impacts Peter (positively and negatively). There’s just so much there, hidden in pages I have yet to write, and that excites me to no end.

My mini mood board for Laurel Middleton

What Stage Am I At?

Currently, I’m revising/rewriting the draft. When I wrote the first draft, I was just trying to tell myself the bigger parts of the story — the scenes I envisioned while I was listening to the playlist that I had carefully curated specifically for Eden. I knew there would be entire scenes, characters, and character arcs missing.

The biggest thing that was missing from that first draft was conflict, which I thought was fine considering what I wanted the first draft to accomplish. Now that I am working on draft 2, I’m weaving in a lot of those missing elements. For example, Duncan, who is the main antagonist, wasn’t even in the first draft! There are no rules for drafting, I swear.

My word goal for draft two is roughly 85k words. I think adding an additional 30k words will help flesh out a lot of what was missing from that first draft and help the story actually feel like a real book. So much of what I’m doing right now is picking pieces from the first draft that I think are salvageable and drafting new bits in between that string everything together. I’ve just finished revising act one, and am about to jump into revising the bulk of the book! Pray for me.

I’ve already talked a little bit about revision woes in my latest video, but I want to touch on it here for a second. The biggest hurdle I am struggling to overcome as I revise this story is the doubt that I am making it any better. Everyone always preaches that “the only thing your first draft has to do is exist” so I comforted myself with the fact that the first draft is supposed to be bad. But what about after? What about when you actually try to make it good and it still isn’t? That’s been really hard to grapple with and where my confidence as a writer has been faltering.

AND YET! No one said draft two had to be a polished draft. At this point, I am consoling myself with the idea that as long as a draft is incrementally better than it was before, I’m doing my job! And, honestly, any time I sit down and dedicate time to this project is a win — whether the writing session is good, bad, or mediocre.

Answering Your Questions

I took to instagram and asked my followers if they had any questions regarding project Eden and they didn’t disappoint!

Do you want to publish traditionally or independently.

I am going to subject myself to the machine that is traditional publishing. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive because I just gave my revised chapters for act one to two of my friends and I am vibrating to know what they think — I don’t know how I’m going to survive querying or submission (yeah I’m manifesting that for myself). But honestly, I love Eden so much that if trad pub doesn’t work, I may explore publishing independently.

Can you tell us a little about the romance that will be in the book if there is any?

There is definitely an element of romance in this story! I don’t think I’ll ever write a book where there isn’t at least some romance. It isn’t the typical kind of romance, which has been so much fun to explore. I don’t want to say too much, as the relationship between Peter & Laurel is complex and unorthodox, but I’m so excited to one day watch my readers go on that journey with them.

Which character do you see yourself the most in?

Oh lord. I unintentionally put some pieces of me in Peter, some in Laurel. They are not self-insert characters in the slightest, but as I said earlier: I write in the hopes of better understanding myself and the world around me. I put quite a few of my own flaws into some of these characters in an effort to understand those flaws better. Some of these secondary characters live lives I’ve often wondered about, paths I could’ve followed but didn’t. I don’t know — that’s tough! But Peter is my baby (for so many reasons) and I definitely relate to a lot of the internal struggles he faces.

Have you thought about the title you want the project to have once it is done being workshopped?

Ok, trying to find a title for this book has been hard! Never before has a story given me such trouble with a title. Usually that’s the first thing that comes to me. I do currently have a working title I’m pretty happy with, but I’m hesitant to really nail it down.

Wrapping Up

I’m nervous. I’m excited. I am all the things! I’m proud of myself for sticking with this story and of finally concocting something worth holding my time, attention, and effort. The excitement that has surrounded this project from my audience even though I have revealed very little is so encouraging. I have an incredible support group both online and in real life. I am beyond grateful for everything writing has brought back into my life. And I can’t wait for you to hopefully hold Eden in your hands one day!

Catch you in the next one.

x bt