Our Book of the Month author Suzanne Young is a busy-bee when it comes to writing. It seems like she’s always got several books or ideas in the works at any given time — whether it be the light-hearted fare from The Naughty List series, more serious subjects like her upcoming novel Delinquents or a more fantastical realm in her other upcoming novel, A Need So Beautiful. But sometimes, ideas don’t quite come to fruition — for one reason or another. Well, rather than locking away these abandoned book babies, Suzanne shares them with her readers on her blog — in a recurring feature she calls “the Novel Graveyard.”
Periodically, Suzanne will post an excerpt from this graveyard novels, to share with her readers. She explains:
I’m always writing, like… always. As a result I have a novel graveyard. It’s populated by finished, almost finished, and partly finished books. I get sad when I go in there, poking around. Sometimes I think, I can still use this!! But nope. I see now that they were just ways I was teaching myself to write.
I think this is such a great idea, on a number of levels. For one, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started writing some story and then abandoned it for one reason or another. So not only can I relate to these snippets of “novels that never where” — but knowing that an accomplished, published author also has a bevy of forgotten starts gives me hope. It also shows other writers and aspiring writers that it’s okay to start-and-stop lots and lots and lots of times. The more attempts you make, the better your chances of success — and isn’t that the case with just about everything in life?
Here are links to all of Suzanne’s novel graveyards that have been posted to date:
Novel Novice 
What a great idea…I’m going to use a version of this “novel graveyard” with my students! They are so quick to delete or throw away ideas/ narration/ dialogue. There might be a hidden gem in there, or at least a good laugh. Thanks.