Claire Alexander: On Finally Writing “The End”

Claire Alexander lives on the west coast of Scotland with her three children and two dogs. She has written for The Washington Post, The Independent, The Huffington Post, and Glamour. In 2019, one of her essays was published in the award-winning literary anthology We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor.

When she’s not writing or parenting, she’s on her paddle board, thinking about her next book. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.

In this post, Claire discusses how everything came together to write her new novel, Meredith, Alone, her hopes for readers, and more!

Name: Claire Alexander
Literary agent: Juliet Mushens, Mushens Entertainment; sub-agent in the US Jenny Bent, The Bent Agency
Book title: Meredith, Alone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release date: November 1, 2022
Genre/category: General fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: Meredith Maggs hasn't left her house in 1,214 days and she insists she isn't alone. But whether she likes it or not, the world is coming to her door.

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I wanted to explore the themes of mental health, trauma, loneliness, and connection. I also wanted an intriguing female character who lived her life in a way most people wouldn’t consider “normal.” The character of Meredith came to me one day, and I couldn’t let her go!

I started writing Meredith, Alone in October, 2019, and completed the first draft in July, 2020. I spent the next few months getting feedback from beta readers and polishing, polishing, polishing!

I submitted to a handful of agents in late September and within a few weeks I’d signed with Juliet Mushens of Mushens Entertainment. We worked on the manuscript together, submitted to publishers on March 11, 2021, and the following day got a two-book offer from Penguin Michael Joseph that was too good to turn down! A few weeks later, I signed with Grand Central Publishing in the U.S.

The published version of Meredith, Alone is pretty true to the first draft I submitted to Juliet, although the story was a lot darker. Juliet suggested cutting some of the darker content, which I was resistant to at first. But she was right!

I wouldn’t say there were any surprises, because I had no expectations. But so many learning moments!

I think the most important thing I’ve learned is that most of the publishing process is out of my control. It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers side of things (sales figures, chart positions, etc.) but what I do to counter that is focus on the words, which is the side of things I can control.

The fact that I finished the first draft—and that it only took nine months—was the biggest surprise! I’ve been starting and not finishing novels for about 20 years. I think Meredith, Alone was simply the right story at the right time. Somehow it all came together, and I finally fulfilled my dream of typing “The End.”

Meredith, Alone tackles some dark topics, but I hope readers will ultimately find it a story of resilience and hope. We all go through difficult times and for me, books have always been a source of huge comfort. I hope Meredith’s story is comforting to anyone who needs it.

I’m not sure I’m the best person to give advice since it effectively took me decades to finish a book! But what was a game changer for me was taking an online writing course. I realized that I needed structure, support and—most importantly—accountability.

Apart from that, my advice is simply to write—as few or as many words you can manage that day, but try to do it every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s 50 words or 5,000 words, if you have all day to write or only half an hour before bedtime, keep going and you’ll eventually have a finished draft that you can edit until it’s in its best possible shape. You can’t edit zero words. 

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