The unfinished novel – my fear

I’ve had many fears since becoming an author: Will my imagination let me down? Will my book sell? Will publishers issue another contract? Have I the energy to write another book? Thankfully, over the last seven years, such fears have proven to be pointless. But one fear remains … the unfinished book.
 
None of us know how long we have on this glorious planet and sadly, my experiences of recent years have left me with a heightened sense regarding my own mortality. I’ve always had an obsession about time, but now I’ll admit it is something else. I live a simple life, with my time and love being my prized possessions – I don’t waste either.
 
This year, I have taken to reading some of the ‘unfinished novels’ that other authors have left us. Jane Austen ceased working on ‘Sanditon’ on 18th March 1817 prior to her death in July 1817. It seems strange but she dated her final written page. Did she know? Or was it purely a writing habit? Either way she never returned to the story leaving it at eleven chapters outlining the beginning of Charlotte Heywood’s tale.
 
F Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Last Tycoon’ is a first draft consisting of approximately two hundred pages. The story is strong, the quotations beautiful and so poignant yet cut short by his sudden death, following his third heart attack. My edition provides Fitzgerald’s planned outline so I know where his plot was heading. 
 
My final read will be Charles Dickens’ ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ which has 500 pages but conveys just half the story. Dickens suffered a stroke at the age of fifty-eight, having suffered poor health for the previous five years. Sadly, the mystery novel remains just that - as no one knows the book’s resolution. I have a feeling this final read may frustrate me but I’m still willing to read it.
 
Time will tell regarding my own fear or maybe I’ll use it to spur me on towards ‘The end’.

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