Who’s Driving This Novel, Anyway?

By Ellen Meister

I’m a pretty intrepid driver. By that I mean I’m unfazed crossing the bridge from suburban Long Island, where I live, to the hurried, harried, horn-hectic streets of Manhattan.

But Brooklyn? Dear god, Brooklyn knocks the stuffing out of me.

And yet, I chose to set my most recent novel there. A novel about a woman and her car.

Joyride centers on a preternaturally cheerful woman Uber driver who becomes a life coach from the front seat of her Honda. And while I love this book more than heated seats and copious cup holders, the writing journey has not been a smooth ride. 

The problem—or the first problem, anyway—was figuring out the point of view. I knew I was going to write it in close third person, my favorite perspective. But my main character is so earnest and optimistic I didn’t see how I could filter the world of this novel through her eyes. A narrator with no sarcastic edge? It seemed like driving straight into the sun.

So I decided to let her irascible, ill-tempered father—a burned out TV comedy writer—provide the necessary shade and narrate the story. After all, he has moved in with his daughter and their relationship informs the book’s central conflict, creating a kind of intergenerational Odd Couple vibe. 

I thought it turned out pretty great, but my agent stomped on the brakes, rejecting the novel outright. 

Still, I moved forward, because I loved the premise, loved my earnest, Uber-driving life coach, and even loved her derisive, irritating father. Maybe, I conceded, I had made him too irritating. So I rewrote the book, softening his sharpest corners, and presented it to a smart beta reader.

To my surprise, she, too, found the father uncomfortably abrasive. This confused me, as I found his gruffness amusing. But I rewrote the novel yet again, taming him even more. Then I showed it to another savvy beta reader, certain he would perceive the character as a lovable curmudgeon.

Once again, however, my reader loved the story but not the book, insisting he didn’t want to spend so much time inside the head of such an unpleasant man. 

That’s when I finally understood that I couldn’t tell the whole story from the father’s point of view. But then whose? Because I was still certain the protagonist was too upbeat to drive the narrative.

Then it occurred to me that there was a third option: Use a character who knows both the father and daughter. It was an unusual solution—even unexpected—but not unprecedented, as I wouldn’t be the first novelist to employ a minor character as story chauffeur. It could work!

So I rewrote the entire novel yet again, but from the point of view of a Brooklyn neighbor—a kinder, gentler character who could infuse the narrative with enough perspective and humor to make the whole thing work. I felt certain I had found my solution. Then I got a fresh read from another writer friend and… the father character was still a problem.

This sent me into a frenzy of despair. What did I have to do to make people fall in love with this crusty old bastard?

I lived with the problem for weeks, trying to sort it out. I wasn’t ready to give up on the book, but felt I had softened the father as much as I possibly could. If he wasn’t the cynical polar opposite of my cheerful main character, I had no story.

Then, at last, the headlights came on. It wasn’t the father’s world view that readers objected to, it was his temper. I didn’t need to make him less world-weary or sarcastic. I just had to make him less angry.

So I began yet another top-to-bottom rewrite, only this time, I allowed the daughter to be the main narrator, with occasional chapters from the jaded dad’s point of view. Yes, I was driving straight into the sun with such an earnest protagonist at the wheel, but I finally understood it was the route this novel was meant to travel.

My next beta reader was a careful and critical editor who had lots of notes, but as I went through her comments I saw that there was not a single complaint about the character of the father. At last!

With a few more tweaks, I knew the novel was ready. But instead of showing it to my longtime agent, I decided on a fresh start. So, with nine published novels under my belt, I went out into the query pool and found new representation with an agent who fell in love with the book. From there, everything happened more quickly than it had with any of my previous novels—a lightning fast offer, a rush into production, a springtime pub date, and exciting early buzz. It’s been a hell of a ride to get here, with more potholes than Flatbush Avenue. But that’s okay. In Brooklyn, it’s all about finding a place to park.

—

Ellen Meister is the bestselling author of ten critically acclaimed novels, which have been called, “powerful, moving and emotional,” as well as “hilarious and poignant,” “heartbreakingly funny,” and “utterly charming.” Her recent books include JOYRIDE, which is one of Zibby’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025, as well as DIVORCE TOWERS, TAKE MY HUSBAND, THE ROOFTOP PARTY, LOVE SOLD SEPARATELY, THE OTHER LIFE , DOROTHY PARKER DRANK HERE, and FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER. Her essays have appeared in Publishers Weekly, the Wall Street Journal blog, Huffington Post, Daily Beast, Long Island Woman Magazine, Writer’s Digest and more. Meister is also a book coach, screenwriter, and creative writing instructor. She lives in New York and publicly speaks about her books, fiction writing, and America’s most celebrated literary wit, Dorothy Parker.

JOYRIDE

In this poignantly quirky ride through Brooklyn, an idealistic young woman shares her earnest joy with her Uber clients, her cranky father, and the Wall Street hotshot who started it all.

Joybird Martin―an Uber driver with cheerfulness to spare―desperately wants to be a life coach.

She’s so sunny about her chances that even her snarky father―a has-been TV writer with a failed third marriage―can’t dim her light. So when he shows up broke on her doorstep, Joybird takes him in with no questions asked, trying to find a balance between her bright optimism and his sarcastic pessimism.

It works, and she continues sharing her earnest wisdom with her Uber riders. After she helps handsome Wall Street exec Devon Cato, he convinces her to become a life coach from the front seat of her Honda.

As Joybird’s dreams take the wheel, she finds direction for her clients…and herself. She’s not sure what to do about her attraction to Devon, but she soon learns exactly what she can do for her father. And a journey into his past might just pave the way for her own bright future.

PREORDER HERE

 

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