by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
In the latest version of this novel, cancel culture and its implications have grown pretty big. It’s a useful way to make the story both interesting and timely. But, and this is a big but — I have to be very careful how approach this subject.
It’s not like I can just throw “cancel culture” into the mix without realizing that there is a sizable portion of the audience who will agree that my hero SHOULD have been “canceled” for what I describe him doing and there’s no possible thing he could do to achieve the crux of any great story — redemption.
The only thing I can do is really think hard about how to approach the situation and to take it very seriously. In fact, I would go so far as to say in all honesty I shouldn’t even touch the subject of cancel culture given how fraught it is with people taking extreme positions one way or another.
But, for various reasons, I see addressing cancel culture head on as existential to the story and, as such, I’m going to touch that particular hot oven knowing full well what might happen to me.
The only consolation I might get from any of this is the “canceling” happens so late in the story that hopefully by that point I will have prepared the reader for it and also made them like my Hero enough not to throw the book across the room.
Of course, I’m old enough to know that should I sell this novel (which is highly unlikely) that it would be the cancel culture aspect of the story that everyone would talk about.
So, in a sense, I can’t win. But at least I know what I’m getting myself into by touching on the subject in the first place.
