by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
One of the reasons why I’m feel pretty good about this novel series is I’ve finally — finally got it through my thick skull that your protagonist can not, should not be in any way passive. As such, I’ve figured out a way that a novel scifi / speculative fiction element of this project can be a real integral part of the plot because we see its use through the eyes of our Amerasian heroine.
Even though I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend to be a “reader” to tell me I’m full of shit in this regard, I do think the speculative fiction part of the story makes it a bit more interesting, a bit more spicy than it might be otherwise. This particular plot point is found in another series of novels, but it’s used in a magical mystery way, while my use of the trope is set very much in speculative fiction.
I hope there isn’t too much comparison between the two uses of this little bit of scifi / fantasy. I suppose it’s inevitable that it will be. But there’s nothing new under the sun as they say. But anyway, as I’ve said before, the framework, at least, is there for a pretty good pop novel.
A lot of what happens next is out of my hands. I need a lot of luck. I need to strike the zeitgeist in just the right way in about a year. The idea that anyone with a traditional career would take my little dream seriously is kind of deep. It would be one of the greatest — if not THE greatest — event of my life to date if I managed to get an actual normal person to take my novel seriously enough that they would be my literary agent.
I’m still concerned that, of course, if they do due diligence on me they’re going to think I’m completely bonkers. Which, maybe I am. But I make no apologies for who I am. I’m an eccentric. I get drunk and rant on this blog — and on Twitter — sometimes.
But as the late Annie Shapiro said of me, I’m a “delusional jerk with a good heart.”
