by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
After spending most of January spinning my wheels in the first chapter of this second draft of my first novel, I think I may have finally stabilized things some. The issue has been — as it has always been — that I’m doing all of this in a creative vacuum and so it is a real struggle to figure out some basic elements of the story.
But I believe I understand the point of this story — the novel isn’t so much about the murder that takes place as it is about one woman’s need for closure over the death of her parents in the guise of owning the newspaper they once owned. The murder is really just an excuse to explore my heroines need for closure and validation in the eyes of a community that feels slighted by her in a big way.
Anyway.
Now that I understand what to focus on, I have a better grasp of the intended ebb and flow of the structure of the story. Of course, this is just the first act. But the first act set the tone for the novel as its “foundation.” Everything else about the novel is built on the cornerstone of the first chapter.
My goal at this point is just to write a novel that is good enough that during the looming beta process my beta readers won’t grow bored. That they won’t just find the novel “intriguing” but will rush through it at nice clip because they enjoy it so much.
That’s the dream, at least. But, as I keep saying, I don’t have a Reader so all I have when writing this novel is my gut to guide me. Only time will tell if my gut has its hunch about what to do with this story right or not.
