by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
So. I have wrapped up some scenes — for the most part — in the early part of the first act. Now, I can breeze through the rest of the first act (again) until I get into the second act of the novel and yet again find myself wallowing in reworking things to fit my new vision.
The first act — which is pretty much the cherrypicked elements of an entire novel I could save in the context of what I’m doing — is almost done, I think. As done as I’m going to allow myself to think it is until I go through AGAIN and edit everything for consistancy.
I gave the first chapter to a would-be reader today. I wish she would be my regular reader, but I have *very* low expectations on that front. I just never can find someone to read my novel on a consistent basis outside of a few people who are graciously willing to do so. And I have lost one person recently who I think was disappointed in me for writing something so spicy.
I’m kind of uneasy about what happens if my would-be reader wants to read the second chapter. The second chapter is when some — spicy — things happen in the novel and I can just see because of the context of what’s going on the young woman I gave the first chapter to read getting turned off by what she reads in the second chapter.
It’s not smut, but it is spicy and maybe a bit provocative. And I pushed the first spicy scenes as far into the novel as I could. Turns out it was the second chapter. I keep thinking about pulling the first spicy scenes out of the novel altogether because I’m afraid they come across as gratuitous, but then I keep them in because I like them or they help the structure of the novel.
I probably will, no matter what, rewrite these specific spicy scenes before the process is over because I know I can write something better. I can’t be one-and-done with the spicy scenes just because writing them takes a lot out of me.
An elderly woman also wanted to read the novel, but I told her she could when I finished it — she just isn’t the audience of the novel and I’m afraid she’ll be really offended or flummoxed by the spicy scenes. So…what’s the point?
I just feel a little bad for snapping at her when she asked, I guess. I hope no harm no foul. She’s an otherwise kind old lady. I just would rather not get sucked into having deal with her reading the novel as I write it and her complaining that there’s too much sex in it.
