Of Character Development

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

How much do you need to know about your characters in order to present them to the reader? I find myself thinking a lot about that these days. First, I think every storyteller’s journey is different. So, lulz, you do you.

If you need to know an absurd amount of information that is never seen on the page to tell your story, have at it — though I would recommend you spend some of your time actually writing the fucking novel.

Anyway, my characterizations have gotten a lot — A LOT — better as I come to understand the relationships between my characters. That was probably the hardest thing to figure out, and the biggest reason why I kept writing and re-writing the beginning so many times.

Not only did I not know my characters very well, but I did not know their relationships very well.

In fact, I was having a real struggle with one relationship and the answer came to me out of the blue. Now, that specific change in relationships is probably one of the biggest differences between Draft Two and Draft Three.

One thing I’ve been a little worried about of late is in my new second chapter, I don’t really show things from my heroine’s POV that much. And, yet, in a number of those scenes, my heroine remains the focus. Having her seen through the eyes of an outsider is, in fact, the entire point of these additional scenes.

This placates my inner critic enough for me to keep moving forward.

But, in general, I’m feeling pretty stoked about the third draft of this novel. I am willing to deluded myself into thinking that there’s a decent change that the third draft will actually be something akin to professional.

Things Are Beginning To Work Out With This Novel (At Least The First ~30,000 Words)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s amazing insight you can get when all you do is dwell on something. I’ve managed to figure out a way how to seamlessly add 20,000 – 30,000 words to the beginning of this novel.

My fear is of course, that the first thing any manuscript consultant will demand is I….cut those exact words from the novel.

AND YET, there is definitely a point to those additional words. I have managed to not only flesh out some elements of character and the world I’m working with, but also introduce characters in a more methodical manner. I don’t just throw everything at you all at once.

I’m really hoping that all this hard work will help me with the novel novel in the series. I am well aware that we’re careening towards The Fourth Turning in late 2024, early 2025, and, yet, I find something poetic about going into such a potentially dramatic moment in our nation’s history with my eyes wide open as I finish a novel.

Anyway, in general, things are going well with the third draft of the novel. It is, in general, a richer, more compelling story than the second draft. I’ve definitely taken some risks, but lulz, no one ever got anywhere in this world without taking a risk.

Only time will tell.

I Can’t Predict The Future, But I Am…Worried About America’s Political Future

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I continue to grow more and more alarmed about what may happen in late 2024, early 2025. I say this because I just can see any sort of “third way” like what happened in 2020.

This is it — in 2024, we either slip peacefully into a MAGA-themed autocracy or we have a civil war (Reds) or revolution (Blues.) I definitely don’t want any of these scenarios to happen — I just want to punt things down the road again –but that just doesn’t seem a viable option.

In fact, if anything, the MAGA Right continues to make it clear, time and again, that we could spend all this energy to defeat Trump, only to have him turn around and demand a civil war so he, personally, can avoid prison.

That’s the element to all of this that way too many well-meaning Blues miss. They think that by just defeating Trump at the polls that everything will be ok for another four years, when, in fact, we just find ourselves facing the prospect of a “National Divorce.”

There remains one thing I can’t game out — how much of all this talk of violence on the part of MAGA and how much if it is real? I think, in a sense, we’re asking the wrong question. I don’t think on an individual basis that MAGA idiots have it in them to run around shooting people (thank God.)

But I do think that on a institutional basis that MAGA Republican state legislatures *DO* have it in them to call up Secessionist Conventions if Trump loses in 2024 — probably starting with Texas and then going to South Carolina.

Anyway, pray, is all I gotta say. Pray that I’m wrong and somehow we aren’t careening towards a catastrophe, even though it looks like we are at the moment.

I Really Have No Idea What I’m Doing With This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, I’ve added at least 20,000, maybe 30,000 words to the beginning of the third draft of this novel. One struggle I’ve had is being able to not make it so clear that I’ve added to the beginning. My fear of course, is, that the moment I hand this novel to a manuscript consultant, the first thing they’re going to tell me is to cut…about 30,000 words.

But you have to believe, I guess.

You have to lay out your vision and see what happens. While sometimes, it helps to overthink things a lot when writing a novel, but you can be in your head too much. Sometimes, you just have to do what you want to do and see what happens.

I’ve come up with a way to ease people into the story instead of just throwing them into it without much explanation.

But, in general, I’m very pleased with what I’ve managed to come up with. There are many, many known unknowns. Things that I just don’t know the ultimate significance of.

I just have to be patient. But I also need to buckle down and give myself some clear metrics to meet, otherwise it will be a year from now and I’ll still be spinning my wheels.

Lazy Observations About Vivek Ramaswamy’s Talking Points

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I still find it curious that Vivek Ramaswamy hasn’t managed to gain significant popularity in the polls, since he makes all the right people angry. And, yet, here we are. Trump is just as popular as ever and Vivek continues to poll in the single digits.

Here are some very lazy observations about his talking points — I’ve done no research and I’m just doing it off the top of my head.

The most notable talking point to me is how Vivek never misses an opportunity to slip in a reference to a National Divorce. I think this gives us a pretty good sense of the audience he’s trying to reach. He is scooping up the fears and concerns of the far far Right and trying to validate them in an effort to pry some of them off of Trump.

All this talk about a National Divorce — no matter how chipper he may be as he says it — has only managed to make people like me more concerned about what will happen if malignant ding-dong Trump manages to lose the 2024 election. I can’t predict the future, but it definitely seems as though there is simply no way to avoid a massive, historic political event of some sort involving the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the other thing I hear a lot from Vivek is always pivoting to “the future” whenever some stupid thing that Trump comes up in conversation. I get what he’s trying to do. Not only does it allow him to dodge questions about the past, it gives him a bright, sunny “Morning Again In America” type vibe, even if it’s from a fucking fascist POV.

Lastly, the other issue he keeps blathering about is not only raising the voting age to 25, but requiring young people to take a civics test to vote. Not only is this fascist, but it’s also ironic given that Vivek has repeatedly shown that HE can’t pass basic American civics.

Anyway. We’re fucked. Good luck!

‘The Tailgate’ — lyrics to a R&B pop dance song

The Tailgate
lyrics by @sheltgarner
Please give credit if you produce or perform

get away from the bar
get on the dancefloor
where you can be a star
squeeze in real tight
and you’ll find some delight
when you do the tailgate

do the tailgate
do the tailgate
do the tailgate

why make room
or make space
when you can get
right up in that thing
bumpin and grindin
do the tailgate

do the tailgate
do the tailgate
do the tailgate

(bridge)
people will look
people will stare
tell you to give’em room
but that’s not
why were here, to be clear

do the tailgate
do the tailgate
do the tailgate

An Astonishing Number Of People Will Have To Die Each Day During The Next Pandemic For Us To Have The Political Will To Do Anything About It

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I can tell you from what the conservatives in my family — whom I love dearly — have told me that a massive number of people will have to start dying each day for any sort of political response to a new pandemic to happen. It could be as high as 10,000 people a day before we can get our act together.

I don’t know, it might even be more — 20,000? 30,000? 50,000?

There is now a strict orthodoxy within traditional conservative ranks that under no circumstances can there ever be any sort of lockdown or restricts imposed because of a health emergency.

So, things will have to grow rather apocalyptic before there is any collective action when we have the next pandemic. I have this on my mind at the moment because I’m growing nervous that this fall and winter might be really bad in regards to COVID.

At the moment, it definitely seems as though, lulz, we’re just going to let people die needlessly, no matter how bad things get this COVID season. Ugh. Everything is so dumb.

America May Destroy Itself Over ‘Vibes’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s clear from talking to my conservative relatives that the thing at very absolute forefront of their minds isn’t policy — it’s vibes. They usually don’t know why they’re angry, just that they are. This “vibe” anger is so potent that most of the country thinks we’re in a recession when we are not, in fact, in a recession.

As such, I don’t know how much credence I give to people who think that we can only have a civil war / revolution if there is some sort of economic element to it. Even though abortion is definitely an economic issue, I think civil war (Reds) / revolution (Blues) could happen just because of vibes.

This “vibe” civil war / revolution we’re careening towards appears in all sorts of ways. One conspicuous way this expresses itself is when MAGA people online say the most ridiculous things about Trump — things they do not, in fact, believe — just so they can “own the libs” and do some virtue signalling to their fellow MAGA cult members.

So dumb.
This particular dumb technique on the part of MAGA cocksuckers really has become rather absurd. It’s totally bonkers and dumb. It’s one of those things, though, that makes me very uneasy.

Given a few more months to marinate and the passions of a presidential election, it definitely seems as though “vibes” will be enough to ultimately destroy the United States — or at least put in it a very precarious position while we figure out if we’re going to become a MAGA autocracy or a have a civil war / revolution.

A Populist Recipe For Disaster

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I continue to grow alarmed with how otherwise normal, sane people have bought into the populist bullshit that ding-dong Trump keeps pushing. A growing number of people have serious misgivings about the honesty of “the elites” to the point that they are willing to vote for a fucking fascist like Trump.

It definitely seems as though we’re careening towards a very, very, very dark situation in late 2024, early 2025. Of course, there is always a possibility that we’ll find some sort of “third way” or off ramp before things get as bad as I fear, but, lulz, I doubt it.

Some severe macro forces are a play at the moment. While I still believe The Fourth Turning is nothing more than astrology for dudes, I do think the idea that some sort of catastrophic event may occur around 2025 has some merit to it. All signs point to a massive clusterfuck in late 2024, early 2025 because we just can’t keep punting our problems down the road any more.

It’s officially put up or shut up time.

Any major change in America’s political system will cause a series of cascading events that will probably lead to WW3. It doesn’t matter if we turn into an inward looking autocracy of blood and soil or if we have some sort of civil war / revolution — if the United States is distracted, then the entire post WW2 global order will be at risk.

There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it all. We just have to prepare for something dramatic to happen in less than two years. Whatever it is that happens, I think will mark the end of the silly “woke” era that we’ve been living in. It’s difficult to get too up set over the misuse of pronouns when you’re hiding from ICE agents or dodging missiles.

But we’ll see, I suppose.

The Lost Dream Of Social Media

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The social media era is over. There’s just no buzz around it anymore. After a lot of crypto hype, we’re now fully in the AI Revolution. But occasionally, I find myself mulling what could have been, especially given how fucked up Twitter is now because of Space Karen.

There are a few key elements that could have been included in a new social media service that I think would have made it a success. One is, having some sort of paid editorial staff. If you had people who were paid by your social media service specifically to churn out high quality reporting, I think that would be a key advantage over other, similar services.

Also, I continue to believe that could have be useful is the idea of Groups. Now, of course, some will say that was tried with Google+’s “Circles” but that’s not at all my vision. In my version of things, everyone would have the ability to create as many “Groups” as they liked and even be able to manage who might be able to Post in each Group.

You would have a full page Post to work with and threaded discussions of those Posts.

But, alas, I just don’t see any of this happening. The moment is over. We’ve all moved on.