Tag: Lisbeth Salander

I Think About Women Readers A Lot As I Write This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I do not purport to have any special insight into the female mind, but I do, at least, try to cater to that segment of the reading audience as I write this novel. I do this especially given the edgy, loaded nature of the novel.

I hope to write a novel that is as accessible as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

It’s not every day that your heroine is a part-time stripper.

Now, of course, if I was, say a transgender women writing this type of novel, then I probably be hailed as the second coming of Jesus Christ. But, alas, I’m just a smelly CIS white male — a middle aged one at that! — and, as such, slings and arrows and all that.

I have a vision for this novel and, as such, I’m prepared to take shit for what, of course, will be reduced down to “stripper solves a murder mystery.”

Ugh!

That’s not what’s going on! But no one is going to listen to me. Anything to do with sex and women — especially something out of the ordinary — is the thing that people will focus on. And that doesn’t even begin to address the issue of how Hollywood would market any adaptation of the novel should that miraculous thing somehow happen.

Anyway.

I’m really self conscious about how women readers might react to this novel to a fault. I have a few women “advisers” that help me when I feel a little bit nervous about this or that thing that I might broach in the novel while writing from a female POV.

But, like I said, I can only do so much. I’m a smelly CIS white middle aged male and a vocal minority of the reading audience will dismiss the novel the moment they see what I look like.

I Really Need To Think About Women’s Reaction To My Heroine Being A Part-Time Stripper

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A lot could go wrong with this novel. I definitely fear someone will steal a creative march on me, if for no other reason, I’m just taking too long. But there’s not much I can do about it. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s just taking me a lot longer than I thought to get as far as I have.

But what’s interesting to me is the very thing that makes this novel a bit…edgy…could also be what makes it a success. I am WELL AWARE that because of marketing and human nature that this very interesting situation I’ve come up with will probably be boiled down to, “stripper solves a murder mystery.”

Ugh. That’s not at all what’s going on, but, lulz, what can you do.

But I do think that my heroine is beginning to approach Lisbeth Salander levels of interesting. She could very well be something of an icon if I play my cards right. And the thing that I keep being reminded about is how the interplay between my heroine’s “normal” life of owning an alternative weekly and her “alternative life” of owning a strip club / stripping to relax is something I need to lean into if I’m going to introduce the idea in the first place.

That’s what people — especially women willing to humor me by reading the damn novel in the first place — are going to want to see the most of.

The daydream issue of how Hollywood might address this novel occasionally gives me pause for thought. The obvious way to market the movie is something along the line of the old Pam Anderson movie “Barbwire.”

Double ugh.

The point of the story is not the T&A element of the story, but that by heroine is a woman who has sexual agency and self confidence enough that she is able to be a stripper to relax without giving it much thought.

It’s everyone else — especially horny men — who are the problem.

Anyway, I continue to work my way through the first act of the third draft AGAIN. Hopefully, this time, I will still have momentum enough to make my way through the second and third acts when the time comes.

About To Sprint Forward (Soon)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m just about to sprint forward with the “Fun & Games” part of this novel. I’ve been doing a lot of constructive daydreaming the last few days in an effort to figure out how to game the rest of the story out. It’s been really, really tough.

But I do think if I just let this process play out that I should get to writing full time again pretty soon. I was kind of sweating it there for a moment until I realized what the problem was. There really wasn’t so much a problem as I needed to go into aggressive daydreaming mode so once I left it, I could throw myself back into writing again.

As all of this is going on, of course, I realize I need to do a lot more reading and watching of TV — and develop other projects. I don’t want to be left holding the back if someone — God forbid — should somehow steal a march on me story wise and I have to fall back to some other project from scratch.

I don’t know when everything is going to sort itself out, but it should be pretty soon. That’s the plan, at least.

I Don’t Have A Problem With Being ‘Woke,’ Just Don’t Come After Me For Being A Male Author Writing From A Female POV In My Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I notice that someone is interested in all my ranting about the “woke cancel culture mob.” So, let me be clear — all my ranting on this subject is usually generated by booze and annoyance that I will be dinged by some hyper-woke people for being a male author writing from a female POV in my novel.

If Stieg Larsson can do that, why can’t I?

Anyway, I also know that being a drunk crank I’ve almost — certainly — done more than one thing in my personal life that will leave the hyper woke aghast. But, all I can say is the worse thing anyone ever said about me was that I’m a “delusional jerk with a good heart.”

My heroine, in my mind, looks like Corrie Yee.

So, yeah, I’m not perfect. But who is? And I generally mean well. So, I find myself wondering if all my talk about consensual kinky sex and periods in this novel will be poo-pooed by woke liberal white women because it’s ME, a smelly CIS white male, who wrote it.

Meanwhile, Emerald Fennell can go way, way off the creative beaten path and is hailed as the best thing since slice bread. It’s shit like that that causes me to rant when I’m drunk. Judge me by work, not by my gender. I GENERALLY support the media narrative about trans rights, etc, but I’m human and I have the occasional stray thought that maybe might get me in trouble with the woke Powers That Be.

I HATE this type of “woke.”

Regardless. My first novel is going well. So well, in fact, that I’m probably going to feel comfortable doing a lot more reading, watching of TV and movies and doing some writing on my “backup stories.”

Oh Boy. I Hope Having A Lot of Organic ‘Spicy Scenes’ in The First Act Of This Novel Makes It A Page Turner

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I measure the development of this novel not in words but in scenes, with each scene being about 1,000 words. So, I’m aghast that my first act has ballooned to 60 scenes. If you assume 60 + 50 (25 + 25) + ~30….oh boy. If I assume 60 scenes for the first act, then about 50 scenes for the second act and maybe 30 scenes for the third act…I got a problem on my hands.

“I can’t wait forever!” — President of Hollywood
I have a real problem on my hand. That would be ~140,000 words. And, yet, maybe not. A lot will depend on how long each scene is and I wildly miscalculated that issue with the second draft. I came in at 80,000 words after allotting myself 100,000 words. The issue was that all many of third act scenes were really, really short.

There are three ways to solve this issue.

One is to just accept that I’m going to blow past the sweetspot of ~100,000 words and take comfort in the fact that The Girl On The Train is about 140,000 words. Another is to hope that I’ve totally misjudged things again and the story will somehow magically fit into the around 100,000 word range. And, last of all, is the most drastic — cut the thing into two.

I think my best bet at the moment is it just finish the novel then take an assessment. If I fall within around 140,000 words, then I think I’ll just fight for that vision and try to pick a novel of that length.

Or I might write another — maybe scifi — novel that DOES fit into the ~100,000 sweetspot and then once I sell that use the success of that novel to sell my first, longer novel.

The point is to 1) finish the novel 2) tell a good story.

Everything else can be taken care of later.

The Stripper With The Tattoo (Ugh)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Just as I got finished writing a post about how I was paring back some of the more unique elements of my heroine’s appearance, I completely reversed myself. This happens all the time and it’s part of my creative process. I get really insecure about something, change my mind, then change it back when I grow more comfortable about whatever it was that was bothering me.

Anyway. For the time being, I know what my heroine looks like — Nicole Scherzinger in her early 30s. It’s not a perfect one to one, but, in general, that’s the general image I have in my mind as I write. And I’ve sprinkled in some magic fairy dust to make flesh out that general phenotype.

The reason why my heroine has a tattoo is specifically to tell the reader that a specific thing is REALLY important to her. Because it helps with plot and character, I’ve decided to put it back in, even though there was a moment there when I thought I should take it out.

Yes, President of Hollywood — time for me to put up or shut up.
But I’m really pleased with my heroine. I think she’s really engaging and interesting and people will want to spend some time with her — at least long enough to finish the damn novel.

I have very, very low expectations for this novel — no matter how good it is — because, lulz, I’m a bonkers middle age CIS white male living in the middle of no where who has never gotten anything published before.

Maybe it won’t be this novel, but my NEXT novel that I get published. But finishing this novel and it not suck will be the greatest accomplishment of my life to date.

If nothing else, my heroine is very unique and interesting. She’s definitely her own thing. And yet, she’s obviously influence by a combination of Lisbeth Salander, Fleabag, Mare of Easttown and Jlo in Hustlers. You know, the good stuff.

Now to finish the novel and bring her into the hearts and minds of (millions?) of people.

S1-D13-_-Pang-_-mysterious-postcard-RCL-work-day-1Download

My Heroine Continues To Be Refined

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are going really fast with this novel. But there’s one thing I find myself suddenly pondering in an unexpected way — what my heroine looks like. I had all this stuff about her thought out then something hit me. And that is the “hat on a hat” problem.

My heroine looks like a younger Nicole Scherzinger in my mind.
I know how this happened — the moment I put her in a position where she might be seen stripping “to relax” everything else needed to be rethought. As such, I’m pretty sure I’m going to pare back some elements of her appearance. She is already going to be “the girl who strips” and it would be a little too much for her to have a SECOND weird thing about her in the guise of some sort of tattoo that would serve as a mental marker in people’s minds.

I don’t like the idea that reviewers would simply say I was turning Lisbeth Salander into a stripper. Ugh.

So, I think any tattoos that my heroine has will be far more discrete than I originally imagined.

But I will note that I have a tendency to say one thing then do another when it comes to this novel. And, yet, I am starting to understand a number of elements of this novel a lot better. I’ve really fleshed out a number of secondary characters that before were rather meh.

I’m leaning into the idea that, lulz, a lot can change about a person over the course of 25 years, so it’s ok if I introduce a character one way and then they endup totally different at the end of the six novel project.

Anyway, because of personal and emotional turmoil caused by Thanksgiving, I fear I won’t get nearly as much work done on this novel as I’d like. Ugh. It’s so frustrating that I have to pause the novel while I wait for a private storm to pass.

Should I Be Worried?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of my big fears as an aspiring novelist is that somehow, someway, the conceit of my novel will somehow be rendered moot by someone’s independent idea. Well, apparently there is a new Amazon series will be set in the Stieg Larsson Millennium series universe.

My homage to that universe is so totally different from what he wrote all those years ago that I don’t THINK there will be a problem. My main fear is what somehow, because form follows function, that even if my novel series is totally and completely different that somehow, someway, something I have come up with will be just close enough in creative proximity that, lulz, I have to scrap what I’ve worked so hard on.

I suppose it’s possible, but at the moment, it’s not probable. It is something to keep an eye on, I suppose. And, if nothing else, it encourages me to throw myself into a second creative track so I can have a back up plan ready incase my absolute worst fears become a reality.

Well, At Least I’ve Come Up With an Interesting Heroine

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally come up with a heroine who is, in her own way, just as interesting as Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander. But there’s a downside to her being so unique. Because of how dumb people can be, and how fixated on sex they can be, it’s very possible that the fact that my heroine is a part-time sex worker (stripper) may overshadow anything else I have to say with this novel.

The character has A LOT of agency — she owns the club she strips at, for what it’s worth — and I like how having the two elements of her life slam against each other leads to some interesting situations. This time of wild dichotomy was successful with Bill Hader’s TV show “Barry” and there’s no reason to believe I can’t find similar success with this novel.

But I AM a smelly “CIS white male,” and, as such, there will be a small, woke cancel culture mob element of the audience who will come at me from the left on this issue. The very element of the novel — validating sex work — that would cause a transgendered undocumented twentysomething woman to be heaped with praise will cause me to be pillared.

At least, that’s my fear.

But, I can’t help who I am or how old I am. I really like the character I’ve come up with. I will admit that my heroine doesn’t have nearly the fucked up youth that Lisbeth Salander had, but, surprise, I AM setting up the life of my real heroine — the novel is set in late 1994, early 1995.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if I manage to query this novel successfully or if the entire world will collapse and I have to use a Ham radio to find out what’s going on with the broader world.

Mia Goth As Lisbeth Salander Makes A Lot of Sense

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If you stopped even trying to make the Lisbeth Salander the heroine of a story, but instead turned her into something more akin to “Pearl,” I think it’s a setup for success. Let me explain — if you made Salander someone a brutal man-hating woman with some redeeming qualities, that sort of solves the problem of how to properly present Salander to audiences.

Mia Goth as Lisbeth Salander?

This would be rather jarring to people, but it’s also very freeing. You don’t have to use the conventions of a mainstream movie anymore. You can really toy with who Salander is by actually showing her brutal, violent side.

And a horror movie is, in general, far more provocative than a mainstream movie, with things going haywire for no apparent reason on a far more regular basis than a mainstream movie where generally there can be no sudden movements.

But, having said all that, generally no one listens to me. It’s an interesting concept, though. And I continue to dwell on my own American interpretation of the Lisbeth Salander troupe. I have a lot of cool ideas that I think once I finish everything I have in mind, people will really like.