Tag: novel

Uh Oh

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, I was in Richmond yesterday, finding random people to hand out a draft of the first three chapters of the novel to when something happened that stopped me cold. I told a young woman who was obviously a liberal white woman the more “edgy” elements of the novel — that my heroine owned a strip club — and she immediately shut down.

This does not bode well for how the liberal white women that I imagine make up the majority of literary agents will respond to that same “edgy” part of the story. I was talking to the young woman in question, having a friendly conversation about the novel, but the moment I told her about the strip club part of the story — she shut down and wandered off.

My reaction to this is multifold.

On one hand, it definitely is a tap on the shoulder to have a back up plan of some sort. I really need to work on a back up novel. I have three solid scifi concepts I can work on.

The heroine of my novel, in my imagination, looks a lot like Corrie Yee.

My other reaction is, fuck it, we’ll do it live. If “Barry” can be produced to success, then my weird little story can potentially be a success, too. I just have to buckle down and get this thing done.

I continue to be concerned about word count, however. I really need to be prepared for the novel to be in the 140,000 – 160,000 range which is just way too fucking long. That gives me another reason to pause and work on a backup plan

I Fear I’ve Been Romanticizing Elements of This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I went to a strip club to do some “research” for the novel (wink) and while I had a good time — as always — I came away thinking maybe I’ve been so wrapped up with how “cool” and “edgy” making my heroine a part-time stripper hobbyist that I miss something — the stripper lifestyle is a lot darker than I’m portraying it.

And it would help the tone of the novel to talk about that in the novel.

So, that’s kind of a long-term project, to make it clear that being a stripper kind of sucks at times. I just have to give a lot of thought as to how to exactly do it.

It Appears That The Novel Has Stabilized

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have printed out a few chapters of the first act and now I hope to go through and make sure that the mystery-thriller elements of the story are evenly spread across as much as possible.

The basic scenes are fine, but I need to keep reminding readers that this is all leading up to a mystery-thriller Big Event that will make the novel a traditional thriller in the guise of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The structure of this novel is much more like The Girl Who Played With Fire, however. I have about 50 scenes of lead up to the event that kicks off the second act of “the special world” and gets us going into what the novel is really about — murder in a small town.

The biggest problem I have at the moment is I’ve changed so much of the first act that I have to accommodate those changes in the rest of the novel. That is really slowing me down.

But I need to stay focused. I know I have a really great concept, I just have to build it out in a way that the novel fits the genre of mystery-thriller. It doesn’t help, of course, that I’m just not very dark or twisted in my writing. I find it really difficult to write that way.

Ugh.

Wish me luck.

I’m Really Worried About Word Count

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

My fear is that I’ll write a really solid first novel, only to discover that it has too many words. I think I can bring it in at no more than 140,000 words, which would put it around what The Girl On The Train has.

But I fear that for various reasons the novel could be closer to 160,000.

I have a few options.

One would be, of course, to split it into two and connect the two parts of the story with a cliffhanger.

Meanwhile, I could also try to think of ways to trim words off of it.

And, lastly, I could just try to sell the novel, even if it’s too long and maybe thin seriously of having a few novels already written that fit the 100,000 word sweetspot.

At the moment, I just don’t know which of these options I’m going to pick. But I do think the novel, in general, is getting really, really good.

Time To Tweak The First Act Of The Alpha Release Of The Third Draft Of My First Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The last month has been a real struggle when it comes to this novel. There were some structural issues that took me what felt like forever to figure out. And I still contend that if I had a wife or girlfriend to act as a “reader” that things would go a lot quicker.

My goal is to write a novel as accessible and popular as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

But, alas, I’m alone.

Anyway, I’ve figured some things out to the point that I can now read a big chunk of the first act and see if I can give the whole thing some consistency. I need to make sure that the mystery-thriller element of the plot is in as many scenes as possible. I need to make sure my scenes have tension in them so people want to keep reading.

I continue to worry about word count as all of this is going on. I just don’t know what I’m going to do about that problem going forward.

My best bet is to just finish the novel, figure out how long it is, THEN weigh my options.

I say that because, in general, the story is getting really, really good. I have a real page turner on my hands. I, of course, need to start to read other people’s fiction (specifically thrillers) so I can have something to “comp” my novel to when it get to the querying process.

I Can’t Help Who I Am

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Every time someone who clearly knows me from my time in Asia looks at my LinkedIn profile I don’t quite know what to do. I am who I am. I try to be the best person I can be.

What’s more, I’ve changed a great deal from who I was in Asia. It’s like I’ve had a brain transplant. I now have a great deal of humility that I did not have back in the day. I look at old pictures of myself and there’s definitely a Before ROKon Magazine and an After ROKon Magazine element to my appearance.

I was a very….colorful…person during my time in Asia. There’s something unnerving about people who knew me way back when — now almost 20 years ago! — still being interested enough in me to look me up on LinkedIn.

All they learn is I haven’t done much with my life since I left Asia. In fact, the only thing of note that I’ve done is work on a novel for years and years. But, at the moment at least, I’m pretty (outwardly) a loser.

No one believes in me, but me. I still believe that I have at least one more hattrick in me. I really believe this novel has a lot of potential. I really believe — in fact I know in my heart — that I am going to sell this novel and it will have some measure of success.

I Have So Much Writing To Do

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a number scenes I have to totally rewrite because I forked the alpha release of the third draft of this novel. But, the issue is — this novel is getting much, much better.

The only concern I have is how long it’s going to be. I think, if I’m lucky, that it will be no longer than maybe 140,000. But there is a chance it could be as much as 160,000 which would put it about where most of Stieg Larsson’s original works are.

An Issue Of Verisimilitude

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If I ever needed a clear sign that, in general, no one takes me seriously, it’s my overall failure to get anyone from my past life with the press industry to answer my call for help about something. (I finally got one person, but that’s really not very many given how many people I reached out to.)

The issue is, I really want to make the situation I’ve come up with for my heroine — that she owns both a strip club (where she occasionally strips to relax) and an alternative weekly — as real as possible. Like, how would that REALLY work out, especially in mid-1990s Richmond, VA?

I’m WELL AWARE that because of human nature and the needs of marketing, that there is a real risk that this novel would be reduced down to two tropes being fused together — “hooker (or sex worker) with a heart of gold” and “sexy slutty assassin” solves a murder mystery.

I think about this even more given how many men my heroine beds in the first act for the purposes of the plot. All the sexxy time is not gratuitous and definitely serves the overall plot. And, in general, I don’t even really show the spicy stuff that much. I do show it some, but it’s hopefully not so much that people get turned off.

And, what’s more, I’ve cut back the sex in the second act. I don’t know, but I think that best practices for storytelling is you delay sexxy time as much as possible. But, lulz, I never do anything the right way.

But the story is getting much, much better in general. I’m really pleased. But I have to prepare for people to attack me for how much sexxy time there is in the novel. While I’m very sex-positive and don’t see my heroine’s sexual activity as “slutty” I’m afraid there will be some people who think I’m replicating Debby Does Dallas with how my heroine seems to have so much sex on the fly.

Ugh. Anyway. Wish me luck.

I Keep Daydreaming About A Return To Asia

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For some reason, I find myself daydreaming about a return to Asia. I was thinking if that became possible that I would land in Tokyo, stay a night, then head to South Korea to visit for about a week. I would go Seoul – Incheon — Ansan then head south on the KTX to see Busan.

2004 me

I would then head to Southeast Asia for a week before heading home.

I’m sure the fucking Internet has ruined everything to the point that such a trip just wouldn’t be what it might have been a decade ago. And, of course, enough South Koreans remember me that I’m SURE I would run into at least one of them while I was in country and they would all but demand that I stay in South Korea for this or that job that think I would be perfect for.

Ugh. I guess that would be a good problem to have, though.

And, yet, at the moment, the only way I would have the funds for such a thing would be if I stuck the landing on the novel, sold it and it had enough success that I could travel to Asia. But even under the absolute best of conditions, that would be probably a few years from now.

So, I could be in my mid-50s before I could return to Seoul. And it would just be very, very, very, very creepy for me to party with people just out of college once I got there. I hate that. But that’s my reality now.

I Need To Work Seriously On An Additional Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I keep expecting to see a headline about some movie or novel that steals a creative march on my novel. And, yet, this novel is so personal and specific that while that is very possible….it’s not probable?

Add to how old I feel and how I know no matter how much success I might be able to get because of this novel — I’m still old and will never be “young in NYC.” It’s enough to give one pause for thought.

But I can’t think like that.

I have to have hope. I have to think about if I do manage to garner any success because of this novel that I will still be alive and be able to have some sort of kooky fun — even if any attempt at such fun with a smoking hot 24-year-old will be looked down upon as….creepy.

All of that is just a daydream at this point. I still haven’t finished the novel. I need to buckle down and get this baby done — and also start to develop some sort of back up plan in case the worst happens. I have three solid scifi novels that I want to work on.

It’s just a matter of pulling my self away from the main task at hand every once in a while to the point that I can do that.

It’s a lot of work.