by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
So. I’m still reflecting on how I might change the “fun and games” portion of the novel, or the first half of the second act. I think some of my struggle has to do with continue to have lingering questions about what, exactly, the novel is about. Is it about a murder or is about a person’s obsession with…what?
Wish me luck, Howard.
And how do I make the first half of the second act juicy enough that if you read a blurb describing it on the back of a novel’s cover that you would want to open the first page so you could see if you wanted to buy the novel or not. I’m giving myself until Sunday afternoon to do all this reflection.
I have done a lot of tinkering with the first act, too. The first act is a lot better, but re-imagining portions of the first act leave me feeling like yet again I’m treading water. But I’m not. It’s just the revamping of the first half of the second act is so radical that I have to go backwards in time in order to make the “fun and games” portion of the novel as interesting and juicy as possible.
I continue to have a lot of existential dread about the querying process. I mentioned this one Facebook and some smart-ass said, “Then just don’t do it.” If I was younger, I would have gotten REALLY FUCKING ANGRY at this asinine advice, but I was able to keep my cool for once. Just because something fills you with “existential dread” doesn’t mean you don’t do it. It means you rise to the occasion and push yourself harder to prepare for the battle ahead.
Ugh.
Anyway, I’m getting really excited about what happens next with this novel. It’s going to be a real pain in the ass to go outside my comfort zone by entering the beta reader process where I am someone else’s beta reader so they will be MY beta reader. Given the looming instability in the United States in late 2024, early 2025….I dunno.
I’m either going to well on my way to knowing if I’m good enough to be a published author — or a domestic political refugee. But I have hope. I hope that I can stick the landing, the world doesn’t go to hell and I can become a smug “bi-coastal” liberal who looks down on the Poors of flyover states and tweets humble brags about how bad the Red Eye was.
Wish me luck!
