Month: July 2023

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t have any problem with manuscript consultants, but their belief that I’m a drunk crank that they won’t work with definitely generates a lot of angst for me. It causes me to reflect on how people who don’t know me perceive me. But it’s one of those things that I just can’t do anything about.

So, here I am chomping at the bit to start the third draft of my first novel and I have five more novels I want to work on, but I’m worried that snooty manuscript consultants will laugh at me if I offer to pay them to help me figure out how to write the novels.

All of this is really weird to me because you would think that manuscript consultants would be amenable to people who are “different” who want to write a novel. But it definitely seems this is not the case. Once they look at my Twitter account they ghost me — they think I’m too big a kook to work with.

Anyway, I’m going to keep chugging along. I really want to start writing the Third Draft of the first novel in this series, but I also really want to start development on the other five novels in this project.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Because of Beta Reader issues and my need to read for the purposes of research, if nothing else, I’ve pretty much decided to pause writing on my first novel until around Sept 1st. This is extremely hard for me to do because I know, in general, that in real terms it’s unlikely beta readers are going to give me the type of input I really need.

There may be a few who give me cogent, constructive criticism, but in general, either they’re going to ghost me or they’re going to give me something between “it sucks” and “it’s great.” And that will be that.

And, yet, there is a very specific thing I want to research that is requiring me to read a tom. There is a very specific new element to my heroine’s personality that I want to be well read on to the point that I can use that particular personality trait to great effect.

I feel very focused on this particular issue because I know that, done right, it will make my heroine a lot more accessible and also a lot more likeable to the reading public. This specific issue is a quirk of her persona that will both draw readers in and also be a hook for marketing purposes going forward.

At least, that’s the vision.

Anyway, I constaly have my own mortality on my brain these days. I have come up with six novels, but I’m so fucking old I may simply drop dead long before I can actually get anywhere near writing them.

And, yet, I like the sense of hope that the prospect of six novels brings with it. I’m not dead YET and, who knows, maybe somehow, someway, I might pull off this third hat trick.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I would like to note that I’m aware that a man saying “female” gives some women the “ick.” But, like the headline above, sometimes you have to say female because “woman” just sounds weird and awkward.

The heroine of my first novel looks kind of like this in my mind.

Anyway, I write about this all the time because it really bothers me. A lot of squeaky wheels in my prospective audience get really worked up about how bad male authors are at attempting to write from a female POV. As such, I really get kind of nervous whenever I write something about the female experience that I can only extraplate or reverse engineer from a male perspective.

I had no idea this was even an issue when I started working on this six novel project. But now, I think about it all the time. There is, in real terms, little I can do about it. Either you accept that a man can write from a female POV, or you don’t.

All I can do is just write my vision for the novel out and see what happens. I’m feeling pretty good at this point about my ability to write female characters (really, some people want me to say “woman characters?” that is so awkward to write.)

Or maybe this?

Anyway, I’m getting really excited about writing the third draft of my first novel. And I’m also really thinking hard about the other six novels in the project. My only fear, at this point is, of course, that I’m being really, really ambitious and I’m going to drop dead before I come anywhere near finishing all six novels.

But I definitely have the overall, macro arc of the six novels well thought out in my mind. It deals with events over the course of a generation and has an open ended conclusion that would setup a whole new series of books with a Lisbeth Salander-type heroine.

At least, that’s the vision. I’m 50, I could very well just die of a heart attack and that will be that. But wish me luck, I guess?