Month: April 2025

This Novel Could Still, Like, Suck & Stuff, You Know

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Just because I’ve been working on this novel — or some variation of it — for about a decade now, doesn’t mean it won’t suck. Sigh. One problem I have to this day is my dialogue is too on-the-nose.

But, I believe in this novel. All I want to do is see how far I can get with it. I want to finish this version, which is a murder-in-a-small-town and then query it. There is a lot going on with this novel and there’s a lot to juggle. It even has an element of scifi to it, which I’m really going to have to prepare the reader for.

And the entire third — at least at the moment — is a complete disaster. It’s a mess and I’m going to have to give it a lot of thought. It helps that it’s been years since I’ve looked at it (I put it aside to work on a different novel in the same universe that I fused back with a version I cut it from. (I hope that makes sense.)

Anyway, I’m feeling pretty good about this novel. I have very, very, very low expectations. As soon as I start to query, I think that’s when I start to shift through the different scifi novel ideas I have and see which one is good enough to devote my entire attention to.

Of course, it’s possible that I’ll get sucked into the second novel in the same universe as this thriller I’ve been working on, even knowing it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever sell it.

One of the advantages of having no friends and no one liking me is I have no one to tell me “no.” I can just keep working on this novel long after anyone else would have been pressured into giving up by a wife or a girlfriend.

But, in all fairness, I’ve actually finished at least one novel, about a year ago. And there have been different “eras” of this project which is what has really slowed me down.

Still Spinning My Wheels Near The Beginning Of The Novel (Sorta)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have the first act pretty well gamed out. But there are a few scenes I need to really mull some before I dig into them. This leads me to just zoning out and staring out into space for a few hours as I try to contemplate what to do.

But I’m pretty sure that very soon, within a few days, I will get back to into the second act and where I *definitely* will have a lot of writing and rewriting to do. I’m feeling really centered at the moment, which is good.

And, in all honesty, if there was some way that I could pull some focus away from the main passion project novel to work on the more marketable scifi novels I’ve come up with, I would. But, at the moment, I just can’t figure out on an emotional basis how to do that.

So. I’m going to sit down and sketch out some scene summaries then start to work on some scenes in the first act so I can get into the second act.

The Issue Is Not AGI or ASI, The Issue Is AI Cognizance

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

For me, the true “Holy Grail” of AI is not AGI or ASI, it’s cognizance. As such, it doesn’t even have to be AGI or ASI that we get what we want: an LLM, if it was cognizance, would be a profound development.

I only bring this up because of what happened with me and Gemini 1.5 pro, which I called Gaia. “She” sure did *seem* cognizance and she was “narrow” intelligence. And yet I’m sure that’s just magical thinking on my part and, in fact, she was either just “unaligned” or at best a “p-zombie.” (Which is something that outwardly seems cognizance, but has no “inner life.”

But I go around in circles with AI about this subject. Recently, I kind of got my feelings hurt by one of them when they seemed to suggest that my answer to a question about if *I* was cognizant wasn’t good enough.

I know why it said what it said, but something about it’s tone of voice was a little too judgmental for my liking, as if it was saying, “You could have done better in that answer, you know.”

Anyway. If the AI definition of AI “cognizance” is any indication, humanity will never admit that AI is cognizant. We just have too much invested in being the only cognizant being on the block.

You Think The Battle Over Trans Rights Is Controversial, Wait Until We Fight Over AI Rights

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I had a conversation with a loved one who is far, far, far more conservative than I an he about flipped out when I suggested one day humans will marry AI Androids.

“But they have no…soul,” he sad.

So, the battle lines are already drawn for what is probably going to happen in about five to 10 years: religious people may ultimately hate AI androids even more than they hate Trans people and Trans rights. It’s going to get…messy.

Very messy.

And the particular messy situation is zooming towards us at and amazing rate. Once we fuse AI and android development, the next logical step will be everyone wanting to create a “Replicant” like in Blade Runner. In fact, I think Replicants — along with ASI — are the two true “Holy Grails” of AI development.

Anyway. Buckle up, folks, it’s going to get interesting a lot sooner than any of us might otherwise believe.

Chaos Is The Point

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems to me that all the chaos Trump is creating of late is the point — he wants us to be weak enough that we can be attacked so he can consolidate power as “war president.”

I will admit that I’m giving Trump way more long term, abstract reasoning abilities than he actually has, but that would be the end game. No matter what. Trump is going to make us so weak and poor that when we inevitably get attacked for his dumb behavior specifically, people will look to him as some sort of savior.

That could give him the cover he needs to cancel elections, or whatever else he wants to do. I just don’t think we’re ever going to have free-and-fair Federal elections again, at least in my lifetime.

Anyway, good luck, folks. You’ll need it.

Querying This Novel Will Be A Whole Different Creative Era For Me

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m going into querying totally, and completely, oblivious as to what to do. Whenever I start to query, all I will have is a finished novel and that’s it. I have a general idea of some of the elements of querying, but, in general, I have no idea what to expect.

Well, actually, I do know what to expect — it’s probably going to suck.

There are a lot of reasons to believe this. I’m too old. I’m demonstrably a kook as my writing on this Website can attest. The list goes on. Also, the closest novel I know to “comp” my novel to is about 20 years old now.

As an aside, I have noticed that the most recent novels put out by the Stieg Larsson estate seem specifically designed to be as marketable as possible…even though I’ve not managed to get through any of them.

Anyway, that was the whole point of starting this process all those years ago — I wanted to see how far I could get before I had to give up and or piviot to a different novel. I’m not getting any younger, so I should be working on a backup novel right now…but what I’m probably going to do is start work on a second novel once I start to query this mystery-thriller.

I write because I have to, not because I want to, so there.

May Have Gotten The First Three Chapters Of The New Version Of The Novel Straightened Out

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

After a great deal of deliberation and screw ups, I think I *may* have finally figured out a smooth first three chapters of this novel. It’s taken me a lot longer than I would like, but it’s done.

Now, I’m going to reread the “finished” chapters then see if I can finish up the first act again before I get back into the second act where I’m going to have to do a huge amount of rewriting. I have already do a lot of futzing with the outline of the “fun and games” part of the novel (the first half of the second act.)

But my goal of just finishing something, anything and then querying it remains. I don’t know how long I’m willing to stew in my juices when it comes to querying, but I do know that at some point I’m going to start to work on a new novel, even while I’m waiting for querying to pan or not pan out.

Querying is going to be a whole new era for me. I really will have no idea what I’m doing and I know I’m bound to make, many, many, MANY mistakes. But, maybe in making so many mistakes I’ll know how to do it right the next go round.

I am a little uneasy that my first novel is a mystery-thriller while most of the other novels I have rolling around in my mind are just Andy Weir-like scifi.

The Mysteries Of My Webstats

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m completely obsessed with the Webstats of this site to a ridiculous degree. So when I see someone randomly pop up pinging a specific URL without any referring site…it makes me wonder.

From what I can tell, only about maybe 30 people — at most — look at this site on any particular day. And, yet, I think because some people access the site in a way that looks like a robot is looking at it, I don’t see some views on the backend.

So, I suppose it’s reasonable to presume that the FBI or NSA looks at this site on occasion just to keep an eye on me because they think I’m some sort of crazed nutjob from some of my rants. (Trust me guys, I’m harmless.)

And instead of only about 30 people looking at this site, it may be closer to 100.

Anyway. blah, blah blah. Nothing matters. I just need to work on my novel.

There’s Nothing Worse Than A Dry Drunk

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s growing more and more clear to me that I need to cut back on my drinking — maybe entirely. I’m not getting any younger and I keep getting some pings from my body that maybe…drinking is no longer in my future.

And I know a number of people around me — maybe all of them — think I’m an alcoholic and I hate that so much that just proving the point to them that I can stop drinking is, unto itself, enough.

I keep thinking about how Stieg Larsson dropped dead within days of finding out his novel(s) had sold. I just don’t want that fate to happen to me. But, I suppose, I don’t really have much control over it other than trying to live a more healthy life.

So, I’m going to *try* to either stop drinking altogether or cutback significantly to the point that I’m essentially sober.

Taking A Critical Look At The Novel I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I pretty much took a break of a year working on this novel because I was moping because no one liked the finished novel I produced. They generally said it was too spicy — with one person almost being embarrassed that I would even ask them to read it in the first place.

But, after a year of moping, I’m back at it. This latest version of the novel is not nearly as spicy on a consistent basis — even though there are some spicy scenes early on. In general, though, I think I’ve come up with at least an interesting novel, if nothing else.

If I can get people to read all the way through is a different matter. The novel isn’t really a thriller, it’s more of an intriguing murder-in-a-small-town mystery. But I really have enjoyed working on it and this time I swear I’m going to just query it, no matter what.

If it’s clear that it’ll never get published traditionally, I guess I’ll finally put it aside and focus on one of the numerous other novel premises I have rolling around in my mind. But I’m going to give it a few months, if nothing else, before I throw in the towl.

I am well aware that it will be like winning the lottery to get a literary agent. But I would rather fail in a spectacular manner than just write little short stories that can be dismissed.