A Major Milestone With Development #Novel #AmWriting



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Well, I’ve finally gotten further with this novel’s development than I’ve ever gotten in two years. I have a development booklet for “Part I” of the novel done and now plan to sit down in the next 24 hours or so and “just write.”

I still haven’t finished the entire outline yet (which would be turned into a complete scene summary) but, lulz, what am I going to do about it. I am hoping that simply by writing a Part I that is really good, that, in itself, will be enough to get me through some pretty uncertain parts of the novel going forward.

There’s a whole FBI portion of the novel I have no idea how to proceed with. I have several books I’m reading and an FBI PR person I talk to, but I’m worried that having to throw a lot of attention into that part of the story is going to slow me down.

Now, the thing you have to remember is, the energy to develop and write this novel comes from my white hot rage against the Trump Administration. Now that impeachment has failed, my rage against the Trump Administration is hotter than the center of the sun (on a good day.) Since I’m a man of peace and a man of ideas, I feel I have no other recourse than to write a novel that is DL a fucking H-Bomb of an indictment against the Trump Era.

So, whenever Trump does something that enrages me, I use the emotional energy generated by that to read another book, or do some more development before I got to bed.

The key point is that this novel be a fast, easy read. Very breezy. Something not preachy, something you read so fast you are late to work because you didn’t get much sleep reading it. That’s the way I felt reading Stieg Larsson’s stuff and that’s the way I want people to feel with this novel. I want my rage against the Trump Administration to be so diffused that even conservatives can read this novel and not feel like I’m attacking them. (MAGA conservatives, however, might have something of a problem with this novel, given some of the plot points.)

Anyway, all systems are go to “just write” very, very soon.

Things May Be Moving Fast Now With The #Novel



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


It’s possible that, in a sense, things are going to move VERY FAST now. I still haven’t finished the outline, but I am working on the scene summary (with a lot of help from the book Scene and Structure.)

My goal is to have “Part 1” sketched out pretty soon then start writing on it soon afterwards. I’m hoping that simply by stabilizing Part 1 that building out from that going forward will be pretty easy (or at least easier.) The story itself is really strong. The problem has always been my storytelling ability hasn’t been up to making a fairly complex situation implemented in a simple enough fashion that an audience could understand it.

There are some really, really great easy-to-film scenes (or at least scenes audiences would LIKE to SEE on the big screen) in this story and that’s one of the things get keeps me going. I keep putting all this work into this project because I really, really, REALLY want to write a few scenes.

Anyway, I hope to throw myself into development this evening. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I’m Obsessed With The Outline To The Novel I’m Developing



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Every day, I look at the outline the novel I’m developing and throw huge chunks of it in the trash. But it’s definitely getting better. I think, however, that I need to think outside the box more.

I need to start reading weirder things or something, something, anything to provoke more creativity. I have the general story of the novel so well down pat in my mind that I have something of a rut going on. If I took drugs (which I don’t) I would drop some acid or something.

But all I got is books and some booze.

Anyway, I’ll try again tomorrow morning. At least I know some of the Big Issues I have to fix with the novel. I really, honestly, have no idea what I’m doing so it seems as though I’m determined to make every mistake you can possibly make as part of developing this novel.

But the over all story is getting much, much better as my storytelling ability improves gradually and significantly.

Jennifer Lawrence & The Quandary Of My Novel’s Female Romantic Lead



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I’m operating completely in a vacuum with this novel. I have no idea what I’m doing. But I do have a very specific vision. Part of that vision is I want my female romantic lead (the person closest to the hero and the person he talks to the most) to be inspired by Alexa Chung.

But there’s a little bit of a problem, given how fucked up the world it these days.

Chung doesn’t look “Asian,” despite her surname. Now, in the novel it’s really easy to explain how this happened to my female romantic lead, just like it happened to Alexa Chung. Her dad was three-fourth’s Asian and, as such, she doesn’t have traditional Asian apperence.

But I’m ambitious.

I want this novel to be a pulpy, fast read like Stieg Larsson’s original Millennium series. My novel is meant to be an American answer to his work, but it’s also meant to be something of a guilty pleasure for educated liberal women in the sense that it’s also an allegory for the Trump Era. (Let me be clear, this is all in my head — any actual person with any knowledge of said market would probably laugh at me.)

As such, my dream is for this novel to be adapted into a movie. The perfect person to play the female romantic lead is Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She’s the right age and appearance, everything. But another person who could play the role is Jennifer Lawrence.

One thing to remember is, this is a novel, not a screenplay. I do all this talking about Hollywood stars despite this for no other reason than I need SOME SORT of reference point in constructing characters. Jennifer Lawrence’s is such a huge star and such a great actress that if I win the lottery and my dreams of writing a break out novel come true, the idea that people would bitch about her “not looking Asian” in any move adaptation is really annoying.

Or, you could just say I think too much.

I should be developing, not mentally masturbating about such an unlikely thing.

The Outline Collapsed AGAIN



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Well, it happened AGAIN. I realized I could make the outline for the novel I’m developing better and by doing so, I realized there was a huge structural problem and the whole thing collapsed. So, I’m not back to zero, but I’m at maybe 45% right now.

But I’m reading a number of books that will make this a really cool story once I get over myself and settle on some basic elements of its structure. But I still have a few days before I panic. I have given myself until about the July 4th weekend to wrap up the outline. Whatever I have at that point, I run with and start using to write, even if it’s not perfect — or finished.

Anyway.

Now to print out the smoldering wreckage of the outline again and look over it, struggling to figure out how I can fix the biggest problem of all — in the “fun and games” portion of the novel (the first half of the second act) — I need some fun and games. I need some investigation of some sort. I can’t have people just sitting around talking to teach other, ignoring the number of dead bodies that are piling up around them.

Something’s gotta give.

An Outline Update



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


Things are going well with the outline. I still have a massive amount of both development and reading to do. But a lot of what I have to do is simply not being scared, to overcome any fears I may have. I have to go outside my comfort zone on a number of different levels.

I had a big “click!” in my mind today when it came to the outline. I now am much closer to having the first half of the novel and the third act outline. All I don’t know anything about is the police procedural part of the novel which is the second half of the second act. That’s something I have to do some serious reading about.

The general story is really good. It’s going to be two books, one story. I love these characters and am willing to fight for them to exist in a way that fits my vision.

It will be interesting to see how things work out.

Reworking The #Novel’s First Act Outline, AGAIN



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I’m looking forward to getting back to work on the novel’s outline tomorrow afternoon. I’m going to start reading a lot again, as well. I have so much reading to do.

But, in general, as of right now, things are going well overall. I just have to keep believing in myself. No one believes in me. No one cares. I’m just an anonymous nobody in the middle of nowhere with a dream at this point.

The overall conceit of the novel is extremely compelling. The reason why it’s taken me two years to get to this point is, well, I’ve had to develop my storytelling ability. I just went into this pretty clueless.

If I had done what everyone suggested at the time, which is “just write” I would have failed. I would have gotten bogged down in rewriting everything a zillian times. With the development method I’m using now, I can do a lot of changes to the novel very easily and very quickly without having to write 30,000 useless words to discover that.

Anyway, that whole “just write” advice still bugs the fuck out of me. It’s even more annoying that it came from people who claimed to “know me better than I knew myself.”

Uh huh.

My Delusional Stupidity About ‘Woke Park Slope Moms’



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I posted a call for a “reader” on the NYC Craig’s List and all I got was grief from people about how I was being both “stupid and delusional.” This came in no small part from the fact that I said things like “no — or little — money” and how I wanted the novel to be a “guilty pleasure for Woke Park Slope Moms.”

I guess I WAS being delusional and stupid.

And, yet, no one cares about what I’m doing. No one believes in me. I generally have a very quirky — and obsessive — personality and this novel has officially consumed my entire creative life. Which is good. I’m using what little ability I have to produce something at the high end of my ability.

I still want this novel to be a guilty pleasure for educated, wealthy women. But not in, like, a 50 Shades kind of way. More a novel that is really thought provoking and has strong female characters in it in a way that educated women really like. But I absolutely no idea what I’m doing.

I guess I’m just kind of annoyed how Olivia Wilde and Jessica Chastain complain about how guys can’t write female characters and I want to prove them wrong. I don’t know how successful I’ll ultimately be, but this irritation definitely gives me incentive to do better than I might otherwise.

Shrug. No one cares what I’m doing. I can do anything I want.

Sometimes, You Just Have To Believe



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

No one believes in me. And I’ve been talking and writing and livestreaming about developing a novel for about two years now and so everyone thinks I’m a joke. What they don’t know is Sonic Death Monkey is going to change its name soon and I’m going to start belting out “Let’s Get It On.”

I’m very close to wrapping up the outline of the novel. I’m going to go full speed in the coming days so I have enough to be able to sit down and start writing around July 5th or so. A *lot* could go wrong between now and then. A lot. A whole lot.

But given how inspired I’m feeling with this blog right now, I get the sense that my mind is ready to start writing. The only reason why I don’t just start right now is the number of times I’ve tried to do the past, only to have everything collapse on me.

So, I’m being extremely stubborn.

I’m going to continue to do a lot — A LOT — of reading about writing and just anything in general I can get myself to read. I’m reading The End of October right now and it’s really good. It’s kind of beginning not to be as interesting, though, which I think has something to do with it no longer being a cool scenario and becoming more just A Novel.

I’m really looking forward to writing again, though. I have a whole methodical setup laid out. Once I finish the outline, I’ll implement that next step.

What’s Jennifer Lawrence Up To These Days?



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner


I’ve always been a big fan of J-Law. I feel so bad for her given the Fappening situation. But she seems to have bounced back quite well. I often find myself wondering what she would think of the novel I’m developing. I think she would like it a great deal.

She would be perfect to play the female romantic lead, even though she IS a bit young for the person I have in my head. But, lulz, that’s never going to happen for any reason, so all I’m doing is wasting energy to even propose it. I haven’t even finished the outline yet, much less a first, second or third draft.

I’m so oblivious to the “right” way of doing any of this.

But I really do like J-Law. She’s got such a great personality and is an excellent actress. That she’s BFF with Phoebe Waller-Bridge is even better. I find J-Law’s personality very endearing.

J-Law seems like the type of person who would pop out a kid in private then come back with force. Maybe that’s what she’s doing with her new husband? Having a kid? Who knows.

Anyway, maybe one day I’ll finish the novel I’m working on and she’ll read it. A guy can dream, can’t he?