Tag: literary agents

Well, Now. Huh

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I saw on Tik-Tok today some woman who was absolutely clear that AI could not be used in novel development. You could use AI to learn structure, etc, but you couldn’t actually use it to impliment it.

Oh boy.

Don’t quite know what to do about that.

I’m of the opinion that AI is like a spellchecker was 30 years ago. There probably were people who said you can use spellcheck to “help you learn to spell” but when it came to actually writing, you were forbidden from using it.

It’s all too late, for me, even if I wanted to change things. AI is too much a part of my workflow and I’m pretty strict about making sure that what is actually on the page is mine.

It took a while, but I figured out how to use AI in my workflow in such a way that all the text on the page is mine, even if a lot of the backend stuff that readers never see or know about is aided by AI.

Only time will tell if anyone is cool with that.

I Fear My Novel Is Way Too Spicy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I worry that even within the context of my novel being about a sexbot sexworker that it’s too…spicy. That there’s just too much sex depicted. And that that, combined with how old I am and how bonkers I am will make selling this novel traditionally very difficult.

And, yet, it’s a little bit too late at this point to worry about that.

I’m about to wrap up the second act of the latest draft and wade into the third act. Once I do that, I’m going to prepare to work on the NEXT draft, the final second draft, before I let beta readers read the novel.

AND THEN, I’m going to really sit down and think about what my next novel is going to be. What I want to do is go back to working on a homage to Stieg Larsson’s stuff. But there are problems with that idea, at least for the time being.

I would be a male writing occasionally from a female POV. People get confused with switching third person intimate POVs within chapters. The list goes on. So….I don’t know.

I may piviot to another scifi novel once this scifi novel is done. I have two strong candidates. I still have time — unless of course someone swoops in an steals a creative march on me with this novel I’ve been working on.

And I continue to be really uneasy about people assuming “AI wrote it” simply because I’m too poor to get a human editor to help me out in real time. So, meh?

Nearing The End Of The Second Act For The Latest Draft Of This Scifi Dramedy I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m using three different AIs for various elements of this scifi dramedy I’m working on. But the one that helps the most is Claude. I feed it a scene I’ve written and it gives me really good advice.

I’m really doing everything in my power to remove any “AI speak” from the novel. I want this novel to be as human-written as possible. I have to admit that as I go through this latest version of the novel I realize I got lazy last time and told AI to “gently” edit my copy, only to have it dramatically rewrite my vision of things.

But, this time, I’m doing everything in my power to make sure that if it’s on the page, a human — me — wrote it. I definitely get advice from AI, but the actual writing is done by me.

All of this really is slowing me down.

But there’s a chance that once I actually get into the third act things will speed up dramatically. Maybe? I don’t know yet. But I do hope that within one to two months I will start to assemble beta readers then a month or so after that, I will start to querying process.

It’s possible that I’m just too old and I’m wasting my time. It’s possible that, on the other hand, that it will be the NEXT novel that I work on that I will successfully query. This novel, my expectations are pretty low, given how “spicy” it is. I just want to see how far I can get through the querying process.

If I fail, then I dust myself off and try again with a new novel.

I’m Pleased With The State Of The Scifi Dramedy I’m Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are going at a nice little clip with this scifi dramedy I’m writing. I’m hoping that I can write at least three scenes a day. If I did that, that would help a lot to ensure that I can wrap this novel up in time to query around Sept 1st.

I still have not done basic things like read books on querying or read Annie Bot, my novel’s comp novel. But, lulz.

One thing I’m a little nervous about is that despite my best efforts to edit out as much “AI speak” as possible, that somehow, if this novel was put into a AI detection software that it would say that I had used AI to actually write the novel.

While I admit that I’m an “AI First” novelist, I see my use of AI as more like modern, advanced spell checking than an excuse to not actually write the damn novel. I have done so much work!

But everything and everyone is horrible and I’m sure I’ll be fucked one way or another.

I Worry This Scifi Dramedy Is Too Spicy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to tell you, folks. I’m writing about a sexbot and I worry there’s too much…sex…in the novel. And, yet, I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking things, looking things too much through the lens of a movie.

The point is to tell a good story and if I can tell a good story while depicting a lot of spicy content, all the better.

But I’m WELL AWARE that the “woke cancel culture mob” will likely hate this novel for various personal and fictional reasons. I can’t help who I am. And I can’t help that I came up with a pretty good idea for a novel that just happened to lend itself to lots of spicy scenes.

My biggest problem right now is how fucking moody I am when it comes to writing. I spend way too much time daydreaming rather than writing. Though I have to admit that using Claude LLM and Gemini LLM as my manuscript consultants has really helped a lot.

And I know because everything is horrible that any whiff of an idea that I used AI to help write this novel will cause a lot of people to dismiss the whole endeavor as “AI slop.”

It’s not. I swear.

I’ve done all the heavy lifting, with some assistance from AI.

Well, If Nothing Else, This Scifi Dramedy I’m Working On Is…Interesting

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There are some really interesting quirks to this scifi dramedy I’m working on. I’m feeling pretty good, in general, about how this novel is going. To the point that I’m just going to be happy that the novel is finished.

Any success I might have beyond that will be the cherry on top.

This newest version of the novel I’m working on, in particular, is spicy and interesting. I’ve leaned into some of the more surreal possibilities presented by the premise of the novel.

Anyway, I am still on track to wrap this novel up in such a way that I can begin to query it around Sept 1st. But it’s possible I may be forced to punt that into January.

And, what’s more, I have another novel rolling around in my mind that I will probably begin serious development on the moment I wrap up this scifi dramedy. The next novel is going to be a lot more wholesome (to a certain degree.)

Now In The Second Half Of This Scifi Dramedy I’ve Been Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The hope is, that once I finish this draft of this novel I’ve been working on for some time now that the NEXT time I go through it will be a breeze. I will just lightly edit it here and there to make absolutely sure that it’s in my own voice and people can’t accuse me “having AI write it.”

My fear, of course, is that I’ll read it the next time and see all these opportunities to make it better and that will slow me down significantly.

But as of right now, I’m feeling pretty good about this novel.

Though, it is of note that absolutely no on but me believes in any of this. I had an alarming conversation with a relative about the movie Ex Machina and….they pretty much said anyone who thought such things up must be some sort of twisted sicko.

I tried to tell her that, “Well….” but it did not register. Which makes me wonder what this person will say once this novel is finished and I MIGHT want her to read it. I find that doubtful now, though. No point.

I’m really going to struggle to find people to serve as Beta Readers I fear. And I’m growing really nervous about what kind of reception I should expect from the mostly liberal white women who make up literary agents. I’m kind of a kook and when they do due diligence on me…they might not like what they find.

And that doesn’t event begin to address the woke cancel culture mob generally not liking any sort of sex written by a smelly male, especially a smelly middle-aged male like me.

Anyway.

Right now, my biggest problem is I have too much information for the characters to process. Too many big events have happened in quick succession and I need to figure out a way to slow things down, to process information over the course of a few scenes, not just one.

But we’ll see, I guess.

My Biggest Worries About My Novel At The Moment

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

  1. Too Much AI
    I am very self-conscious about there being any AI used to actually write anything in this novel. My hope is, through the editing process, I can eliminate any “AI speak” that may have slipped through the development process. I have worked so hard on this novel, I would be devastated if it was unpublishable because I had used AI too much to actually write it. (Which I haven’t.)
  2. It’s Too Spicy
    There is a lot of sex in this novel. And I’m worried that the very nature, the very premise, of the novel will be seen as “too trashy” for the liberal white women I imagine make up most literary agents. But who knows. The novel is shaping up to be pretty good, all things considered.
  3. I’m Too Big A Kook
    I’m really worried that whenever I get into the querying process and literary agents are doing “due diligence” on me that they will read this blog, or my social media presence and be extremely spooked that I’m just too big of a weirdo to sell a novel. But we’ll see, I guess. Stranger things and all that.

Feeling Insecure About My Novel’s ‘Comp,’ Annie Bot

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The core difference between my novel and Annie Bot is mine is told from the POV of the “owner” of the android. Similar premises, in a sense, but told from the exact opposite POV.

Now, I decided to tell my novel this way because, well, lulz, the woke cancel culture mob demands that men only write from a male POV and as such, lulz, I have to write it the way I am.

Of course, given GenZ’s general “no sex please” sentiment that is ANOTHER issue that I have to worry about. My novel has a lot of spicy content in it for various and obvious reasons.

But I worry that 1) Annie Bot is better written than my novel and 2) the woke cancel culture mob will poo-poo my attempt to write a dramedy about a man’s relationship to an android he subscribes to.

And, yet, I really like what I’ve come up with. It is, all things considered, pretty good. It’s quite an entertaining yarn, if I do say so myself.

Turbulence Ahead

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m beginning to believe that the long dreaded turbulence I’ve expected for my personal life is going to happen soon. It could totally throw the context of me working on this novel out of whack.

And, yet, I’ve been grateful for how long I’ve had the idyllic situation.

At this point, I just want to finish a novel that I’m proud of. Any thing else that might happen will be icing on the cake, as it were.

I still haven’t read Annie Bot. I still haven’t read any of the books I have on querying. I just can’t bring myself to do such things just yet.

I think once I actually finish the novel — no matter how trashy it might ultimately be — that is when I will really start to take querying more seriously. Right now, it’s still something of an abstract.