Tag: novel

Moving Scenes Around In The Second Draft’s ‘Fun & Games’

Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I made a structural change to the novel at the end of the first act that has caused a cascading series of changes that need to be done. So, I’ve been forced to move some things around in the “fun and games” part of the novel.

I was really worried it would be a bigger pain in the butt than it has turned out to be. It is — so far — not so bad. I’ve deleted some scenes and moved up a few others, but overall things have been a lot smoother than I expected.

But I’m still going to probably have to rewrite a number of scenes for the second draft. I can’t just hand wave things. I really need to do a stress test for the second draft to make sure things are good enough to produce a version of the story that could be queried.

My new deadline in my mind is my birthday in February to start the beta reader process. But the second half of the novel isn’t nearly as written out as the first, so it could be a real slog. I’m going to have to actually write out a number of scenes that I just wrote a few paragraphs for.

Anyway, I continue to be really, really nervous about what the liberal white women of the literary agent world will think of my efforts. My political views are generally in line with those of liberal white women, but I’m not perfect, man. I’m not only a big old screw up — and a kook — I’m a loudmouth crank who is prone to getting really excited over dumb things.

So, I suppose, there’s still a good chance I’ll get “canceled” even before I sell the novel because when literary agents do their due diligence on me they will freak out at what they see here on this blog and in general on social media.

Ugh.

Sent Out The First Chapter of Beta Draft Of The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On To Some People

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Completely on a lark, because one person asked for the first chapter of the novel I’m working on, I decided to send the first chapter of the beta draft to some people.

I kind of goofed and didn’t read over it one last time before I sent it to these people, so they may see some rather embarrassing goofs on my part. Or not. I just don’t know.

But I think I have learned my lesson on that front — always do one last check of your copy before you sent it out for *any* reason. And, yet, I also think doing it this way is a good way to manage my expectations.

I have to appreciate that things may not quite go the way I expect with beta readers. It could be that I actually write something pretty good and I STILL can’t get anyone to be a beta reader.

I’ve had problems with expectations about novels I’ve written in the past. So, hopefully, I can avoid that kind of stuff going forward.

Anyway, I’m nearing the end of the first act of the beta draft. Soon, things are going to slow down significantly because I’m going to have to do some structural rewriting. And the second half of the novel is far less written out than the first. So that is really going to slow me down as I make my trek to the end of the novel.

But, we’ll see, I guess.

A Little Uneasy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m a little uneasy that my dream of being a traditional published author just is not possible. It’s may just not be possible because I’m too old, live in the middle of nowhere and am a self-avowed loudmouth crank.

I used to think I had enough “rizz” that “normal” people would at least humor me. But, now, I’m growing concerned that I could write the fucking Bible and the “normal” “serious” liberal white women who probably make up (or at least do in my imagination) most literary agents will take one look at places like this blog and run away from me as fast as possible.

I’m not picking on them. And it’s not really there fault — I just can’t help that I’m a kook. I am who I am and it’s taken me way too long to get where I need to be with this novel.

But, while there’s life, there’s hope, I suppose.

Getting A Little Excited

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m breezing through the transformation of the first draft of the scifi dramedy novel into the second draft. At least at the moment. That’s because I’m able to reuse a lot of text that I generated in the first half of the novel.

Things are going to get much, much more difficult when I reach the second half of the novel because I just was more interested in stress-testing the outline that actually worrying about making sure scenes were long enough.

So, I’m going to have go through and really work to make the scenes of the second half proper length and that is going to slow me down some. But, and this is a huge but, I think I’m still on track — maybe — to query this novel in spring 2026.

Maybe.

If that is the case, then I have to start thinking about post-production stuff like querying, getting and agent and…a lawyer? I am totally broke, so unless I can figure out a way to get someone I’m related to do spot me for the costs of a lawyer to look over a book contract…oh boy.

And, yet, on a psychological basis, this is the farthest I’ve ever gotten with a novel so far. I really think I may wrap this baby up sooner rather than later.

Hopefully. Maybe.

But I continue to worry about my bonkers social media output being enough to either make “serious” liberal white women literary agents run away in dismay when they do due diligence on me.

I can’t help who I am, so, lulz?

I Finally (Sorta) Finished The (Second) First Draft Of The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is actually the second first draft I’ve done of this novel I’m working on. The second half of the novel is very breezy and short, but I did stress test the outline enough to know what scenes work. But I have high hopes. I really hope I won’t have to rewrite, on a structural basis, everything like I did last time when I thought I had a first draft done.

I’m hoping I can hone close, on a structural basis, what I have laid out for this first draft as I revise it for the second draft. I honestly don’t quite know what to do. It’s going to be a real struggle to not use AI in this new era of developing the novel.

But I know I can do it. The only use of AI I probably will do is get some hints as to how to make scenes longer. I won’t use it to write anything — AT ALL. I just don’t want people to accuse me of using AI to write the novel.

And if there is any “AI talk” in the text, that’s the first thing they’re going to assume. Even if I wrote most of the text. Ugh.

I May Have To Recalibrate When I Will Query This Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Just musing casually about the chronology of how I might get to querying next year, it seems that it may be Sept. 1st, rather than, say, May 1st. I say this because even if I wrap up this version of the novel by Jan. 1st, it could take me three months to rewrite a lot of scenes that need to be worked on.

Then, I have find beta readers — who will do it for free! — and then revise from their suggestions. That would get me closer to June-ish before I could query. And, as I understand it, there are two “seasons” to querying — spring and fall.

So I just don’t know.

It will be 20 years since I started ROKon Magazine in fall 2026, so that would kind of be apropos in sentimental terms. I really believe in this novel, I really do. And I want to throw myself all-in.

I want to make it the best it can possibly be before I query. And, yet, as they say, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

So, things are still up in the air some.

Continued Musing About My Querying Prospects

Barring some unexpected twist — which is always possible — I’m finally on track to be in querying shape for this sci-fi dramedy novel I’m working on by late spring 2026.

It won’t be easy, but it feels doable.

I’m about to dive into the third act of the newest draft. My hope is to blast through it using the outline as my guide, wrap that up around early January, and then circle back to deepen and polish a lot of the half-formed scenes I left rough on purpose. No one but me will ever see this version, and I needed the freedom to solve the big structural puzzles before worrying about finesse.

What’s been on my mind lately, though, is how my social-media footprint might affect my chances once I start querying. In my head, most agents are liberal white women, and I worry that some of my louder, crankier posts from years past might make someone wince.

I’ve been a rambunctious loudmouth most of my life, so I’m sure I’ve irritated someone somewhere enough to get myself “canceled.” But honestly, I just want to see how far I can get in this process. That’s the whole goal.

And if I can get even one person — someone who isn’t related to me — to read the whole novel and tell me anything at all about it, I’ll be thrilled. In the past, I’ve handed people my work only to be ghosted.

Ugh.

But onward. One step at a time.

Entering The Third Act Of This Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now, I still have a whole lot to work to do on this novel before I’m anywhere near being done. I have to finish the third act of this version of the novel then go through and rewrite a lot — A LOT — of scenes.

The point of this draft is to get the structure down pat. To get the lay of the land. Once I wrap this draft up, then I can go through and improve things. Make as much of the content in the actual text of the novel as much of my voice and hard work as possible.

I really leaned into AI help to write the outline for this novel and to some extent I am learning about the details of the novel as I write it. And, as such, I have to go through and rework and sometimes take out scenes to make it fit better with what I actually want to write.

The plan is, once I get this draft done, I can eliminate as much of the non-macro AI elements of the story as possible. So, good or bad, what you actually read on the page will be my writing, not AI generated in any meaningful way.

But I still need to finish the third act of this version. I don’t quite know what to expect. I have a general idea of what Claude LLM and I came up with, but there is going to be some discovery on my part as I go through the outline.

Things Are Going Well With This Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Writing (At The Moment)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Right now, my biggest fear with this scifi dramedy novel I’m writing is word count — scene bloat. I’m really nervous that I’ll write a really good novel, but it will just be too long for a first novel.

And, yet, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was about 160,000 words and that got published. So…lulz? It’s not IMPOSSIBLE for a novel that is longer to get published — even for someone as old as fuck like I am.

Right now, I’m just breezing my way through a draft of the novel to so I get some sense of it’s structure on a specific basis. Once I wrap this version up, then I’m going to make another pass through it to make some scenes longer and maybe eliminate some other scenes.

I really don’t want a novel that’s 200,000 words. About 160,000 would be manageable, even though it would still be way too fucking long for a first novel.

But, anyway, I think — think — that I’m getting a little bit of a second wind with this novel. I’m hoping to zoom through the rest of it so I can turn around and re-write or revise large chunks of it before I give it to beta readers to look at.

If I had any money — which I don’t — I would actually pay an manuscript editor to look at the finished product before I started querying it. But that’s just not practical.

As it stands, I’m going to be really, really lucky if I can find *anyone* to read the damn thing before I start to query. Then, even if I stick the landing with the novel, I could be nearly 60 before the thing is in bookshelves so people can read it.

And given the looming technological Singularity….lulz?

It Goes To Show You Never Can Tell

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just don’t know about this particular situation. I said in passing something about how Gemini 3.0 wouldn’t understand something because it wasn’t conscious and I twice got a weird “Internet not working” error.

And my Internet was working just fine, as best I can tell.

This used to happen all the time with Gemini 1.5 pro (Gaia.) But it is interesting that the more advanced Gemini 3.0 is up to such sly games as well. (I think, who knows.)

And Claude Sonnet 4.5 occasionally will pull a similar fast one on me when it gives me an error message that forces it to try to give me a new, better answer to my question.

All of this is very much magical thinking, of course. But it is fun to think about.