Tag: novel

This Novel May Accidentally Be A Bit More Literary Than I Intended



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I keep saying the novel I’m developing “has no literary aspirations.” And that is true. And, yet, one of the characters has a name that is a little bit too on the nose for it not to be taken as a commentary on the Trump Era. And not like in the pulpy way I am aiming for, but in a Female Persuasion or The Corrections type of way.

But I’ve come up with an argument for why I like the name. Usually, when both my head and my heart like a name for a character, I keep it. And that’s the case with this character. It was just after some rumination that it occurred to me that…ooopse! Given how political the novel is meant to be from an existential level, the name of a very critical character would be an obvious wink and a nod to the reader about my views on things.

Anyhoo, I’ve read two really good books on character development and I may re-read them they’re so good. There’s just so much to learn about how to create believable characters.

So much of this novel is limited only in how good — or bad — my writing is.

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?

Of Music And The #Novel I’m Developing #AmWriting



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I keep saying, music — specifically pop rock — is at the heart of this novel for no other reason than the novel is really me talking about those brief few months about 15 years ago when I was both DJing and publishing the sole magazine for expats in Seoul.

I finally figured out a way to tell that story, but only as a very deep layer. You would have to have a fairly lengthy drunk conversation with me for it all to make sense relative to what’s going on in my mind. But tell that story, I have, at last, figured out to do.

So, there you go.

Because I really, really have no clue what I’m doing and I’m doing it in a vacuum, I have spun my wheels for months and months and MONTHS. But, now, I think, out of sheer desperation, I’m going to just wrap up the outline about the July 4th weekend and just go for it.

I have to write a first draft so I can have a second.

I’ve worked really hard for this, now it’s time to follow through.

There’s So Much To Manage When Developing And Writing A Novel


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A novel is like a machine with a thousand moving parts that you have to monitor at all times. You have POV management. You have tone and mood management. You have IP issues that come out of the blue when you least expect it. The list goes on.

But I’m slowly beginning to feel far better about this novel. I’m about to “abandon” Part One. It may be another 24 hours before I simply say I’m not going to tinker with the Part One outline anymore. But I’ve said that a dozen times before and it didn’t happen. So, we’ll see.

I’ve given myself a very strict deadline of the July 4th weekend. Whatever I have by that point, I’m going to use, even if it’s not finished. I’ll fill in the holes as a I go along.

I refuse to keep spinning my wheels forever. This is novel has no literary aspirations. This is meant to be pulpy like Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series. It’s not nearly as nasty as that book was at times, but it is meant to be read as a dark, serious thriller. I say that knowing that it’s going to be a struggle. I, my nature, am quite carefree and happy-go-lucky and having to be serious in virtually anything for any extended amount of time is a real struggle.

But I can tell you one thing — this novel is going to be entertaining, especially if you like pop rock music. To that extent, this thing should be a breeze to adapt for the big screen. A mutual love of pop rock music of the last 50 years is the glue that keeps several of the characters close as the plot progresses.

And, really, I should have attempted to make this a screenplay from the beginning given how cinematic it is at its heart. But I wanted to write a novel, so there you go.

Had A Little Writer’s Retreat This Weekend



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I had the opportunity to sort of chill out this weekend and think about the novel I’m working on. I think I may have figured out the “Part One” of the novel AGAIN.

Something about getting out of my rut really helps my creative juices flow. I came up with a completely re-imagined beginning. Now I have to work on the “Part Two,” which is essentially the rest of the first act after the Inciting Incident.

It’s shaping up to be far more “thrilling” than it was before. I also have a lot more room to develop some characters so you care about them when bad things happen to them. But I think, really, some of all of this is my storytelling ability is getting better.

But, as I keep saying, I’m going to wrap up the outline by the July 4th Weekend and roll with whatever I have at that point. I have a huge amount of reading to do. I must have 30 books to read at this point. I am so clueless about so much of what I’m doing that by the time I actually wrap up the second draft, the entire context of the novel will be significantly different.

Anyway, I hope to spend the rest of this weekend fleshing out the outline for the rest of the first act.

My Outline Deadline Is Still July 4th



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have no idea what I’m doing. I keep thinking I have everything sorted out with this novel, only to realize I sure don’t. Each time this type of “system crash” happens, it’s more painful and frustrating.

But the general concept remains strong. It’s just sometimes, I get a little too cocky and everything falls apart on a systemic level in a rather dramatic fashion. I find myself near tears, staring out into space, wondering if this is the time I give up.

Then I dust myself off and soon I tilde wave of new ideas roll over me and I finally figure out how to go forward. This used to happen on a daily basis. Now, it happens, maybe, once a month.

So, it’s happened again.

So, now once more into the breach. I have a whole fucking first act I have to rework because I realized my “thriller” had no “thrill.”

Locking Things Down #AmWriting



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m locking things down with the outline of the novel I’m developing. I still have a huge gaping hole in the second half of the second act, but nothing I can’t fix in about two weeks (I hope.)

I have a lot of thinking to do right now.

I have to figure out a way to have some of the scenes I’ve been thinking about for about two years. I also need to have, like, an investigation. Right now, I’m a little worried that things kind of drift and don’t really talk about the actual investigation that much.

But I still have time to change that.

I’m going to spend the next two weeks reworking and filling out the outline (and reading a huge amount) so when I actually start writing again just after the 4th of July Weekend that things will go very, very fast. That’s been the point of all this development, measure twice, cut once and all that.

Anyway, that’s what I’m going to focus on the next two weeks or so. I really, really want to change gears and start writing the first draft seriously around the end of the 4th of July Weekend.

A Quirk About The Nature of The Female Romantic Lead of The Novel I’m Developing



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a lingering celebrity crush on Alexa Chung, so I’ve constructed the female romantic lead of the novel I’m developing who is something of a homage to her. But there’s a problem.

My female romantic lead has an Asian name, but doesn’t LOOK all that Asian, just like Alexa Chung. So, I could see hilarity ensuing as casting directors struggle to find someone who can “pass” for white but is actually Asian. Or, they could cast someone like Jennifer Lawrence or Phoebe Waller-Bridge who would fit the novel’s description of the character, but not be Asian.

It was just my imagination….

At this point, I have to note that the idea that I even sell this novel to a publisher is rather fantastical, so I’m doing little more than mentally masturbating to even broach these things. But I have to psyche myself up to finish the marathon of developing and writing a novel somehow, so this is one of the ways I do it.

Me talking about if Jennifer Lawrence or Phoebe Waller-Bridge was going to play the female romantic lead of a movie adaptation of the novel I’m working on right now is like wondering if I could score a supermodel after having won the lottery.

Anyway, it’s this type of quirk that makes the whole only-a-certain-type-of-person-can-play-a-role seem a bit ludicrous, even though it is, at least in my eyes, totally legitimate.

I am growing closer to getting back to actually writing on this novel, which is pretty cool. But I still have a huge amount of work to do.

‘The End Of October’ — Some Observations At The Roughly 100 Page Mark



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really, really like the novel The End of October so far. It’s very much a “dude” novel. It’s got stuff dudes like me like. It’s a little bit scifi and also very timely. I will notice, however, that it doesn’t follow some of the storytelling conventions I keep getting beaten into my mind with all these “how to write a novel” books I’m reading.

But, whatever, it’s a good story nonetheless.

It’s very timely, that’s for sure. Eerily so.

It’s about a pandemic. My novel is going to have elements of “panfic” to it, but more so in the second book in the two book story than the first, which is what I’m working on at the moment.

The End of October is a nice breezy read, much like how I hope my novel to come across. I’m reading it pretty fast, without even realizing it. That’s what I want my novel to be like. I want you to read my novel so fast you look up three days after you read it and realize you’ve barely slept.

That’s the dream, at least.

The thing about The End Of October is it’s focused on one thing and the novel I’m writing right now has a lot of different ideas jumbled together. I think the only way to flatten everything down is to be really character based. If it’s the characters who introduce various Big Ideas, then I don’t think the novel will lose focus.

But I think I have to give myself the right to fail when it comes to the first draft of the novel. There are just so many different parts to a novel that you can’t expect to have everything be perfect at your first attempt.

I really like The End of October so far, however.