Tag: novel

Things Are Moving Fast Now



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I have a handle on my POV characters, things are moving far faster. In fact, the only thing slowing me down finishing the outline and writing is the massive amount of research I realize I have to do. I have to understand the characters I’ve come up with and the only way to do so is to know what they would know.

I still have a fair amount of reading to do on the abstract of character development, but simply see that as more reading.

I really understand far better the point of this story (two novels, one story). That allows both the reading and the research to flow far, far faster. I have an absurd amount of reading to do if I’m going to develop characters that don’t embarrass me what how flimsy they are.

One thing I have to do is beef up my Hero. Right now, he’s simply an exaggerated — and far more stable — version of myself in Seoul about 12 years ago. But for him to be, well, the Hero, he has to be someone you can root for. He has to be active, not just a womanizing drunk who gets away with shit because of how colorful he is.

But I’m really pleased.

I’m reading as much as I can, as fast as I can. I hope to start writing again no later than June 1st. I am very unhappy with how long it’s going to take me — even under the most ideal of circumstances — to start speccing the story out to agents.

But I’m all in. My entire creative life is devoted to this novel. Every day my understanding of the story I want to tell grows stronger.

At the very least, I won’t embarrass myself.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, #Hollywood, #JodiKantor & The #Novel I’m Developing & #Writing

Some thoughts.

I Have To Prepare Myself For Someone Stealing A March On Me Creatively



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I get the feeling someone is thinking about writing something — probably a screenplay — inspired by the novel I’ve been working on for about 18 months now.

I can either give up or work harder and faster.

I’m going to work harder and faster.

There’s little more I can do. I guess, should the worst happen, I can console myself by saying at least I understand how to tell a story better. The reason why it’s taken me so long to get to this point is the story I’ve come up with is a lot of plot and I should have been thinking about character.

The story is convoluted and complicated and it’s taken me this long to figure out how to tell it is a simple way. I love this story and its characters. Even if I wake up tomorrow and a movie is being produced that is essentially my novel, at least I’ll be better off as a storyteller than I was when I started this process.

But that hasn’t happened….yet.

I can use this fear as a reason to work harder and faster and see what happens.

I’m Obsessed With Character



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally gotten to the most crucial aspect of developing this novel — character. I have about three books on character that I’m cramming as fast as I can so I can start writing again no later than June 1st. I need to understand these characters so I can control them absolutely. I don’t have time to let them play. They have to do what I want them to do, the way I want them to do.

I keep thinking about the brilliance of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag. The plot of that story is organic to the character. What in mind, I’m using what I remember of my bonkers self in Seoul from 12 years ago as the basis of my hero’s personality. I have to be really careful, though, that he doesn’t come off as so comical that the story doesn’t have the serious tone I need it to have.

But I do remember how interesting I was in Seoul, if nothing else. I had more than enough character to go around, that’s for sure. The thing about being a long-term expat in Seoul is you find yourself meeting people you would otherwise never meet. For instance, I met Pinch Sulzberger of the New York Times in 2004. Totally blew my mind.

I really like the idea of digging into how bonkers being a long-term expat in Seoul can make you. When I lived there, I could never figure out if South Korea drew bonkers people to be expats there, or if the place drove you bonkers by simply staying a long time. (It may be a little bit of both.)

Anyway, in a sense, this novel is simply me thinking about my time as the publisher of ROKon Magazine in Seoul, but in a far more palatable — and easier to write – fashion than I had in mind when I first tried to tell a very angry version of it about 10 years ago.

I have worked very, very hard to get where I am. Now, to close the deal. I have to keep cramming about how to develop believable characters. Wish me luck.

Now What



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, if nothing else, I’ve got my motivation to hurry up with the novel I’m developing. The novel deals with some “big ideas” that are quite provocative in the context of the rise of fascism in America.

I have a massive amount of reading to do, however, if I want to make my characters believable. Every time America lurches forward on its now irrefutable path towards an autocratic “managed democracy,” feel added instinctive to work harder and faster on this novel.

The only problem is it is something of an epic undertaking given the significant learning curve I’ve had to deal with as well as how I’m doing all of this in a vacuum. (For the most part.)

Anyway, this dark foreboding I feel about our nation’s future is exactly the feeling I need to make this political thriller as dark as it needs to be. I had worried that my natural fun disposition would make it difficult to find the darkness necessary to write a proper thriller.

Well, that’s not going to be a problem anymore.

On The Matter Of Word Count


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am well aware that the “sweetspot” for a published novel is about 80,000-100,000 words. But it’s not impossible for a novel to be published that is longer. In fact, the novel I’m using as my textbook, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” is in the 165,000 – 185,000 range.

That’s my vision.

I’m going to write a first draft that aims to be around 165,000 words and go from there. If beta readers think its too long, then I’ll do something about that. Or if an agent / editor tells me the only way it will get published is to cut its size, then I will.

Or, if all else fails, I’ll simply self-publish and be able to feel content that I did, in fact, write a novel after everyone told me I sucked and why am I even thinking about writing anything at all. (Fuck those people, by the way.)

One thing that is really beginning to hit home is how brutal the publishing business is in real terms. Nobody owes you nothing, as they say. But I really, really believe in the importance of my novel’s vision as-is. I believe the that I can pull off a novel that is such a fast read that you don’t even notice how long it is.

I’d rather fail in a rather spectacular fashion than limit myself and not even give myself the opportunity to excel.

Things May Begin To Move Fast Now With The Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

After what feels like an eternity, I think I’m just about to see development speed up rather quickly. I have a script consultant now and he’s really helping me see some major problems with the story. I’m obsessed with character now. I feel like I’m getting much, much closer to filling my previously empty vessels of characters with some substance.

I continue to use Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire as my text book. But it’s growing more and more of simply a stepping off point. My personal ability to tell a story is improving dramatically. Or, put another way, I’m finally reaching a level of storytelling that placates my own brutal personal editor.

If I was better educated and a better writer, I would say I had a chance at writing something as good as Gillian Flynn’s debuted novel Sharp Objects. But I didn’t go to the right school and my actual writing ability is rather mediocre, so I am trying to lower my expectations accordingly.

But I think it’s at least possible that I may have figured out some existential issues with the story. If that is, in fact, the case then things should move a lot faster.

Wish me luck

V-Log: Idle Rambling About The #Novel I’m Developing

Some thoughts.

Of Trying To Make My Heroine More ‘Accessible’



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I love Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, there are a few weaknesses with it that eat away at me. One is while Lisbeth Salander is iconic, there are a few problems with her that are off-putting. One is she’s supposed to be some sort of dark superhacker with Asperger’s who is not very easy to get along with.

We fall in love with her in large part because of graphic, horrific scene that I hate. But it is so bad that you keep worrying about her fate as the books progress.

All of this has led me to want to create a heroine who is far, far more accessable. My heroine, like Lisbeth Salander, has a fucked up personal history, but she is, natively, essentially a manic pixie dreamgirl. But for events beyond her control, she would be more Natalie Portman’s character in “Garden State” than Lisbeth Salander. My inspiration for this is how you sometimes hear about a woman who went to law school specifically to free her brother from jail. I always wondered, “Now what? She got her brother free, but she’s still a lawyer.”

Anyway, now that I’m learning about character that concept is, at least, within my reach now. In the past, it was something of a daydream. I’m feeling pretty pumped that maybe I might actually pull this off. But I still have a huge amount of reading to do, a huge amount of work to do.

It will be interesting to see what this story finally looks like. But I have a feeling once I nail down character, the actual writing may begin to go far, far faster than it has to date.

I’m Kind Of Obsessed With Character Development In My Novel Right Now



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m doing a lot of reading about how to develop fictional characters right now. And, I say again, anyone who demanded I “just write” 18 months ago can eat shit and fuck off. I’m on the cusp of producing a story that’s really great relative to my writing ability and if I had followed that advice when people kept telling me to do that, I would have simply have embarrassed myself.

I know at least one of the people who said that simply wanted to be my Col. Tom Parker and fuck with my mind. I’m SO GLAD I have gotten rid of gaslighting people like that. Fuck those people. It’s been over a year and I’m still furious. No one tells me they “know me better than I know myself” without there being consequences.

Anyway. I’m cramming about character right now. I’m going to try to read up on the subject as much as I can. I have canon and plot, but not much character. I hope to change that very, very soon. The story on a tactical level is, at last, beginning to stabilize. It’s either stabilizing or I’m just so tired of throwing everything in the air on a regular basis that I’m finally willing to write something, anything to be able to say I’ve finished a first draft.

You can’t edit a blank page, as they say.

I think one of the reasons why I’m reading so much is it’s a measurable metric. I’m actually moving towards my goal by reading as much as possible, as quickly as possible.