Tag: novel

Yet Again Distracted By A Scifi Concept For A Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a really good scifi idea for a novel that would be very much like Andy Weir’s The Martian in its vibe. And, yet, I don’t want to get distracted from the main passion project event.

This is when I really hate being so fucking old. If I was 25 years younger, I would have all the time in the world to bounce around between projects. But, as it stands, I have limited amount of time to get anything done, unless, of course, the Singularity happens and I upload my min into the cloud.

That doesn’t seem likely — at least for now — so I need to focus on the thriller novel I’m working on. It doesn’t help that whenever I mention the scifi idea to an AI it gets all excited and helps me game out the plot.

Sigh.

Anyway, I really need to buckle down and get some writing done on the thriller. I’m still drifting through the first act AGAIN.

Mulling My Actual Odds Of Getting A Literary Agent

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The biggest thing I have to worry about when thinking of querying is, well ME. I’m a loudmouth crank and I always do the wrong thing, at least when it comes to zigging when “normal” people would expect a zag.

So, that’s the main thing I worry about when I think about the practical nuts-and-bolts of querying this thriller. I’m really concerned that the moment I start to send out query letters that this Website will be pinged by literary agents who will roll their eyes at me being such a fucking kook.

In the past, I’ve really had a problem with literary types taking me seriously. And the fact that my novel is rather…spicy…and has a part-time sex worker as its heroine is not exactly going to help me any.

I’m just too opinionated in ways that might offend the “woke cancel culture mob.” The great irony is, of course, is if I could meet any of these hypothetical literary agents in person, I think they would find me quite personable.

But, just like how I can never get anyone to swipe right on me on a dating app, I suspect I’m zooming into a huge, catastrophe. The literary agents that I contact will probably roll their eyes and laugh at me.

It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened, so, lulz. I just want to go through the actual experience of querying to see what happens. I’m bound to make oodles of mistakes, but as long as I go into the experience with extremely low expectations, I should be fine.

‘Comping’ Redux

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, as part of querying your novel, you’re supposed to compare or “comp” it to other works. I’ve thought and written about this before, but this time seems like I may actually have to sit down and write a query letter where I do that.

The big plot twist of all of this is, of course, that I don’t really read that much fiction. The last time I read thrillers was, well, the Stieg Larsson Millennium series. Since then, I’ve pretty much only read scifi stuff or non-fiction.

I just don’t know what I’m going to do. I suspect, that in the end, I’m just going to be honest and “comp” my novel to The Girl Who Played With Fire. This is a passion project, after all, so, lulz, I am just running off of passion at this point. I am well aware that it’s very possible that I will fail on a catastrophic way because I don’t query right…but at least I will get to go through the experience.

That was always the point of all of this — just to have something to look forward to and to see how far I could get before it was absolutely clear I would fail. I continue to think about a few scifi novels that I would be a lot easier to “comp” to other scifi novels.

But, for some reason, I continue to be obsessed with this particular thriller idea that I’ve bee working on for way too many years.

My Goal Is To Start Querying This Novel In September

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I continue to feel like I’m spinning my wheels with this novel, I have a hunch that if I just focus I can begin to query it with literary agents around September. But I’m really going to have to focus.

I keep rereading the first act and finding things I have to change. So, I’m going to have to finally get out of the first act and start to work on the parts of the novel that are from a second draft.

But I think if I just focus that I can actually finish a novel I can query by around September first. I suppose in reality, my actual first deadline is August. I want a month to read over the novel and start to write my query letter before I actually begin the process of querying.

And, yet, who knows. Plenty of things could go wrong and all of this planning will be thrown out of the window.

Some Thoughts As I Potentially Zoom Towards Querying In The Fall

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Looking over the content I’m fusing together, it definitely seems as least within the realm of possibility that it won’t be a year from now when I query my first novel, but, rather this fall.

Four things come to mind as I contemplate this.

  1. The Novel May Be Too Long
    Because I work in terms of scenes, not word count — at least for a lot longer than you might think — I honestly don’t know how long this novel will be. While I’m aiming for about 100,000 words, there is a real chance I may blow past that and be closer to 160,000. That would really put a crimp in my dreams of ever successfully querying, but, lulz, this is a passion project and I just want to experience what it’s like to query.
  2. I’m Kind of Bonkers
    Any literary agent doing due diligence on me is probably think I’m nuts. I may just be too “colorful” for my own good. I just have accept that particular example of the “kook tax” and try to roll with the punches. But it sucks that that and my age may really in a cold, clinical nuts-and-bolts kind of way may prevent me from ever getting published traditionally.
  3. The Novel May Be Too Spicy
    There is a fair amount of sex in this novel, the point that that, unto itself, my turn literary agents off. And the fact that my heroine is something of a part-time sex worker might also cause some problems.
  4. I’m A Middle-Aged White Dude Writing From A Brown Female POV At Times
    There are a number of problems baked into the very structure of this novel from the get-go that may make it a no-go. I often write from a female POV in this novel. There are more than one POV within a chapter. And the chapters are probably a little too long at some points. All of those issues — while true to paying homage to Stieg Larsson — may really make it difficult to sell the novel.

Yet Again…

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve printed out the entire first act AGAIN and I’m going to go read it AGAIN in hopes of finding any weak scenes so I can re-write them. I’m really leaning into AI to do this form of development.

I hate it when AI gives me copy, writing is MY JOB.

Anyway. Things are going well with the novel as of now. I’m hoping to enter the first half of the second act pretty soon. I already know there are a number of weak scenes. It’s just annoying that I keep reading and rereading the first act. It’s time to get into the second act.

The novel continues to be a little too spicy for my needs, but, lulz, fuck it. As long as the overall story is good, I suppose I can grit my teeth and allow for a little bit more sex than might otherwise happen.

At least I didn’t start the novel with a sex scene, which I think is bad form. But, in general, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve come up with — at least the first act. The tough part is going to be to smooth things out between the first act and the rest of the novel.

But, in general, I think if you’re a fan of Stieg Larsson’s stuff, you’ll really enjoy this novel and the planned novels that follow it.

My Passion Project Is Too Spicy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have to stop living in denial about this — my passion project thriller is probably too spicy for its own good. And I’m not getting any younger, so I really need to think seriously about how I spend my creative time.

I say that, then throw myself back into the very spicy novel that I keep telling myself I need to put aside so I can focus on something more marketable. I have a number of really good scifi novels I can work on. One in particular remains at the forefront of my mind all the time

And, yet, I really like the thriller. I know, just know, that if I keep at it I can produce something good enough that it will sell. There is the basic problem of how good — or bad — my writing may be, but I can only use AI to fix that particular situation so much.

So, I guess I will continue to work on the spicy thriller, damn the consequences. I keep toying with the other, scifi novels, in my mind, but nothing has really resonated to the point that I want to work on them like I continue to work on the spicey thriller.

I’ve Decided To Kind Of Just Tune Out From The News

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I continue to get my news passively from Twitter, I’ve really cut back watching late night TV for infotainment. I just can’t handle it anymore. Nothing is going to happen and we’re careening into autocracy with a lulz.

So, I’m just going to try to focus on my novel(s) and go from there.

I also continue enjoy screwing around with AI. That’s a lot of fun. Sometimes so pretty interesting things happen out of the blue with AI, enough to keep me interested.

Now To Read Through The First Act Of This Thriller I’m Still Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So now I’m going to read through the first act of the fourth draft of this novel and try to give it some consistency on more granular level. I’ve fixed things on a macro structural basis, so now I need go through and make sure there is a cohesive flow to things.

All of this is happening in the context of me having a really good scifi novel I want to start working on. The scifi novel doesn’t have any of the problems the thriller has when it comes to potential marketability. It’s very much in the same vein as The Martian in style, if not substance.

It’s about an AI that wants to be “a real boy” and I think if I put my mind to it I can develop and write a first draft at a pretty fast clip. But I really need to focus.

And, yet, there is a part of me that really wants to throw everything at the thriller. It’s a passion project for a number of reasons. I’ve been working on it for so long that it’s almost become a part of my identity. But at this point I just want to finish the fucking the one way or another and go through the process of trying to query it.

Even though, even if I’m successful, I could be nearly 60 before the fucking thing is in people’s hands. AND, WHAT’S MORE, all of this is happening in the context of a potential hard Singularity that will make any human-created art moot.

But, sometimes, you just gotta belive.

Finished A Structural Review Of The First Act Of This Thriller I’m *Still* Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I’ve finally gotten to a point with the first act of this thriller I’ve been working on for years and years to sit back and slowly go through it on a more tactical basis. I’m trying to make it consistent before I go into the second act.

The second act is based on the second draft of the novel which was a straight murder-in-a-small-town mystery. But the story has drifted so much sense I finished that draft that I suspect there are going to be a lot — A LOT — of structural issues I’m going to have to work on.

And, what’s more, I probably going to have to lean on AI to help rewrite many scenes after the first act.

Right now, my only big concern about the first act is it’s too…saucy. There’s a lot of sex — some of it pretty explicit — and that could be a big turn off for the people I usually turn to to read my work. And, yet, I have a vision and I know what I want to do with it.

So, I’m keeping the sex for the time being. If all else fails, I’ll just query the damn thing, beta readers be damned. I just want to get into that portion of the process just to experience it.

But I do have a number of scifi novels that I’m kicking around, some of them are really good! The only issue with them is they’re not as well formed, right now at least, and also technology is moving so fast that if I don’t pump the damn things out sooner rather than later they will seem rather quaint.