Tag: novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I write because I have to, not because I want to. And yet one constant thing I’ve experience since I started my current journey to writing not just one novel but six novels is how many people bitch and moan that people like me shouldn’t even be writing a novel in the first place.

It’s all very frustrating.

Usually, people who say things like “why don’t you just write a short story” aren’t very creative and generally are cocksuckers whose use cold, hard metrics for any endeavor that are in no way connect to the creative process.

They’re like parents who are always on the look out to find some practical use for their child’s aspirations, rather than just letting them dream until they, themselves figure out what they want to do with their lives. Fuck those people and fuck them for every time they make me feel bad working on a novel.

Jesus Christ.

I mean, I’m finished a first draft of a novel and am now transitioning to the second draft. I have no idea if it will sell, have no idea if I will even get an agent. But for me to be happy, I need to be writing — come what may.

So people who make very cogent arguments about why you should not write a novel can fucking suck it. Fucking cocksuckers. Not to sound too much like Matt Damon trying to sell you crypto, but no on every go anywhere in this world without taking a risk.

People who poo-poo the idea of writing a spec novel simply are not creative and have no creative impulse. I don’t want them in my life and I don’t feel any obligation to listen to them. And you shouldn’t either.

As long as you have the will, the creative spark and something to say — write that book. Write that novel. Do whatever you have to do to finish it. I’m not saying it won’t be a lot of work. I won’t say that you’ll actually sell it. But you’ll at least be content that you tried.

Anyone who makes you feel bad for being true to yourself, for being creative is a fucking cocksucker.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, when I started this project I was going to write an epic scifi novel. Then that ballooned into six, then nine novels…and the whole thing collapsed because I just was not prepared to go back to college to be able to tell that particular story the way I wanted.

Then I realized there was one book I could read and re-read and that was Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire. So, I decided to use it as my “textbook” to write my first novel. Of course, what I didn’t realize was that book was the second book in a trilogy and, as such, wasn’t exactly what I needed.

But it served it’s purpose. It gave me a starting off point. And, so, combined with a huge amount of rage over Trumplandia, I thought I was going to write an allegory about the Trump Era.

And then Trump was a big dingas who wasn’t a good enough autocrat to steal the 2020 election…so I decided to use the huge backstory I had come up with to write two novels that explained how the little, weird town I had envisioned came to be.

And THEN, before you know it, I had two thematically connected trilogy on my hands, the first of which dealt with not a Lisbeth Salander type person, but sort of a journalistic equivalent of Mare of Easttown.

It’s been a very interesting journey so far. And now I’m in the process of transitioning from the first to second draft. This is the furthest I’ve ever gotten and it’s both a lot of fun and very hard work.

I’ve decided that the only way I’m going to get this done is to treat all this as what it is — hard work. A job. For once, my obsessive personality is paying benefits instead of annoying people.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m finally transitioning from first draft to second draft of my first novel and, as such, I find myself re-writing everything over and over again after having read everything over and over again.

The only solution is to see this element of writing a novel as a job. My natural inclination is to just skim what I’ve written and hope for the best but, fuck, I’m not going down like that.

I’ve gotten this far, I’m not going to screw it up now.

So, I’m going to force myself to not only develop, read and write, but rewrite and reread as necessary. For once, my obsessive personality is coming in handy. This is a massive projected that is hoped to be six (six!) novels before it’s over with and it’s completely overwhelming.

Which, of course, was the point of all of this.

I love being creative — in fact, I can’t help myself — and the only thing I am annoyed about is how difficult it is for me to stay as focused as I should about getting this done as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, all systems go.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m old enough to remember when Howard Stern was the bad boy of radio and to listen to him was, unto itself, scandalous. But here’s the thing — the man is one of the best interviewers out there today. He’s a great. This is why so much of the media elite listens to him on a religious basis.

I will note, of course, that he has an extremely annoying tendency to descend into such crassness that I just can’t listen to him on a regular basis. It’s all very jarring and the part of his media persona that I can not abide by.

And, yet, weirdly enough, I have an extremely tenuous connection to him that in the back of my mind I always think maybe I could use to get my novel published. I have, on occasion spoken to the ex-girlfriend of “whack pack” member Benji Bronk (even spoken to Bronk himself).

But that’s rather fantastical. I’m not putting too much weight on the possibility that that extremely weak connection to Stern might get the novel in front of Stern at some point after it’s finished. But it’s fun to think about

Anyway, the ultimate weird thing about Stern is he should have been hard canceled full stop a long time ago — and yet he continues to be very popular and very influential.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

After a number of years of hard work, I’m now finally transitioning my first draft into a second draft. I never knew how much re-reading and re-writing writing a novel would require.

But here I am.

It really hits home every day how little time I left on this earth and, as such, I need to hurry the fuck up. I really need to get something, anything done. I would prefer to have at least three novels done when I try to sell something, so I could follow in the footsteps of my hero Stieg Larsson.

But, we’ll see, I suppose.

I just need to finish something, anything. I need to get the first novel done and then I can use it as a calling card for other writing. I read my stuff now and it’s not nearly as embarrassing as it has been in the past.

It’s a all a lot of hard work, though. I keep having to read and reread and write and rewrite over and over and over and over again. But I just don’t want to embarrass myself. It’s really hard getting your writing good enough to the point that someone who doesn’t know you can read your work cold and not throw the book across the room.

Anyway. Wish me luck.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are going really well — so far — with this now six novel project I’m working on. Though, I have to admit that obviously Serious Writers can not bring themselves to take me seriously given that I can’t even get an hour of their time if I pay them.

If that’s not sad, I don’t know what is.

But anyway, I working on the second draft of the first novel and seriously contemplating the development of the second. I know this huge universe I’ve come up with really well and it’s a lot of fun to bounce around it as necessary

And yet.

I know if I had a wife or a girlfriend, she probably would suggest that my ambition is far exceeding my actual ability. She would say, “Honey, maybe work on a scifi novel just in case? Or find a real job so you can afford to buy the photographic equipment you want so bad?”

In short, she would tell me “no.”

But I have no one to tell me no. So I can keep working on a six novel project, not knowing if I’m going to make a massive fool out of myself or not. But, in all honesty, I have to admit that I wouldn’t listen to a wife or girlfriend even if I had one.

I’m just too stubborn.

Which, maybe, is why I’m alone in the first place.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten when it comes to writing a novel. As such, I have no idea what I’m doing. Should I rewrite everything, or can I just repurpose everything as much as possible?

These are things I just don’t know.

But the point is to just finish something, anything that I can call a second draft and go from there. I have a number of other novels I want to write in this same universe and I need to get to that as well.

Now that I know how *I* develop and write a novel, things should go a lot quicker with the other novels. But we’ll see. I am enjoying all this hard work.

Anyway. It will be interesting to see how things work out long-term. I love the process of developing and writing a novel. I probably would be a lot more productive if I had a wife or a girlfriend to talk to about all of this.

As it stands, I’m doing all of this in a vacuume.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Finally finished the outline of the second draft. Now, to do some reading. A lot of reading. One thing I’m a little nervous about is the ending. It seems like it might be a little too meh. But I’m hoping that someone, somewhere might take pity on me and give me some idea as how to punch it up some.

But I really do need to read a lot.

The question I have now is, how long to wait before I get back to writing full time? I still have some slack in my schedule, so, technically, I could just read and develop until the July 4th weekend.

That would give me a lot of time to recharge my batteries and to go into the second draft with a clear mind. Of course, I’m reaching the age when every moment is a blessing — even more so than usual — so I may just say screw it and start writing sooner rather than later.

But, for the time being, I’m feeling pretty good about where things stand with this project. We’ll see how long that lasts.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not quite there yet, but no later than July 4th Weekend, I’m going to start writing again on the first novel in this project. It may be before then, but July 4th is the latest.

I plan on doing a lot of reading in the next few weeks in the lead up to writing again. I really want to have a better handle on the mechanics of how to write a novel so it’s at the top of my mind when I get around to doing the hard work of writing scenes.

I still have five other novels to work on, but I just want to finish ONE novel before I turn a certain age very, very soon. Then I’m going to query the novel and see if I can get a literary agent interested. If I can’t I’m going to re-assess things. Either I’m going to just self publish or I’m going to turn my attention to a screenplay or a maybe a sci-fi novel.

But the point is — things are moving fast.