Tag: writing about writing

I Really Need To Get Back To Writing On This Scifi Dramedy I’m Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have been kind of zoning out the last few days, now that I’ve entered, yet again, the “bad guys closing in” part of the novel. What I hope to do is really be more thoughtful about what I write so I won’t have as much work to do down the road.

The key thing I’m going to have to do is stop being so lazy when it comes to my scene summaries. It’s fine to use AI to write scene summaries, but it’s not fine to hone a little bit too close to what AI proposes for the scene when you actually sit down to write.

So, what I think I’m going to do is read the scene summaries a few times and then just write without using them as so much of a literal guide. That way, anything I write will be completely in my own voice.

That’s the goal, at least.

I don’t want anyone to just roll their eyes at me and say I’ve just written AI slop instead of a novel with my own hands. So, in the second half of the novel I really hope to prove to myself — if no one else — that I’m the author of the novel and not AI.

‘Color Correction’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Right now, the draft of this novel I’m working on is a mish-mash, an amalgam of different versions. And, as such, once I wrap up this draft, I’m going to have to “color correct” the draft so it has a consistent tone.

It will be interesting to see how long this takes. I’m hoping not too long. I’m not going to live forever. I’m hoping it will be just a month or so. But that time is enough that I’m really going to have to punt the actual querying of the novel to Sept. 1st instead of, say, May 1st.

Ugh.

This is just the type of post-production issue that I just haven’t given enough thought about. But now that I have that in my mind, hopefully that will be enough to speed the process up some.

It Was A Long Time Ago & Nobody Cares Anymore, Redux

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We are slowly creeping towards it being 20 years ago that the late Annie Shapiro and I started ROKon Magazine. Not a lot has happened in my life since then, sad to say. I’ve been in emotional neutral since about April, 2007.

Ugh.

But, there are signs of hope. I’m hoping to wrap up some sort of novel by spring 2026 and start to query it not later than maybe Sept 1st. I just don’t know, though. It will be interesting to see.

The premise of the novel is pretty good, if a bit dark. But I’m so moody when it comes to working on a novel I don’t know how much of that thinking it’s “dark” comes from I just sometimes don’t feel like working on anything at all for long stretches of time.

Anyway. I keep thinking about what happened to me way back when in South Korea and how I would do everything different if I had a second chance. I learned what NOT to do, that’s for sure.

Don’t fall in love with your co-founder, if you start a magazine, is one big issue. And also don’t be afraid to accept defeat and start over again in a different way.

And, yet, I think the key thing, the biggest thing, that I didn’t realize about the whole ROKon Magazine rigmarole is there is a time limit for 99% of the expats who live in South Korea. And you have no idea what your time limit is. It just strikes and you HAVE TO GO, no matter where you might be otherwise in your expat expereince.

Sigh.

I’m so much older now that if I ever return to South Korea (the way it’s going it will have to be the fallen DPRK that needs English teachers that will be how I get back) that it just won’t be as much fun. Maybe no fun at all. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

I Don’t Wanna (For The Moment)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

All the big, strategic moves I’ve done over the years with my efforts to develop, write and finish a novel have happened very suddenly abruptly without much thought. I decided to split one novel into two just because Trump lost the election in 2020.

That makes me feel sad because it reminds me of how long I’ve been struggling to write any sort of novel that’s good enough to query.

Anyway, I keep being in the doldrums with this scifi dramedy novel I’m working on because…it’s just kind of dark. The premise is solid, but I’m afraid no one is going to want to read it because of how dark the premise is — and the fact that it deals with an ostensibly very transactional romantic relationship.

And, yet, I’m just not prepared to scrap it. I keep thinking about other less weighty novel ideas…and I just can’t bring myself to piviot to them. The key issue is, lulz, I just don’t have time anymore to do such a thing.

This is the novel I’m stuck with, so I have to just do it.

I hope to get out of this neutral state pretty soon so I can enter the “bad guys closing in” part of the novel. This is probably going to be something of a slog because it’s not as written out as the rest of the novel.

Is Foundation’s ‘The Mule’ A Metaphor For Trump? (2026)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I revisit this idea every once in awhile just for fun. But as of right now, there are strong arguments for and against Trump being The Foundation’s fictional Mule.

For
The case could be made that the Constitution is The Plan of the Foundation universe and Trump, as The Mule, is outside the confines of that Plan and, as such, is The Mule in real life. Trump and The Mule seemingly have the ability to get people do shit for them for no apparent reason.

Against
The case could also be made that Trump IS NOT The Mule because on a macro level it would be easy to predict that someone like Trump was inevitable as the USA contracted and declined.

So, I dunno. Take your pick, I guess.

This Current Draft Of The Scifi Dramedy Novel I’m Working On Is A Real Mish-Mash Of Versions

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While at the moment I’m kind of zooming through the “fun and games” part of the novel I’m working on, it’s probably going to take me a month or two to “color correct” things once I’m done with this draft.

That’s why I’m still thinking Sept 1st will be a more likely moment for me to start seriously querying this thing. That would make a lot of sense — that would be the 20th anniversary of things really getting going with ROKon Magazine in Seoul.

Ugh. So long ago.

Anyway, I’m so fucking moody when it comes to writing that I sometimes just do nothing on the novel for days and then sprint out of the blood for no apparent reason.

I still hope to wrap this novel up ASAP. Then start post-production stuff and probably start developing and writing a new novel to work on while I query. I’m still pretty uneasy about what is going to happen when the woke liberal white women who I imagine make up most of my prospective literary agents do due diligence on me and find this blog.

They probably will recoil and what a kooky crank I am.

But, anyway, it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

Definitely Looks Like I’m Headed Towards A Sept. 1st Querying Date For This Scifi Dramedy Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As always, I didn’t factor in post-production when it comes to when I’m going to query this novel. This novel, as it stands, is a mish-mash of different versions that I’m going to have to “color correct” before I can give it to any beta readers.

As such, even if I finish this novel around May, it’s actually going to be closer to Sept 1st before I can sit down and start to query. And THAT process could take months, if not years. To the point that I could be nearly 60 before I am published.

Oh boy.

The only thing I can do is piviot to a different novel while I query. But at least, if nothing else, I will have the satisfaction of completed something that I feel is query worthy in the first place.

This does not even take into account the fact that my life is probably going to change in rather dramatic fashion at some point this year. Things are going to get bumpy, so it could be that the context of my life will change…just about the time when I wrap up the novel.

Funny how stuff like that works, huh?

Definitely makes one think about the idea of us living in a simulation. At least to me.

This Scifi Dramedy Novel Is A Little Darker Than I Meant It To Be

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. So, this novel is about a sexbot that, at the inciting incident, presents our hero with a proposal so he can “subscribe” to her. Now, I have only gradually come to realize how dark this particular proposal is.

It was just something I stumble across in the process of thinking about how I, a broke ass writer, might be able to have a replicant-like being in my life at some point in the not too distant future.

My only concern is that the novel is a little too dark for its own good and my hero is going to come across as an asshole for accepting the proposal at all. I can just see the vocal woke cancel culture mob people saying *I* am an asshole for writing the novel at all.

And, yet, the novel isn’t, like Girl With The Dragon Tattoo dark. It’s more One Battle After Another dark. It’s funny enough — or I at least hope and think it is — that some of the darkness will be offset by how surreal and amusing some other elements of the novel are meant to be.

One thing is for sure — there will be no sex work in whatever other, new novel I end up working on going forward. I’m cool to wallow in talking about it with this novel because it gives the novel its point and, best of all, stakes, but I’m growing tired of people thinking my work is trash because I talk about sex work.

Vibe Shift 2026!

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It used to be, vibe shifts happened all the time. As such, the world of the early 1980s was very, very different than that of the late 1980s. And then, for some reason, we got stuck in 1995 for thirty years.

Now, I’m not saying people will start to wear different clothes (at last), but mentally, I do think something has shifted. People are starting to look at the world in a slightly different way.

And, I think, that is going to pop up rather abruptly and suddenly when an unexpected movie, TV show or song becomes really popular for what seems like no apparent reason. I would maybe suggest the gay-hocky player TV show Heated Rivalry as an example of what I’m talking about.

While I do think that is an indication of a vibe shift, I thinking more something even more unexpected. Though, as an aside, I will suggest that the renewed popularity of Mad Men AGAIN is another sign of a vibe shift.

I think if a little movie with an unexpected plotline became really popular out of the blue in the next few months that that would be a prime suggestion that we really have had a vibe shift. If I really wanted to be egotistical, I might suggest that my scifi dramedy novel I’m working on might, just might be a part of the vibe shift.

Ha!

Or maybe it will be a piece of technology that takes off in an unexpected way. Maybe the vibe shift will be when Google Gemini totally takes over from ChatGPT as the go-to LLM for the consumer. That would definitely be a very vibe-shift type of thing to happen.

Or, maybe, it will be the OpenAI “pen?” that is being speculated about. Or, maybe, this could be the year that XR really takes off in an unexpected way. Or, if you really wanted to get weird, you might even suggest that some sort of AGI / ASI takes off at some point this year and changes e v e r y t h i n g.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens next.

I’ve Wrapped Up The First Act (AGAIN) Of This Scifi Dramedy Novel I’ve Been Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally, yet again, wrapped up the first act of the scifi dramedy novel I’ve been working on. Now, I’m going to stare out into space for a little while before I throw myself into the second act again.

The key thing — as always — is to make sure that my hero isn’t passive. I’ve had a real problem with my protagonist being reactive to the point that the AIs I’ve been using to develop the novel keep pointing it out. It’s all very frustrating.

Another issue is I really, really need to avoid leaning into using AI to actually write the scenes. I want as much as possible of this novel’s text to be written by my hand, even if it means the novel isn’t as good as it might otherwise be.

All this praise I’ve been getting from what little pieces of the novel I’ve given people to read is making me feel a little insecure — ok, maybe a lot insecure. It’s starting to eat away at me that maybe my writing…just sucks? And the only way for it to be good enough to get a literary agent is…to use AI to sharpen it to publishing quality?

I don’t like thinking about that.