Tag: writing about writing

The ‘Woke’ Tik-Tok Critiques Of ‘Avatar 2’ Are Bonkers

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Let me first say that I’m not a perfect man. In fact, relative to the purer-than-Caesar’s -Wife expectations of the “woke cancel culture mob” I truly have fallen short of the glory that is Christ. I have drunk too much in the past. I have gotten drunk and ranted about things in a way that did not fit the established media narrative. Also, before I start — fuck MAGA Nazi cocksuckers.

I was rather aghast at the “woke” critique of Avatar 2 — The Wave of Water on Tik-Tok. The Leftist critique, apparently is that the movie wallows in “white savior” tropes and does a lot of cultural appropriation. I am aghast because I was so busy generally enjoying the movie that neither one of those “woke” Leftist criticisms even entered my mind as I watched.

Not that I didn’t notice the underlying pandering to both Red and Blue in the movie here and there. It was definitely there. The bad guys were cool in a “Reds with a cultural chip on their shoulder” way and the good guys were definitely downlow woke.

But the idea that you ding the movie not for being too long and too self-indulgent, but rather for the more esoteric “white savior” trope and cultural appropriation seems a little bit of a reach. Not that I’m not validating those “woke” criticisms. Ok, I get it, but if you’re all that wrapped up in something like that that the vast majority of your average American middle-of-the-road viewer in a suburb won’t notice — you’re the reason why most Oscar movies are a just not that popular with the average person.

The point is to tell a good to great story. That’s it. When you’re done with your story, is a good one? Did you, using subtext, get your point across? Did people leave the movie entertained? I mean, if you really wanted to all fucking woke about things, you would definitely trash Top Gun: Maverick because it glorified the military in a very unwoke manner — even though it definitely told a great story that really entertained people.

I say all this because I’m hard at work on my own story — a novel. And I have done everything in my power for their to be “representation” in the novel, for it to feel inclusive. And, yet, because the country is so fucking divided into Red and Blue, half the audience will probably think it’s too “woke” while the other half will scream at the top of their lungs that a middle aged CIS white male has no right to write from the POV of a non male, non white person.

We’re so fucking divided that you really, truly can’t win. I am again reminded of the MAGA Nazi fascination with the question “What is a woman.” They love the question because it’s an easy bludgeon to use against woke people who have to pause for a moment before they answer the question. So, of course, Nazi MAGA cocksuckers hone in on that question, wallow in it, in an effort to make the center-Left look as out of touch as possible.

Anyway, there comes a point when you just have to accept to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Could A Chatbot Win An Oscar?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We are rushing towards a day when humanity may be faced with the issue of the innate monetary value of human created art as opposed to that generated by non-human actors. If most (bad) art pretty much just uses a formula, then that formula could be fed into a chatbot or eventually an AGI and….then what? If art generated by an chatbot or an AI equal to a bad human generated movie…does that require than we collectively give more monetary value to good art created by humans?

While the verdict is definitely still out on that question, my hunch is that the arts may be about to have a significant disruption. Within a few years (2029?) the vast majority of middling art, be it TV shows, novels or movies, could be generated simply by prompting a chatbot or AGI to created it. So, your average airport bookstore potboiler will be written by a chatbot or AGI, not a human. But your more literary works might (?) remain the exclusive domain of human creators.

As and aside — we definitely need a catchy names to distinguish between art created by AGIs and that created by humans. I suppose “artisanal” art might be something to used to delineate the two. But the “disruption” I fear to the arts is going to have a lot of consequences as it’s taking place — we’re just not going to know what’s going to happen at first. There will be no value, no narrative to the revolution and it will only be given one after the fact — just like all history.

It could be really scary to your typical starving (human) artist as all of this being shaken out. There will be a lot of talk about how it’s the end of human created art…and then we’re probably going to pull back from that particular abyss and some sort of middle ground will be established.

At least, I hope so.

Given how dumb and lazy humans are collectively, human generated art could endup something akin to vinyl records before you know it. It will exist, but just as a narrow sliver of what the average media consumer watches or reads. That sounds rather dystopian, I know, but usually we gravitate towards the lowest common denominator.

That’s why the Oscars usually nominate art house films that no one actually watches in the real world. In fact, the Oscars might even be used, one day, as a way to point out exclusively human-generated movies. That would definitely be one way for The Academy to live long and prosper.

On A Structural Basis, This Novel Is Shaping Up To Be Really Good

By Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The transition from first to second draft on a structural basis is going really well. Now, the issue is going to be that of my native, innate writing. But as I’m fleshing out the outline for the second draft I’m feeling pretty good. I also have a much better sense of the characters now — they’re not just moods that change for expediency sake.

I have really changed some structural issues with the first draft that were pretty obvious and I just didn’t see them because I was so focused on just finishing something, anything, that could be called a “first draft.”

Interestingly, seeing Avatar — The Way of Water gave me a lot of inspiration about some elements of character development that I hadn’t really thought about. After sitting through that three hour, self-indulgent movie I came away with a slew of improvements for the novel on a number of levels. This happens to me whenever I consume media rather than produce it — but it’s very, very difficult for me to not be obsessed with producing content.

But I am still on track to wrap up the fleshed out outline for the second draft by no later than the end of the year (hopefully.) Then I can turn around and start writing the second draft, using the new, improve fleshed out outline as a guide that should really speed things up a great deal.

The Transition From First To Second Draft Of This Novel Is Going Quite Well

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Unlike the last time I tried to transition from first to second draft, this time things haven’t — so far — come crashing down on me. The structure of the novel is strong and things are only being changed here and there when it’s very obvious they absolutely have to be.

I continue to eliminate and move around scenes left and right, but that’s just the nature of what I’m doing. Now that I’m looking over the entirety of the the novel, I am seeing different ways to tighten it up as well as to juice up the excitement and entertainment value.

One thing I just don’t have at the moment is any red herrings. In a novel such as the type I’m writing, you’re supposed to have a few false leads that go nowhere. As it stands, this version of the novel, while if nothing else intriguing, doesn’t really have any such head fakes. Things move along at nice little clip and you keep reading because you’re interested in the world and the characters and you want to see what happens next.

That, at least, is the goal.

Another known unknown is how long the second draft is going to be. At the moment, I just don’t know. I’ve pared back the number of scenes, and, yet, I have a feeling that in the second draft each individual scene is going to be longer. So, it could ultimately be something of a wash when it comes to word count and I’ll still find myself at about 120,000 words.

Which is 20,000 words too many.

But I think the story itself is strong enough that if the scenes grow longer I can solve the word count issue by editing them down to a more tidy number later on in the process.

Does Human Creativity Have Innate Value In The Age Of AGI?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the things I find myself pondering as people continue to play around with OpenAI ChatGPT to create this or that creative knit knack is the innate value of human creativity. Is it possible that, just like in the Blue Runner universe that “real” animals had more innate value than a synthetic animal, so, too, in the near future examples of “human generated art” will be given more weight, more value than that created by a non-human actor.

But that’s not assured.

Humans are, by nature, lazy and stupid and the capitalist imperative would be one of, lulz, if a non-human actor can think up and produce a movie that’s just good enough to be watchable, why employ humans ever again? But at the moment, I can’t game things out — it could go either way.

It is very easy to plot out a very dystopian future where the vast majority of profitable, marketable art, be it movies, TV or novels is produced by non-human actors and that’s that. “Artisanal” art will be of high quality but treated with indifference by the average media consumer. It’s kind of dark, yet I’m simply taking what we know of human nature and economics and gaming it out in to a future where chatbots and their eventual successors AGI can generate reasonably high quality art at the push of a button.

It could be that there will be a lot of future shock as we transition into our AGI future, but once things sort of settle out that “real” art, generated by humans will gradually, eventually begin to dominate the marketplace of art and all that will change is the context of its creation.

Or something. Who knows.

Every Writer’s Journey Is Different

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As I keep saying, there is no revealed truth as to how to write anything, be it a novel or a screenplay. And, yet, that doesn’t stop people from bombarding me with this or that thing that they assume is absolutely the case for every writer, no matter what.

I saw a Tik-Tok recently where someone believed “every” novelist or screenwriter had scenes they skipped over because they “didn’t want to write them.” Well, jokes on you, I don’t have that problem — at least not to date — because I just get drunk and plow ahead.

I had some “spicy” scenes I really didn’t want to write, but instead of writing around them, I went straight through, even though I had to be wasted to do it. I’m working on the second draft now, so hopefully, I won’t have the same problem when I get to those scenes again.

At least, that’s the hope.

Nothing is for sure until it’s done, but I am having a lot of fun reworking the outline of this novel in the second draft. I’m hopeful that the second draft will be significantly better, more cohesive than the first draft.

Being An Aspiring Novelist Can Be Amusing (And Angst-ridden)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There seems to be a cottage industry of people who actively go out of their way to scare the shit out of people exactly like me — that is, people who are aspiring novelist — to make them think that if they don’t do this or that specific thing it is “impossible” for them to get a book contract. And these people usually say these things in such breathless, authoritative tones that you can’t help but at least, for a moment, wonder if they’re right. Take this, for instance:


This is just the type of thing I’m talking about. I have about 5,000 Twitter followers, but the average really good aspiring novelist can have almost no Twitter followers. So passages like that seen above — which apparently is promoting being a Kindle author — definitely seems real to your average insecure writer.

And, yet, even within the Twitter thread where I found that passage, someone said this was not true — you can get a book contract and have less than 25,000 Twitter followers. It’s a testament to how much grit you have to have when it comes to going the harder route of trying to get traditionally published that there is so much fucking bullshit that is designed to make you feel bad that you want you aspire to get traditionally published in the first place.

A lot of it is that people are trying to sell insecure would-be novelists this or that bullshit thing given that they’re already invested in trying to get a novel published in some way in the first place.

I have nothing against self-publishing and may grit my teeth and use it in the end, but I refuse to self-limit myself by assuming I can’t get published if I just have 5,000 and not 25,000 Twitter followers.

The Struggle To Find A Literary Agent In The Age Of Online ‘Due Diligence’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The fact that literary types apparently are aggressively turned off by my personality really goes against my own personal self-perception. My entire life, I’ve been able to lean into my “unique” and somewhat “charismatic” personality to weasel my way into some pretty cool situations. But now that it seems clear that literary types think I’m such a freaky weirdo that they won’t even let me pay them money to help me with the novel(s) I’m working on, I’m given some pause for thought.

The closest thing I can compare it to is the dynamics of Tinder. On Tinder, the metrics of the service are such that I’m too short, too broke and too old. But I was able to make my case to a lovely young lady in person, I would get a lot farther in any romantic situation. The same with literary agents. I think if I could give them a little bit of the “personal touch” that they might be willing to a least look into my art.

But I’m the first to admit that I’m probably being delusional. I’m too old, too broke and haven’t done very much with my life — there no reason for a literary agent to give me the time of day, no matter how good the novel I’m working on may ultimately be.

So, my fear is they will look at my Twitter feed and this blog and roll their eyes at what a bonkers, drunk weirdo I am, even if should they meet me in real life they would actually like me.

And, yet, being a “delusional jerk with a good heart” is my thing. It’s my trade mark. As such, lulz, so what. As long as there’s life, there’s hope.

No One Cares

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s comical how at the moment I’m pretty much the only person who gives a shit about this six novel project. But I, at least, am very pleased with how the transition from first to second draft is going. I thought I was going to have the self-control to wait until at least Christmas to do that transition but, surprise, I didn’t.

So, here I am, reading scenes from the first draft and writing scene summaries of them so early next year I can sit down and rewrite the whole Goddamn thing for a second draft. I still have a shit ton of reading to do. And at the moment, the biggest surprise I have is how much I continue to move scenes around as I write.

As an aside, I was something of an asshole some time ago to a fellow writer who just happened to be a MAGA Nazi. She was watching my videos and the moment realized she was a MAGA Nazi, I did everything in my power to get her out of my life. After a lot of thought, I realized why I did something out of character for me — even though I talk, and write, about the novel project all the time it’s still very personal and I just can’t brook talking about it to a fucking MAGA Nazi.

I keep saying — pick a side people. Or a side will be chosen for you.

Anyway, at the moment, all systems are go. It’s going to be rather shocking to a few people in my life if I actually to not only finish this novel but then somehow, someway sell it. But I’m prepared for that disruption in my personal and family life should it happen. I survived the meltdown that was the implosion and “theft” of ROKon Magazine, I can survive that.

I’m really living in oblivion at the moment. To the point that if anyone and I mean ANYONE of note pops up in my Webstats that kind of makes my day. But I’m struggling with my Webstat monitoring addiction. I may not be able to stop drinking as I approach 50, but I may be able to stop checking the Webstats for this site constantly throughout the day.

I continue to be on track to attempt to pitch this novel to a literary agent as part of the fall 2023 querying season. I really need / want to get a editor of some sort involved during the summer of 2023 to take this novel to the next level but saving up the money for that in time will be a real struggle.

I’m Really Pleased With How This Novel Is Shaping Up

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m so excited about how well things are going with this novel that I really want to read the first draft then turn around and start writing the second draft. But they tell you to try to wait about a month between first and second drafts so you look at what you wrote with fresh eyes.

While I don’t think I’m going to make a month, I am going to wait until Christmas to read the first draft so I can begin the process of writing again so I can complete the second draft by April – May 2023. That will give me the summer to get the novel up to snuff to query as part of the fall 2023 querying season.

That’s the dream, at least.

It’s going to be a real struggle because, well, lulz, I can’t even pay people to help me develop the damn thing. Apparently, something about my personality turns literary types off. They just don’t want to deal with me for some reason, which is weird because you think being creative people themselves that they wouldn’t be so quick to judge.

Maybe I’m being naive.

Only successful kooks are allowed to be themselves, maybe. Being a drunk crank kook is a privilege, not a right in their minds. If you’re a loser drunk crank, they don’t want anything to do with you. But if you’re a success, then you’re “unique” and “interesting.”

Anyway, all I can do is just bootstrap it. While no one is going to help me — even if I offer to pay them — I can still read. I hope to spend these few days of not writing on the second draft to read, read, read any and everything I can get my hands on that I can force myself to read.

I continue to be interested in how leadership applies to building a strong protagonist. So, I’m trying to read a few leadership books I’ve bought along the way since I started this project a few years ago.