Tag: writing

Struggling To Make My Hero Less Passive

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m zooming through the “fun and games” part of this novel I’m working on and will soon cross the midpoint into the “bad guys close in” part of the novel. But I have a problem, not only do I not really know what happens in this part of the novel because I got AI to finish my outline, according to AI, my hero is “too passive.”

What I think is going to happen is once I actually thoughtfully read the second half of the novel, there will be a lot — a lot — of changes. My own vision, not just the vision of the AIs I’ve been using, will take shape and I’ll hopefully be able to make my hero a lot more proactive.

But, if nothing else, doing it the way I’ve been doing it has ensured I keep the momentum of the writing of the novel. I really want to wrap the first draft of the novel up by the end of the year, so I can turn around and write the second draft. Writing the second draft is going to be a lot — A LOT — slower because I refuse to use any AI (within reason) to actually write it.

I’m going to use my AI-enabled “vomit” draft as a guide for the entire, 100% AI free second draft. And that’s when my native writing — bad or otherwise — will shine. Only time will tell if my actual writing ability sucks too much natively for me to ever query anything I write to a literary agent.

The Dangers Of AI In Novel Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Because I’m working on the first “vomit” draft of this novel, I’m letting AI write some scenes because I know I’m going to rewrite them anyway. But my reasoning for allowing it to do this doesn’t make me feel any better.

I know, in a sense, that I’m just kicking a lot of work down the road. When I sit down to write the second draft without AI, I’m going to have to know the story inside and out.

I’m prepared to do that, but I’m afraid I’m going to be so spoiled from just handing things over to AI whenever I don’t feel like writing, like I did in the first draft process, that I will grow discouraged.

I don’t think that will happen because I’m going to be so self-conscious of that possibility going into the second draft process. But I have to admit that I’m very pleased how things are going at the moment with this first draft. I’m zooming through the first draft’s outline at quite an impressive clip.

Only time will tell if I can keep that speed of progress up going forward.

I’m Now In The ‘Fun & Games’ Part Of The First Draft Of This Scifi ‘Dramedy’ I’m Developing & Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a lot of work to do between this first draft I’m working on and the second draft. Like, I have to figure out the mensural cycle of an android so women readers want get angry that a smelly boy could not figure out something so simple.

Ugh.

But, in general, things are moving at a nice little clip. I just can’t allow myself to get overwhelmed like I have so much in the past. I have to just chill out and let myself slip into the mood of writing without being worn down by feeling like I’ve been spinning my wheels.

One thing that has been a real pain is the AIs I’ve been using to lay out the first draft scene summaries act like they’ve never seen the movie Her and want my bot to be a lot more clinical and robotic than I want her to be. I want her to be like Sam from Her — warm and human like.

I’m really spending a lot of time gaming out what my bot’s very human persona will be in the second draft. But, for the time being, this is the first “vomit” draft and I just write whatever I want.

It’s because I’m going to have to spend so much more extra time on the second draft that it could be a year from now before I query this damn thing. That, and my life is about to change in some pretty fundimental ways and that is going to suck.

Things Continue To Move At A Nice Little Clip With This Scifi Dramedy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

My goal is to wrap up the first act of the first draft of this scifi dramedy by the end of the month. My life is on the precipitous of changing in a rather dramatic fashion — I don’t want to talk about it — but it’s something I have to accept as going to happen soon enough.

So, I’m hoping to wrap up the first draft of this novel within a few months. If I could finish the second draft of the novel no later than, say, about a year from now, that would be pretty cool. Then I would start to query in the fall of 2026 and go from there.

I will be grieving over how we didn’t have a free and fair Federal midterm election around the same time, so maybe if I have a successful querying season in 2026 that will cheer me up some.

But, if nothing else, the premise of the novel is really, really strong. But as I keep saying the premise is kind of a “duh.” It’s kind of a fusion of Annie Hall with Ex Machina and Her.

Sorta. In its own way.

I still don’t really know what happens in it, even though I have a finished outline. I say that in the context of I got AI to finish the outline for me and I haven’t taken the time to see what it wrote. So, it could be that once I read the midpoint of actually writing the first draft I will really hate what AI came up with and I’ll totally change everything.

But one thing I really have sworn to myself is I’m not going to use any AI for the second draft, even if that means things slow down a great deal. I don’t want to have any success wit this novel if there’s always going to be a fucking asterisk associated with it.

I figure if I write the second draft without any AI then, in a sense, I’ve done it fair and square because the actual end-product will be totally written by my own hand.

I see myself, in a sense, as a “AI First” novelist in the context of using it like how a novelist in an earlier era might have used a word processor.

Anyway. It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to actually finish the first draft of the novel.

The Fear, Of Course, Is Creative Burnout

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I continue to move along at a nice little clip with this scifi novel dramedy, but I do worry that I’m spinning my creative wheels a little too much. That’s something that really got me with the thriller I worked on for so long — I often spun my wheels on the specifics of a certain part of the novel so much that I kind of got burnt out.

Hopefully, that won’t happen this time.

What I HOPE to do, is just zoom through the first draft out line, then work on some character studies and then be a lot more methodical about the second draft.

I also keep being tempted to use some of the names I came up with for the thriller. I haven’t gotten to the point where I want to use it quite yet. I guess I still have hope that I’ll be able to turn my attention to the thriller universe again eventually.

But…I don’t know. Is sure is tempting.

I think that’s a second draft thing to decide, one way or another.

The Outline Collapsed…Again

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is why I’ve been working on some sort of novel for so long — my outlines often crash and I have to start from scratch. I get discouraged, don’t write for a little while, then start writing again, only to have everything crash.

Hopefully — HOPEFULLY — this won’t happen so much this time. I have a lot of hope for this new novel and I believe if I just am as methodical as possible that I can continue to zoom through the first draft.

One thing I guess was inevitable is I’m beginning to realize I can’t use AI as a crutch. While it helps a lot, it also produces ideas that just don’t fit my vision. Creative differences, if you will.

Anyway, I have a slightly different, new version of the novel that I am now working on. But at least I have a complete outline of the first draft. That’s something, I guess. I just have to sit down and do the writing.

And try not to lean on AI for development as much.

Zooming Through The First Draft Outline

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The dynamic of this first draft is a lot different than what will happen with the second draft. This is just my “vomit” draft, so I am rather slapshod at points about it all.

But when I finish this draft and sit down to write the second draft, the dynamic will be totally different. I hope — hope — to have a lot better understanding of the characters as well as the universe that it all takes place in.

I have to say that now that I have the general sense that we’ve reached an LLM “wall” that it’s a lot easier for me to map out the near future. If I still felt the Singularity was happening in a few years, then, well, uh, yikes.

But, as it stands, I think I some breathing room. At least, I hope. That’s the tough thing about writing the “near future” these days. Things are moving so fast that if you don’t stick the landing, you risk seeming rather “quaint” in your predictions.

And, yet, I really want this to be like The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in its approach to technology. So, I think that gives me some wiggle room. But this is a novel, not a screenplay, so, lulz?

There Remains, Of Course, The Issue Of My Writing Ability

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Since I’m not going to let AI write anything to do with the second draft, I just have to rely upon my own innate ability. And, well, that could suck. It could be that I AI will help me with development and the actual writing will suck so bad that I STILL won’t be able to get anyone to read the damn thing.

But, who knows.

I don’t think Stieg Larsson was know for being all that great an author and he wrote novels that were a success. But it is something to be aware of.

And, yet, I am zooming through this first draft outline pretty fast. I hope — hope — to have the first draft of the novel done by…maybe the end of the year? Maybe?

There’s a part of me, of course, that wants to start from scratch and write a whole lot better first draft, since my “vomit draft” — on a structural basis — is turning out so well because of AI.

But I refuse to do that. I want to know this story like the back of my hand.

I’ve Pretty Much Finished The First Draft Outline Of My Scifi Dramedy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

With the help of AI, I’ve zoomed through the process of developing an outline for the first draft of the scifi “dramedy” I’m working on. Now, I think, all I have to do is just go through and actually write the thing out.

The second half of the novel was the least thought out, but, again, I turned to AI and somehow it managed to do what I couldn’t — come up with a coherent and very personality driven plot.

I do wonder how much the outline is going to change as I work my way through it. It’s going to “breathe” some as I realize some of the AI produced scenes just don’t work or don’t fit my vision.

But this is the first time that AI has really managed to help me with something creative that fit my vision.

I have to note, however, that I’m not going to let AI actually write any of the novel for me, outside of a few dribs and drabs here and there in the first draft. The second draft will be entirely human-written, for better or for worse.

That’s one thing I’ve noticed — my writing just isn’t as good as some of the LLMs I’ve been using. So, I really need to up my game.

I Just Couldn’t Make It Through ‘Subservience’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Given the choice of watching Subservience and working on my novel about bots, I finally picked the latter. I thought there was some way I might make it through the movie, but I got weak and read the Wikipedia entry for it and realize it might take me days to finish it.

It really does seem that bad.

So, I think I’m going to spend the afternoon working on my novel. My novel is so different than Subservience that I just wanted to take a looky-loo to get some sense of what another person’s take on the premise might be.

I’ve decided to just continue to zoom through the first draft of my novel instead of struggle through Subservience. Though I might continue to attempt to watch it now and again.