Tag: writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Everything is going well with this first novel. And, yet, now that I’m just about to begin to flesh out the second half of the novel’s outline, I find myself with something of a conundrum. I have a general idea of how the story ends, and yet, I don’t.

I am really struggling with how to keep the story going. The story hasn’t collapsed as has happened so many times before, but I definitely am at a loss as to what to do at the moment. I think what I’m going to do is distract myself. I’m going to do some much neglected reading. I have a small library of books I haven’t read yet and I think if I just let my mind get preoccupied with something other than the problem at hand, then I should be able to solve it soon enough.

I feel like there’s something obvious that I’m missing. I think the thing I’ve really improved lately is character development. For way too long, I was interested in plot without really thinking about fleshing out character. But I think I have a much, much better understanding of character now. My storytelling ability has improved significantly.

Another thing I might do is turn my attention to one of the other books in the series. I know that’s dumb because I should focus all my attention on the first book, but I love development too much to stop doing it altogether. It would be nice to be able to switch gears for a few days an develop something that was still in the same universe. That might get my creative juices for the rest of the second half of the first novel going.

I think I just need a few days to clear my mind. Once I look at the second half of the novel with fresh eyes, the solutions to my current problems will probably be quite clear. At least, that’s the hope.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the most annoying things to happen to me during the course of all these years of working on this project has been people who have told me to “just write.” I have found that plotting really fits my personality far better than “just writing.”

Now, here I am, plotting six novels.

But the key thing I’ve realized of late is how important developing character is. So, that’s something I’ve really been dwelling on and reading about (again). It’s character that causes the reader to want to invest in the novel to the point that they’re willing to spend a number of hours with it to finish it.

My overall writing and storytelling ability continues to improve. But there remains a severe learning curve. I need to take a deep breath and focus on both the macro arc of the story over six novels and the more specific issues found within each individual novel.

But, overall, it’s a lot of fun.

Having six novels to flesh out is very demanding creatively and keeps me on my toes.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve written about this before, but I sort of have this on my mind again, so lulz. The heart of this six novel project is a woman who looks like and is about the same age as Oliva Munn. Now, given that I’m a middle age CIS white male, the idea that I would write from a third person intimate POV as a woman is going to be controversial to some people.

And, yet, Stieg Larsson did it and it wasn’t the end of the world. But, on a macro basis, the heart of this huge project is the love of a woman for another woman’s child. We get to see over the course of 25 years the ebb and flow of that relationship.

Now, one thing I’m a little worried about is how the story changes over the course of the six novels. The first three novels focus on the character that looks like Ms. Munn. It’s very much a Mare of Easttown type situation. The later books are a much more a homage to Stieg Larsson’s type writing and I hope that won’t be too jarring to the audience.

But as I write these six novels, in my mind I’m thinking of what Olivia Munn looks like and trying to depict the character in the audience’s mind as looking as much like her as possible. And, yet, of course, you’re supposed to also keep things as open and vague as possible so people can imbue the character’s appearance with whatever they like.

I like the idea that my heroine for so many of these novels isn’t white and that becomes part of the story. And, as I’ve said before, in general, I find developing and writing female characters a lot more interesting to do because of how complex doing so legitimately is. I’m really self-conscious about it all and my greatest fear is I’ll write something from the POV of a female character that is so clueless that women readers will throw the book across the room.

Anyway. None of this matters right now to anyone but me. I feel a lot better about things. I hope — hope — to start writing again around Sept. 1st. We’ll see.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Here is where things stand with these six novels I’m working on. Something about the enormity of the project is inspiring. I think what it is, is, I’ve decided that rather getting too worked up about any one specific book, I’m going to bounce around as needed.

That was what was going on a few days ago when I hit a part of the first novel and I realized I just was not prepared to keep going. The character uses POV I was about to write a scene in was nothing more than a mood. I didn’t know anything about their motivation or goals, or anything.

So, I said, “Fuck it.”

Now the plan is to go through the character list of all six novels and flesh out the individual characters so I will know their motivations and goals well before I get anywhere near to using them. I think the issue of developing character is probably the key issue of all of this.

I have to understand these characters if I’m going to reach the storytelling ability that I want, that I believe I can. That’s probably the issue that I struggle with the most. For much of the time I’ve been working on this project, I’ve been so focused on story that I haven’t really thought as much as I should on character.

I have a number of books that I’m reading about character that are helping me improve this particular element of what’s going on. Anyway. The key issue is to not “run hot” or burn out. And I think if I see these six novels as one huge story and bounce around as necessary to keep things interesting then I’ll be able to finish the project before I drop dead.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve decide to see these six novels as one huge story that is simply broke up into six independent parts. This is really a huge undertaking for a number of reasons. Writing ~600.000 words is not easy. But that’s my goal. I really love these characters and it’s a lot of fun to think about how they might change over the course of the 25 years depicted in the project.

But I’m the first to admit that I need to do a lot of reading. The biggest issue I have at the moment is character. That’s why I decided to do something of a reboot of the first novel — that, and I was feeling burnt out. I just it a moment in the novel when I realized I didn’t really know the characters as well as I needed to.

This second novel is about an abducted baby. I’ve already come up with some exciting twists and turns. The crux of the issue, of course, is how long is it going to take me to flesh out the story so I don’t embarrass myself. But the actual conceit of the novel — using the characters, canon and universe I’ve already constructed to talk about an abducted baby — is pretty cool. I just have to press forward. I can’t sit around doing nothing. These novels aren’t going to write themselves.

And, since I have so many novels to write, I felt it was best if I paused actually writing the novels for about two weeks so I can mull exactly the nature of the characters I’ve come up with. But, at the same time, I need to get going. I’m not going to live forever.

I guess, at this point in the process, at least, all of this is just for me. I just want to see if I can pull off such a huge project. The whole issue of if it’s ever going to get published is something entirely different.

I’m well aware that no one is willing to take me seriously. And if they do pay attention to me, they think I’m a fucking drunk crank. But having six novels to think about at least gives me something to use up all my excessive mental energy on.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not only am I living in oblivion, I’m totally alone. I’m working on six novels without anyone to talk to. And, what’s worse, in the past when I’ve attempted to pay someone to talk to me about what I’m working on there is a 50 / 50 chance that they won’t do it because they think I’m sort of crank. In short, they don’t want to help me because they don’t take me seriously.

“I’ll put a move on you,” is all I have to say about that.

But something that is at the forefront of my mind these days as I decide to bounce around the six novels is a real concern that just because I’m willing to write six novels about this particular universe I’ve come up with, doesn’t mean anyone else wants to read it.

And, yet, every time I think this, I have two thoughts. One is, the stories of all six novels are very compelling. I may not know at the moment exactly what happens during each story told, but the conceit of each of the novels is really strong. They all lead to something — the events of the last two novels. The second is, I love the challenge. I love how ostensibly overwhelming all of this is. At a minimum, I’m setting myself up to write over 600,000 words. But I do love to write and I love to develop.

So, it’s both a challenge and a lot of fun to think up how I can show these characters change over the course of the 25 years depicted over the course of six novels. I would rather fail in a very spectator manner than “write a few short stories” and get discouraged because I can’t get any of them published for this or that reason.

I’m well aware that I’m a very, very flawed person. I have made, and continue to make a lot of mistakes. But I just try to be the best person I can possibly be. And writing these six novels is part of that world view. I just want to tell a story — my story — and anyone who reads all six of these novels is going to come away knowing WAY TOO MUCH about my personal history.

But they say bleed on the page if you want to be a writer, so there you go.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I finally accept that while I may BE 50 when I sell my first novel, I won’t actually be a published author by the time I reach that milestone. As such, I’m pumping the breaks for a few days and allowing myself to decompress from getting really stressed out about the first novel in a projected six novel project.

As part of all of that, I’m going to read a number of “how-to” books about writing novels. The biggest issue, I think, is character. I really need to root around in the characters I’ve come up with so they aren’t just “moods” that I change as needed for expediency sake.

I have a few extra days, I hope to use them to develop as much as I can of different characters and their different versions that appear over the six novels. This is going to be an enormous amount of work, but as I keep saying, I like to be overwhelmed creatively. It keeps me happy and stops me from brooding about my own eventual demise.

I need something to think about outside of myself, and having six ~100,000 word novels to think about really, really helps. If Stieg Larsson can write three huge novels and sell them, then I think I can write six novels that are a little shorter and sell them, too. I just hope, as always, that I don’t endup dropping dead of a heart attack.

Ugh. Being old sucks.

Anyway, I also hope to do a lot of reading. I find reading from the small personal library that I have helps a lot to distract me, and, as such, recharge my creative batteries.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m thinking a lot about character as I game out the plot of this second novel in the series. It’s really doing wonders for my mood that I’m working on a different novel instead of the first novel. I can feel myself relaxing. I will note as an aside that I saw someone on Twitter joking about how all they do is “think” about writing.

Well, to me, as long as you’re thinking about plot, character and then you write it down as necessary then, yes, since you’re doing development, that’s fine. You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself.

And, what’s more — remember, there is no reveled truth as to how to develop and write a novel. Whatever works for you, do it. As long you write something anything and finish it. (Then, of course, you have to re-write it a few times.)

Anyway, things are moving well with the second novel. And really, it’s just an issue of doing a lot of, well, thinking, then sitting down and gaming out an outline that I will, once I actually start writing the thing, change totally. But having some sort of outline fleshed out gives me a pleasant since of accomplishment.

My ultimate fear, of course, is that I’m not getting any younger. I really need to produce something, anything sooner rather than later. And there’s still a very good chance that my life is going to randomly be blown up out of the blue and I’m going to have to adjust my creative life accordingly.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

At the moment, all I know about the second novel is it’s very important to the series and it’s about an abducted baby. Otherwise, everything is very much in flux. But given how huge this project is, I have a lot of room to flex my creative vision in the context of a broader universe and canon.

While I plan on using the latter part of August to flesh out the outlines of the five remaining novels, at the moment, I’m focused on the second novel. The second novel shows how the events of the first novel are beginning to change the community I’ve come up with.

It’s fun for me, the writer, because I have a huge, established canon to work with and all I have to do is figure out how to use the already existing characters in new ways. And it’s fun to think about how readers — who hopefully will be fans of the series by this point — will get an update on what their favorite characters are up to.

This six novel project is actual two trilogies, at least in my minds eye. Something similar happen to me when I tried to write a scifi book about First Contact. By the time I decided to work on a thriller instead, I had come up with three trilogies. It must be my nature to be really creatively ambitious.

Anyway, the key to finishing all of this is to not get burnt out and to not get overwhelmed. I have to stay focused and keep my eyes on the prize — writing four novels that so lay out how the community I’ve come up with got so fucked up that it makes total sense to the reader. In fact, it will be something of a treat for people who have been fans of the series from the beginning.

Did I mention I have a huge ego?

But this second novel is very, very important because it gives an important character in the series the motivation to do something that is very, very important to the overall canon. Wish me luck figuring out how to flesh the story out.

It’s slowly beginning to come to me, I think.

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not getting any younger, so I have to put up or shut at this point. But I’ve come up with a really, really interesting six novel series that, if all goes according to play, would be the setup to a new series of thriller novels about my ultimate heroine who is meant to be an American homage to Lisbeth Salander. At least, that’s the vision.

I have been working on this project for several years now and it suffers from a severe case of mission creep. What started off as an effort on my part to rant in fiction about the Trumplandia Era has turn into something totally different. And, yet, I think if I’m ever going to finish this massive project, I’m going to have to tap into the rage that generated the energy to begin this project several years ago.

And I definitely am beginning to feel that rage against MAGA begin to well up in my psych. I need to remember where all of this coming from so there is some consistency of tone over the six novels. Or, put another way, I have to keep an eye on the prize — the last two novels are meant to be a scathing attack on Trumplandia and modern America in general. They’re going to be something of a soft-touch allegory about why I am so enraged by Trumplandia to begin with. But I don’t want to be preachy. I want to use subtext and also the canon of the universe I’ve created is constructed in such a way that you can enjoy the story for what it is without really thinking about how angry I am about how fucked up America is right now.

At least, that’s the goal.

But taking a little pause from writing is already beginning to pay benefits. I’m feeling the burn out that I’ve been experiencing the last few days begin to drain. I think by the time Sept 1st rolls around, I’m going to be excited to write again.