Tag: writing

‘Comping’ Redux

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, as part of querying your novel, you’re supposed to compare or “comp” it to other works. I’ve thought and written about this before, but this time seems like I may actually have to sit down and write a query letter where I do that.

The big plot twist of all of this is, of course, that I don’t really read that much fiction. The last time I read thrillers was, well, the Stieg Larsson Millennium series. Since then, I’ve pretty much only read scifi stuff or non-fiction.

I just don’t know what I’m going to do. I suspect, that in the end, I’m just going to be honest and “comp” my novel to The Girl Who Played With Fire. This is a passion project, after all, so, lulz, I am just running off of passion at this point. I am well aware that it’s very possible that I will fail on a catastrophic way because I don’t query right…but at least I will get to go through the experience.

That was always the point of all of this — just to have something to look forward to and to see how far I could get before it was absolutely clear I would fail. I continue to think about a few scifi novels that I would be a lot easier to “comp” to other scifi novels.

But, for some reason, I continue to be obsessed with this particular thriller idea that I’ve bee working on for way too many years.

My Goal Is To Start Querying This Novel In September

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I continue to feel like I’m spinning my wheels with this novel, I have a hunch that if I just focus I can begin to query it with literary agents around September. But I’m really going to have to focus.

I keep rereading the first act and finding things I have to change. So, I’m going to have to finally get out of the first act and start to work on the parts of the novel that are from a second draft.

But I think if I just focus that I can actually finish a novel I can query by around September first. I suppose in reality, my actual first deadline is August. I want a month to read over the novel and start to write my query letter before I actually begin the process of querying.

And, yet, who knows. Plenty of things could go wrong and all of this planning will be thrown out of the window.

Some Thoughts As I Potentially Zoom Towards Querying In The Fall

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Looking over the content I’m fusing together, it definitely seems as least within the realm of possibility that it won’t be a year from now when I query my first novel, but, rather this fall.

Four things come to mind as I contemplate this.

  1. The Novel May Be Too Long
    Because I work in terms of scenes, not word count — at least for a lot longer than you might think — I honestly don’t know how long this novel will be. While I’m aiming for about 100,000 words, there is a real chance I may blow past that and be closer to 160,000. That would really put a crimp in my dreams of ever successfully querying, but, lulz, this is a passion project and I just want to experience what it’s like to query.
  2. I’m Kind of Bonkers
    Any literary agent doing due diligence on me is probably think I’m nuts. I may just be too “colorful” for my own good. I just have accept that particular example of the “kook tax” and try to roll with the punches. But it sucks that that and my age may really in a cold, clinical nuts-and-bolts kind of way may prevent me from ever getting published traditionally.
  3. The Novel May Be Too Spicy
    There is a fair amount of sex in this novel, the point that that, unto itself, my turn literary agents off. And the fact that my heroine is something of a part-time sex worker might also cause some problems.
  4. I’m A Middle-Aged White Dude Writing From A Brown Female POV At Times
    There are a number of problems baked into the very structure of this novel from the get-go that may make it a no-go. I often write from a female POV in this novel. There are more than one POV within a chapter. And the chapters are probably a little too long at some points. All of those issues — while true to paying homage to Stieg Larsson — may really make it difficult to sell the novel.

Yet Again…

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve printed out the entire first act AGAIN and I’m going to go read it AGAIN in hopes of finding any weak scenes so I can re-write them. I’m really leaning into AI to do this form of development.

I hate it when AI gives me copy, writing is MY JOB.

Anyway. Things are going well with the novel as of now. I’m hoping to enter the first half of the second act pretty soon. I already know there are a number of weak scenes. It’s just annoying that I keep reading and rereading the first act. It’s time to get into the second act.

The novel continues to be a little too spicy for my needs, but, lulz, fuck it. As long as the overall story is good, I suppose I can grit my teeth and allow for a little bit more sex than might otherwise happen.

At least I didn’t start the novel with a sex scene, which I think is bad form. But, in general, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve come up with — at least the first act. The tough part is going to be to smooth things out between the first act and the rest of the novel.

But, in general, I think if you’re a fan of Stieg Larsson’s stuff, you’ll really enjoy this novel and the planned novels that follow it.

My Passion Project Is Too Spicy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have to stop living in denial about this — my passion project thriller is probably too spicy for its own good. And I’m not getting any younger, so I really need to think seriously about how I spend my creative time.

I say that, then throw myself back into the very spicy novel that I keep telling myself I need to put aside so I can focus on something more marketable. I have a number of really good scifi novels I can work on. One in particular remains at the forefront of my mind all the time

And, yet, I really like the thriller. I know, just know, that if I keep at it I can produce something good enough that it will sell. There is the basic problem of how good — or bad — my writing may be, but I can only use AI to fix that particular situation so much.

So, I guess I will continue to work on the spicy thriller, damn the consequences. I keep toying with the other, scifi novels, in my mind, but nothing has really resonated to the point that I want to work on them like I continue to work on the spicey thriller.

I’ve Decided To Kind Of Just Tune Out From The News

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I continue to get my news passively from Twitter, I’ve really cut back watching late night TV for infotainment. I just can’t handle it anymore. Nothing is going to happen and we’re careening into autocracy with a lulz.

So, I’m just going to try to focus on my novel(s) and go from there.

I also continue enjoy screwing around with AI. That’s a lot of fun. Sometimes so pretty interesting things happen out of the blue with AI, enough to keep me interested.

Now To Read Through The First Act Of This Thriller I’m Still Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So now I’m going to read through the first act of the fourth draft of this novel and try to give it some consistency on more granular level. I’ve fixed things on a macro structural basis, so now I need go through and make sure there is a cohesive flow to things.

All of this is happening in the context of me having a really good scifi novel I want to start working on. The scifi novel doesn’t have any of the problems the thriller has when it comes to potential marketability. It’s very much in the same vein as The Martian in style, if not substance.

It’s about an AI that wants to be “a real boy” and I think if I put my mind to it I can develop and write a first draft at a pretty fast clip. But I really need to focus.

And, yet, there is a part of me that really wants to throw everything at the thriller. It’s a passion project for a number of reasons. I’ve been working on it for so long that it’s almost become a part of my identity. But at this point I just want to finish the fucking the one way or another and go through the process of trying to query it.

Even though, even if I’m successful, I could be nearly 60 before the fucking thing is in people’s hands. AND, WHAT’S MORE, all of this is happening in the context of a potential hard Singularity that will make any human-created art moot.

But, sometimes, you just gotta belive.

Finished A Structural Review Of The First Act Of This Thriller I’m *Still* Working On

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I’ve finally gotten to a point with the first act of this thriller I’ve been working on for years and years to sit back and slowly go through it on a more tactical basis. I’m trying to make it consistent before I go into the second act.

The second act is based on the second draft of the novel which was a straight murder-in-a-small-town mystery. But the story has drifted so much sense I finished that draft that I suspect there are going to be a lot — A LOT — of structural issues I’m going to have to work on.

And, what’s more, I probably going to have to lean on AI to help rewrite many scenes after the first act.

Right now, my only big concern about the first act is it’s too…saucy. There’s a lot of sex — some of it pretty explicit — and that could be a big turn off for the people I usually turn to to read my work. And, yet, I have a vision and I know what I want to do with it.

So, I’m keeping the sex for the time being. If all else fails, I’ll just query the damn thing, beta readers be damned. I just want to get into that portion of the process just to experience it.

But I do have a number of scifi novels that I’m kicking around, some of them are really good! The only issue with them is they’re not as well formed, right now at least, and also technology is moving so fast that if I don’t pump the damn things out sooner rather than later they will seem rather quaint.

I Guess It’s Called A ‘Passion Project’ For A Reason, Huh — Ugh

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really have no idea what I’m going to do about this thriller. It’s still got a lot of sex in it and there’s a real risk that it will be closer to 160,000 words, not the 100,000 sweetspot for a first-time author.

Ugh.

And, yet, I just don’t want to change anything. I have a vision and I’m going to stick to it.

But I do think I may pick one day of the week, maybe two, where I don’t focus on the thriller but rather work some other novel. I really have to do something because, well, lulz, Bad Things happened to me the last time I “finished” this novel and realized it was no good and I would have to start all over again and I definitely don’t want THAT to happen.

Yet I really like the premise of this novel. It’s really interesting. The crux of this version of the novel is I have a pretty solid first act after really struggling with that in previous versions.

But this version of the novel holds up really well, overall, I think. I’m a little worried that once I reach the second act that is going to be the moment when things slow down dramatically and I’m going to have to do A LOT of re-writing. I’m so tired of rewriting things that I’m really going out of my way to not have to do that — at least with this version.

The next version, before I start to show it to people again, I think I’m going to force myself to actually rewrite a lot of scenes that I’ve been too lazy to.

The Status Of My Thriller, Late March 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I’ve finally sobered up and have stopped moping for various reasons, I am finally pivoting towards rewriting my thriller AGAIN. My goal at the moment is to finish revising the first act. The first act is actually the second half of the second act of a different novel — with the same heroine — that I gave up on because no one liked it.

The general consensus about that other novel was it was too….bawdy. And, yet, of course biggest reason why people didn’t like the other novel was it centered around a part-time sex worker. THAT part I’ve kept, if I’ve done my best to tone it down.

What can I say, I like strippers. Love’em even. They’re so weird and kooky — and hot — that once I began toying with the idea of including that angle in the novel I kind of fell into it and couldn’t get out.

If, nothing else, the popularity of Anora and Barry at least give me some hope that maybe people will at least give me a chance. Maybe. But people are so judgmental of anyone who is just starting out — especially someone as unproven as I am — that there is a reason why I keep calling this my “passion project.”

I’m probably going to fail in a rather spectacular fashion, but lulz, at least I’ll have fun doing it.