Month: September 2023

‘Spooky’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The last few days I’ve really had South Korea on the brain and so imagine my surprise when lo and behold, I saw today that — you guessed it — someone from South Korea checked out this blog.

Whenever this happens, I’m at a loss. I have no idea why the person looked at my blog and all it does is stir up memories of my wasted youth. I could have been the most famous expat in South Korea if only little Korean kids didn’t hate my guts.

And, yet, here I am — nearly 20 years since I first went to South Korea, still nursing my wounds from stupid shit that happened a long time ago. I am well aware that if I ever went back to Asia, it wouldn’t be anything like what I remember it being.

Things move fast in Asia — and especially South Korea — and the whole vibe would be different. It was different the last time I was in South Korea. It was, in short, boring. I just happened to be in South Korea at a very specific moment in time when things were really, really bonkers and interesting in the expat community there.

I think if I wanted any similar experience, I would have to go to Cambodia. But, even then, I think that’s probably overrated. The Internet has ruined everything and people just swoop in and get all the cool stuff of living in Asia without having to go through the hard part of learning the culture and networking with fellow expats.

So, it was a long time ago and nobody cares anymore.

It’s Definitely Looking Like My So-Called ‘Hysterical Doom Shit’ About Our Fate Might Not Be So Far Off

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

You have to admire “Mueller, She Wrote.” The proprietors of that account think that all of our political problems will be magically solved because of this or that court case. Somehow, using rainbows and unicorn farts, Trump and MAGA will fade away because someone swoops in an “saves” us.

Fuck that — we are so fucking screwed.

I can’t predict the future, of course, so it’s very possible that something might happen between now and late 2024, early 2025 that makes a “third way” viable. But I’m not going to fucking hold my breath. If it happens, it’s not going to be because someone “saved” us — it will be because of something totally unpredictable and totally out of our control.

As it stands, either we slide peacefully into autocracy as a result of Trump winning in 2024, or we have a massive fucking civil war domestically and a world war internationally. The world is primed and ready for Something Bad to happen a lot sooner than you might think.

I mean, we fucking have MAGA people running around with “Trump or Death” flags just as fucking Nazis are also walking around. If that isn’t an indication that we’re in a bumpy political ride in the near term, I don’t know what does. We have to stop thinking that either our law or a politics function like they used to.

We have to begin to prepare for the absolute fucking worst — be it autocracy or civil war / revolution. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it is a very cold, hard reality. No one is going to save us. Get ready.

Qanon’s Fixation On Tom Hanks Is Totally Fucking Bonkers

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Tom Hanks is not perfect. He’s human like all of us, and, yet, apparently in the minds of the fucking Qanon cocksuckers, he’s some sort of evil villian, lurking in the shadows. My current theory as to why this is goes like this — given Hanks’ all-American persona, the freaks of Qanon think that if they can get you to think the worst of him, they can convince you of anything else.

Like I said — Hanks isn’t perfect.

He’s apparently had a long-running affair with a much-younger woman, or something like that. But, in general, what I understand about him is he does pretty much live up to his persona. As much as anyone could be expect to, at least.

Anyway. I don’t think we really take the fucking Qanon bullshit threat seriously enough. Those fuckers are growing in power and if we’re not careful, they’re going to fucking go septic and a lot of innocent people will endup in campus. The fact that I might be among them has not escaped my attention. Even though, of course, we all know that Qanon is just warmed over old school anti-semitism

It definitely will be interesting to see how things play out with Qanon between now and late 2024, early 2025..

We Live In A ‘Wrong & Strong’ Era

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is a problem that I don’t know how to fix — we live in an era whereby people often have some very ill-conceived hot takes that they’re willing to fight to the death to defend.

It’s even to make just existing a real struggle. I can’t seem to go a day without someone pretty much just spouting bullshit, but bullshit in such a strident way that it makes you question your sanity.

While MAGA is the biggest example of this, the Left is not immune. I’ve come across some pretty batshit insane Leftist views. And don’t get me started on all the bullshit writing advice that I’ve had to endure the last few years. UGH. It’s enraging.

But, in a way, what’s worse is when the polity we’re supposed to have collapses because some pretty basic issues are so loaded that no one is willing to talk about them. The two sides views on everything from abortion to guns to global climate change are now so absolute and unchanging that it’s best not to even mention them if you don’t want a screaming match to break out.

I know from my own personal life that my MAGA-friendly relatives — whom I love dearly — pretty much have stopped talking to me about politics these days because I simply review to toe the fucking MAGA line.

UGH.

Anyway, fucking late 2024, early 2025 could be so fucking insane that few, if any of us, get out alive.

I’m Very Pleased With The New Beginning Of My First Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It has taken much, much, much longer than I had hoped, but I’ve finally — finally — gotten a handle on the first few chapters of the third draft of my first novel. I continue to do all of this in a vacuum, so, lulz, it could be that my fears about any manuscript consultant I hire telling me to pretty much start exactly where I did before may come true.

Or not. I don’t know yet.

I like the story I’m laying out, if nothing else.

Instead of just throwing everything at readers, I space things out some and gradually lead to a Big Event around the end of the first act that pushes my heroine into the second act.

But, as I keep saying, the issue is — I could very well be querying this novel just about the same time the entire world goes tits up because of a combination of The Fourth Turning, WW3 and The Singularity.

I definitely like the sequence of scenes I’ve managed to stitch together. I also need to start reading — and using my streaming services subscriptions –a lot more. I definitely get the sense that the more I read other people shit and watch content that I didn’t have a hand in producing that that stimulates my creativity.

Anyway. Wish me luck.

Of Character Development

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

How much do you need to know about your characters in order to present them to the reader? I find myself thinking a lot about that these days. First, I think every storyteller’s journey is different. So, lulz, you do you.

If you need to know an absurd amount of information that is never seen on the page to tell your story, have at it — though I would recommend you spend some of your time actually writing the fucking novel.

Anyway, my characterizations have gotten a lot — A LOT — better as I come to understand the relationships between my characters. That was probably the hardest thing to figure out, and the biggest reason why I kept writing and re-writing the beginning so many times.

Not only did I not know my characters very well, but I did not know their relationships very well.

In fact, I was having a real struggle with one relationship and the answer came to me out of the blue. Now, that specific change in relationships is probably one of the biggest differences between Draft Two and Draft Three.

One thing I’ve been a little worried about of late is in my new second chapter, I don’t really show things from my heroine’s POV that much. And, yet, in a number of those scenes, my heroine remains the focus. Having her seen through the eyes of an outsider is, in fact, the entire point of these additional scenes.

This placates my inner critic enough for me to keep moving forward.

But, in general, I’m feeling pretty stoked about the third draft of this novel. I am willing to deluded myself into thinking that there’s a decent change that the third draft will actually be something akin to professional.

Things Are Beginning To Work Out With This Novel (At Least The First ~30,000 Words)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s amazing insight you can get when all you do is dwell on something. I’ve managed to figure out a way how to seamlessly add 20,000 – 30,000 words to the beginning of this novel.

My fear is of course, that the first thing any manuscript consultant will demand is I….cut those exact words from the novel.

AND YET, there is definitely a point to those additional words. I have managed to not only flesh out some elements of character and the world I’m working with, but also introduce characters in a more methodical manner. I don’t just throw everything at you all at once.

I’m really hoping that all this hard work will help me with the novel novel in the series. I am well aware that we’re careening towards The Fourth Turning in late 2024, early 2025, and, yet, I find something poetic about going into such a potentially dramatic moment in our nation’s history with my eyes wide open as I finish a novel.

Anyway, in general, things are going well with the third draft of the novel. It is, in general, a richer, more compelling story than the second draft. I’ve definitely taken some risks, but lulz, no one ever got anywhere in this world without taking a risk.

Only time will tell.

I Can’t Predict The Future, But I Am…Worried About America’s Political Future

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I continue to grow more and more alarmed about what may happen in late 2024, early 2025. I say this because I just can see any sort of “third way” like what happened in 2020.

This is it — in 2024, we either slip peacefully into a MAGA-themed autocracy or we have a civil war (Reds) or revolution (Blues.) I definitely don’t want any of these scenarios to happen — I just want to punt things down the road again –but that just doesn’t seem a viable option.

In fact, if anything, the MAGA Right continues to make it clear, time and again, that we could spend all this energy to defeat Trump, only to have him turn around and demand a civil war so he, personally, can avoid prison.

That’s the element to all of this that way too many well-meaning Blues miss. They think that by just defeating Trump at the polls that everything will be ok for another four years, when, in fact, we just find ourselves facing the prospect of a “National Divorce.”

There remains one thing I can’t game out — how much of all this talk of violence on the part of MAGA and how much if it is real? I think, in a sense, we’re asking the wrong question. I don’t think on an individual basis that MAGA idiots have it in them to run around shooting people (thank God.)

But I do think that on a institutional basis that MAGA Republican state legislatures *DO* have it in them to call up Secessionist Conventions if Trump loses in 2024 — probably starting with Texas and then going to South Carolina.

Anyway, pray, is all I gotta say. Pray that I’m wrong and somehow we aren’t careening towards a catastrophe, even though it looks like we are at the moment.

I Really Have No Idea What I’m Doing With This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, I’ve added at least 20,000, maybe 30,000 words to the beginning of the third draft of this novel. One struggle I’ve had is being able to not make it so clear that I’ve added to the beginning. My fear of course, is, that the moment I hand this novel to a manuscript consultant, the first thing they’re going to tell me is to cut…about 30,000 words.

But you have to believe, I guess.

You have to lay out your vision and see what happens. While sometimes, it helps to overthink things a lot when writing a novel, but you can be in your head too much. Sometimes, you just have to do what you want to do and see what happens.

I’ve come up with a way to ease people into the story instead of just throwing them into it without much explanation.

But, in general, I’m very pleased with what I’ve managed to come up with. There are many, many known unknowns. Things that I just don’t know the ultimate significance of.

I just have to be patient. But I also need to buckle down and give myself some clear metrics to meet, otherwise it will be a year from now and I’ll still be spinning my wheels.

Lazy Observations About Vivek Ramaswamy’s Talking Points

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I still find it curious that Vivek Ramaswamy hasn’t managed to gain significant popularity in the polls, since he makes all the right people angry. And, yet, here we are. Trump is just as popular as ever and Vivek continues to poll in the single digits.

Here are some very lazy observations about his talking points — I’ve done no research and I’m just doing it off the top of my head.

The most notable talking point to me is how Vivek never misses an opportunity to slip in a reference to a National Divorce. I think this gives us a pretty good sense of the audience he’s trying to reach. He is scooping up the fears and concerns of the far far Right and trying to validate them in an effort to pry some of them off of Trump.

All this talk about a National Divorce — no matter how chipper he may be as he says it — has only managed to make people like me more concerned about what will happen if malignant ding-dong Trump manages to lose the 2024 election. I can’t predict the future, but it definitely seems as though there is simply no way to avoid a massive, historic political event of some sort involving the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the other thing I hear a lot from Vivek is always pivoting to “the future” whenever some stupid thing that Trump comes up in conversation. I get what he’s trying to do. Not only does it allow him to dodge questions about the past, it gives him a bright, sunny “Morning Again In America” type vibe, even if it’s from a fucking fascist POV.

Lastly, the other issue he keeps blathering about is not only raising the voting age to 25, but requiring young people to take a civics test to vote. Not only is this fascist, but it’s also ironic given that Vivek has repeatedly shown that HE can’t pass basic American civics.

Anyway. We’re fucked. Good luck!