by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Now that I feel reasonably confident that I will wrap up the third draft of my first novel in a few months, I have to begin to grapple with expectations. Things are going so well that it is easy for me to fall into the delusion that people will actually, like, give a shit.
I hope to write a heroine as interesting as Lisbeth Salander.
I was wasted this afternoon after some quite enjoyable day drinking — only beer for once — and I sent the first three chapters of the novel a number of people who have helped me out in the past. This time I was met with a whole bunch of silence other than one or two people.
This is a heads up that ultimately, the success of this novel will hinge on the kindness of strangers — people who actually know me seem rather blasé about the novel and don’t really care. I would post the first three chapters of the novel here, but, lulz, what do I think is going to happen — someone actually give me any input?
It’s just not worth it. Though I will note that someone in Europe continues to appear in my Webstats who seems very interested in the first three scenes of the novel I posted some time ago. Things have improved a great deal with the novel since I posted though scenes, however.
So I’m going to have to adjusted my perception of things some. I continue to do all this in a vacuum so I really have no idea how good the novel is other than just what my gut tells me. I’m a storytelling snob, but even with that taken into consideration, I’m not perfect and it would help so much if I had a Reader or two who could give me consistent constructive criticism.
Anyway. It will definitely be interesting to see what the endgame of all this hard work on my part is.
