Category: From The Editor

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.

Why I Don’t Think The Trump-Musk Dope Show Is A ‘Smash & Grab’ Operation

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Anyone who thinks the next major Federal election will be free and fair is a fool. The whole thing is going to be so rigged that the already cocky MAGA is going to take things to the next level. That’s why I think all this talk about the reason why Trump and Musk are acting so fast is it’s a “smash and grab” operation before the next election is just dumb.

We’re totally, completely fucked. Totally. The end. It’s over. Stick a fork in America, it’s cooked. There’s no going back. Either we have a revolution then a civil war (which I don’t want) or we turn into a legalistic autocracy like in Russia.

There is no longer any middle grown, no more “muddling through.” That option is long gone.

So, get out of the country while you still can. Maybe my novel will be a hit and I can get out eventually, too. But the way things are going, I’m going to be pushed out a window by either a weaponized ICE or FBI.

Sigh.

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.

Comparing My Novel To Stieg Larsson’s Works

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One thing I did not know for a long time was that two of the three novels written by Stieg Larsson while he was alive were actually part of one huge novel that was split into two and connected by a cliffhanger. Hence, that was why it was such a struggle for me to figure out the structure of the novel I decided to use as my textbook — The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Now that I’m back into the swing of things with working on this thriller — when I should be using some of my time to work on some scifi, too, natch — I find myself mulling how much of a one-to-one there is between my textbook and my novel.

My goal from the beginning of this process has been to write an American Lisbeth Salander. What I didn’t expect was I would start the series not with my own The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but with what would effectively be a prequel. My novel is set in late 1994 and is about the events surrounding the BIRTH of my Salander-like character.

The other (planned) novels are about my heroine as an adult. But doing things the way I’m doing them gives me a lot of room to distinguish my work from that of Larsson. Since I’m an American (duh) my novels are going to be natively American in their scope and style, even though I use some structure techniques of Larsson just so I can hopefully appeal to his fanbase.

(Even though the novels first came out about 20 years ago.)

Anyway. It will be interesting to see what happens next. I hope to get this first thriller in the series done ASAP — hopefully no later than maybe a year from now, if not sooner.

I really want to query this novel (for the first time.) I’ve never gotten that far in the process before.

Trying To Live A More Healthy Life

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just recently decided to give up two of my biggest vices — booze and the occasional cigar. I’ve reached an age where things start to fall apart and I’m getting a little nervous.

I know what they say that there’s nothing worse than a dry drunk, but I’m determined to go cold turkey. I’m not one of those people who wants to live forever — unless, like, the Singularity makes that a literal possibility — but I am nervous enough about my health to cut back on things that might reduce my ultimate lifespan.

My dad is still going strong as a very, very old man, so it’s at least possible that I might have a sold 20 years left in me if I just don’t fucking drink so much. At the same time, I will say I had a lot of fun drinking a lot, even though (especially in South Korea) I was known to do the occasional stupid thing because of it.

Anyway. There’s only so much I can do at this point. I just have to believe in myself and write as fast as I can and as well as I can on the thriller I’ve been working on in hopes that I might just sell it while I’m still alive instead of dropping dead before it gets published like Stieg Larsson.

Things Are Dire, Folks

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I fear this is it — American democracy is dead. There’s no going back. Or, put another way, either we have a revolution then civil war that Blues win or we slip into a legalistic autocracy like they have in Russia.

That’s it, those are our two choices.

I say this primarily because Trump and MAGA are not acting like they’re ever going to have another free-and-fair election to face — ever. And instead of anyone putting up a fight, group after group, institution after institution, just gives up and bends a knee to Trump.

So, there you go. It’s over folks. And the real question is not that it will get bad, but how bad, exactly, it will get — especially for me! There’s going to come a point when Trumplandia comes for even nobodies like me living in oblivion, to make a point, if nothing else.

I can only talk my way out of so much.

So, lulz, for the time being, I’m going to be a man in a high castle and work on my thriller that I’ve been working on for years and years now. I’m hoping that I will sell the novel at just the right moment so I can get the fuck out of the United States and resettle somewhere a little less…autocratic.

But that’s just something I tell myself to give myself hope. I fear I’m fucked, guys.

A Little Nervous My Thriller Is…A Little Too Raunchy At Times

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve had to make some difficult decisions with this newest version of the novel and among them is how much of the sex stuff I wrote for the previous version to keep in. I’ve lopped off a lot — A LOT — of text but because the old version had so much sex in it, I’m still stuck with some fairly spicy sex scenes.

The only reason why this bothers me is I have a little circle of people (very small group) who read my stuff and some of them have been turned off by how much sex the previous version of the novel had. So, I’m a little nervous.

And the sex happens in the first few chapters, which also bothers me. And, yet, while I’ll admit its rather lurid, it actually does serve some sort of purpose. At least, I believe it does.

I have said repeatedly that this novel is meant to be an homage to Stieg Larsson’s works and, as such, if people can handle some of those eye-popping scenes that he wrote, they can definitely handle the raunchy scenes I’ve written. And almost all of my scenes are between consenting adults, so that should give me some points.

But you just can’t please everyone. That’s why this is a passion project. I have a vision, a truth north and I’m going to follow it, no matter what.

Beginning To Feel Better About The State Of The Thriller

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

After a lot of back and forth and moving things around seemingly forever, I finally *think* I have a stable first few chapters of the 4th draft of the thriller novel I’ve been working on for years and years. I’ve put in a little bit of verbiage that eliminates the need for an entire novel going forward.

For that and other reasons, I think I’m down to four novels total in this specific project. I think. But the first novel is a murder-in-a-small-town novel. The second novel is a little bit more of a character study, but I think it’s interesting enough that people will want to see the plot I’ve come up with unfold.

I think. I hope.

But the point right now is to just finish the first novel. I also, as always, have a number of other novels I’m working on, but the thriller is the one that I’m most passionate about — it’s my passion project.

I KNOW, I just KNOW that I should focus on one of the other novels — most of them are scifi — because they’re more marketable in a traditional way. But, for the moment, I dun’twanna. I’m hoping to zip through the first act of this novel pretty quickly, knowing that soon after I hit the second act things are going to come to a screeching halt for a variety of reasons.

But I know this overall story so well, that hopefully I’ll be able to wrap up the entire thriller by no later than just under a year from now so I can turn around and start to query.

I’m trying to lean into AI as much as possible because I have no friends and no one likes me, but, lulz, AI can only do so much — especially with explicit scenes that it deems to raunchy to even look at.

Anyway. I’m having fun.

I’m Beginning To Worry In A Concrete Way About My Personal Safety Because Of My Politics

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s clear that This Is It. The End. Something new is going to arise from the ashes of the Second American Republic and there are absolutely no assurances that it will be a Third Republic. It could very well be a full-blown legalistic autocracy like that they have in Russia.

I still have my doubts that Trump will end regular Federal elections. It might run for a illegal third term, but just calling off elections when he can rig them and use them to validate his ego seems more likely.

But we continue to lurch more and more into a situation where people like me — who are harmless loudmouth cranks — could very well cross the regime. Everything from simply getting arrested, to being pushed out a window to being one of those people the Soviets drugged up in looney bins is on the table.

What I feel like doing is protesting at the nearest circuit court with a sheet of paper that has the 1st Amendment on it. Given how small the nearest town to me is, there’s a 50 / 50 chance that I’d be arrested for doing that just because it would unnerve people.

Anyway. It’s over, guys. Stick a fork in American democracy, it’s dead. It’s cooked. The end, end of story. Blues just don’t have the leadership necessary to do anything constructive about Trump and he will stay in office for the rest of his life, one way or another.