Tag: Millennium Series
It’s Comical How Much I Move Scenes Around
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
As I move through the second act of this third draft of my first novel, I continue to move scenes around at a comical, alarming rate. And what makes this behavior even worse is there’s a chance all of it will be quite moot. I have, in general, used what Stieg Larsson did with his chapters as a guide.
This woman has the general phenotype of my heroine.
And, yet, it seems as though modern novels may have shorter chapters than he had. So, it’s possible that for all my futzing with chapters and the sequence of POVs within them…lulz?
I suppose I can console myself by with the thought that even if the first thing happens with the novel should I somehow, magically, sell this novel is everything changes with the scenes and chapters, at least I will have presented the best possible vision for this novel before I came to that point.
That, at least, is what I’m saying to myself to make myself feel better.
My heroine has a sleeve tattoo similar to the one that Megan Fox now sports, even though I thought of the idea first.
But I can’t help myself. I have some very, very strict, arbitrary rules about what “looks right” in the outline I have, even though I’m the only fucking person who will notice such shit — especially if I tell a great story. People will be so wrapped up with reading the story that they won’t give a shit about the exact sequence of POVs within a chapter.
It will be interesting to see how things work out. If nothing else, I’ve come up with a novel I can be proud of, no matter what the ultimate endgame of this particular journey might be.
T & A: Struggling With How To Depict Female Characters In The Age Of The ‘Woke Cancel Culture Mob’
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I really enjoy developing and writing female characters because it’s so much more of a challenge than male characters. And YET, the whole notion of me, a smelly CIS white male, writing from a female point of view is fraught with potential problems.
Ugh. ‘Woke’ people.
There are so young women on Tik-Tok are quite strident in their belief that, by definition, I can not write from a female POV. And that is just the beginning of what the potential creative landmines I have to deal with when I do something as now-provocative as write from a female POV.
Again, as an aside, let me be clear — had I know what a potential pain in the ass doing any of this would be, I wouldn’t have done it. But I studied Stieg Larsson’s original Millennium series and HE wrote from a female POV all the time so when I started working on what could now be a seven novel project…I didn’t really give it much thought.
From what I can tell of the “woke cancel culture mob” Tik-Toks I get pushed on occasion, one big quibble that some “woke” readers have is the what they feel is the gratuitous tendency for male authors — like me — to talk about tits and ass.
As someone who actually writing a novel, I really struggle with the idea that this is some big deal. One of the thing that is so appealing about female as opposed to male characters is there is so much to work with. Because women are so much more judged on what they look like than men, the writer — that would be me — has a lot to work with.
This is the general phonotype of my heroine.
So, the issue of how big my female character’s breasts might be is actually pertinent — in my view — when it comes to describing her to the audience. Hell, Stieg Larsson spend a long-ish scene talking about how and why Lisbeth Salander got breast implants. This is especially important when should there be a need to give the reading audience some sense of the character’s self-perception.
All of this sturm and drang about how horrible it is that smelly CIS white males like me talking about tits and ass gives me a great deal of self-conscious stress. I just want to present my female characters as interesting and engaging as possible and sometimes I feel that I need to, in a matter-of-fact kind of way describe their bodies and their self-perception and interaction with them.
The ‘woke’ always have their eye on you. Wink.
It should not be that big a deal if I do it all in a non-salacious manner. I’m WELL AWARE that some ding-dong male authors use their female character as an opportunity to design characters they clearly want to fuck.
Ok, I get it.
While we’re on the subject of female characters, I must note that my one big quibble about Stieg Larsson’s work is how ALL of his female characters are good. It seems a disservice to both the story and the audience for there to be no female characters who are not on the side of good.
Now, obviously, I haven’t really read the post-Larsson novels published by his estate, so that issue may have been fixed.
Anyway. What do I know. I’m a smelly CIS white male. I should nothing at all but sit in my dark bedroom, twiddle my thumbs and stare at the ceiling.
Things Are Moving Along At A Nice Clip With The Third Draft Of My First Novel
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I spent all morning writing out scenes and I hope — hope — to throw myself into similar writing this afternoon. It definitely seems that, barring something I can’t predict, that I am still on track to wrap up the third draft of this novel no later than July 22 — the 20th anniversary of my first trek to Asia in 2004.
Barfly makes good.
I’m really leaning into character with this latest attempt at a third draft. And, what’s more, I’m really smoothing out the rough edges of the plot. Scenes no longer can be moved around without regard for where they are in the outline. That comes from how stable — in general — the plot of the novel is at the moment.
All of this is happening in the context of me continuing to worry about what the fucking “woke cancel culture mob” will think of me, a smelly CIS white male, writing from a female POV. I TRY to be as empathic as possible and to make it clear that I “get it” when it comes to what women may experience. And, yet, I could be fucking Darren Star and there will be young women on Tik-Tok who simply can not accept that a middle aged dude like me can possibly write from a female POV.
Ugh. Woke people.
But, slings and arrows, as they say.
I just want to tell a great yarn and it just so happened that the story I want to tell involves me writing scenes from a female POV. When I started this project, I simply followed what Stieg Larsson did. I had no idea that it would be such a fucking big deal that I might write from the POV of a woman. Had I known that it was even an issue, I probably would have constructed the novel differently.
And, yet, lulz. I want this novel to be an old brown shoe for people who have read the original Millennium novels written by Larsson while he was alive, so there you go.
I hope my novel will appeal to readers who liked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Having said all that, I am really pleased with how this novel is shaping up. It definitely may be too long — which is a real problem — but the story is coherent, cohesive and cogent. It tells a story that is engaging enough that maybe a few people — who don’t even know me! — will feel enough interest to actually finish the damn thing.
Even Thought It May Be Too Long, I’m Very Pleased With How This Novel Is Shaping Up
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
During the multi-year process of developing and writing my first novel, I’ve become something of a storytelling snob. To the point that I often walk out movies the moment I feel the storytelling isn’t up to my standards.
The works of the late Stieg Larsson are about 150,000 words on average.
I. Do. This. All. The. Time.
So, it means something when I look over the outline I have for the third draft of my first novel and I’m pleased.
There is one problem — too many scenes.
This is a real problem because, in general, if you’re a nobody loser like me writing your first novel and you hope to sell it traditionally, it needs to be ~100,000 words. But, just from eyeballing the number of scenes this novel has, it definitely seems as though I should probably accept that it’s going to be around 140,000 words.
Fuck it, we’ll do it live.
The only glimmer of hope I have is the fact that The Girl On The Train is about that many words and THAT was a success. If I REALLY want to be delusional, I would compare this novel to what Stieg Larsson wrote which, was, on average about 150,000 words.
So, I find myself with something of a conundrum. The story I want to tell is really, really good — it’s just too long for a first time author who is living in oblivion.
Ugh. Fucking ugh.
The Final Countdown
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I went through the entire “finished” rough Third Draft and found all the scenes that I felt needed to be rewritten.
I hope to write a heroine as interesting as Lisbeth Salander.
There were a lot of scenes.
As such, I’ve decided that I just can’t make my hard deadline of April 19th.
I decided this because what I want to do is take a deep breath and read up on character then write some character studies for all the major characters before I start to write again. I want this next version of the novel to really lean into character to the point that it’s nearly professional.
Like, if you read it, you would think you it was good enough that you had found it in the shelves of a Barnes & Noble. As such, it’s going to take me a little bit of time to get to that point, given where I am now.
I still think there’s a chance that I can wrap at least one novel up by July 22. That’s a really hard deadline for me for now. I really want to breath life into the characters I’ve come up with.
My heroine sports a sleeve tattoo like Megan Fox does now, even though I came up with the idea first!
The actual plot of the novel is pretty stable, which is going to speed things up a great deal. I just have to go through and use the existing outline as a guide when rewriting scenes to accommodate improved characterizations.
I suppose I could make some stylistic changes so the novel was more traditional — things like referring to characters by their first names — but I don’t wanna. I want this to feel like an Old Brown Shoe to people who remember the original Stieg Larsson novels.
I say this because it’s not like I’m going to do the OTHER things which would placate modern audiences and the woke cancel culture mob, like not writing from a female POV as a smelly CIS white male.
Lulz. Fuck it. Let’s rock.
Am (Almost) Querying: Worrying About Liberal White Women Literary Agents & What They Will Think Of My Novel
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The worst thing anyone else said about me was that I am a “delusional jerk with a good heart.” That was said to me by the late Annie Shapiro while we were in the process of untangling our hearts and minds from each other at the end of ROKon Magazine.
The late Annie Shapiro and me in better days back when I was cute.
She had a point.
But, I’ve had a brain transplant since that statement, said many moons ago. I’m a much more humble, stable person.
And, yet, here I am, about to plunge into the cold, dark waters of querying — in a few months, maybe more — and I am worried about what the liberal white women who make up the vast majority of agents will think of me and my novel.
The novel itself is problematic because even though it’s really good, the idea that a smell CIS white male would write such a novel might make some liberal white women blanch.
My novel is about a part-time stripper obsessed with owning a rural community newspaper in Virginia.
Or not. I just don’t know. I can’t help how the story I worked itself out of my emotional system. It has a lot of spicy scenes but it does, in fact, tell a compelling story about one woman’s obsession to own a small town community newspaper.
It tells a complete, compelling story. And, what’s more, it leaves you wanting more. It is written in such a way that the audience will want to know what happens next. I have a second novel in the series in the hopper — I just have to write the third draft. So it’s at least possible that I may have TWO novels done this year, ready to query.
But that’s a little bit down the road. I need to chill out for a little bit today then sit down and start writing again. It sucks so bad that I have to do all of this sober, and yet, that’s the reality I face.
Ugh.
Wish me luck.
I Finally Understand What My Novel Is About
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
For a long time, I thought this novel was a murder mystery like Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire. Because of this assumption, I spent months — years — spinning my wheels, struggling to figure out how to make the story work. It wasn’t until I realized that the first novel in this series is actually more foundational than that that things began to click.
My novel is about a part-time stripper who is obsessed with owning a community newspaper in rural Virginia.
This novel isn’t about a murder, it’s about one woman’s struggle to own a community newspaper. Throw in that the woman is a part-time stripper and a few people do die during the course of the story and you got yourself a pretty good shot at a novel that is interesting enough to actually get published the traditional way.
What’s more, this is meant to be part of a six or seven novel series that ends with a NEW series about a Lisbeth Salander-type woman. So, in a sense, my vision for these novels is you get to see how one Salander-type woman had such a fucked up youth that she would turn into someone you want to read a lot of books about.
Writing a novel as accessible and popular as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is my dream.
That’s the thing about Salander, from my point of view, the reason she was the way she was is she had a really fucked up upbringing. Had she had the opportunity have a normal youth, she might not have gone bonkers the way she did.
So, now that I understand the nature of this first novel in the series, I find myself dwelling seriously about how successful I will be when it comes to querying this novel. At the moment, I honestly don’t know.
I’ve never queried a novel and it could be that despite all my hard work that over the years that, lulz, I’m still not good enough. But I know I’ve accomplished one thing — I’ve written a novel that at least won’t embarrass me.
Just…*About*…At The Midpoint Of The Alpha Release Of The Third Draft Of My First Novel
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Editor: I need a stiff drink. Too bad I’m sober.
Anyway, I’m just a few scenes away from reaching the midpoint of the alpha release of the third draft of my first novel. This novel is a lot — A LOT — more spicy (and funny!) than Stieg Larsson’s original Millennium series of books. And while I just am not as good as he is when it comes to structure and POVs, I do think that, in general, the story flows a faster clip than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Nathalie Emmanuel pretty much looks literally like my heroine in this picture. So much so I’m worried someone is going to steal a march on me creatively!
And, in a sense, I do feel that I’ve finally, FINALLY, developed and written a novel that has the same vibe as The Girl Who Played With Fire. It’s not fan fiction — it’s its own thing — but the influence that novel has on my work is pretty obvious in the sense that if you pick up my novel after having read the original Millennium series of books you’ll think, “Oh, I get it, this is like a Stieg Larsson novel set in America.”
That is the general goal of things in my mind.
But, in real terms, my novel is creatively its own thing other than a few stylistic choices and a few Form Follows Function things I was kind of forced into doing because of the genre.
My heroine has a sleeve tattoo like Megan Fox sports now, even though I thought of the idea first!
In fact, the biggest difference between my work and Stieg Larsson’s is something pretty basic — our personalities. He seems like he was way more serious than I am and had a far more twisted creative sense than I do. I love to laugh and socialize and it’s a real struggle for me to stay serious — or think about dark things — for too long.
Anyway. No one cares.
Should I Be Worried?
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Someone from Sweden is interested in my novel — I see them in my Webstats. Now, only because I’m delusional, I automatically fear it’s someone from the estate of Stieg Larsson checking up on me. As far as I know, even though my novel is definitely an obvious homage to Larsson’s work there’s no reason for either one of us to be worried about it.
The heroine of my novel looks like Morena Baccarin.
There are some obvious, clear cut influences between my novel and The Girl Who Played With Fire, but most, if not all, of it is an issue of Form Follows Function and the fact that I used TGWPWF as my “textbook.”
I just am worried that people connected to the late Larsson see me as some sort of threat — but why? — and they’re keeping an eye on me.
My heroine sports a sleeve tattoo similar to that now worn by Megan Fox — even though I thought of the idea first!
Anyway, my novel is on a micro basis is very, very, very different than anything Larsson wrote. And the first novel isn’t even a mystery thriller, but rather about a power struggle over a community newspaper. So, lulz?
But I am VERY PLEASED with what I’ve managed to come up with for my first novel. Things are flowing really well now that I understand what the novel is about. It’s not a traditional murder-mystery, but, rather a character-driven novel that sets up a universe that I hope readers will want to hang out in for a number of novels — as many as seven.
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