Tag: novel

I Can Feel My Creativity Revving Up

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely feels as though my lurch into creative neutral is about to end once Trump is back in office. I can feel my creative juices — fueled by rage against MAGA — beginning to kick in again.

It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be true. I hope and think it will be. I’m starting to really feel very creatively restless. And ambitious. But who knows, only time will tell, I suppose.

I have all these ideas — some old, some new — rolling around in my mind. I really want to actually sit down and start to be productive again. I’ve been in a funk for months now and it’s time to actually get back to work.

I am WELL AWARE that this…unique…situation I’m in just can’t last forever. It’s inevitable that something will change and everything will suck. It’s just that I’m so moody and eccentric that everything can come to a screeching halt at time and then, lulz, I wake up and months of elapsed without anything of note happening.

January 20th Is My Writing ‘D-Day’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As we grow closer to malignant ding-dong Trump being sworn in again, I realize my anger — which generates creativity — is growing. As such, I think once Trump is back in office I will be forced out of my creative neutral.

Four years ago, I made a strategic decision — I was going to tell the origin story of my heroine. Little did I know that this would cause what was going to be a trilogy into a six novel project.

But now that Trump is back, I really want to throw myself back into the novel I paused four years ago. And, yet, I also want to tell all those stories that lead up to the last two novels in the series.

Ugh.

As such, I think I’m probably going to throw myself into the whole thing. My fear is that if I don’t game out the entirety of the series from ground zero that inconsistencies will arise that I can’t overcome.

Anyway. I definitely feel my creative juices beginning to flow again out of my white hot anger over ding-dong Trump being president again.

An Aggressive Creative Drift

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though I’m going to continue to drift like always towards my goal of being a published author, but maybe in a little bit more aggressive manner. It seems as though I’m going to bounce around the six thriller novels I have planned so I can maybe have some sense of what’s been established in the universe as the novels progress.

Or something. Something like that.

And this doesn’t even begin to address how I have a scifi novel I’m also working on. Actually, it’s a few scifi novels.

I suppose, in a way, I’m trying to make the best of my tendency to not be very focused. But I’ll be happy as long as I am heading in the right direction of getting something, anything actually finished to the point that I can pitch it to a literary agent.

Of course, the issue of me just being too fucking weird could be a problem on that front. It’s enough to make me think about creating an whole identity out of whole cloth, like, I don’t know, a trans undocumented immigrant or something.

But, sadly?, I just don’t have the energy to do such a thing. Just accepted me — or not — for who I am. I just can’t continue to mope so aggressively as I have for months now.

Fuck It — We’ll Do It Live (Wink): Of My Decision To Throw Myself Back Into Writing An American ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really want to write an homage to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series books. But there are some structural problems that I could never have known about when I originally began work on this idea a number of years ago.

Apparently, people want single-POV narrators who fit the gender of the author. And they definitely don’t want POVs that bounce around within a chapter. And they want short chapters.

Ugh. It’s so frustrating.

I guess what I will do is work on both the scifi novel I’ve begun and this thriller. The scifi novel will be very much written with an eye towards marketability, while the thriller will, as always, be a passion project.

But the key issue is moving forward creatively. I can’t just keep staring out into space for the rest of my life. And I need to really lay off the booze. It’s time to go as sober as possible and let energy drinks be my lone vice for the time being.

One reason why I’ve picked the fourth novel in the projected six novel project I’ve envisioned is I have already gamed the novel out some, especially the beginning. So, all I have to do is “just write.”

And, yet, I also need to, I think, go back to the drawing board about certain elements of writing. I need to reread some books on character and plotting so I nail down some elements of the story before I even begin.

Also, I’m going to try to lean into using AI to be something of a “literary consultant” in the sense that it can guide me towards what I want to do with the story.

But, as always, the key thing is I’m not going to live forever. I really need to hurry up and get something, anything done.

Zendaya — Call Your Agent…Eventually? Redux

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was flipping through Tik-Tok today and saw a still from the Hollywood version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movie. That got me to thinking — I still want to write a novel like that.

So, I sat down at my computer and did some quick thinking. I realize that there is a way for me to get what I want immediately — rather than going back to the novel that has left me so burnt out (for the time being) I can start work on the fourth novel in the series that allows me to dive directly into an American Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-type situation.

There is one problem — I still haven’t really nailed down what happened in the first three novels. But I think as long as I’m moving forward, then at least I’m being productive.

In my imagination, MY “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” looks a lot like Zendaya. Though by the time I actually fucking finish the damn novel and have it published, she may have been aged out of the role.

But they do say that “black don’t crack” and she continues to play really young characters so…lulz? Regardless, in general, my version, my American version of the “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” looks a lot like Zendaya in my imagination.

There are plenty of young women in Hollywood who look like Zendaya floating around, so if I somehow win the lottery and sell this novel –when I’m old as fuck — there will probably be any number of women able to play the role.

I wish I was 25 years younger — I would skip the middle step and just write a screenplay — after I moved to Hollywood, of course. 馃檪

Mass Media In The Looming Age Of AI Agents

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The modern Web makes no sense in the context of AI Agents beginning to roll out in 2025 and beyond. I say this because it seems as though everything in media will revolve around AI Agents.

To the point that it makes no sense for there even to be Websites at all. Rather than, say, a New York Times website, there would be an AI Agent that talked to the AI Agents of individual users.

Or something like that. Something whereby the entirety of media is re-imagined in some way, the whole paradigm will be totally reworked with AI Agents at their center.

So, just as the Web and apps changed mass media, so, too, will AI Agents. It may take a few years, but I just don’t see the point of the Web or apps if everyone has an AI Agent built-in natively to your smartphone.

It will be interesting to see how, exactly, this will work out and how long it will take for the transformation to develop. But it’s coming — in a big way.

I Really Do Miss Seoul A Great Deal, Sometimes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The crux of the issue whenever I think about Seoul is it’s obviously my youth, not Seoul itself that I miss. And I’ve Romanized my time in Seoul to such an absurd degree that I know if I ever return it will be a huge let down.

Hell, it was a huge let down the last time I was there.

But a part of me wants to return just to touch base with the place before I drop dead. Though, obviously, if, say, the DPRK collapses and there’s a sudden surge in demand for English teachers there….who knows, I might somehow, magically, find myself there?

And, yet, I have to accept some basic things — even if I suddenly become “famous” and “successful” enough to go back to South Korea some sort of conquering hero — that is not going to change how fucking old I am. I’m just a very, very different person than I was in late 2006 – early 2008.

If you want to read about what the fuck happened, here it is:

Somehow.docx (1)Download

I Have So Much Work To Do On My Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally — FINALLY — gotten around to the point where I feel up to working on all these novels I’ve paused. It’s going to be a struggle, but I hope to get something, anything done by the end of the year so I can begin the querying process.

It doesn’t help that 1) I’m old 2) my life could be totally upended as a by product of the MAGA Revolution.

I suppose some of you reading this will cheer that second part, but if you do — fuck you, you piece of shit. 馃檪

But all I can do is just write and develop as fast as I can, I suppose. It definitely seems as though this rather…unique…situation I’ve found myself in the last few years is going to come to a rather abrupt end because of fucking MAGA cocksuckers.

Sigh.

Back To Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I’ve moped around long enough. Time to throw myself back into writing. I continue to have a certain level of unease about what is going to happen once Trump crashes into the presidency again, but, lulz, there’s not much I can do about it.

I’m just going to have to accept that his policies might, in some way, directly change my life in a rather dramatic fashion! And no one will give a shit. And I’m just going to have to suffer.

Lulz?

But at least I’m not staring out into space for hours at end like I was for much of the latter half of 2024. I’ve finally begun to roust myself out of my stupor to the point that I’m ready to rock again when it comes to writing.

I hope to do some structural rewrites of the novel I’ve completed by significantly increasing the stakes with an eye towards what the novel’s world might be later on in the series.

Meanwhile, I am also going to work on some scifi novels I have rolling around in my mind. I may — MAY — have found an “editor” — or at least “reader” — to help me out with my writing, which might really help things going forward.

But that is very much up in the air.

I do, however, believe that not-so-gradually, I should — should — start to ramp up my production of copy in the coming days. I hope to get back into my old routine of writing a lot during the course of the day.

I just hope I don’t get so wrapped up with getting published as soon as possible that Bad Things happen…again.

My Scifi Novel Continues To Move At A Nice Clip

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am just about the wrap up the first act of the scifi novel I’ve been toying with some of late. It’s just a vomit draft. The scenes are really short as of right now, but the point is to just get something, anything down so I can move on.

It’s at least possible, I suppose, that I might get a first rough draft completed by around my birthday in February. A lot could go wrong, of course, between now and then but it’s at least nice to dream that that might be possible.

I have all these other stories rolling around in my mind that I am interested in writing. One of them is really great and I really want to turn some attention to it, but I have a flow going with the main scifi novel so I don’t want to disrupt that.

So, I’m going to keep at it with this main scifi novel. And that, of course, doesn’t even address the six novel thriller project I have on the backburner that I want to do something with at some point.

But, we’ll see, I guess.