Month: May 2020

Of Someone Writing A Screenplay Inspired From My Development Writing Online



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I vacillate dramatically from assuming that, of course, someone is going to use all my development on this Website to write a screenplay that “steals” my idea to wondering, how, exactly, they would do it.

I guess you could get the general gist of the concept if you looked at what I’ve been writing about and talking about the last 18 months, but even if you did do that, your interpretation of the concept and mine would likely be dramatically different.

I keep seeing people poking around this Website in my Webstats and that alarms me because I assume that of course my worst fears are being realized. And, yet, really, the idea I am working on is so expansive and ambitious that a screenplay would be, by definition, dramatically different than the novel I’m writing.

If I had, like, friends and stuff, then this wouldn’t be an issue. I would talk to them about what I’m working on and I wouldn’t have this problem. My only hope is that even if people were actively stealing from me at this point, it would still take actual physical time to develop the screenplay. And the subject matter of this novel is such that I find it dubious that even if someone could somehow accurately reverse-engineer the concept from what I’ve done here, I’m not so sure they would actually steal the story beat-for-beat.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s exactly what’s happening.

But I’m of the opinion that you make decisions on what you know, not on what you don’t know. I could just give up and assume someone is going to steal this concept from me, or I can work harder and faster so at least I finish something sooner rather than later.

If you are trying to “steal” my story — fuck you, you hack.

Outline Rambling



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are moving a lot faster because I’m doing an outline of the novel instead of putting all that much work into fleshing out individual scenes. This process allows me to get far further into the novel than I usually do before everything falls apart and I have to start from scratch.

The downside of this is I realize what a massive task I have ahead of me. I have a very complex plot with some pretty huge structural issues that I continue to bump up against as I develop. The biggest problem is how ambitious this novel is. I’m trying to explore the entirety of the Trump Era through allegory. There’s just so much going on, that it’s a struggle to make it all easy to understand. And, really, the only thing that allows me to keep going is I know how great this story is.

I’m willing to throw my heart into this project because I know I can produce something pretty cool — an entertaining — if I just keep at it. I have to believe in myself. I can’t give up. I’ve gotten this far, I have to be willing to do whatever it takes to herd it to completion.

I’m trying to move as fast as I can on this outline. I hope to start writing again no later than June 1st.

An Unexpected Struggle With The Novel As It Grows Better



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Things are moving fast with the novel. And, yet, as my storytelling ability gets better, I realize there are some major flaws with what I have right now. I came up with a very complex situation for this story when all of this began and as my writing ability gets better I realize how much work telling the story I want to tell will entail.

I have a very specific vision and I’m willing to put the work into this novel to make that vision a reality. It’s just every once in a while, I have to re-calibrate some pretty significant parts of the story, long after I think I have things settled.

But at least I’m recognizing these problems now, instead of getting all excited and showing it to beta readers, only to have them laugh at me. (Or, worse yet, to simply give me silence.) I’m doing a massive amount of reading right now to catch up to where I should be with this novel.

One problem I’ve had is I’ve been drafting so much off of what Stieg Larsson did with The Girl Who Played With Fire, that now that I realize my novel isn’t served by doing that anymore, some fundimental issues have come up. I really want this novel to be something of a “brown shoe” for readers in the sense that superficially, at least, it seems like just another thriller — even though it’s, in fact, an allegory for the Trump Era.

So, I struggle a lot with how to properly tell this story in the way my gut tells me to — I’m essentially doing everything in a vacuum. I have no friends and no one will help me, so all I have is my personal vision of the story I want to tell. I talk a lot about this novel online for no other reason than it gives me a socially acceptable way to talk to myself.

At this point, the only thing that keeps me going is I know how important this story might be if properly written. There are a lot of existential problems with this novel — all of them, well, directly connected to me. But I’ve been working on this thing so long that I think the point is to just wrap up the outline and write something, anything starting June 1st.

Autumn 2020 Will Be Dark & Surreal



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We are never seeing Trump’s taxes.

What’s more, Trump is never leaving office. Ever. The only way he will ever leave office is if he goes stark raving mad at some point in his second term so either Veep Mike Flynn or Veep Ivanka Trump can take over. (If it’s Ivanka, she will serve as a figure head to Veep Tom Cotton.)

It’s comical that anyone would delude themselves into thinking House Trump will ever leave office as long as we’re waiting for the Graying of America to cross the Browning of America. House Trump will get it’s Constitutional Convention at some point between 2021 and 2025 and we’ll be nothing more than a wealthier version of the managed democracy found in Russia.

ICE camps will be full of political prisoners. MAGA paramilitary groups will keep everyone in check. America as we know it will be over. We’ll have to wait for someone like AOC to overthrow the government in about 30 to 50 years when the Browning of America finally grows powerful enough.

Maybe then, and only then, will we see Trump’s taxes.

I say all this because Trump could lose the popular vote in a historic landslide and he’ll simply use Twitter to sick deranged, bloodthirsty MAGA cocksuckers on individual Electors so they vote for him.

This is our future. Absolutely. I can think of no scenario where this doesn’t happen.

Trump will never leave office. Never. For any reason. He will become America’s Brezhnev for the next 10 years or so until whatever fucktard fascist House Trump decides to choose to be his successor.

Get of the country now if you can.

There is no hope.

Things Are Moving Fast Now



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I have a handle on my POV characters, things are moving far faster. In fact, the only thing slowing me down finishing the outline and writing is the massive amount of research I realize I have to do. I have to understand the characters I’ve come up with and the only way to do so is to know what they would know.

I still have a fair amount of reading to do on the abstract of character development, but simply see that as more reading.

I really understand far better the point of this story (two novels, one story). That allows both the reading and the research to flow far, far faster. I have an absurd amount of reading to do if I’m going to develop characters that don’t embarrass me what how flimsy they are.

One thing I have to do is beef up my Hero. Right now, he’s simply an exaggerated — and far more stable — version of myself in Seoul about 12 years ago. But for him to be, well, the Hero, he has to be someone you can root for. He has to be active, not just a womanizing drunk who gets away with shit because of how colorful he is.

But I’m really pleased.

I’m reading as much as I can, as fast as I can. I hope to start writing again no later than June 1st. I am very unhappy with how long it’s going to take me — even under the most ideal of circumstances — to start speccing the story out to agents.

But I’m all in. My entire creative life is devoted to this novel. Every day my understanding of the story I want to tell grows stronger.

At the very least, I won’t embarrass myself.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, #Hollywood, #JodiKantor & The #Novel I’m Developing & #Writing

Some thoughts.

I Have To Prepare Myself For Someone Stealing A March On Me Creatively



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I get the feeling someone is thinking about writing something — probably a screenplay — inspired by the novel I’ve been working on for about 18 months now.

I can either give up or work harder and faster.

I’m going to work harder and faster.

There’s little more I can do. I guess, should the worst happen, I can console myself by saying at least I understand how to tell a story better. The reason why it’s taken me so long to get to this point is the story I’ve come up with is a lot of plot and I should have been thinking about character.

The story is convoluted and complicated and it’s taken me this long to figure out how to tell it is a simple way. I love this story and its characters. Even if I wake up tomorrow and a movie is being produced that is essentially my novel, at least I’ll be better off as a storyteller than I was when I started this process.

But that hasn’t happened….yet.

I can use this fear as a reason to work harder and faster and see what happens.

I’m Obsessed With Character



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve finally gotten to the most crucial aspect of developing this novel — character. I have about three books on character that I’m cramming as fast as I can so I can start writing again no later than June 1st. I need to understand these characters so I can control them absolutely. I don’t have time to let them play. They have to do what I want them to do, the way I want them to do.

I keep thinking about the brilliance of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag. The plot of that story is organic to the character. What in mind, I’m using what I remember of my bonkers self in Seoul from 12 years ago as the basis of my hero’s personality. I have to be really careful, though, that he doesn’t come off as so comical that the story doesn’t have the serious tone I need it to have.

But I do remember how interesting I was in Seoul, if nothing else. I had more than enough character to go around, that’s for sure. The thing about being a long-term expat in Seoul is you find yourself meeting people you would otherwise never meet. For instance, I met Pinch Sulzberger of the New York Times in 2004. Totally blew my mind.

I really like the idea of digging into how bonkers being a long-term expat in Seoul can make you. When I lived there, I could never figure out if South Korea drew bonkers people to be expats there, or if the place drove you bonkers by simply staying a long time. (It may be a little bit of both.)

Anyway, in a sense, this novel is simply me thinking about my time as the publisher of ROKon Magazine in Seoul, but in a far more palatable — and easier to write – fashion than I had in mind when I first tried to tell a very angry version of it about 10 years ago.

I have worked very, very hard to get where I am. Now, to close the deal. I have to keep cramming about how to develop believable characters. Wish me luck.

Now What



by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, if nothing else, I’ve got my motivation to hurry up with the novel I’m developing. The novel deals with some “big ideas” that are quite provocative in the context of the rise of fascism in America.

I have a massive amount of reading to do, however, if I want to make my characters believable. Every time America lurches forward on its now irrefutable path towards an autocratic “managed democracy,” feel added instinctive to work harder and faster on this novel.

The only problem is it is something of an epic undertaking given the significant learning curve I’ve had to deal with as well as how I’m doing all of this in a vacuum. (For the most part.)

Anyway, this dark foreboding I feel about our nation’s future is exactly the feeling I need to make this political thriller as dark as it needs to be. I had worried that my natural fun disposition would make it difficult to find the darkness necessary to write a proper thriller.

Well, that’s not going to be a problem anymore.

On The Matter Of Word Count


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am well aware that the “sweetspot” for a published novel is about 80,000-100,000 words. But it’s not impossible for a novel to be published that is longer. In fact, the novel I’m using as my textbook, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” is in the 165,000 – 185,000 range.

That’s my vision.

I’m going to write a first draft that aims to be around 165,000 words and go from there. If beta readers think its too long, then I’ll do something about that. Or if an agent / editor tells me the only way it will get published is to cut its size, then I will.

Or, if all else fails, I’ll simply self-publish and be able to feel content that I did, in fact, write a novel after everyone told me I sucked and why am I even thinking about writing anything at all. (Fuck those people, by the way.)

One thing that is really beginning to hit home is how brutal the publishing business is in real terms. Nobody owes you nothing, as they say. But I really, really believe in the importance of my novel’s vision as-is. I believe the that I can pull off a novel that is such a fast read that you don’t even notice how long it is.

I’d rather fail in a rather spectacular fashion than limit myself and not even give myself the opportunity to excel.