by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
As I work my way through the second draft of my first novel, it is really beginning to dawn on me that — yikes — this novel may be existentially just too damn long for a first novel. As such, it is growing more and more urgent for me to start work on second and third novels that might fit within the roughly 100,000 word sweetspot I need.
I really, really like how my first novel is shaping up. It’s really cool. It’s a nice middle-brow pop thriller that I think comes pretty close to my vision of a Stieg Larsson meets Mare of Easttown type of story. But it’s just too long. I fear it’s going to blow past the 100,000 word mark and be closer to something along the lines of 140,000.
Double yikes!
Rather than put all my eggs in the lone basket of a too-long novel, I’m going to try — try — to also work on two scifi novels that I’ve been brooding on for some time. To me, at least, both of these novels are pretty obvious concepts and I keep expecting to see a movie or novel pop out that steals a march on me. But no one ever got anywhere in this world without taking a chance, so, lulz.
I have a growing sense within myself that if I want get the thriller published, I’m going to have to first pitch one of the scifi novels. Once I sell a scifi novel, then I can say, “Oh, by the way, I have a thriller you might be interested in, too.”
Or something like that. I’m so delusional and oblivious to how publishing operates in the real world, it could be that I’m going about it the wrong way. It could be that, in the end, I’m just going to have to figure out a way to chop 40,000 words off the length of the thriller, no matter what.
But I have hope that won’t be the case.
