by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
In an effort to keep momentum going, I’m playing fast and loose with this version of the Private Beta. I’m going to have to a lot — A LOT — of tweaking of this new version before I can consider it a Public Beta.
As it stands, it’s ok, but not great.
And the story continues to not quite fit the genre its intended to fit into because it’s not violent and action packed enough. It’s got high stakes, spice scenes and dollop of speculative fiction, but I just can’t bring myself — at this point — to actually show a lot of stuff that audiences might otherwise see in a thriller. I do a lot of before and after stuff, but not SHOWING this or that bad thing.
This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten in the process, so…I don’t know? Is it possible for me to have a more thoughtful, character driven story as opposed to one with a lot of on-the-page death and destruction? I just don’t know. I do like the story I’ve come up with, however.
It’s a heartfelt, accessible easy read.
One problem I’m already facing is when I read a scene I’m content with, I really struggle to have any motivation to read it at all. I think the only way I’m going to overcome this particular problem is to force myself to pretty much line read the draft before I begin the Beta Reader process. That seems to be the only way I’m going to catch the nit-picky little problems that have to be caught if I’m going to expect people to take me seriously.
I’m also really beginning to think about what I’m going to do once the Beta Reader process officially begins. I think I’m going to really throw myself into both working on the other novels in the project AND begin to prep for the querying process.
I’ve pretty much given up on Tik-Tok, which seems filled with a deluge of videos designed specifically to make ME feel bad for wanting to be traditionally published.
Anyway, I continue to have a lot of fun.
