I’ve decided to “just write” with this new novel, outside of some bare minimum outlining. I am just burnt out from the other way I did a novel and want to just enjoy writing for the sake of it again.
This scifi novel revisits some pretty important themes for me in my writing.
But the key issue is speed. I really hope to wrap up a “vomit,” bare bones first draft pretty quick then sit down and actually, with the second draft, spend some time fleshing out the novel to the point that it is, well, actually a novel.
The novel deals with AI, the Singularity and small town life. I’m really searching my mind for various post-Singularity technologies to use. But it’s difficult — I’m not nearly as smart as some scifi writers or in tune with what is possible.
But that is, to some extent, besides the point of the novel. The point is to write a really personal novel that helps me explain some of my kooky behavior in the last year or so. Yet we’ll see, of course.
So. I really went through a lot through much of 2024. It probably was one of the worst years I’ve had in 15 years. But, somehow, somehow, I managed to survive.
There came a point when I was totally locked up when it came to writing fiction. I just did not, could not, focus my mind in such a way that I could possibly produce anything of note.
That has gradually changed in the last little bit. It all started to change when I came up with about five short story ideas. Of course, being the ambitious person that I am, I soon realized that, fuck it, why not turn them into novels.
The main one I’m working on at the moment started off as something of a tech Shiva Baby in the sense it was focused around the events of one moment in time. Rather than a Shiva, this story was set around a long Thanksgiving weekend at some point in the “near future.”
And yet, with the aid of several chatbots, I’ve started to figure out ways to flesh this particular scifi story so it now stretches from Thanksgiving to early January.
I’ve tried to make the stakes of the story as high as possible and I’m really taking a different approach with this novel. Rather than getting bogged down with making the first draft a “perfect” as possible, I’m just generally outlining it then just writing.
I’m hoping that if I can produce a pretty good “vomit draft” that will speed up the process of actually getting this baby to the point where I can pitch it to a literary agent.
I have two novel ideas I’m working on now that I’m doing in a really casual way just for the sheer fun of it. I was really organized and methodical with the other novel I worked on (and am still writing in a way) and I just want to write just to write with these two.
It’s too easy to grow overwhelmed and burnt out when you really fixate on making things absolute just right with the development of a novel. I should know, it kept happening to me with the other novel — to the point that I need to just kind of chill out out on rewriting it for the time being.
But the two novels — one a zombie novel, the other a scifi novel, are really good and I’m trying — *trying* — to speed the process up by using AI to work on development. If I could have two solid novels done in about a year, that would be great.
I just realized I have a THIRD novel that I’ve gamed out even more than these two novels. It’s also really good, but I don’t know, I forgot about it because it wasn’t as easy to get into writing for some reason.
I have a really great scifi novel — actually two — yet I’m struggling as to how to flesh it out. Or, in fact, both of them. They started off as short stories but I realized that both their premises were good enough to be novels if I was just creative enough.
Given that I’m trying to be as marketable as possible, the novels are both going to feature short chapters, and single male POVs. That’s the goal, at least. That is the type of stuff I’ve realized helps sells novels — that’s what the audience wants, so that’s what the audience gets.
I’m not all that pleased about the situation, but I supposed I can’t change it. It sure would help if I could use more than one POV that was third person intimate, but people kept complaining about getting confused in my first novel about changing POVs.
It’s all very annoying.
But I’m giving the whole thing as much deep thought as possible. I hope to finish an outline pretty soon. Maybe outlines for both of the novels.
The new scifi novel I’m working on has a really well thought out third act — the rest of it I’m struggling with. But I think given that I know I have a deadline (about a year) that gives me a lot of incentive to hurry up as quickly as possible.
I really like this new novel concept. A whole lot. But a lot of problems continue to linger from everything else creative I want to do — I’m too old, I’m too poor and I live in the middle of nowhere. And did I mention I’m too old? And demonstrably a kook!
Anyway. This novel concept allows me to get some issues out of my psych in a way that will really make me feel good once everything is said and done. The novel is very much in the Her – Ex Machina vein of storytelling.
This is a situation that I knew, just knew I would be in — another one of my short stories is just too good and I’m going to turn into a novel. This one is a bit more tricky because it deals with the near future and things are moving so fast in AI and robotics that I have to really think hard about how I’m going to handle the core issue.
But the novel is very much meant to be a Her – Ex Machina type novel. It’s maybe a little bit more Ex Machina than Her.
And, yet, the key issue is I have something of a deadline. I can’t just keep slowly making my way to my goal with this one — if I wait five years to finish it not only will I be very old to ever get published, but advances in technology will make it very moot.
But at least with this novel I really have its plot gamed out really, really well. If all goes well, I can sprint towards my goal of a finished novel. It should take me no more than maybe a year to be at a point where I can query.
Of course, all the usual issues will still be there. I’m old. I’m bonkers. I said and done plenty of things to get me “canceled” over the years. Any liberal white woman reading this blog might blanch at some of my very strong held opinions. And, yet, I’m a strong believer — when I’m not moping on an existential basis — that while they’re life there’s hope.
While I still have a thriller novel I’m working on, I’ve decided that maybe I need to work on something else for the time being. This process began with me thinking up a number of short stories that I wanted to work on. Among the short stories was a very political zombie story.
The novel would flip the script on the zombie genre and hopes to be a biting satire. That, at least, would be the goal.
A lot of this comes from my own sense of dread about the cold hard facts of my looming mortality. So, rather than just moping about this cruel fact, I’m funneling into this rather morbid novel idea.
But there is a lot to think about before I can go forward. The premise is great but I tend to have a lot of problems when it comes to plot. So, I’m going to use LLMs to flesh out the plot of the zombie novel to the point that it is actually novel lenght.
I think I’m just about ready to get back to working on a few novels. The one novel I’ve been working on the longest — the one that is meant to be part of a six-novel project — is set to be reworked significantly. The chief reason is that the stakes simply aren’t very high at the moment.
The novel is just about one woman’s obsession with owning a small town newspaper. That’s it. But I’ve decided that by leaning into an already-there scifi element of the novel that I can significantly raise the stakes. And, to a certain extent, I can give the novel something of a trick ending, cueing up the next novel in the series. (Which, at the moment, is much more of a traditional murder mystery.)
As part of that, I’m going to have to sit down and rewrite a whole lot of the novel, which is going to slow me down. My goal is now to query something, anything about a year from now.
Ultimately, the six novel series I’m working on will produce an American Lisbeth Salander.
Of course, there continues to be the issue of stripping being a big part of the novel. This is going to make a lot of literary agents blanch, I’m afraid. But that’s my vision for the novel, so there you go. And, what’s more, I still have a few other scifi novels rolling around in my mind that I my piviot towards if all else fails.
Something that doesn’t have the spicyness that the main, passion project novel currently has.
But I am well aware that if I don’t hurry up, I’m going to be in my 60s before I become a published author, if I ever do. And I am well aware there are many, many, MANY reasons — on the face of it at least — why I will *never* get published.
I’m too old. Too bonkers. The list goes on.
Yet, you have to have hope, you know?
One thing I continue to worry about is, of course, the whole Trump situation. I refuse, however, to just be in neutral until the election. I have to get something, anything done. So, starting today, I’m going to stop mulling things so much and start to read, watch and write what I can.
So. Now that I’m kind of chilling out on my first novel so I can look at it with fresh eyes in a bit, I’ve decided to piviot to working on the scifi novel I’ve been developing. I have a complete outline that I’ve fleshed out.
Now, I’ve begun to actually write scenes out.
But I think I’m going be really self-conscious about the need to lean into character with this novel from the get-go. A story that’s all plot is just not very interesting. So, as such, I’m going to maybe TRY to sketch out character studies of all the major characters before I really get into writing the first draft.
And, yet, having said that, things at the moment seem to be moving really fast because I really understand what the novel is about. If I keep going at this clip — and the world doesn’t end because of fucking Trump — I SHOULD be in a position to query this novel at some point in 2025.
It is becoming more and more clear to me that I could be nearly 60 years old before I become a published author — if that even ever happens. What’s more, it’s also clear that there is a pretty good chance that if the Petite Singularity doesn’t make all my hard work moot, that some sort of severe political crisis starting in late 2024, early 2025 might just do the trick.
My dream is that my “passion project” main novel is as accessible and popular as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
And, yet, here I am determined to keep going with two different novels that I’m working on.
The key thing is that I manage my expectations. I’ve decided on an existential basis that I’m willing to use what little time I have left on this planet to at least TRY to become a published author, problems and obstacles be damned. I have a huge chip on my shoulder about my writing ability and I want to the validation of getting the approval of literary gatekeepers.
Having said all that, I am really working on my backup scifi novel. The main novel, the “passion project” has problems because its heroine is a part time stripper at club that she owns. I am WELL AWARE of how problematic this may be to younger people — especially women — but I really like how unique and unexpected this part of my heroine’s personality is and so, lulz, fuck it.
Meanwhile, the backup scifi novel is built from the ground up to be as marketable as possible. That’s the goal, at least.
In an ideal world, one of the two novels will sell and I could use the popularity of one novel to get the other novel published. But I have my doubts about if such a cross-pollination of success is possible, given that the two novels are of such different genres.
Anyway. I am pleased with what I’ve come up with and the goal is to wrap up a final third draft of the “passion project” novel no later that around July 22.
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