Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.
Here are my rules of writing:
1. Entertain your readers.
2. Don't confuse your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
If you have been following this blog, you knew I would get to this point eventually. If you have a focused theme, developed characters (with some storyline development), a setting, and a beginning, you have enough information to write the initial scene of the novel.
Now is the time to write the initial scene. You have the setting, characters, and theme. Take the point at which the storylines of the major characters intersect and write the scene. Every scene has a setting, an input (beginning), characters, tension building (rising action), tension release (climax), and output (dénouement). Each scene is something like a mini-novel or a short story. Your input is the intersection of the storylines, the setting is the novel setting, the characters are your major characters, the tension building...there is the problem with writing any scene.
When you write a scene, you must create it with tension building and release in mind. I've written extensively about this in my blog at www.novelscene.wordpress.com. I'll give some basics here. An entertaining scene is just like an entertaining novel or short story. Novels, short stories, and scenes are entertaining because of tension building and release.
To build tension, the author sets up a situation that requires some resolution. The tension development is the tension within the plot which is conveyed to the reader. The resolution is when the issue that causes the tension is resolved. This is the most important concept on writing a scene. I'll discuss more tomorrow.
My Notes: once you have a theme, you need to begin to visualize your plot, focus your theme, and define your characters. More tomorrow.
I'll move on to basic writing exercises and creativity in the near future.
The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: Please elaborate on scene, theme, plot, character development in a new novel creation....ie, the framework, the development, order if operation, the level of detail, guidelines, rule of thumb, tricks, traps and techniques.
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor, http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment