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.
A scene outline is a means of writing a novel where each scene follows the other with a scene input from the previous scene and a scene output that leads to the next scene. The scenes don't necessarily have to follow directly in time and place, however they generally follow the storyline of the protagonist.
A storyline outline is a means of writing a novel where the author develops a scene outline for more than one character and bases the plot on one or more of these storyline scenes. This allows the scenes to focus on more than the protagonist. This is a very difficult means of writing. There is a strong chance of confusing your readers.
Whether you write with a scene outline or a storyline outline, you must properly develop your scenes. All novels are developed from scenes and each scene has a design similar to a novel. Every successful novel has the following basic parts:
1. The beginning
2. The rising action
3. The Climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement
Every scene has these parts:
1. The setting (where, what, who, when, how)
2. The connection (input)
3. The tension development
4. The release
5. The output
There are lots of approaches to scene setting. That means there are about a million plus ways you can set a scene. The main point is you have to clearly get across the where, when, who, what, and how.
Here is another example of scene setting from the novel, Aksinya. I'm giving you examples from the book so you can see different ways of introducing and writing a scene. In each snippet, you get the scene setting, the tension and release, and the input and output. This isn't true of every example, but the pieces should be there, and I've been trying to identify for you when all the pieces aren't evident. You can use these ideas to guide your own writing. Make sure you set the scene properly, then make everything come to life through the narration and conversation.
We are building tension. The immediate climax event should be something the reader can figure out without much trouble--it is an inquisition trial. The reader should be interested for more than one reason in an inquisition trial--first, because of Aksinya, and second, because of curiosity. Such a trial is unusual in the modern era. One of the reasons I chose my subject was to put up this historical information. I felt that many readers would be interested in it. Aksinya is imprisoned and we see how cruel her jailer is.
Before the room
darkened completely the old woman brought a small bowl to the door and shoved
it through the low rectangular hole at the bottom that was made for that
purpose. She pushed a second bowl more
gently under the door. She rose
expectantly in front of the lattice, “Don’t be slow, sorceress. Push the slopjar under the door. I’ll empty it.”
Aksinya shook her
head, “I haven’t used it.”
“I will only empty
it once a day. When you are finished
push the bowls back under the door. I’ll
see you in the morning.” Aksinya noted the
old woman’s laughter as she made her way down the corridor. She heard a heavy door open and shut. A metal lock turned.
Before every trace
of light drained from the room, Aksinya stumbled to the bowls. One held a congealed mass of thick cooked
wheat cereal. It wasn’t seasoned at all. The other was filled with water. Aksinya took a long drink of the water. She stuck her fingers into the hardened
cereal and felt the last remnants of warmth.
She ate it all and washed it down with the remaining water. Then she curled up on the bench and tried to
sleep.
A heavy sound woke
her. She raised her head. She didn’t dare speak. Then she heard it again. It sounded like the slap of a bare foot
against stone. She caught a whiff of
sulfur in the air. In the darkness, a
large dark figure stood outside her door.
Aksinya shivered
and trembled at the same time.
Asmodeus voice
thick with mocking amusement tumbled out of the darkness. Aksinya was so used to seeing his lips curl
up over his fangs, she wasn’t certain if she could see them or she just
imagined them in the darkness. The demon
chuckled, “Dear alleged Countess what a terrible predicament you find yourself
in.”
Aksinya stared at
him.
“Didn’t I warn you
not to confess? Didn’t I tell you to not
seek out the Church.” He spat the
word. “You sought to resist
me. That was a new experience for
me. None of my previous masters ever
tried to fight against me before. But
that doesn’t matter. There is no hope
for you now.”
“There
was never any hope for me from the beginning, was there, demon?”
“Ah,
the little girl finally speaks. Yes, you
are right. There never was any hope for
you.”
“Why
are you here now demon. Have you come to
give me more instructions or did you just come to torment me.”
He
laughed, “I have no more instructions to give you, alleged Countess. I’m here to steal all hope away from you.”
Aksinya
pressed her lips tightly shut.
“You
will never be rid of me, but now, I can torment you as I desire.”
“You
lie. You may only torment the guilty,
and I am confessed and forgiven.”
Aksinya
heard a slight change in the tone of Asmodeus’ voice, “I warned you not to
confess. I still have power over the
world, and the world will do my work for me well.” He stuck out his hand and pulled it back.
The
dress Aksinya wore slipped off her body.
At the door, the demon held it in his fist.
“There,
alleged Countess, the night is cold.
Your cell is colder. This dress
shall keep until the morrow.” He threw
it far down the corridor where Aksinya could never retrieve it. “I can still torment you, but I don’t need to
torment you. That was never my
plan. I sought to bring everyone around
you down to your level. Already my plans
have come to a wonderful harvest. It is
a harvest you shall reap for me. Could
you imagine that you would see the ruin of everything you hold dear? You don’t need to imagine it, because you
will soon live it. Everyone you touched
will be harmed. Little girl, you don’t
have any idea the havoc you have wrought in this world—soon you will know
all.”
Aksinya huddled
naked and shivering in the corner of the bench and the wall.
“This is usually
the time you threaten me, alleged Countess.
Why so quiet?”
“Because speaking
will do no good. It never did any good
before. The only thing that matters
anymore is that I am confessed and forgiven.”
“What about your
friends?”
“For them…for
them.”
“Hah, don’t say
you are willing to die.”
Tears trickled
down the sides of Aksinya’s cheeks, “I cannot say that. I am not willing to die for them. I wish I was able, but I am not.”
“That is your
problem. You were willing to release a
demon to protect your family, but you would not have died for any of them. Let me tell you a secret, alleged
Countess. I killed your family. I killed them all. If you wondered at your injuries when you
traveled with me from your cellar to your family’s estate, they came about
because you helped me bring about the deaths of your own family. I delayed just long enough between heaven and
earth so the Bolsheviks would have the time to do their dirty work. You were marked with the touch of hell in the
place where time has no meaning. Already
you have been to hell; therefore, you should embrace your new home with even
greater fervor.”
Aksinya was
breathless, “You let them murder my family?
You were sworn to obey me.”
“Never sworn to obey
you. I swore to do evil in your
name. You are such a fool, little
girl. You tried to negotiate with a
demon. My purpose is temptation and
evil. I have no other purpose in heaven
or earth.”
“So… I see.”
“Too late. Always they understand too late.” Asmodeus stretched to his full height, “Ah,
evil is so liberating, but you have chosen a different path, haven’t you.”
“I have chosen.”
“With all the pain
and suffering you will know. I could
offer you life, liberty, freedom, sorcery.”
“It wouldn’t help
my friends.”
“I could continue
to lie to you and tell you it would.
Would that change your mind?”
“I have chosen.”
“I must be
completely clear because I don’t wish to lose all the potential of evil within
you. If you determine to follow me, I
will save you from all this pain and suffering.”
“But you won’t
help my friends.”
“I will not help
your friends or your enemies. I offer
you evil and only evil.”
“You offer me
relief now and eternal suffering later.
Christ offers me suffering because of my own actions now and eternal
life later. In either case, I can’t help
my friends…or my enemies, and I don’t wish to bring any more evil into the
world.”
At the word,
Christ, the demon cringed. He frowned,
“Very well. You will not know peace
until your dying day, and I shall reap your soul in any case.”
Aksinya’s teeth
chattered, “You will not have my soul. I
am marked by Christ as His own.”
Asmodeus snarled,
“Shut up, Countess.”
“I am His. I am Christ’s.”
“Shut up.”
Aksinya hugged her
naked body more closely. The rosary
pressed solidly against her chest. She
pulled it out and raised it up, “In spite of all the pain and suffering I might
face because of this decision, I choose Christ.
You can’t do anything about that.
My mind is free of you. I am
Christ’s, not yours. I can swear, and I
can hold onto the promise that is mine.
I only wish I knew this before I knew you. Begone.”
At that moment
Asmodeus was gone. All that was left was
an acrid stink. Aksinya wondered if her
confession had sent him away or something else.
The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: I am awaiting for you to write a detailed installment on identifying, and targeting your audience, or audiences...ie, multi-layered story, for various audiences...like CS Lewis did. JustTake care, and keep up the writing; I am enjoying it, and learning a lot.
For more information, you can visit my author site at www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com, www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, thefoxshonor, aseasonofhonor.
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