Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 592, more Styles of Grammar Q and A

23 November 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 592, more Styles of Grammar Q and A

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy.  I'll keep you informed.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the writing.

4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1.  The initial scene (the beginning)

2.  The rising action

3.  The climax

4.  The falling action

5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Escape from Freedom.  Escape is my 25th novel.

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action.  I'm on my first editing run-through of Shape.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any novel. 

Scene development:

1.  Scene input (easy)

2.  Scene output (a little harder)

3.  Scene setting (basic stuff)

4.  Creativity (creative elements of the scene)

5.  Tension (development of creative elements to build excitement)

6.  Release (climax of creative elements)

I can immediately discern three ways to invoke creativity:

1.  Historical extrapolation

2.  Technological extrapolation

3.  Intellectual extrapolation

Creativity is like an extrapolation of what has been.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing. 

One of my blog readers posed these questions.  I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.

1.  Conflict/tension between characters

2.  Character presentation (appearance, speech, behavior, gestures, actions)

3.  Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme

4.  Evolving vs static character

5.  Language and style

6.  Verbal, gesture, action

7.  Words employed

8.  Sentence length

9.  Complexity

10.  Type of grammar

11.  Diction

12.  Field of reference or allusion

13.  Tone - how tone is created through diction, rhythm, sentence construction, sound effects, images created by similes, syntax/re-arrangement of words in sentence, the inflections of the silent or spoken voice, etc.

14.  Mannerism suggested by speech

15.  Style

16.  Distinct manner of writing or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences, non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent' inconclusiveness).

Moving on to 10. 10.  Type of grammar

Short digression:  Back from my short world tour.

So, what if we look at dialects in English as styles or types of grammar.  I think that gets to the point.  You generally have two types of dialects in English: true dialects and inadvertent dialects.  An inadvertent dialect is one caused by a person for whom English is not their mother tongue.  Therefore, a person from an Asian culture may introduce an inadvertent dialect to English.  Likewise, a German or French person might do the same.  We generally call these accents, but they are inadvertent dialects in they use a type of grammar, word usage, and pronunciation that is consistent, but incorrect for standard English grammar.

I’ve mentioned before about inadvertent dialects.  I used this in my novel The Fox’s Honor and although the editor was happy with it, in retrospect, I wasn’t.  Instead of trying to write out the dialect of a German speaker speaking English, I just should have stated, the fact he spoke with an accent.  On the other hand, since this was a novel about the far future—I would have had a difficult time justifying that speaking of English or of German.  Either language in the far future will be significantly changed or might not exist at all.  This leads directly to true dialects.

In English, if at all possible, it is best just to state, the character speaks with an Irish brogue or a Scottish accent.  If you begin to try to write conversation with an accent, you better know the dialect well and you should keep it to a minimum.  If you go over the top, you risk confusing your readers—who might not be able to understand the accent or your writing.  And you might get it wrong.  Both confusing and wrong are bad.  One ruins the book, the other makes you look stupid.

What I’ve done in most cases is just state the characters is speaking with a certain accent.  In a few cases I’ve actually made very slight changes to the conversation to indicate the increase or decrease of an accent.  I’ll give examples next.           

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:

http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com  

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