2 March 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x55, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices
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.
4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.
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
I
finished writing my 27th novel, working title, Claire, potential
title Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse. This might need some tweaking. The theme statement is: Claire (Sorcha) Davis
accepts Shiggy, a dangerous screw-up, into her Stela branch of the organization
and rehabilitates her.
Here is the cover proposal for Sorcha:
Enchantment and the Curse.
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|
Cover
Proposal
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The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja. I’m also working on my 29th novel,
working title School.
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: transition from input to output focused on the telic
flaw resolution)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
How to begin a novel. Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement. Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 28: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the
X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns
about freedom, and is redeemed.
For novel 29: Sorcha, the abandoned child of an Unseelie
and a human, secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school where she meets the
problem child Deirdre and is redeemed.
These are the steps I use to write a
novel:
1.
Design the initial scene
2.
Develop a theme statement (initial
setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research as required
b.
Develop the initial setting
c.
Develop the characters
d.
Identify the telic flaw (internal
and external)
3.
Write the initial scene (identify
the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4.
Write the next scene(s) to the
climax (rising action)
5.
Write the climax scene
6.
Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write the dénouement scene
Here is the beginning of the scene
development method from the outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous
scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place,
time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative
elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and develop the tension and
release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and
creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
Below is a list of plot
devices. I’m less interested in a plot
device than I am in a creative element that drives a plot device. In fact, some of these plot devices are not
good for anyone’s writing. If we
remember, the purpose of fiction writing is entertainment, we will perhaps begin
to see how we can use these plot devices to entertain. If we focus on creative elements that drive
plot devices, we can begin to see how to make our writing truly
entertaining. I’ll leave the list and
well go through the elements.
Deus ex machina (a machination, or act of god;
lit. “god out of the machine”)
Flashback (or analeptic reference)
Story within a story (Hypodiegesis)
Secrets
I want to look at secrets in regard
to plot devices and creative elements. I
added it to the list of plot devices. I
think secrets are an overarching idea in plot devices. Many of the plot devices relate directly back
to secrets. For example, backstory, red
herring, unreliable narrator, and there are others. A secret is a plot device and a secret is a
creative element. The more powerful the
secret, the more powerful the creative element or the plot device. For example, a typical movie, TV show, or spy
novel secret is the amorphous, but very concrete—secret bomb, secret missile,
new laser, new radar, etc. These are
concrete because they can be carried on a chip, a memory stick, a computer, or
in paper. They are amorphous because the
writer doesn’t have to describe them any more than a secret this or that. No one really looks or sees the secret, it’s
just a plot device, a creative element that happens to convey s nation’s secret
thing. There is another type of secret
altogether. This is the type of secret I
like best. It is the secret about a
person’s existence or past. A secret
that can ruin or harm. A secret that if
revealed will harm at least one life and perhaps many others. These kinds of secrets are not amorphous at
all. They are absolutely concrete. They are real and powerful. They can be looked at and immediately reveal themselves
when they are exposed.
The novel I’m writing at the moment,
School has such a secret. Sorcha has been illicitly attending Wycombe
Abbey school. She is a juvenile criminal
who escaped from prison. She lives in
the old WWII bunker on the school. She
is the discarded child of an Unseelie fae and a human. She uses fae glamour to hide and attend
classes. She is hungry, friendless, and devoted
to learning. Then dreadful Deirdre discovers
Sorcha’s secret. There was one who knew
the secret—Sorcha. One discovers the secret
and in that process so do the readers—Deirdre.
As long as no one else discovers the secret, Sorcha is safe.
This is what is beautiful about
secrets as plot devices and creative elements.
They are powerful when not exposed, and they are like an explosion when
they are exposed. Although I haven’t
made Sorcha’s secret the telic flaw of the novel, its exposure is an important
part of the rising action in the novel.
It drives much more in the novel, and proceeds the plot in a powerful
way. Secrets are perhaps the best and
most powerful plot devices and creative elements.
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
fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline,
character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing,
information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
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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