31 March 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x84, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Legal Argument
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 up the list and we’ll contemplate
creative elements to produce these plot devices.
Deus ex machina (a machination, or act of
god; lit. “god out of the machine”)
Flashback (or analeptic reference)
Story within a story (Hypodiegesis)
Third attempt
Secrets
Judicial Setting
Legal argument – Current discussion.
Prophecy
Two way love
Three way love (love rival)
Rival
Celebrity (Rise to fame)
Rise to riches
Military (Device or Organization manipulation)
School (Training) (Skill Development)
Supernatural
Comeback
Retrieval
Taboo
Impossible Crime
Human god
Revolution
Games
Silent witness
Secret king
Messiah
Hidden skills
Fantasy Land (Time Travel, Space Travel)
End of the --- (World, Culture, Society)
Resistance (Nonresistance)
Utopia (anti-utopia)
Fashion
Augmented Human (Robot) (Society)
Mind Switching (Soul Switching)
Unreliable character
Incarceration (imprisonment)
Legal argument: here is my definition – legal argument is the use of an argument based on law to further a plot.
A
legal argument is not a Quibble. A
quibble is based on a technicality in the law—a legal argument is simply based
in the law. When I write, legal argument,
I mean any argument based in law.
Therefore, you could have a legal argument based in the laws of
science. Aka, a science fiction novel whose
plot rested on the concept of gravity or biological science. Most legal arguments will be based on some
type of law or legal system. Many will
be based in logic. Some will be based on
scientific law. You might even have a legal
argument based in a tribal law—a taboo for example.
I
think the legal argument is a fine means of developing a plot—it is a plot
device, so the theme isn’t dependent on it, but the plot might be. Here is an example of a pure legal argument.
From
Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer:
Mr. Vale kept their glasses full, and after
dinner, they all cleared the table and went out to the back patio. The air was crisp, but the wine warmed
them. Phelia joined them this time.
Mr. Vale started, “So you’re both living in
Dane’s apartment…?”
“Yes” replied Dane and Lilly together.
Lilly was bubbly, “We aren’t shacking
up…yet. If that’s what you mean…”
“That’s exactly what I meant.”
Phelia didn’t look at them, “They are shacking
up. I’ve seen them come out together
every morning this week. Lilly couldn’t
come out one morning because, because…”
Lilly grinned, “Really, Phelia, he didn’t wear
me out. I like the idea, but your brother
is just too much of a gentleman. He’s
kissed me every morning and each night…”
Dane blushed.
Phelia yelped, “That’s just what I mean. I’ve seen them kiss and everything…”
Mrs. Vale laughed, “Ophelia, a little romance
is what it’s all about, and if Dane’s has the intention to marry her, then
everything is all right with me.”
Phelia balled her fists, “Is this all right
with you, dad. What about your political
career?”
Mr. Vale leaned back in his chair, “I suspect
Ms. Grant and Dane are being careful about their relationship.”
“Dad, they are living in the same apartment,
and she’s sixteen.”
“Actually, Ms. Grant is seventeen. She just turned seventeen. In Washington State she can marry with her
guardian’s permission.”
Phelia mumbled, “But what about statutory
rape?”
“For better or worse, sex is allowed when the
woman is seventeen.”
Phelia’s shoulders drooped, “So you’re happy
with this?”
Mr. Vale snorted, “I didn’t say I was happy
with it—I’m just pointing out the laws.
I don’t want Dane and Ms. Grant to have sex outside of marriage, and I’m
not very happy with them living together…”
Mrs. Vale sat up, “I’m happy with it. Your father and I lived together for a while
before we married.” She blushed, “I’m
not saying that is the right thing to do, but I want Lilly and Dane to be
together, and I want them to marry. I
know Dane. He’s a man who has never been
in a relationship with a woman before, and I’m happy he found someone who loves
him.”
Phelia mumbled again, “How do you know she
loves him? I think she’s after his money
and position.”
Lilly perked up, “I didn’t know he had any
money or position. He’s working at
FastMart with me.”
Mrs. Vale wasn’t deterred, “Lilly is completely
independent and capable on her own. She
doesn’t need your brother at all, but she has latched on to him—that’s enough
for me. I like her very much. I want her in our family—she is part of our
family.”
Phelia bent her head, “Aren’t I daughter enough
for you? Why do you want someone like
her around?”
Mrs. Vale took Phelia’s hand and shook it,
“Listen to me Ophelia. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You are my special and one and only daughter. I like what you are, and I like what you are
becoming. Dane is going to marry
someone, why shouldn’t that someone be Lilly?”
“Because I don’t like her…”
Mrs. Vale pleaded, “What don’t you like about
her?”
Phelia glanced up at her, “I love my
brother. I liked who he was before he
met her. I’m afraid he’ll invest himself
in her, and she’ll dump him—then where will he be. Where will our family be?”
Lilly started to laugh. She couldn’t stop. Everyone turned to look at her. Dane could hear the wild chimes in her
laughter. Finally, between hiccups she
snorted, “Dane is mine, and I am his. I
will not leave him for any reason, and you said yourself, he hasn’t been
interested before…”
Dane put up his hands, “It’s not that I wasn’t
interested—I just never found anyone as special as Lilly. I…I love her.” He blushed to the roots of his hair.
Lilly stared at him with big eyes, “That’s the
first time you’ve ever said you love me.”
“Really,” Phelia, Mrs. Vale, and Mr. Vale
exclaimed.
Phelia pouted, “That’s too much for me, Dane
Vale. You’re living with a girl, and you
never said you loved her…”
Dane put up his hands, “It’s hard for me to say
and harder for me to realize. I’ve never
loved anyone like this before…”
Lilly looked like she was about to cry.
Mrs. Vale’s eyes turned soft and damp, “That’s
exactly the way it’s supposed to be.”
She glanced around the table, “I want to do everything I can to make
this happen.”
Mr. Vale nodded, “In due time. You two can marry when you’re ready, and when
we think you’re ready.”
Lilly pressed her lips together, “He still
hasn’t asked me yet…”
Mrs. Vale grasped Lilly’s hand too, “Yes, he
must ask you in the proper way, and you must have our permission. You can marry, by Washington State law, when
Lilly is eighteen.”
Lilly cried, “Eighteen, that’s a whole year
away—I’m not sure I can wait that long.”
Mrs. Vale grinned, “Remember, he hasn’t asked
you yet…”
Lilly glanced at her then at Dane. She let out her breath, “He hasn’t asked me
yet.”
Mrs. Vale smiled, “When he does. We can make a second appraisal.”
Phelia took a deep breath, “Well I’m against
it, for now.”
Mr. Vale nodded, “For now.”
Mrs. Vale let go of Lilly and Phelia’s hands,
“Lear, get another bottle of wine. You
need to speak to Dane about the asking and we need to celebrate the
potential. Right now, I want to talk to
our client…”
There
is a lot in here, but I think this is really fun. They are bantering about love, marriage, sex,
and legal concepts of all of these. Dane
and Lilly are living together, but not shacking up. They are in love, but not married. The Vales are lawyers. I set this up from the beginning of the
novel. This little scene (part of the
scene) is the fruition of half a novel. The
arguments are legal, but based in different types of legal—religion, state law,
moral law, and etc. A legal argument is
a wonderful plot device that can provide great creative elements for a scene
and a novel.
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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