23 April 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x107, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Resistance
(Nonresistance)
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
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) – Current discussion.
Utopia (anti-utopia)
Fashion
Augmented Human (Robot) (Society)
Mind Switching (Soul Switching)
Unreliable character
Incarceration (imprisonment)
Valuable item
Identification
Contest
Search
War
Brotherhood (sisterhood) (camaraderie)
Crime
Theater
One way love
Resistance (Nonresistance): here is my definition – Resistance (Nonresistance) is the use of an opposition to an organized group (family, company, government, organization, party, enemy) to further a plot.
Resistance
is a wonderful plot device. I’ve used it
myself in various degrees in my writing.
You can’t look through the modern bookstore without tripping over books
that use this plot device. The Hunger
books use a resistance plot device. The
Sparkly Vampire books use a resistance plot device. The Harry Potty books use a resistance plot
device. It’s not quite ubiquitous, but
it’s all over the place. You can use
this plot device in all kinds of situations.
The creative element that you require is first something or someone to
resist, a reason to resist, and usually a secret of some kind.
You
can break it apart. In the Hunger books,
the something is the world-wide government, the reason is not as clear, but the
world-wide government doesn’t treat the people well, and finally, the secret—well,
in the Hungry books there are all kinds of secrets. Who the resistance is and how everything has
been manipulated is one of the secrets.
Usually a resistance plot device uses secrets in all kinds of ways to
magnify and empower the resisters.
The
nonresistance plot device is a little different. You will see this plot device in some modern
western literature, but this is a strongly used plot device in many Asian novels. The nonresistance plot device is a pretty weak
plot device, but it has some use.
Here
is an example from my writing from Shadow
of Darkness.
Beria and Khrushchev
sat together in the back of a large black automobile. They had been to the Kremlin at the request
of Stalin and now discussed issues of Soviet security.
Khrushchev’s
gravelly voice came out of the darkness, “Abakumov is as good as dead. This doctor’s plot sunk him, and allowed us
to move on the Zionist Jews. Are you
sure that wasn’t your plan, Beria?”
Beria
stared out the window, “It wasn’t my plan.
I didn’t care for Abakumov, but the Jews can cause us international
problems.”
“Bah,
they are nothing but pawns. All of
them. You coddle the church too.”
“I
follow Stalin’s orders. He instructs,
and I enact his commands.”
“Stalin’s Little Ptitsa is informing the
church of our plans almost as quickly as we can make them.”
“Svetlana Evgenyevna?”
“The People’s Prodigy.”
“What do you want me to do about her?”
“Comrade Beria, it shows our lack of
control over our own forces. What are
you going to do about her?”
“Nothing. I knew she was a spy for Father Alexius when
I brought her into the MVD. She works
for him and for us. She is too valuable
to trade for the deaths of a few Christians.”
“She also is helping the Zionists.”
“She has Jewish friends and informs
them, yes. We know this too.” A trickle of sweat rolled down Beria’s face.
“You will tell me, she is too valuable
to trade for the lives of a few Jews.”
“That is also true Comrade Khrushchev.”
“What
if I told you she was passing information to our enemies in the embassies?”
Beria
turned toward him, “I would say you are wrong.
She takes more information out of the embassies than we get from our own
intelligence outside of our country.
Have you read her reports?”
“Yes,
I have read her reports. They are the
only reason she still sits in her office on the top floor of the MVD instead of
in the basements with all the other traitors.”
“You
forget, Comrade Khrushchev, I control the intelligence apparatus for the Soviet
state, not you. As long as Stalin wants
his Little Ptitsa, he shall have her.
When she is no longer of any use to the state…”
“Very good,
Beria. That is the answer I would have
expected from you.”
The resistance
is from Svetlana. She is the power and
eyes of the Orthodox Church in the bowels of the Soviet. The something to be resisted is the
Soviet. The secret is that Svetlana is a
spy and helping the Orthodox Church.
Notice this isn’t so much of a secret.
There are many more secrets related to resistance in this novel. I just pointed out the most salient ones for
this example. Use this plot device and
use it well. If you note, this is truly a
plot device in this novel and not a theme.
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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