5 April 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x89, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Celebrity
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.
 |
Cover
Proposal
|
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) – Current discussion.
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)
Valuable item
Identification
Contest
Search
Celebrity: here is my definition – celebrity is the use of the idea of a figure of importance or the rise to a figure of importance to further a plot.
I have
used celebrity in a couple of novels. In
using celebrity, the author either establishes the protagonist as a celebrity or
builds the protagonist as a celebrity.
When we say celebrity, we mean a political, scientific, popular, artist,
actor, singer, and all figure of some real or false merit. You can have a deserving celebrity or an
undeserving celebrity. You can start
with the celebrity at a high level or build them to a high level. Or you can start them at anywhere in between. The most interesting are those brought up
from nothing or those who are already figures of merit. I’ve used celebrity in Essie and in School.
From
Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si:
When
Elizabeth was seated, the museum director stepped to the front. His strong voice filled the room, “Your
Majesty, her guests, ladies and gentlemen, we have been favored this evening
with a fresh face to our Wales organ concerts.
Ms. Essie Lyons will play sample pieces from the period of this chamber
organ as well as her own composition called Nocturne. Ms. Lyons is a student from the Haberdashers'
Monmouth School for Girls. She speaks
Welsh and is an exemplary example of our Welsh youth and culture. May I present Ms. Essie Lyons?
Essie
walked from the side to the organ. She
wore a simple loose blue dress that reached to her knees. The dress sported short sleeves. She took off her shoes and climbed onto the
organ bench. The organ bellows had already
been turned on and prepared. She already
checked the stops and the volume. Essie
raised her hands and closed her eyes.
She played the nocturne. Only
this was no purely musical piece, it sounded like a real nocturne. To Kathrin it felt as though the room itself
disappeared, and she sat alone in the gently falling evening. She heard the lowering summer sun in the sky
and the rush of wind that ushered in the evening. She heard water burbling in a brook and trees
swaying in the breeze. The insects,
birds, and other animals called the end of the day. Slowly the light faded from the sky and
slowly the land chilled. She felt the
evening cool and the falling dew. The
light faded and the evening world began.
The
crowd remained silent as though they listened with their feelings as well as
their ears. The music sounded fine and
wonderful. No one moved until Essie coaxed
the last muted note from the pipes. Not
a whisper filled the place, and then the crowd erupted. People stood and clapped. They shouted and leapt up before their
seats. Kathrin found herself on her
feet. Elizabeth cheered. She clapped her hands for sheer delight. Britannia stood with her face in her
hands. She blubbered and tried to clap
at the same time, but that was just Britannia.
Kathrin
looked through the crowd. Essie Lyons
slipped off the organ bench and made a slow curtsy. She beamed. Her eyes filled with glee. A bright light seemed to sit above her brow,
like sunlight in her hair. Another tall
girl moved beside her and took her hand to lead her to the back of the room for
intermission. Kathrin started. The tall girl looked very familiar to
Kathrin. She glanced at Britannia and
then at Brigitta, the red headed woman.
Britannia’s eyes captured both girls in a moment. They all stared.
Elizabeth
turned to Kathrin, “I’d like to meet this girl, Essie Lyons. Isn’t it odd that she has the same last name
as Bruce and Matilda?”
“Yes,
very odd,” remarked Kathrin. “Let’s see
if we can speak to her during intermission.”
The Queen conversed with the man at her
side. He stepped to the museum
director. The Queen stood and the room
stood. The Queen, Kathrin, Britannia,
and her group followed the museum director through a back door and into a
corridor. He led them to an elegant
exterior room. Stuffed furniture filled
the space, and heavy drapes covered the windows. Essie and the tall girl sat on a spindly
classical French sofa. They both drank
tea from a service on a low tea table before them. The Queen’s men entered first followed
quickly by Elizabeth, then Kathrin and then Britannia. When the Queen entered, both girls
stood. They put down their teacups. Elizabeth didn’t wait for an
introduction. She stepped directly to
Essie and took her hand, “Ms. Essie Lyons, I was so happy to hear you play this
evening.”
Essie
is a celebrity organist. The novel grows
her from a foundling girl to professional playing for the Queen. The point of the novel isn’t really her
celebrity, but it causes the climax and results in the end of the novel. I am using existing celebrity in School as a plot device:
Deirdre
and Chris MacLeod continued to dance until the orchestra took their first
break. Just as Chris had predicted, Mr.
MacLeod moved to where Deirdre and Chris stood.
Kathrin Calloway and Mrs. MacLeod followed close behind him. He gave a slight bow and asked, “Ms.
Calloway, I freely admit, I asked you to our Christmas revelry with ulterior
motives.”
Deirdre’s
eyes widened. Older men had never bowed
to her, and she wasn’t sure how to take ulterior motives.
Mr.
MacLeod continued, “I understand you are a professional musician. Your mother assured me concerning your usual
contract rates. I would like to hire you
to sing some Christmas songs at our fete.
I understand you have a wonderful program already prepared. In fact, I gave the music to our orchestra
yesterday and they assured me they could play to your very exacting standards.”
Deirdre
began to respond, but Mr. MacLeod raised his finger, “The second reason I asked
you here is to test your metal, so to speak.
Chris has had so many wonderful things to say about you, I must say, I
was unconvinced. Until I heard you sing
the Messiah, I would have said he was exaggerating. As a matter of fact, at this point, I wonder
exactly what you see in my son.”
Chris
cried out, “Father.”
“Oh,
sorry. I’m joking. A bit of British humor there, and I’m
Scottish. I’m very proud of my son, but
he is still fifteen and still not entirely used to the potential limelight of a
woman of your caliber and upbringing.
Please sing for us. That in
itself would be very pleasant.”
Deirdre
cleared her throat to respond. He mind
was moving as fast as usual. She smiled
very pleasantly, “Mr. MacLeod, could I offer a Christmas medley as a gift to
your family?”
Mrs.
Calloway cut her off with a firm gesture, “One moment. I wish to speak to Deirdre privately.”
Mr.
MacLeod stepped to the side. Chris
reluctantly moved with him.
Deirdre
clenched her fists. She squinted and
raised her lip, “What is it mother?”
Mrs.
Calloway came very close and put her arms around Deirdre. She whispered, “Luna told me I should slap
you every time you do that. This time I shan’t.”
Deirdre
stiffened.
“You
know what that means, don’t you dear?”
“It
means you are treating me like an adult.”
“Excellent. Now, here is what you must consider. Your costs at school have been rather high
this semester.”
“That’s
because I have been taking care of my best friend.”
“I
understand that too. Luna told me—well,
she did after our little meeting with the Queen. I wondered how such a frugal
girl could rack up such high expenses.”
“Are
they really that high?”
“No,
but I wish to place some adult pressure on you.
So far, you have had most everything you could ever want or need. As I said, you are a frugal girl, but an
adult must consider the costs of friendship and life.”
Deirdre
choked, “You want me to give up on Sorcha—you’ll take care of her needs, won’t
you?”
“My
sweet Deirdre, I want you to face the consequences of your actions. They are wonderful, but they are yours
alone. I love that you have taken care
of Sorcha and Eliana.”
“Luna
narked on me.”
“Yes
she did, and I’m very proud. However…”
Deirdre
steeled herself.
“However,
I would like you to pick up the tab for your friends. You may take care of them as much as you
desire, but with your funds. A little
singing at your normal rates will go a long way this semester. In fact, the pay you received from Father
Malloy will further bolster that your little fund.”
“I
was going to give it all back to Father Malloy for the widow’s and orphan’s
relief fund.”
“Sorcha
and Eliana both are missing parents—they are orphans. Which one do you wish to support, those
unseen or your friends.”
Deirdre
smiled, “Mother, perhaps I never listened quite as well as I should to you, but
you are forcing me to sing…”
“I’m
not forcing you to do anything. I’m
simply pointing out realities to you and giving you a choice.”
“I
see. You must not let Sorcha or Elaina
know.”
“Never. This is our private understanding. Plus, my sweet, you want independence. I can’t give you any greater
independence.” She started to pull back,
but hugged Deirdre closer, “One more thing.
I like this Chris MacLeod very much.
He is a gentleman and has a wonderful future.” She did pull back and stared in Deirdre’s
eyes with a half-smile, “Don’t take that to be a license or permission. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,
mother.”
“Your
ball, in your court.”
Deirdre
sighed, but she didn’t mean much by it.
She stepped toward Mr. MacLeod with Mrs. Calloway at her side. She nodded to the gentleman, “Mr. MacLeod, I
accept your terms. My standard
rates. I do wish to warn you. The press is here and that might cause undo
attention to your family and mine.”
Mr.
MacLeod tried not to smile to broadly, “Your mother explained everything to
me. I accept your conditions and
understand the circumstances.”
Deirdre
shrugged, “When would you like me to sing?”
“Do
you need any preparation?”
“I
need to speak to the conductor and the orchestra.”
Deirdre
is the dangerous diva. She is a girl
with issues, but she is coming to terms with them and reconciling herself to
them. Deirdre starts as a diva while
Essie ends up as a diva—okay celebrity.
You can see that this provides some fun and entertaining situation.
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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