Writing - part x174, Novel Form, Antagonist

29 June 2017, Writing - part x174, Novel Form, Antagonist

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.

These are the steps I use to write a novel including the five discrete parts of 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

I finished writing my 28^th novel, working title, School, potential title Deirdre: Enchantment and the School.  The theme statement is: 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.  

Here is the cover proposal for Deirdre: Enchantment and the School. 

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action. I continued writing my 29^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 28^th novel, working title School.  If you noticed, I started on number 28, but finished number 29 (in the starting sequence—it’s actually higher than that).  I adjusted the numbering.  I do keep everything clear in my records.  I’ll be providing information on the marketing materials and editing.

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 29:  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.

 

This is the classical form for writing a successful 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 (protagonist, antagonist, and optionally the protagonist’s helper)

d.      Identify the telic flaw of the protagonist (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

              

The protagonist and the telic flaw are tied permanently together.  The novel plot is completely dependent on the protagonist and the protagonist’s telic flaw.  They are inseparable.  This is likely the most critical concept about any normal (classical) form novel. 

 

The person, place, force, or thing that is preventing the protagonist from resolving their telic flaw(s) is the antagonist.  Let’s not get too crazy about this, but let’s get into enough detail to understand the concept of the antagonist.  Normal (classical) novels always have an antagonist.  With an external telic flaw, the antagonist is always an external person, forces, or thing.  For example, the murder or criminal is usually the antagonist in a murder mystery or crime mystery.  Voldermort in all of his incarcerations is the antagonist for Harry Potty.  Who or what is the antagonist in the Hungry Games?  The author could have made the system or the government the antagonist—instead, she wisely made the President the antagonist.  I say wisely because although a government or system makes a great antagonist, when the author places a face on an organization, that produces a much more powerful novel.  George Orwell did the same with 1984.  There are many modern novels with groups, governments, and systems that are the antagonist, but usually the author chooses a single person to represent the most egregious evil of that organization and places that character in direct opposition to the protagonist’s telic flaw resolution.

 

Give the antagonist a face.  Make the antagonist a real person whenever possible.  You will likely find that you can’t help yourself—the plot will likely drive you to a human antagonist.

 

The next question is who is the antagonist for an internal telic flaw?  This is a little more difficult.  An internal telic flaw is always a problem that requires resolution that is internal to the protagonist.  I unequivocally state that every novel must have an external telic flaw—that’s what makes a protagonist and a plot.  However, most adult novels have an internal telic flaw.  The external telic flaw is dependent on the internal telic flaw.  For example, in Harry Potty, Harry must overcome his internal issues and resolve that problem before he can confront Voldermort and resolve each of the novels.  This is classical adult novel form.  The question is who is the antagonist for Harry’s internal telic flaw?

 

The answer is simpler than it might seem.  Some authors set up the protagonist as the internal antagonist.  Many set up the external antagonist as the internal antagonist.  Still other authors make another force the internal antagonist with the external antagonist as the cause.  Harry Potty is an example of the latter.  Harry Potty has some internal capability or power yet undiscovered.  That power allowed him to overcome Voldermort at the beginning.  If Harry can find or cultivate that internal power, he can defeat Voldermort.  In the Hungry Games, the antagonist is the President and the government.  The internal telic flaw is the protagonist’s fear that she is being used by her own side in an immoral way.  The President and the government made the immoral or illicit use of the protagonist necessary, but the protagonist has to determine the proper way forward. She must defeat or resolve her internal telic flaw as a precursor to the resolution of the external telic flaw.

 

The author can also set up the protagonist as an internal antagonist.  Theoretically, a novel can have a singular internal telic flaw, but such a novel is potentially boring.  I’m not sure if anyone has completely and successfully written a comedy of this form.  For example, a strongly mental issue telic flaw—the protagonist is mentally ill and incarcerated in a mental institution.  The external telic flaw is to escape or be released from the mental institution.  The internal telic flaw is the mental illness of the protagonist.  The internal is tied to the external.  Likewise, the external antagonist is the group or person holding the protagonist in the mental institution.  The internal antagonist is the protagonist’s mental issues—possibly him or herself. 

 

The who of the antagonist is always a problem in many modern novels.  The more flesh you can put to the antagonist, the more powerful the telic flaw and the required resolution.  However, the power of a novel is the resolution.  The popularity and salability of a novel is the initial scene.         

 

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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