Writing - part x195, Novel Form, Tension and Release, Pathos, Pity – Japan day 8

20 July 2017, Writing - part x195, Novel Form, Tension and Release, Pathos, Pity – Japan day 8

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. 

 

Here are the parts of a normal (classical) novel:

 

1.      The Initial scene (identify the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)

2.      The Rising action scenes

3.      The Climax scene

4.      The Falling action scene(s)

5.      The Dénouement scene

             

So, how do you write a rich and powerful initial scene?  Let’s start from a theme statement.  Here is an example from my latest novel:

 

The theme statement for Deirdre: Enchantment and the School 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 scene development 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

          

If you have the characters (protagonist, protagonist’s helper, and antagonist), the initial setting, the telic flaw (from the protagonist), a plot idea, the theme action, then you are ready to write the initial scene.  I would state that since you have a protagonist, the telic flaw, a plot idea, and the theme action, you have about everything—what you might be lacking is the tension and release cycle in the initial scene.

 

Tension and release is the means to success in scene writing.  The creative elements you introduce into the scenes (Chekov’s guns) are the catalysts that drive entertainment and excitement in a scene, and this is what scenes are all about.     

 

I am moving into the way to develop sufficient tension and release.  One of the best means is through pathos.  I’ve written about pathos developing characters.  What I want to do is expand this into pathos developing scenes.  In most cases, a scene with a pathos developing character can be made pathetic.  In any case, almost any scene can invoke pathos—pity and fear.  This development of pity and fear is the driving force in tension and release.  The question is how the author develops it.

 

I’m in Tokyo Japan—this isn’t a travel log, but I might find some examples to put here.

 

Fear is just one mechanism for developing powerful and sufficient tension and release in a scene.  The other mechanism is pity.  

 

I’m not writing a travel blog, and I already have a hit and miss food, drink, and cigar blog, but I thought it might be fun to give some direct reporting from the Land of the Rising Sun. 

 

Day eight in Japan, and we are still on our long trip.  Before we left Hiroshima, we went to the castle.  This is a great place to see.  You can actually go up into it, and there is a museum inside.    We caught the Shinkansen from Hiroshima to Kyoto.  I’ve been kind of caviler about Shinkansen travel.  We have 14 day passes and bought our reserved seat Shinkansen tickets on day one in Japan.  Those are the tickets we have been using for travel.  That’s the way to go.  Like every morning for travel on the Shinkansen, onigiri, beer, sake, and hot drinks from the kiosks.  We arrived after noon and headed for our Air BnB.  We had the place for two days, this was the worst of the three.  It wasn’t bad, but we had a single large room with two beds and a curtain down the middle.  The bath was typically small, but the shower curtain had mold spots.  For the price, it wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t as nice as the others.  This became our headquarters for our Kyoto excursions.  It was a perfect location right near the Gion district and the train station. 

 

First stop in Kyoto, after the Air BnB, was Fushimi Inari Shrine—that’s the thousand torii gates.  There are more than a thousand.  They stretch up into the mountains and the entire trip takes two hours to negotiate.  We went up to the first way station and got our souvenirs and went back through the exit.  Take your pictures.  The real excitement is the first two groups of gates there and back again.  I should mention, the schools were all on their trips and the pictures were awesome with the kids in uniforms from elementary to high school in front of the shrines and areas.  The souvenirs you want are the enma boards again.  These are only available at the individual shrines and temples.  The worshipers write on them, and place them on the enma board areas, you take yours home.  Each has a picture from the shrine and they cost from 300 to 500 yen.

 

From the thousand torii gates, we went to see the thousand Buddhas.  We ate dangos, ice cream, and rat on a stick from the vendors down the street.  This is the festival shrine feel, and it’s really fun.  The thousand Buddahs are really a thousand full sized Buddhas.  You can’t take pictures, but still it’s worth seeing and the visit.  It’s the Sanjsangendo Temple. 

 

For dinner, we stayed in the Gion district.  That’s the Geisha district.  We went to Steak House Yoshida for wagu beef.  This is a real culinary experience.  They hand you an authentication for the cow you eat.  The cost is high, but the beef tastes wonderful.  It’s a multicourse meal and very fun.

 

Back to the Air BnB through the shrine district near the Gion area.  There we got some wonderful night shots of the shrines and the street.                                     

 

End of day eight.

                

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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