Writing - part x204, Novel Form, Tension and Release, Pathos, more Developing Pity

29 July 2017, Writing - part x204, Novel Form, Tension and Release, Pathos, more Developing Pity

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. 

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.

 

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

 

In a novel, pity is the emotion of sorrow and compassion in the reader caused by the suffering and misfortunes of the characters.  I’m writing about Sara Crew, the Little Princess, in terms of the development of pity.  Sara is likely the most pity developing character in literature.

 

The real pity development begins with the death of Sara’s father.  Ironically, the news of the death of Sara’s father comes on her birthday.  She immediately goes from student to servant, from wealthy to destitute, from cherished to abused, and from the center of the school to isolated.  In her own existence, Sara is abused, hungry, isolated, treated unfairly, but still she holds up her head.  She remains mostly strong in her misfortune and suffering and this builds even more pity in the mind of the reader.

 

The author of A Little Princess, could have made Sara even more powerful as a character who develops pity.  Irony is one of the tools Aristotle mentions in regard to pity.  The irony of the Sara Crew who is so mistreated but remains a Little Princess is the most powerful pity building device in the novel.  When Sara begins to question her own status as acting like a princess that is one transition to the use of fear from pity.  Pity and fear are not interchangeable.  Pity turns to fear in the mind of the reader when suffering and misfortune begin to bring down the protagonist. 

 

In the case of Sara Crew, I think the author should have held her in the ultimate irony that is in suffering and misfortune without any real tendency to fall into full misery.  When a character begins to recognize their true state of suffering and misfortune, they begin to fall into their own pity.  If you remember, pity is the emotion of the reader.  When it becomes the emotion of the protagonist (self-pity), the edge of the power of pity begins to decrease.  Let me point out some incidents from the novel.

 

The irony when the little boy of the family across the court gives Sara his Christmas shilling, is a powerful moment.  Sara accepts the gift, not for herself, but for the child.  She recognizes how she looks outside, but mentally will not accept that is how she is inside.  She keeps the shilling on a string around her neck. 

 

The irony of the starving Sara who finds a shilling in the street and uses it to buy bread—that she then shares with a child hungrier than herself, is an incredibly powerful use of pity. 

 

Two specific incidents dilute the pity of Sara.  The first is her disregard of her friend.  This is definitely not in character for Sara Crew.  She is a princess who always acts like a princess.  In a character’s own misfortune, pity is more powerful when irony is more powerful.  If Sara begins to act like a regular child and not like the romantic character she is, the suspension of disbelief turns pity into fear.  In the case of Sara, pity with the threat of fear is much more powerful than turning pity into fear.

 

The second is Sara’s tantrum where she throws and damages her doll.  This is perhaps an allegorical moment for the novel, but the irony of the power of Sara’s doll is that this doll represents Sara Crew’s childhood.  This is the princess who is Sara Crew—the perfect British child, the perfect British princess, stoic and unemotional in the face of misfortune and suffering.  This is truly a moment when the author turns the pity we feel for Sara into fear for her sanity and her life.  I already mentioned the power of irony.  It is one thing to depict the starving Sara who is willing to give away her bread to another who is needier.  The irony disappears when Sara realizes and falls into her own suffering.  In other words, pity is most powerful when the protagonist recognizes her suffering, but ignores it.  Pity becomes diluted when the protagonist recognizes her suffering and grovels in it.    

 

For example, the picture of Sara (or any protagonist), who is punished with a slap across the face.  The immediate response of the character might be shock and surprise.  Pity is perfectly developed when that character immediately controls herself and her emotions and stands firm in the face of such an attack.  The character wouldn’t necessarily stand firm without some defense, or she might move out of the way of the next blow, or say something to cause her attacker to back off.  Pity becomes diluted in this circumstance when the character reacts by fighting or reacts in another way that justifies the action of the attacker.  If Sara were punished and retaliates, she is sent to her room or sent on another assignment, the pity becomes fear.  She is no longer the suffering heroine.  If this is the purpose of the author, more power to them—they are developing fear and not pity.  If this isn’t the purpose of the author, the power of the character in pity is reduced.  Pity and fear are not opposites and they can exist together, but pity is the result of immediate suffering and past misfortune.  Fear is the result of impending events.

                

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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