Writing - part x240, Novel Form, Objective Tension and Release

3 September 2017, Writing - part x240, Novel Form, Objective Tension and Release

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 your scenes.

 

Here is an example of developing or building tension and release in a scene.  This example is from Shadow of Darkness an Ancient Light novel.  Sveta meets some less important historical figures and has a verbal confrontation.    

 

How do you display the capabilities of your protagonist?  Poor and pathetic writers tell us:  Sveta was a great translator, or Sveta was a quick wit.  Just telling it is worthless.  What makes such qualities powerful in a novel isn’t the telling (the declaration), but the showing. 

 

In this example scene, Sveta is attacked by a temperamental person she just met.  The entertainment in this scene is how she handles this circumstance and there is a powerful revelation about how Sveta sees the world.  I’ll try to make this clear to you.

 

In the second part, we see an artist who is the subject of the party try to get his position back as the center by testing and teasing Sveta.  We also see that Sveta has acquired a nickname because of her skills.  Abakumov provides a sinister aspect to the entire event.

 

This is all why I titled this blog Objective.  There are both objectives, and I intend to show the reader the use of an objective position.  I don’t disparage anyone, not the woman who insults Sveta, not the artist who wants to be the center, not the Communist Party murderer, and all.  The point is, I let their own personalities and expression come through in the dialog.  No one would insult Abakumov to his face—he might find himself in a cell under the NKVD building.  Most people would not insult a person directly at a dinner party.  The temperamental Katrinka is one and subtly, the artist is another.               

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        The party was at the house of the leader of the Union of Russian Artists.  The occasion was the unveiling of a new painting by Eremeevich Vladimirsky.  His Beatitude again waited for Sveta before he entered the party.  In the foyer, he helped her take off her cloak.  Inside, the house was bursting with people.  The building was large, but artists and writers with their wives and friends seemed to completely fill it.  The NKVD was evident through Comrade Abakumov’s presence.

        When Sveta and His Beatitude entered, Abakumov was speaking with a tall woman in a bright red dress.  Her hair was long and blond.  Sveta could hear her lilting and musical voice across the room.  A young man also stood across from Abakumov.  The young man seemed uncomfortable, but stood resolutely at the side of the woman.  His Beatitude headed directly toward Comrade Abakumov, and Sveta had to squeeze between people and make a limping run to keep up.

        His Beatitude addressed Comrade Abakumov, “Good evening, comrade.”

        “There you are, Father Alexius.  Where is your little ptitsa?”

        His Beatitude laughed, “My little ptitsa?”

        Abakumov smiled, “There she is, Father.  I was worried for a moment, you had lost her.”

        His Beatitude gently took Sveta’s hand and pulled her into the group.  The woman in the red dress scowled at the interruption.

        Sveta caught her breath while she hung on His Beatitude’s arm and addressed Abakumov, “Good evening, comrade.”

        The woman in the red dress stated, “Little ptitsa?  For a bird, she croaks like a crow and has the gait of a vulture.”

        Sveta stared unbelievingly at the woman for a moment then turned around and averted her face.

        Abakumov glared at the woman, “Katrinka, Svetlana Evgenyevna was wounded during the war.”  He passed a handkerchief to Sveta.

        Sveta swung back around.  She touched the corners of her eyes and held the handkerchief over her mouth.  Her eyes blazed, “I apologize for my inadequacies.  They were the result of our external Fascist enemies not our internal ones.”

        Katrinka dropped her drink.  No one moved.  Abakumov started to laugh.  He bent slightly over in mirth.  Katrinka’s escort couldn’t help himself.  He snorted a couple of times and broke out in a long guffaw.

        His Beatitude held his hand over his mouth, “I am afraid madam comrade, my little ptitsa has the better of you.”

        Katrinka stared at them and turned a sour look at her escort.  She snapped her head back, stood straight and marched off.

        Her escort, all smiles, held out his hand to Sveta, “Svetlana Evgenyevna, I am Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov.  Katrinka’s mouth many times runs faster than her mind.  She won’t apologize to you, but I do.  You perfectly match your reputation.”

        Sveta touched his hand, “Accepted for your sake, but not for hers.”

        “Again, well said.  I will sort out the damage.  Comrade, Father,” he nodded to them and started off after Katrinka.

        Laughter danced in Abukumov’s eyes, “Shall I investigate Katrinka for her internal Fascist leanings, little ptitsa?”

        Sveta handed the handkerchief back to Abukumov, “I would not wish that attention on my worst enemy—why wish it on a silly and thoughtless person like her?”

        Abukumov bowed his head to Sveta, “Come, Svetlana Evgenyevna, and Father Alexius, I will introduce you to some people who are much more refined than Katrinka.  They approached a man surrounded by many other men and women.  Most, when they recognized Abukumov, stepped to the side and immediately let him pass.  His Beatitude and Sveta followed closely behind him.

        “Eremeevich Vladimirsky,” Abukumov addressed the man at the center of the group, “This is Father Alexius, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church and his little ptitsa, Svetlana Evgenyevna.”

        Eremeevich was a wild looking man with the bourgeoisie glint in his eyes of a connoisseur of fine things.  He was dressed in a good suit with a cravat, and rings covered nearly every finger.  Eremeevich glanced at Father Alexius, but he took Sveta’s hand in his, “Little ptitsa, you say, comrade.  Why pretty lady do you have the epithet of ‘little bird?’”

        Abukumov spoke up, “That is my fault Eremeevich.  I bestowed it on her.  She is Father Alexius’ translator.  She does with language what you do with paint.”

        “Shall I test her?”

        Abukumov laughed at the artist, “Eremeevich, you don’t know what you are saying.”

        He still held firmly to Sveta’s hand, “Really?”  He turned his head to the back a little, “Vera, you speak French.  Test the little ptitsa.”

        Vera came up beside Eremeevich.  She was a pretty brunette.  She pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and spoke to Sveta in French, “These men are stupid.  Don’t you think, dear?”

        Sveta returned in her breathy voice, “I don’t understand them at all.  Generally speaking, the people who know little speak a lot, and the people who know a lot speak little.”

        Vera turned a disgusted look at Eremeevich, “She speaks French.  She is French.”

        “What did she say, Vera?”

        “She just quoted Rousseau to me.”

        Everyone laughed.

        Eremeevich still held to Sveta’s hands, “That is not proof enough.  So she speaks French.  What else can she do?”

        Svetlana Iosifovna came up behind him, “Don’t be salacious Eremeevich.  She speaks English like a Brit or as well as an American.  That, I can attest to.”

        “Very well, she certainly expresses herself better than I do and in more languages, but is there still more?” he grinned.

        Svetlana Iosifovna pulled Sveta’s hands away from Eremeevich, “You are frightening the girl.”  Svetlana Iosifovna gazed at Sveta, “If you aren’t frightening her, then she should be frightening you, Eremeevich.  She is the loveliest woman here, speaks languages like most of us babble in Russian, and is a friend of Comrade Abakumov.  I can’t imagine a more dangerous woman.”

        Even Abakumov laughed at that.

        Eremeevich reached for Sveta’s hands again, but Svetlana Iosifovna blocked him.  He complained, “I just wanted to ask her if I could paint her.  She is magnificent.”

        Svetlana Iosifovna glared at him, “If she allows you to paint her, I want to be there as a chaperone.  She is too good a woman for your pallet.”

        “You cut me to the quick, Svetlana Iosifovna,” Eremeevich struck his chest over his heart.

        “Save it for someone who doesn’t know you.  Come, Svetlana Evgenyevna, I would like to introduce you.”  She glanced at His Beatitude, “And Father Alexius to my friends.”  She nodded to Abakumov.

The purpose of this scene is to show the reader Sveta’s skills, her quick wit, the trust Abakumov has given her, to bring up this artist, and to show how Svetlana is becoming interested in her.  Each of these were accomplished with no telling.  Everything is in the dialog or the description and almost 100% is in the dialog. 

 

The point is to show and not tell.  I would argue that you would immediately agree that this is an entertaining scene.  The attack by the actress Katrinka.  The repost by Sveta.  The introduction by Abakumov.  The feel of the party, which is very different than the other parties Sveta has attended.  Each of these elements are intended to be entertaining.  The test of Sveta’s French.  Each of these reveal Sveta’s skills and abilities. 

 

Do not be retrospective.  Don’t tell us what people are thinking.  Don’t tell us about a person’s skills.  If you must, place such information in the dialog.  Just as the painter in the scene is praised, somewhat, for his painting skills.  It is always better to show those skills and not to tell the reader about them.  In fact, a great artist of literature always shows and seldom tells.  This is an indicator of great writing.     

 

I’ll give you more examples.

 

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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