6 September 2017, Writing
- part x243, Novel Form, Turn-About 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 28th 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 29th novel, working title Red Sonja. I finished my 28th 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. In the previous scenes, we saw that the head
of SMERSh worked with the Orthodox Church to have Sveta become a translator in
the NKVD for his organization. This was
exactly what the Church wanted. Sveta
was the bait.
In real life things don’t always
work out the way we think they will. So
much more so for novels. In novels, as I’ve
written many times before, the reader should be able to look back and state, in
retrospect, I saw that coming—even if they didn’t at all. This scene shows expressly how this works.
I introduced the reader to Beria,
the head of the NKVD. I introduced the
reader to Abakumov. I showed off Sveta’s
skills and exhibited her abilities and the reaction of people to her. The reader knew that Abakumov was interested
in Sveta. The reader also knew that
Beria was interested in Sveta’s skills.
Beria is Abakumov’s boss, and in this way, I get to show how a Communist
or socialist state works.
Here is the scene:
The black car took Marya and Sveta to Dzerzhinsky Square Red Square and to the large ugly
rectangular building that housed the NKVD.
The building was a sandstone color filled with odd shaped windows in orderly
rows. The lower two floors of the
building were dark grey stone as though a flood washed against them and filled
the bottom floors with sewage before it left the rest of the place bright and
shining in the early morning winter light.
Marya didn’t say anything. The
last time she entered the building was to be incarcerated in the prisons below.
Sveta stepped out of the car. Because of her injury, she could not swagger
very well, but Marya detected an attempt in the young woman’s movement. Very good, thought Marya, she is taking just
the right approach. Sveta paused and
glanced up at the building, and Marya whispered to her, “That is the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs,
the NKVD. It is the headquarters for the
secret police of the Soviet Union . It conducts mass extrajudicial executions, runs
the Gulags, suppresses underground resistance, conducts mass deportations of
nationalities and "Kulaks" to unpopulated regions of the country,
guards the Soviet borders, conducts espionage and political assassinations
abroad. It is responsible for the
subversion of foreign governments, the Church, and enforces the policies of
Stalin in Communist movements of other countries.”
Sveta
smiled and continued walking, “In a word Marya—Satan.”
Marya followed directly behind
Sveta. Sveta was so beautiful, the many
men entering the building turned to watch her.
She was dressed better than any simple secretary or Party member. Marya was certain they all asked themselves
who she was. Sveta was not dressed like
the head officials usual whores. She
arrived too early for any of them anyway.
They wondered who she was because such a woman could be dangerous to any
man. Most thought such a woman in the
Party would only extract revenge from the men they encountered—they often
did. Marya saw such things too often in
her life to ignore them.
All the men moved quickly out of Sveta’s
way as Marya and Sveta crossed the front of the building and came before the
large central doors. It intimidated them
that this woman and her secretary—they would immediately identify Marya as a
secretary—came in an automobile. Marya
knew she was too plain and old to be considered anything other than a
secretary. It pleased her that most of
them would never be able to determine her true purpose or her true origins.
Marya was proud of Sveta. The child was so quiet; one wondered what
went on in her mind. In this guise, in
this role, she moved with strength as though she knew exactly how to play it.
More than one man jumped to open the
door for Sveta and Marya. Sveta ignored
them. Marya thanked them—the work of a
secretary. At the guard station, Sveta
announced, “I am Svetlana Evgenyevna Kopylova, here at the request of Comrade
Abakumov. Would you inform him that I am
here?”
The soldier called on an interphone and
waved Sveta to the elevator, “Colonel-General Abakumov is expecting you in his
office.” Sveta and Marya made their way
up the elevator and to the office the soldier indicated. As Sveta and Marya exited the elevator, there
was a slight disturbance. Lavrentiy
Beria stepped out of a doorway across the corridor just as Abakumov left his
office.
Beria smiled at Abakumov, “Good morning,
Viktor.” He waved at Sveta, “Good morning, Svetlana
Evgenyevna.” Then he turned back to
Abakumov, “Viktor, I am so glad you acquired the services of this, what did you
call her? Little ptitsa. Yegor, please escort Svetlana Evgenyevna to
my office; I would like to inform her of her duties. I will be up in just a moment.”
Yegor, Comrade Beria’s secretary,
hustled Marya and Sveta back into the elevator and up one floor—to the top
floor. He served them both tea and
offered them milk and sugar along with sweet cakes. They sat down to wait for Comrade Beria. In a few moments Beria strode into the
office. He was the picture of geniality,
“Svetlana Evgenyevna, I am so pleased to see you again.” Sveta did not rise, but Marya did, “This is?”
Sveta took a sip of tea, “Comrade Beria,
this is my secretary, Marya.”
“Yes, your secretary and aid. I quite understand.” He puckered his lips and sat down. Yegor brought him a cup of tea. “I don’t want you working for Comrade
Abakumov right now. He has in his mind
to use you in helping with interrogations, and I think that would not be
pleasant for you or for your patron. I
don’t want to have you work at any low level.
I don’t want to waste your skills.”
He looked sideways at Sveta.
She didn’t speak.
“What I had in mind is to put you
directly in contact with the embassies.
The French and the Greeks will soon open theirs here in Moscow
Marya spoke up, “That seems to put Svetlana
Evgenyevna on her feet a lot.”
“Not at all. She will have an office here. Let’s call it…Embassy Relations. I will provide her a motorcar. Eventually, she will select and train a staff
to communicate as well as she does with the embassies. She will attend all embassy functions and
translate for me and others as necessary.”
Sveta spoke carefully, “That seems like
a lot of responsibility, Comrade Beria.”
“It is.
I realize your lack of experience, but your skills and effect on our
foreign ambassadors is profound. I want
to take advantage of this. Your youth
and beauty is disconcerting to them. I
want to take advantage of that too.
Especially when they realize you are the head of an office here. That is pure politics. They have nothing like you.” Beria glanced around, “We will work gradually
into this.” He took a deep breath, “Now,
my first orders to you. Yegor will take
you to the offices I have in mind. See
if they are suitable. He will find you
an office manager and start the process of putting everything together. After lunch, I want you to visit the
embassies. Take as much time as you
like. Explain to them that you are now
the key person they can contact to get information about official Soviet
organizations. None of their other
connections are void, but you will provide them an accurate and easy means of
communication to prevent any misunderstandings.”
“Surely, Comrade Beria, I am not the
only translator you possess.”
“Right now, you are the most skilled
translator I have. You speak their
languages like they do to each other.
They will speak to you as they speak to one another. Do you see?”
“Yes, I think I understand.”
His smile broadened, “Good.”
First
we get description. Description is the
foundation for fiction that shows and doesn’t tell. I used photos and other information about
this real building. I also used
historical information to populate it.
We
get more description about Sveta and Marya.
Then the others in the building.
Finally, we get some confrontation.
Look how I don’t show you any of it.
I leave the confrontation between Beria and Abakumov to your
imagination. They didn’t fight. Beria simply told the General that he had
important work for Sveta and likely informed him that Sveta would translate for
him—or someone from her office.
And…here’s
the big one. Beria is a very smart
man. He sees the power in using Sveta as
a spy in the embassies and with the political people in the Soviet Union. He also knows that Stalin was impressed with
her.
Beria
sees a way to infiltrate the university, to build a new power structure in the
NKVD, and to influence the Party as well as Party politics. The method is to make a new office in the NKVD,
and he has the perfect person to be the head.
I don’t think Beria imagines what Sveta will be able to do in this
position. He sees a simple means to increase
his power. He sees Sveta as simple but
skilled. He thinks he will be able to
maintain a strong grip on her and her new office. We shall see.
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
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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