Writing - part x248, Novel Form, Again Reflection Tension and Release

11 September 2017, Writing - part x248, Novel Form, Again Reflection 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.  I knew you would want to see this scene.  After the party where Kuglov officially met Sveta, we have Abakumov and Kuglov discussing Sveta again.      

 

In this novel, I move back and forth between the protagonist and others.  I find it entertaining and I hope you do too.  Most of these foreshadowed and introspective events are separated well in time—these are not.  They come almost one after the other.  I thought you might like to see the last one—not necessarily the last scene in the novel, but the last of this sequence of building tension and release about Kuglov, Abakumov, and Sveta. 

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        Abakumov and Kruglov shared a car back to their homes.  General Kruglov chewed on the end of his cigarette, “She must have visited America and England.  There is no way she could speak so perfectly without direct experience of the language and culture.”

        “That was our original thought also.  Her papers say otherwise.”

        “Could they be forged?”

        “Perhaps, but how and why?  The principals, her mother and father, are accounted for but dead.  Her teachers are all dead—the school destroyed.  Her friends, all gone.  This is the state of much of the Soviet Union after the Great Patriotic War.”

        “When is her earliest history?”

        “She was found severely injured in Berlin and rescued by the Fifth Shock Army.  Those, we understand, are her earliest memories.”

        “Taken to Berlin…?”

        “By invading Germans, we assume.” 

        General Kruglov winced, “She is too young to be of the bourgeoisie.  They are all fled or dead.”

        “That was our conclusion too.”

        General Kruglov leaned back and covered his face, “She is an enigma.”

        “You recognized in her what I told you?”

        “Yes, yes.  She is everything you said.  Patently dangerous.”

        “Not for us.”

        “I’m not sure.  She is important for now.  Yes, very important for now.”

I find this type of scene highly entertaining.  I introduce a secret in the fabric of a revelation.  The revelation is that Kuglov becomes convinced about Sveta.  There is also a repeat of information we know about Sveta. 

 

An author can overdo this repetition of information, but look how it is used in this scene.  With the short info from Abakumov about Sveta, we inform Kuglov, remind the reader about the circumstances of Sveta, show how much the Soviets know about Sveta, show how good her paperwork is, and express the recognition of secret and unrevealed information about Sveta.

 

This is the telic flaw of Sveta and the novel—she has no recollection of who she is and where she comes from.  She doesn’t know enough to search, but she does get information that leads her to the goal.  The Soviet has no idea.  Everyone sees this enigma right in front of them.  They know something isn’t quite right, but the paperwork is perfect and the person is useful.

 

That is the conclusion of the kicker and end of this scene.  

 

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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