Writing - part x260, Novel Form, Secrets and Tension

23 September 2017, Writing - part x260, Novel Form, Secrets and Tension

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.  Aleksandr takes Sveta on a date—so to speak.

 

Now, this is fun.  Aleksandr is trying very hard to get to know Sveta.  This is the impression that Marya and Mother Anna have.  Sveta also knows what is going on—she is testing the waters.  There is a lot in this scene.  This is filled with foreshadowing and information both new to the reader and new to Sveta.       

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        By Friday, Sveta had made incredible progress in reading and writing the Chinese characters.  She only needed to see the figure once or hear the word once to remember it—or so it seemed to Aleksandr.  At two in the afternoon, when she began to send him off with a Chinese dismissal, he suggested, “Tomorrow is Saturday.  Why don’t you come with me to the university museum in the morning to look at the ancient Chinese writing there?”

        Sveta stared at him for a moment.  He could see her small mouth move as she thought.  She turned back to her work and in Chinese told him, “When and where will I meet you?”

        “I will come to get you at ten.”

        “No!” a little softer, “No.  I will come to the museum at ten.  The main entrance?”

        “Yes.”

        Sveta informed Marya and Mother Anna that evening, “I am going to the university museum tomorrow with Professor Diakonov.”

        “Are you sure that is a good idea, Svetlana?” Mother Anna hung up Sveta’s dress.

        “Yes, Mother Abbess, I need to see some of the examples of Chinese writing in the museum.”

        Mother Anna glanced meaningfully at Mother Marya.  Neither said anything more.               

        Mother Marya helped Sveta dress in the morning.  Marya called Sveta’s motorcar and let her out of the postern gate.  The automobile drove Sveta to the university.  She was a little early.  She sent the black motorcar on and told the driver to come back at noon.  The sun was bright although the day was crisp and chill.  She put out her hand and felt the sunlight on it.  It felt thick and almost malleable.  Sveta thought that she should know how to touch it and how to mold it.  She imagined that just a piece of information might be in her mind that could let her do this marvelous thing.  She blocked it quickly.  This was the kind of thought she tried to block since Vasily Grossman first started to push for information on what she did that fateful day in Berlin.

        With heightened senses, Sveta heard Aleksandr before she saw him.  Aleksandr came along the steps, “Good morning, Svetlana Evgenyevna.”

        She spun around, “Good morning, Professor Diakonov.”

        He gave her his arm, “Svetlana Evgenyevna, you should not use that title and name for me.  I work for you.”  He started to lead her toward the main doors.

        Her voice was full of amusement, “Then what should I call you?”

        “Aleksandr Nikolayevich, would be formal and quite proper, but I would like you to call me Aleksandr.”

        “Then you would be no more than a secretary in my office.”

        “Then, you could call me Sasha.  My friends all call me Sasha.”

        Sveta steadied her fur hat, “You would like to be my friend?”

        “Much more than I like being your employee.”

        “Am I that bad a boss?”

        Aleksandr opened the door, “No, you are a great boss—a little different.”

        Sveta puckered her lips, “I don’t try to be different.”

        Aleksandr stopped for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the museum.  Sveta kept walking as though the darkness didn’t affect her at all.  She stopped and leaned over a case filled with ancient items.  Aleksandr caught up with her.  He watched her.  She was marvelous.  She walked with a slight limp.  Her figure was fantastic.  She was shaped perfectly as though she were a Greek statue.  Her face was heart-stopping.  She always took his breath away.  She was the most beautiful woman Aleksandr had ever seen.  Yet she didn’t seem to appreciate her exquisiteness or the effect she had on others.

        Aleksandr stopped at her side and waited for her.  She spoke without looking at him, “Would you really like to be my friend, Aleksandr?”

        “Yes, very much.”

        “Why?”  She stood up straight and walked to the next case.

        “I think you are the most intelligent woman I have ever met.”

        Sveta smiled, “You might be flattering me, but I do have proof of my intelligence.  The papers behind my desk say I am very skilled—Stalin ordered every one of them.”

        “I also think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

        Sveta frowned and walked to the next case, “That is flattery.  I walk like a vulture, my voice is like a crow.  That will not make me your friend, Aleksandr Nikolayevich.  I understand my faults—too well.”

        “What if I told you, I don’t consider those faults at all?”

        “Then you would be more foolish than I.  They are faults, and I hate them more than you can imagine.”

        “You are the most accomplished linguist I have ever worked with.  You are my best student.”

        “That is flattery also, but it might indeed make me your friend, Aleksandr.”

        Sveta moved to the ancient Egyptian section.  She peered at the items in the cases.

        He stood at her elbow, “These have never been translated.  Isn’t that funny?”

        “This one is an offering formula and says, to Horus the god of the pharaoh send five sheep and ten swine.  This one is an amulet of love and says, my heart will always yearn for you.  This one is a curse.  I will not read it.”

        Aleksandr caught his breath, “You can read these hieroglyphs?”

        “Or I am making it all up.  Can you tell, can you decide?  Show me the Chinese writing.”

        Aleksandr led Sveta to the Oriental section.  It was not far from the Egyptian area.  They spent the morning teasing the meanings from the text.  At the end of the section, Sveta looked up, “I am tired.  I think it is time for me to go.  I already missed the Sext prayers.”

        “Then it is true?”

        “What is true?”

        “You are a nun?”

        “No, Aleksandr, I am a novice for now.  It is good for me to have a safe place to live and to worship God.”

        “Would you like to have lunch?”

        She stared wistfully into the distance, “I missed lunch at the convent.  It is usually very little, but it is something.”

        “I will take you to lunch.”

        “Then I must send my car away for a little longer, unless we need it to go to lunch.  My legs are tired.”

        Aleksandr gave Sveta his arm.  Her car waited at the curb for her.  Sveta was about to order it away, but he suggested, “Why don’t we take the car just down the street to a good café I know.”

        They piled in and got out at one of the many small cafés that skirted the area around the university.  They were not the highest cost but the quality was usually good.  Sveta sent her car away for an hour, and she and Aleksandr stepped into the small place.  It was not busy.  The proprietor showed them to a table at the back.  Aleksandr ordered soup and bread for them both.  Sveta had tea with milk and sugar.  Aleksandr just plain tea.

        He looked at her, “You drink tea like the Europeans.”

        Sveta stopped in mid movement.  The smile slipped from her eyes and then her face, “What do you mean, Aleksandr Nikolayevich.”

        “I didn’t mean anything by it.  It was only an observation.  Most in Moscow drink tea plain.  You like it with milk and sugar.”

        “Yes.  I do.  Very much.”

        “I’m sorry, Svetlana Evgenyevna.  I feel like I am always walking on eggshells around you.”

        “You are, and you should.  I am a dangerous woman.”

        “I have heard that before.”

        She smiled.

        Their soup arrived with pieces of bread on the side.  There was no meat in it, and the bread was not too bad, but still insufficient.

        They said little after that.  Aleksandr wanted to say so many things to her, but he was afraid to speak about anything.

        When they were finished eating, Aleksandr paid the bill and gave Sveta his arm out of the café.  Her car was waiting at the curb.  He helped her in and the car accelerated away into the nearly empty streets.  Aleksandr Nikolayevich let out a great sigh and walked sadly to his small flat.

 

Aleksandr wants to get to know Sveta.  Sveta is seeking to understand more of the world.  They both get what they want—to a degree.  Sveta also to a degree wants to discourage Aleksandr.  She is a very complex person.  She is beginning to understand who she is, but she doesn’t fully know, yet. 

 

Mother Anna and Marya both don’t want romantic entanglements.  Sveta is young and life is sweet and at the moment safe.  She isn’t entirely interested in romance, but perhaps Aleksandr is.

 

Then there are the Egyptian hieroglyphics.  How does Sveta know them?  How can she read them?  This is a mystery and one of the chief mysteries of the novel and the question of who Sveta is.  This is foreshadowing and revelation of a very powerful kind.

 

Then Aleksandr notices how Sveta drinks her tea.  She drinks tea like a European and not like a Russian.  This may be the first time this has been pointed out in the novel.  This has been hinted at over and over, but here someone actually says it.  You can see Sveta is slightly alarmed.  This is a secret no one can know, not even the nuns at the convent.  If someone knows this, they might be able to figure out that Sveta is not Russian at all.  If that is known, her life would likely not be worth much.  She would find herself in the basement cells of the MVD.

   

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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