Writing - part x266, Novel Form, more Confession and Tension

29 September 2017, Writing - part x266, Novel Form, more Confession 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.  The last evening, Sveta became drunk and spoke to Aleksandr about herself.  She can’t remember what she said, and she definitely wants to know.  This lets me reveal more to the reader about Sveta and some information about Aleksandr.

 

Remember, however, the revelation of the protagonist is the purpose of the novel.          

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        That evening, the snow was trickling down from clouds lying low above the city.  The lights outlined them and the frosty bits that sparkled and fell on Sveta and Aleksandr.  No one was near them.  Sveta held on to his arm, “What did I tell you last night?”

        “You said you left your mother and father, your sister and brothers because you loved them.  I checked with my friend in the MVD, your record doesn’t list brothers or a sister.  You said before you couldn’t remember anything.”

        Sveta walked away from him toward a quiet arbor in the trees.  She brushed off the snow and let herself down on a seat at the back of the space.  Aleksandr sat beside her.  Sveta took his hand, “Sasha, I have dreams, terrible dreams.  I can’t describe how intense they are.  In them, I believe I relive my past life.  I see my parents, my brothers, my sister.  Are they real?  I have no idea.  I think they are.  Am I insane?  Marya tells me I am not.  For a long time, I could not wake from these dreams.  I lived them as intensely as I do life.  At first, I woke in Marya’s arms, she would be praying the rosary to me.  She said I screamed for hours on end.  When I lived in Vasily Grossman’s apartment, the block commissar wanted to send me to a people’s asylum because I disturbed the neighborhood.  That is why Vasily brought me to the convent.”  She smirked up at him, “The dreams have become less awful, but they are no less real.  Mother Marya believes I am getting better.  I think I am just learning more about myself.  And the self I see, I hate.  The person I see is me, and I can’t stand her, but I agree with her.  My parents loved me.  I loved them so much, but I couldn’t go back to them.  What I had become would have hurt them.  My brothers and sister would not have been able to sit in the same room with me because of what I had become.”

        “But Svetochka, what had you become?  What is so awful about you that no one else knows or sees?”

        “What is the worse being you can imagine?  What creature do you fear of all creatures?”

        “A murderer.”

        She shuddered, “I believe I have participated in murder, but a murderer is only a person who murders.  The soul of a murderer was once like the souls of every other man.  Can you imagine a demon?  A devil?  A succubus?  Can you imagine a creature who is not wholly human, not because of divinity, but because of the opposite?”

        “I can imagine such a being, but that doesn’t make it true.”

        “Sasha, I croak like a crow and limp like a vulture.  The truth is the truth even if I don’t like it.”            

        “I don’t believe it.”

        “Because you don’t believe does not make something false.  This is why I left my mother and father, my sister and brothers.  This is why you should not love me, and why I can’t allow myself to love you.”  She smiled, “The best thing would be to tell you to never try to see me again, but I can’t do that either.”

         Aleksandr looked aghast.

        Sveta touched his lips, “That is the proper look.”

        “No, Svetochka, my appearance only asked why.  It would break my heart for you to ask me to go away, but I want to know, why can’t you tell me to never see you again?”

        “If you don’t decide on your own to forget me forever, I can’t send you away because you are really my only friend.  The sisters love me, but I could never tell them what I told you.  They all love me, but none of them would understand.  I’m not sure you will understand, but at least, now, you know the truth.”

        “What truth?  I don’t know, and I still don’t understand.”

        “Then Sasha, I don’t know how to make this any clearer to you.  If you think me insane, that is at least a step forward.”  She stood up.

        “I don’t think you are insane, Svetochka.  I don’t know what or who you really are, but I am your friend.”

        “Thank you, Sasha.”

        Still confused, Aleksandr left Sveta near the postern.  He walked thoughtfully all the way back to the university through the drifting snow.

 

This is showing and not telling.  Don’t tell us what your characters think.  Don’t tell us about your characters.  Show us, through dialog and their actions what your characters think and reveal their past.  This is what showing and not telling means.

 

For example, I could have told you all about what was in Sveta’s mind about Aleksandr and her past.  That is not just poor writing—that is horrifically amateurish writing.  If you write this way, this may explain why you are unable to find a publisher.  This may explain why people don’t like your writing.  I’m certain you have heard, show and don’t tell.  I’m trying to show you what this means.

 

This is a very important scene, not in the climax of the novel, although it does point to the climax.  This scene reveals the thoughts of Sveta about intimacy and about Aleksandr.  This scene sets up the future and additional scenes in the novel.  I spent many scenes setting up this specific scene. 

 

From the beginning of the introduction of Aleksandr, the scenes have pointed to this scene (and future ones).  If you notice, I gave all kinds of foreshadowing and setups that led to this scene.  There was no introspection.  There was no internal thinking.  There was no mental knowledge.  I showed you the mind of the characters only through their dialog and through their actions.

 

This is the way to reveal characters.  Throw away any of your introspective writing, and show us the mind and heart of your characters.   

   

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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