Writing - part x267, Novel Form, Revelation and Tension

30 September 2017, Writing - part x267, Novel Form, Revelation 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.  Now Sveta is traveling with Aleksandr.  She is expanding the hegemony of the Soviet Union and spreading out her own senses for her own purposes. 

 

Aleksandr is simply returning home—to a degree.   There is some historical information in this scene.  That sets the scene in history in a way nothing else can.  Notice how powerful Sveta’s influence has become.  She is actually representing the Soviet as well as translating.          

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        In January 1949, Beria began to consolidate his power by removing the associates of his dead rival Andrei Zhdanov.  The Leningrad Affair began in earnest, and the MVD played a large role.  Sveta’s office was not directly affected by the incident.  Neither Beria nor the MVD needed her or her people for its internal operations. 

        The overtures and support of the Chinese Communist Party were Sveta’s main concern at this time.  She sent Aleksandr many times to China as a translator and a representative, and following his pronouncement, this time, of her skill in the Chinese language, made the trip twice herself.

        Every time Sveta came near China she felt a strong unease as though something prickled the edge of her mind.  It was as if some thing she did not fully know how to detect was right over the horizon.  She knew, with a little more knowledge, she could see it or understand what it was, but she didn’t dare gain that knowledge—not yet.  She knew if she touched the tablet everything would be clear to her, but she dared not touch the tablet—not yet.  

        Sveta’s office was very busy, and she had some privileged issues she had to work through.  Svetlana Iosifovna married Yuri Zhdanov, the son of the dead Andrei Zhdanov, who was once Stalin’s supposed successor.  This took Svetlana Iosifovna, with her management and translation capability out of service during a very busy time.  In consequence, Sveta had Aleksandr work some of the management of the office for her.  This relieved her from replacing Svetlana Iosifovna and kept the translation office running.

        Alan G. Kirk, the new American ambassador finally arrived in July to replace Smith who left because of an illness the last December.  Sveta found Kirk easier to work with, but the Soviet detonation of their atomic bomb in August and the declaration of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in October occupied her translators and representation.  Sveta made the long train trip to China with Aleksandr in late October to permanently and officially establish the Soviet embassy and translation staff.

        Their visit was very successful and they began the return trip in early November.  When they entered Soviet territory, Aleksandr asked Sveta, “Would you like to visit my parents with me?”

        Sveta looked at him strangely.  Her face was filled with longing and sadness, “I would like to very much.  I don’t know what Marya will say.”

        “I’ll handle Marya.”

        In a few hours, Sveta and Aleksandr found themselves on a mixed freight and passenger train headed toward Aleksandrs parent’s small town on the border of China and Siberia.  Sveta sat across from Aleksandr in a private compartment, “What did you tell Marya?”

        “I told her we were going to visit a Gulag in Siberia.”

        “You didn’t,” Sveta frowned, “She is very sensitive about such things.”

        “I’m kidding you, Svetochka.  I told her I was taking you to meet my parents.  She told me to look after you.  She even gave me money.”

        Sveta blushed, “I forgot.”

        “I have enough for us to travel on and feed ourselves.”

        Sveta laid down her book, “What will you tell your parents about me?”

        “I will tell them you are my friend and my boss.  I will tell them you are the Director of the Special Directorate for International Understanding in the MVD.”

        Sveta blushed again, “Please don’t tell them that, Sasha.”

        “Why not?  It’s true.”

        “It may be true, but…,” She stared at him, “Is this who you think I am?”

        “No.  Sveta, I can’t tell them who you are.  I can’t tell them who you think you are.  Do you want me to tell them who I think you are?”

        Sveta smiled shyly, “Tell me first, and I will see if it is appropriate.”

        “Very well.  First, I will not need to tell them you are beautiful.  That is obvious.”

        Sveta picked up her book, “If that’s where this is going, I don’t want to hear it.”

        “Second, I will not need to tell them you are very special.  That is also obvious.  What other person would go with me to an ex-Gulag?  To visit a priest?  They will understand that without explanation.”

        Sveta rolled her eyes, “Then, you will tell them?”

        “I’ll tell them the truth.  I’ll tell them I love you, and I want to marry you.”

        Sveta threw her book at him, “You won’t say any such thing.”

        Aleksandr picked up the book and dusted it off, “This book is from the university library.  You should take better care of it.”

        “I told you.  You won’t say that to your parents.”

        “But, Svetochka, it is the truth.  And, as you say, the truth is the truth.”

        Sveta turned her head and pouted.

        “Svetochka, what do you want me to tell them?”

        “I don’t want you to tell them anything.”  She snapped her fingers, “You may tell them, I am your student and traveled with you to China as a translator.”

        “Ha,” Aleksandr laughed, “You don’t know what they will guess, and what they will know.  They are both educated, and for their own safety, they are well informed about politics.  The reports I know you make to the church…”

        Sveta’s eyes widened in alarm, “Hush, is it so obvious?”

        “Svetochka, it is completely obvious.  It was obvious from the moment you first started to work for the NKVD.  Those reports, the information in them gets to my parents.  They told me themselves the last time they wrote.  The information flow started nearly the day you began to work in the NKVD.  They have no idea from whom they come, but Kruglov knows and Beria knows and Abakumov knows.  If you don’t believe me ask Father Nikolay.”

        “Why don’t they stop me?”

        “Because you are more important to them in the other work you do.  They know what you are doing.  They probably realize the surreptitious work you are doing with the embassies.”

        Sveta involuntarily ducked.

        “Yes they know about that too.  The way they work is they let you do your job as long as you provide real worth to them.  They never forget the small failures and infractions—they document them.  When you become a liability to the Party or the Soviet, they will use those failures to destroy you.”

        Sveta bit her lip, “I knew, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.”

        “Don’t worry.  I will tell you when they are ready to move against you.  It may never happen.”

        “It will if Khrushchev becomes the First Secretary.”

        “That is doubtful.  Beria is in position to assume that office.”

        “We shall see.  Give me my book.  You still haven’t told me what you will say to your parents.”

        Aleksandr handed her the book, “I won’t tell them anything.  He held up his hand as she raised the book again, “I will tell them your name.”

        Sveta slowly lowered the book to her lap and started to read.

 

Again, here is showing and not telling.  Show and don’t tell.  I don’t let you see the minds of my characters—I give them an opportunity to reveal themselves.  How much is truth and how much falsehood?  I’ll let you decide.  This is the power of showing and the power of literature that shows.

 

I hope you can see the humor in this scene.  Aleksandr is revealing as much as Sveta.  In this environment where there is very little chance of anyone overhearing him, he can tell her much of what he knows.  She hadn’t imagined that the MVD was watching her so closely, or if she did know, she ignored it.

 

We see another love confession.  How is the poor boy to take it?  They are heading to visit his parents.  Obviously, Aleksandr hopes this will resonate with Sveta in some way.  The why that Sveta might go with Aleksandr.  This is more complicated—could she be falling in love with him?   

   

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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