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Sunday, October 22, 2017

Writing - part x289, Novel Form, Dénouement more Inter-scene Tension


22 October 2017, Writing - part x289, Novel Form, Dénouement more Inter-scene 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 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.  Aleksandr and Sveta are facing a hearing in the US State Department.  Their friends and relations (from the past) are seated outside waiting the results.  They could be sent back to the Soviet Union (likely as a prisoner exchange) to certain death.

 

I’m still use interlaced scenes here to build tension.  We see the judge’s ruling is about to be given.  I put this together as a synopsis in dialog to build the tension and to inform the reader about the known but unseen testimony.  For a detailed amount of information, this is a fun and entertaining method of bringing the information to the attention of your readers. 

 

The really entertaining part about this kind of synopsis is that the reader has seen it all, but from a different point of view.  The reader saw the actual events take place.  Now the reader see the events from the point of view of a State Department judge.  This by itself builds tension in the scene.  I hope this puts my readers on the edge of their seats.  They know the synopsis is true, but at the same time, they know the conclusions are false.  This is how we develop fear from pity in your readers.                                 

 

Here is the scene:        

 

        The judge began his summary, “Miss Kopylova and Mr. Diakonov, you elected to have a simultaneous hearing due to your mutual interaction in the Soviet Union.  You have elected to either both be allowed entry into the United States or deported to your country of origin.  Is this correct?”

        Sveta responded, “Yes.”  Sveta explained what the judge said to Aleksandr.

        Aleksandr repeated, “Yes.”

        “Most of my questions are in regard to Miss Kopylova, but I may also have some for you Mr. Diakonov.”

        Both Sveta and Aleksandr nodded.

        “Now, Miss Kopylova, according to your previous testimony, you were born in America.”

        “Yes, I was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.”  The judge cringed at her ragged voice.

        He shuffled the papers in front of him, “That would generally make you a citizen of the United States, but you are not.  Your father and mother were French citizens, and you claimed in your testimony you are too.”

        “Yes.”

        He stared over his glasses, “However, you also claim you were granted British citizenship during the war.”

        “That is also true.  After the fall of France, my father fought for British intelligence.”

        The judge continued in a disbelieving tone, “You claim that you were abducted by the German Gestapo and taken to Berlin.”

        “The Germans wanted to blackmail my father.”

        “The story doesn’t stop there.  During the siege of Berlin, you were injured in a Russian-German firefight and taken to the Soviet Union.  Did you forget to claim German citizenship too?”

        “You are making fun of me.”  Sveta breathed deeply, “I escaped during the fighting in Berlin.  I was severely injured.  You can see that for yourself.”

        The judge pulled off his glasses, “In the Soviet Union, you worked at a Jewish bookstore.”

        “I can read Hebrew.”

        “Yes, so your testimony says.”  He twirled his glasses, “You entered a convent.”

        “I was allowed to enter the Novodevichy Convent as a novice because the state was going to place me in a people’s asylum.”

        “By your own testimony, a people’s asylum is a type of mental institution.  Did the Soviet state consider you insane?”

        Sveta paused a little too long, “No, of course not.”

        “As a novice nun, you came to the attention of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Father Alexius.  He made you his chief translator.  Translating what?”

        “English, French, Greek…”

        “Ancient Greek, according to your testimony.”  He gave a snort.

        “Your people tested me in all these languages—don’t you believe them.”

        “Through Father Alexius, you met Viktor Abakumov and Lavrentiy Beria.  At the time, Abakumov was the head of SMERSh and Beria the head of the NKVD.”  He turned to the recorder, “Let the record show, these men were known to be notorious murderers who oversaw the killing of millions of Russians and other nationalities.  Beria was executed and Abakumov is thought to be in a Soviet prison.  You, Miss Kopylova worked with these men and in fact, Beria set you up as the head of a new office, Embassy Relations.”

        Sveta took a deep breath, “Yes.”

        “Because of your translation ability, you became Stalin’s translator, titled Stalin’s Little Bird in Pravda.”

        “Yes.”

        “You were a close friend and associate of Stalin.  He placed you in charge of the…” The judge put on his glasses again, “The Special Directorate for International Understanding.  In this capacity, you oversaw all the higher language training in the Soviet Union as well as translators and embassy relations.”

        “That is true.”

        “You were granted high Communist Party membership, and you held this position until the death of Stalin.”

        “Yes, I was made a Communist Party member—I did not request it.”

        The judge put his hands flat on his elevated desk, “At the death of Stalin, your sponsors were betrayed and because you thought you would lose your life, you escaped to the West.”

        “No.  I wasn’t afraid to lose my life.  I escaped because I no longer could do the work I was called to do.”

        The judge picked up Sveta’s papers in front of him, “That is your opinion, Miss Kopylova.  Based on this record, I am of the opinion, I must advise the State Department, that you should be immediately returned to the Soviet Union.”  He threw the papers down on the desk, “I think half your testimony is bald faced lies.  You are a Communist Party member who worked for the highest levels in the Soviet authority.  Your work likely led to the deaths of many American agents and operatives.  In a nutshell, you are the example of the consummate Soviet apparatchik.”

        Sveta half stood, “You keep calling me Miss Kopylova.  You know my name is Lumière Bolang.  I told you that at the very first.”

        “But, Miss Kopylova, like half the fabrications in your testimony, that information can’t be corroborated—you asked us specifically to not speak to your supposed parents or siblings.  All your Soviet documents say you are Kopylova.”

        “That is not true. You know I had false papers when you captured me.  Only my testimony told you who I really was.”

        “Your testimony plus the testimony of every embassy staff since 1946.  We have pictures, Miss Kopylova.  In any case, who you were makes little difference compared to who you are.”

        She sat down, “But you don’t understand.  I was helping the Orthodox Church.  I was helping the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.  I was helping the embassies.”

        “So you say.  You try to show us that you were a pawn, and instead we find a queen manipulating the Soviet State.  I’m afraid Miss Kopylova we cannot honor your request for asylum.”

        “If you send me back, they will kill me.”

        “So be it.”

        “Then what about Aleksandr?”  Aleksandr heard his name and asked Sveta a question.  She shushed him, “Aleksandr does not understand English very well.  He wants to know his status.”

        “Now, about Mr. Diakonov.  There is much more in his record and testimony to lend itself to asylum.  He has skills we could patently use in the State Department.  His lack of English language proficiency is an issue, but not a serious one.  The main strike against him is that he is associated with you, Miss Kopylova.”

        “Because of me, you intend to also give him a death sentence?  He will not stay here if you send me back.”

        “That is why we agreed to give you a simultaneous hearing.”

        “I see.  I don’t want Mr. Diakonov to lose his life because of me.”

        “Very altruistic of you, Miss Kopylova, but that has very little bearing in this hearing.”

        “So is that it?”  Sveta stared at the table top, “You are going to send us back?”

        “Yes…”

        An aid ran up to the judge, “Sir, I have a very important call on the line.”

        “Perkins, we are right in the middle of an official hearing.”

        “That is what the call is about.”

 

We end the scene with a cliffhanger.  What will the judge do next?  What has happened?  Who did Mr. Lyons call?   

   

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:

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic

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