Writing - part x306, Novel Form, Little Princess, Solving the Unsolvable, Expectation Management and Tension

8 November 2017, Writing - part x306, Novel Form, Little Princess, Solving the Unsolvable, Expectation Management 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.

 

For novel 30:  TBD

 

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.

 

The three types of scenes are serial, parallel, and interlaced.  Parallel and interlaced scenes are a natural setup for a secret or mystery. 

 

I’m trying to come up with examples of solutions to the impossible resolution to show how expectation management works. 

 

Let’s turn our gaze at a non-science fiction or fantasy novel.  I’ve used a Little Princess as an example before.  I hope you’ve read it.  If you haven’t, you should.  This is likely the best piece of children’s literature from this age.  Next to Heidi, it might be the best piece of children’s literature ever written.  It is certainly a novel every child and any adult who is interested in writing should read.

 

To bring you up to the plot.  The Little Princess is about a girl who lost her mother in India.  Her wealthy military father brings her to boarding school in London.  There, as a wealthy, beautiful, and intelligent girl, she takes over as the head girl.  In reality, Sara, the little princess, is a gracious, kind, imaginative, and gentle child who makes the young and old love her.  She is a “little princess” and that is her goal as a person.

 

Sara’s father invested his money heavily in diamond mines with a friend.  The diamond mines appeared to be a failure which caused Sara’s father’s friend to lose his health and Sara’s father to go bankrupt.  Sara’s father dies of some tropical disease leaving Sara penniless and destitute.

 

Sara is forced to work as a girl or all work and a tutor to the younger children in the school.  The headmistress never liked Sara and works her well beyond her youth. 

 

This is the situation we find Sara Crew, the little princess.  She has no hope of succor.  She has no one who is wealthy or powerful to help her.  Her plight looks impossible.  The telic flaw is, of course, that Sara must become like a little princess.  In her heart and soul she is indeed a little princess, but money, friends, and power, in the Victorian Era are the social lubricant that brings perfect beings into their proper place. We still understand this to a degree today.  It shouldn’t be surprising to you that in novels from the USA at about the same time, academic success and entrepreneurial success are seen as the means to the end.

 

In any case, Sara Crew’s situation seems to be impossible.  She has no hope, but to go on in life as a girl of all work with the possible goal of a tutor or governess.  Then she befriends an Indian, the servant of a gentleman, from the house next door.  And she befriends unknown to her, the children of a lawyer across the square.  The lawyer is the solicitor to the gentleman next door.

 

The gentleman next door is wealthy but lost his health acquiring his wealth.  He is searching for the daughter of his partner who died as a result of his foolishness.  This is a setup.  We can allow a couple of deus ex machinas, but you don’t need any.  The solicitor chose a house near his for his friend.  No one thinks to look for Sara Crew in the boarding school next door.  Thus the author sets up an irony.

 

For the climax, the wealthy gentleman hears about the plight of the poor servant in the boarding school from his Indian servant.  She is so like the girl he is hunting and he wants to do something for her.  The Indian provides the feet to make Sara’s dreams come true.  Still, any resolution is impossible.  There is no one to help Sara escape from her current bondage.  The author uses a monkey, the Indian servant’s monkey, as a device to bring Sara and the wealthy partner of her father together.  In the climax, Sara learns the gentleman is her father’s partner and she is rescued from her life of drudgery and penury.

 

That’s the story.  When you lay it out plainly like this, you can see the logical problems as well as the way people thought in the past.  The plot is a little weak, but the scenes are powerful, and the writing is powerful.  The main point is that the climax appears impossible but the writer provides a resolution through foreshadowing and developments outside the stage of the novel that lead to the climax and the resolution--an unexpected resolution.  You can see also in this plot and novel how the power of the author and the ingenuity of the author built the unexpected resolution. 

 

What makes this novel so powerful is the extent of the impossibility of the outcome.  In this era, the expectation of the telic flaw resolution was obvious—what was less obvious was the strength of the unexpected resolution.  In the modern era of writing, the unexpected resolution is the way novels are written.  In the past, this wasn’t exactly so.  All novels with this characteristic in the Victorian Era are considered standouts.     

 

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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