17 January 2018, Writing - part
x376, Novel Form, A New Novel, Plot and Climax from the Initial Scene, Valeska
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.
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.
For novel 30: Lady Azure Rose Wishart, the Chancellor of
the Fae, supernatural detective, and all around dangerous girl, finds love,
solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.
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.
With
a protagonist, a telic flaw, a theme statement, and an initial setting, I’m
ready to begin a novel. I’ll move to the
telic flaw for the novel. Since I am
going to provide the first chapter as a teaser any way, I might as well show
you the initial scene.
Here
is the theme statement as a reminder:
Lady
Azure Rose Wishart, the Chancellor of the Fae, supernatural detective, and all
around dangerous girl, finds love, solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.
With
a single scene—the initial scene (along with the characters, setting, and the
telic flaw), you have enough to write an entire novel. This was the wonderful discovery I made by
the time I wrote my eighth novel.
Let
me pass on some examples. My Aegypt (Ancient Light) novels were easy to write
using the way I described. That’s
because they all had a historical premise tied to historical events. The resolution and climax just fit into the
historical events. That’s part of the
power of writing and authorship. The
novels that were a little more problematic, but still easy, are my Enchantment
novels. Let me point out a little about
each one. I’ll continue with Valeska:
Enchantment and the Vampire.
I
wrote before, don’t write Vampire novels.
I’d go further, don’t write any overused cliché or idea…unless, unless,
you have discovered an entirely new approach.
Whatever it is, your new concept must be fresh and unique. I found a new, fresh, and unique idea to
write about a Vampire. This is Valeska.
I’ve
used this initial scene as an example many times. The point of the example and the scene is to
show you a good example of how to write an exciting and entertaining initial
scene. Valeska is a real vampire
(classical according to Bram Stoker’s Dracula character) with many very special
twists. The main twist is that she is a
fifteen year old girl who was kept as the pet of another vampire. She never hunted for herself and when the
master of the vampire pack did not return, she found herself entirely alone in
the world and out on the street.
In
the initial scene we find George Mardling who is a hunter of a different
type. George is a spy for British
intelligence, and while making a clandestine contact, he is mortally wounded
and disrupts Valeska’s hunting. In my take
on vampires, they only hunt humans during the full moon, and more than a single
vampire’s bite is necessary to make a new vampire.
Since
George disrupts her hunt, Valeska asks if she can drink his blood. Here is a part of the scene:
He was dying.
A movement caught him by surprise. It came from the dark alleyway away from the
street. A small person moved very
quickly from the opening to stand right in front of him. It stopped suddenly and whimpered, then sat
on its haunches. It squatted outside of
his reach and watched him. Its face was
thin and pale. The face barely showed in
his night vision goggle. That in itself
was surprising. It wore clothing that
seemed exceedingly fine, but which was filthy and obviously damp, the remains
of a girl’s party dress. The dress had
once been white with red or pink ribbons, but now it was torn and
bedraggled. The ribbons blended with the
stains on the dress. The stains seemed
to be long dried blood and not just the dirt of the streets.
The girl, it was a girl, stared at him with
bright eyes tinged with silver. They
appeared slightly dull in the night vision goggle. Her hair was black and matted. It reached almost to the cobbles of the
alleyway where she squatted. Her face
was finely etched and hard. She let her
tongue slip out of her mouth. She licked
her lips. Her tongue was slightly
pointed, and George could swear her incisors were elongated and pointed like
fangs.
She raised her eyes to his and spoke. It wasn’t Polish. She pronounced her words in high German with
a strange lilt. Her voice was low and
melodious, “You, mortal man, you are dying.”
George groaned, “I’m dying. Can you call the police with my phone?”
She eyed him strangely, “I don’t have a phone
here—what good would it do?”
“My iPhone.
It fell at my side.”
She shrugged, “I don’t know what that is. I wouldn’t be able to use it. You are dying.”
“I am dying.
Can you help me?”
The girl stared at him, “You are dying. It’s a full moon—I’m starving.”
George laughed and immediately wished he
hadn’t. He felt the blood bubble from
the wound at his front and his back. His
laugh cut off suddenly, “What did you plan to do—eat me?”
“I’d like to dine on your blood.”
He wanted to laugh again, but stifled it, “Are
you a vampire?”
The girl drew her finger across the cobbles,
“I’m a vampire, and I’m very hungry.
It’s a full moon, and you interrupted my hunt.”
There
you have the full of the description and the circumstance. You can read the rest of the scene and the
first chapter at my website. The point
is that this is a vampire like you have never seen before. Valeska looks and is a homeless vampire. She has no friends and no place. She wears clothing that have not left her
back since her vampire master was lost.
She is hungry and dirty. Valeska
is a pathetic character (in a literary sense).
She is a pathetic vampire. This,
I think, is both unusual and unique in literature. The creation of a literary pathetic vampire
is a new idea.
In
Valeska, Valeska and George Mardling
are brought together and develop a bond.
The bond comes from her dependence on his blood and his dependence on
her protection and indeed, in the initial scene, she saves his life and he
hers.
The
plot is difficult to see directly from the initial scene. The novel begins simply with this idea of
mutual dependency, but because of who George is (a spy), the novel quickly
rolls up into a ball of complexity. I
should write, because of who George and Valeska are, the novel becomes very
complex. The reason is that British
Intelligence also has a group interested in thwarting supernatural beings and
creatures. Thus, we have Valeska, who is
a real vampire, and George, who is a real spy caught up in departmental and
intelligence issues while everyone is trying to figure out what is going on.
So,
yeah, I think I have a new take on a vampire with a unique idea and a classical
vampire. Plus, this is a very
interesting means to starting a novel.
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
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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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