18 January 2018, Writing - part
x377, Novel Form, A New Novel, Plot and Climax from the Initial Scene, Lilly
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 Lilly:
Enchantment and the Computer.
For
Lilly, I again had an idea that
sprang from a character. I wanted to
develop a novel around a pathos developing character who was a math and
computer genius. As I’ve written before,
the best of these types of characters is an abused, young girl—thus Lilly. Lilly is the child of a druggy prostitute who
never took care of her daughter. Lilly
is a math and computer genius who always took care of herself and has no
friends. She is currently attending
college at a small science college on a state scholarship that pays for her
tuition, but not her room and board. She
is living on the street and borrowing food to make ends meet. Lilly doesn’t care about herself or others
(except her other homeless friend, an old Japanese man and his cat). That is, until she meets Dane.
Dane
becomes the catalyst in Lilly’s life to make her change. He also encourages her to aspire to something
different and higher. Here is a little
of the initial scene:
All
Dane knew about the girl was that she didn’t come into the FastMart very
often. When she did, she didn’t pay with
cash. She always used the FastMart
Bucks, which you earned by purchasing gas or food. What seemed unusual was that she used a
different account ID and phone number every time.
She
looked terrible, especially for this part of the city. She wore a baggy old sweatshirt and an
over-large pair of worn-out, not stone-washed, jeans. She carried a ragged backpack on her
back. Her hair appeared matted and her clothing
filthy. Her face and hands always looked
somewhat clean, but Dane couldn’t vouch for the rest of her. He never came close enough to smell her—he
figured that would be much too close. He
only knew her from his side of the cash register. She carried an inexpensive tablet computer in
one hand, and her shopping in the crook of her arm. The tablet possessed a broken screen with
tape across one corner. Dane was
surprised it worked.
She
shuffled, literally shuffled, to his aisle, the only one open at this time of
night and lifted a half gallon of milk and a cheap loaf of bread to the
counter. At that moment, a group of four
high school boys rushed up impatiently behind her. They tried to beat her to the counter to pay
for their power drinks and snacks, but arrived just a second too late. They pressed right up behind her, but she
didn’t budge an inch.
Before
Dane could ring up her stuff, she announced in a very soft lilting voice, “It’s
four dollars and sixty-three cents with tax.”
Dane
turned her a strange look and ran the items through the scanner. The total came back, four dollars and
sixty-three cents. Dane glanced at her,
“You’re right. Four dollars and
sixty-three cents. How are you going to
pay tonight?”
She
smiled and lifted her tablet, “Use my FastMart Bucks.”
“What’s
your phone number?”
She
glanced at her tablet, “253-280-7061.”
“The
name on your account?”
“Billy
Martin…”
Dane
started to ask her to put her password into the keypad when a voice raised
behind her, “Hey Billy, this girl is using your account. She has your name and password and
everything.”
A
tall older teen pushed up to the front, “No way.” He eyed the girl, “You’re stealing my
credits…” It was a statement.
The
girl’s face froze. She moved pretty
quickly, but not quickly enough. Billy
Martin seized her by the arm and pulled her back toward himself, “How did you
get my name and account information?” He
gripped her other arm and moved the tablet computer into his line of view. He cursed, “She has everything listed right here.” He shook her, “How did you get my
information?”
There
is the question of the moment and the question that launches this novel: how
did you get my information?
The
rest of this 100,000 word novel answers this question plus a host of
others. In this novel, Lilly is revealed
from the shuffling homeless girl in this first scene to what she eventually
becomes through the novel. There is much
much more to Lilly and Lilly.
This
is my point and has been my point in using an initial scene to launch a
novel. The exciting and entertaining
must come out in the initial scene.
Ultimately, the exciting and interesting that propels the novel is the
protagonist—the focus of the initial scene.
Thus we have a protagonist, Lilly that everyone (including the writer) wants
to know about. I write, including the
writer intentionally.
More
than anyone, the writer invents a character, in this case Lilly. Lilly is such an intriguing character that
the writer wants to write a novel about her with the expectation that the
readers will want to know Lilly. The writer
provides an incident from the life of Lilly that excites the reader and
provides some kind of demarcation in the life of the protagonist that brings
her and her life to the forefront. As I’ve
written before, a great initial scene is usually the initial meeting of the protagonist
with the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper. In the case of Lilly—this is the meeting of
the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.
Notice, this isn’t exactly the initial meeting—Dane has seen this girl
before. He just hasn’t become involved
with her before.
Do
you see how I, as the writer, picked the perfect (in my opinion) scene for
their closer meeting? Dane is familiar
with this girl, but he doesn’t know who she is.
You can read the rest of the chapter on my website.
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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