Writing - part x419, Developing Skills, Types of Protagonists, Tragic

1 March 2018, Writing - part x419, Developing Skills, Types of Protagonists, Tragic

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.  I’m just finishing number 30, working title Detective. 

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.

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

          

Today:  Many people would like to write, but writing is hard work.  I’ll express again, if you want to be a skilled and potentially a published author, you need to write about one million words.  That equates to about ten 100,000 word novels.  When you look at it this way, it is a daunting goal especially if you haven’t written a single novel.  

To become a good writer, you need two specific skill sets first reading and writing.  Without these skill sets, I really can’t help you much.  I provide advanced help and information on how to write great fiction. 

Characters are the key to great writing.  Entertainment is the purpose of fiction writing.  The key to entertainment is character revelation.  If we want to be a successful writer, we must aim for great protagonists, and I would say, great protagonist’s helpers.

What are the characteristic of an entertaining protagonist?  Below is a list of six types of protagonists developed by Rebecca Ray.  This is one of the most comprehensive and best list I’ve seen:

• Classical Hero – Romantic Protagonist
• Everyman Hero – Everyman Protagonist
• Superhero – Superhero Protagonist
• Tragic Hero – Tragic Protagonist
• Epic Hero – Epic Protagonist
• Anti Hero – Anti-Hero Protagonist

The romantic hero is the classical hero—we’ll look at that one last.  Let’s evaluate the others for entertainment effect.  In the case of each of these heroes, they must match the plot and theme of the novel you are (intend) to write, but let me go one further.  If the protagonist determines the novel, then by developing a romantic protagonist, you will be automatically designing a novel based in a romantic theme and plot.  This might sound like a stretch, but it isn’t much.  The character of the protagonist develops the novel.

I’m going with Ray’s definition and ideas on this.  Here is her definition:

“It was the great philosopher Aristotle who first defined the ill-fated protagonist as a tragic hero. Aristotle suggested that a hero of a tragedy must evoke a sense of pity or fear from the audience. Also, the tragic hero has to be someone whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or fate. To this day, literature is inundated with the use of this type of protagonist.”   

Here is where we will deviate.  Aristotle’s “tragic” hero is not an archetype for a type of protagonist but rather the archetype for all protagonists.  She also makes a mistake of simplifying the concept too much. 

First, a tragedy isn’t dependent on the protagonist type.  All literature (and art) is based in the idea of the telic flaw.  The telic flaw is the problem the protagonist must resolve to conclude the plot and theme of the work.  I usually break out the “detective” novel example here.  The crime is the telic flaw the protagonist must solve to resolve the plot of most detective novels.  In the case of the first Harry Potty novel, Harry must resolve the problem of the philosopher’s stone that V-guy wants to use to come back to life.  In the case of Harry Potty, the resolution of the telic flaw requires that Harry fix problems in his own life to solve the telic flaw.  Thus, like most good literature, the telic flaw of the novel is directly related to the telic flaw of the protagonist.

This is always true of any protagonist in any good to great writing.  I’m not calling Harry Potty great—I’m just pointing out that the novel does follow the classical Aristotelian development. 

In any good piece of writing, the telic flaw of the novel also is a telic flaw in the protagonist.  This is critically important for the resolution of the plot and the theme.  You will find this form in all great novels—it is not a function of the type of protagonist.

Back to tragedy versus comedy—that is the question or the issue where I am deviating from Ray’s ideas on the “tragic” hero.  In a comedy, the protagonist overcomes (resolves) the telic flaw of the novel (which is also their telic flaw) and completes the plot and theme.  This is the example of about 90+% of all modern literature.  In a tragedy, the telic flaw overcomes the protagonist, and they usually die.  For example, Romeo and Juliet—their telic flaw is the desire to be together in life.  They determine a plan that allows them to trick their parents into thinking they are dead.  They both die—this resolves the telic flaw, but they are both dead.  You can find this in all types of tragedies.  This is the way it always works. 

Aristotle’s tragic hero is always tragic because he, Aristotle was writing about how tragedy works as an art form.  The concepts Aristotle devised or described work equally for a comedy hero.  For this reason, I don’t see the Aristotelian “tragic” hero (protagonist) as simply an archetype for a tragic protagonist, but rather as the archetype for all protagonists.

Second, the concept of “pity and fear” is a universal for all protagonists and all literature.  All protagonists and all literature must evoke pity and fear in the reader (audience) as part of the plot and theme resolution.  This is one of the primary functions (powers) of the plot and theme.  Pity and fear are what we intend to give to our readers to entertain them, and entertainment is always the purpose of any art, but especially novels.

Everything Ray says about the “tragic” hero is applicable to and for any protagonist.  Let’s not discard the idea of this type of protagonist out of hand, but rather realize we structure all protagonists on this model.  The idea of the “tragic” hero leads us directly to the concept of the epic hero.    

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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