5 April 2018, Writing - part x454,
Developing Skills, Telic Characters
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. 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 then
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.
I’ve
written about this subject many times, but from different angles. Today, let’s look at the protagonist from the
standpoint of the telic flaw. I
mentioned recently that it is very helpful to start with a compelling
protagonist. What this means is a protagonist
your readers enjoy. They most likely
will like a compelling character, but this is the problem with a negative
protagonist, if your readers don’t find him or his story engaging, they won’t
appreciate your novel—at least at first and the at first is critical. How many novels have you dumped because they
were too slow or unentertaining at the beginning?
The
protagonist needs to be compelling—this means the character itself or the plot
(or both). In A Christmas Carol, the character is not compelling at all—the plot
is. In A Little Princess, the protagonist is compelling on her own. So the draw for a novel is either the
protagonist herself or the plot. This makes
sense. I’ll add to that—the most common
circumstance is that the protagonist is compelling first.
I’ve
been going on about this for a while—the entertaining protagonist is the compelling
protagonist. You can have both a
compelling protagonist and a compelling plot—the catalyst is the telic flaw.
The
telic flaw is shared by the plot and the protagonist. Therefore, the telic flaw can make a
protagonist and a plot that are both compelling. I’ll remind you again, the telic flaw is the
problem the protagonist must solve to resolve the plot. You can see right away, the telic flaw bonds
the protagonist to the plot.
In
the case of Lady Wishart, her problem, on a simple level, is the solution of a
supernatural crime. This is the telic
flaw of the plot—the supernatural crime.
Likewise, this is Lady Wishart’s specific if not personal problem—she must
solve the supernatural crime. Like most detective
novels, the protagonist is defined by their skills as a detective. The compelling becomes their reasoning skills
and knowledge. This is usually what makes
any detective character compelling.
What
makes the plot of a detective novel compelling is the convoluted depths as well
as the difficulty of solving the crime. However,
be warned, and all novels are like this, the author must provide enough
information to the reader such that at the end, the reader will conclude with
the protagonist, “I could have figured that out.” This realization may come at any point just
prior to, at, or just after the climax, but too early is bad and too late is
meaningless. Let’s put it in this
perspective—aren’t the most satisfying and exciting novels the ones where you
figure out the solution just before the protagonist is heading into the
climax? During the climax, you are
completely aware of the unfolding resolution such that when the bad guy gets
his, you are cheering the protagonist.
Excitement and entertainment come out of this realization and resolution.
The
worst climax is when the reader goes into it confused and in some kind of
mystical whirlwind, the protagonist pulls off the resolution and the reader is
left rereading parts to figure out what is going on. I find this to be true in the first Harry
Potty novel. The resolution is
interesting, but not especially clear, reasoned, or fully foreshadowed.
The
most entertaining novel is where the protagonist and the plot are compelling, and
we aren’t simply writing about the climax.
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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