2 June 2018, Writing - part x512,
Developing Skills, Build a Scene, Tension Development
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, and specifically revelation of the plot and protagonist telic flaw
(the same thing). If we want to be a
successful writer, we must aim for great protagonists, and a great protagonist
means a great or compelling telic flaw.
With
a character, we now can move into the mechanics of the writing.
Here
is my expected scene setup.
1.
Initial scene: General Bolang
informs Sorcha and Deirdre that they are going off to a Catholic girl’s
boarding school instead of to aviation training. He gives them reasons, and sends them
off. This is the output.
2.
Based on the expected output,
Deirdre and Sorcha are taken or go to school.
Somehow I need to give them no options to escape. They inspect the school and the output is the
end of the day.
3.
First day of class is the obvious
input. The output will be their
investigation of the off areas in the school that they observed. Perhaps they will talk to the teachers and
the students.
With a scene input, we can move to
the scene itself. The scene input is the
hard part. Following the setting, we
move on to the output. The next step is
to write the tension development in the scene.
An entertaining (successful) scene
is always made up of tension and release in the scene. No matter what the subject or concept of the
scene, a scene cannot be considered a good scene without tension and
release.
First a scene is not a novel, but
every scene must include tension and release.
This is a complex way of stating that every scene must be filled with
entertainment and excitement. Tension
and release is the way you incorporate entertainment and excitement into a
scene.
In a novel, the rising action builds
tension to the climax and that is the peak of the novel. Every scene is similar. The scene must build in tension to a
release. In a scene, however, you are
not constrained to a single tension and release. In other words, in a scene, you may have
multiple tension buildups to multiple releases.
In this way, a scene is both like and unlike a novel.
Like a novel, a scene must have a
tension development and a release.
Unlike a novel, the tension does not need a complete release, and there
can be multiple tension and release buildups in a single scene.
When we write a novel, we have a
telic flaw. The telic flaw is resolved
is resolved in the climax. When we write
a scene, we don’t need a telic flaw, what we do need is similar, a problem of
some type to be resolved or simply expressed.
When I write problem, I don’t mean a novel level problem or telic flaw. What I mean is very specifically an issue
that must be resolved. We are still at
step three in scene development. I’ll
repeat it below:
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
I’ve written about the scene output
and the scene input. Let’s say the input
is a dinner party, and the output is leaving the party with a future invitation
of some kind. The question then is what
should we use to build tension in the scene?
We need an issue of some type. In
general, the telic flaw of the novel usually provides the issue in the
scene. For example, the reason for the
dinner party must be related to the resolution of the novel’s telic flaw—if not,
there is no purpose for the scene to be in the novel.
The scene is related to the telic
flaw and the input and output are related to the telic flaw. The issues in the scene also will be related
to resolving the telic flaw. For example,
the purpose of the dinner party is to allow the characters to have a surreptitious
meeting that allows them to discuss some point related to resolving the telic
flaw.
The meeting is the purpose and
related to the entire novel. Now, this
might not be enough for tension and release in the context of the scene—it’s
just a meeting. The question is how to
we turn a simple meeting into a function of tension to make the scene
entertaining?
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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