Writing - part x597, Developing Skills, How to Suspend Disbelief, Reasoned Worldview, No Disruption

26 August 2018, Writing - part x597, Developing Skills, How to Suspend Disbelief, Reasoned Worldview, No Disruption

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t succeed in the past business and publishing environment.  I'll keep you informed, but I need a new publisher.  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 29^th novel, working title, Detective, potential title Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.  The theme statement is: 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 cover proposal for Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective. 

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29^th novel, working title Detective.  I’m planning to start on number 31, working title Shifter. 

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 30:  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 31:  TBD 

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:  Suspension of disbelief is the characteristic of writing that pulls the reader into the world of the novel in such a way that the reader would rather face the world of the novel rather than the real world—at least while reading.  If this occurs while not reading, it is potentially a mental problem.  To achieve the suspension of disbelief your writing has to meet some basic criteria and contain some strong inspiration.  If you want to call the inspiration creativity, that works too.  Here is a list of the basic criteria to hope to achieve some degree of suspension of disbelief. 

1.      Reasonably written in standard English

2.      No glaring logical fallacies

3.      Reasoned worldview

4.      Creative and interesting topic

5.      A Plot

6.      Entertaining

7.      POV

Worldview is the most important feature of any fantasy, science fiction, or magical realism novel.  In fact, I could argue that worldview is the most important feature of every novel. 

Novels that attempt to show the world of the time are a reflected worldview.  Novels that attempt to show the ideas of the time are a reproduced worldview.  Novels that build their own worldview are a created worldview.

How do we ensure the worldview doesn’t cast the reader out of the suspension of disbelief?  The problem becomes when the writer does not properly reflect or reproduce the worldview.

A created worldview is simply a reflected or reproduced worldview that is then extrapolated or interpolated to build a new and unique worldview.  You see it in science fiction and fantasy all the time. 

A reasoned worldview is real and begins with the familiar then moves to the unfamiliar.  The ultimate point is to not provide disruption in the narrative.  I wrote yesterday that authors should start their description with the reflected or reproduced.  That is the writer should start with the real world or a foundation in the real world and then expand to their created worldview.

The point is to not create disruptions in the world and the actions in the world.  For example, in science fiction, we should expect the world to react in the way the real world always acts.  I would say that for many scientifically aware, some ideas are more disruptive than others.  Matter transporters are very disruptive because it is not very conceivable in real science.  For the non-scientifically aware, a matter transporter is just another technological idea.  If you notice, not many novels and especially real science or hard science novels have matter transporters.

Do I need to explain the problem with a matter transporter?  I, sigh, will.  First, how does it work?  If we transport matter as an electromagnetic wave—whoops there is an immediate problem.  Electromagnetic waves are not made up of protons, electrons, or neutrons, they are photon waves and the photons kind of move, but they are zero rest mass.  You can’t, as far as we know or can understand, how an electromagnetic wave could possibly project anything other than protons and waves.  Now, you can project ideas or information over an electromagnetic field, so you might imagine that you could disassociate a thing on one end, turn them into an information flow, which is then reassociated at the other end.  The problem is that there is no transfer of matter across the electromagnetic waves—this means you would be destroyed at one end and at the other, there would need to be a pile of atomic particles such that you could be rebuilt on the other end.  The ultimate problem is if I destroy you and rebuild you, is it you?  And, why destroy you?  Why not leave you as you are, scan you, and then rebuild you.  Better not come home or there will be more than one of you.  If you matter transport back, there will be three of you.  There are more problems, but this is the basic one.

These types of disruptive anti-science ideas will drive most of the science minded out of the suspension of reality.  There are others.  These problems don’t exist in faster than light travel.  A scientist might scoff at the concept, but there are plenty of non-proven or provable ideas that propel the possibility of FTL travel.  The trick is to provide a properly reasoned idea.

You might be able to do this with a matter transporter, but I can’t, and I can’t conceive of a scientific principle, even imagined, that would cause it.  Maybe magic.  That’s the point—bringing magic into a science worldview is potentially disruptive.  You might make it work, but that depends on your world, worldview, and plot.  There’s always more.          

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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