31 January 2019, Writing - part
x755, Writing a Novel, Protagonist in the Initial Scene
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 29th 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
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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 30th novel, working
title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th 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: Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French
finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.
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: Why don’t we go back
to the basics and just writing a novel?
I can tell you what I do, and show you how I go about putting a novel
together. We can start with developing
an idea then move into the details of the writing.
To
start a novel, I picture an initial scene.
I may start from a protagonist or just launch into mental development of
an initial scene. I get the idea for an
initial scene from all kinds of sources.
To help get the creative juices flowing, let’s look at the initial
scene.
1.
Meeting between the protagonist and
the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper
2.
Action point in the plot
3.
Buildup to an exciting scene
4.
Indirect introduction of the
protagonist
The protagonist is the novel and the
initial scene. If you look at the four
basic types of initial scenes, you see the reflection of the protagonist in
each one. If you noticed my examples
yesterday, I expressed the scene idea, but none were completely independent of
the protagonist. Indeed, in most cases,
I get an idea with a protagonist. The
protagonist is incomplete, but a sketch to begin with. You can start with a protagonist, but in my
opinion, as we see above, the protagonist is never completely independent from
the initial scene. As the ideas above
imply, we can start with the characters, specifically the protagonist,
antagonist or protagonist’s helper, and develop an initial scene.
If we start with a protagonist, we
need some kind of guide. Here is a
general guide for developing a modern protagonist. We’ll look at examples and explain the ideas.
1. Normal person (not
wealthy, noble, or privileged)
2. Loves to read
3. Loves to learn
4. Unique skill(s),
power(s) and/or learning
5. Pathos (poor,
homeless, abused, friendless, ill)
6. Individualistic and
independent
7. Introspective
8. Leader
9. Naturally good
10. Rejection of the
urban
11. Rejection of the
modern
12. Appeal to the
imagination
So, if we apply this list to a
well-known protagonist, we should be able to see how it might work. I’ll use our best common model, Harry Potty.
Although Harry is a magical person,
he begins and is portrayed as a common kid.
His family, we are led to believe is not necessarily wealthy. He comes from humble surroundings. He is the opposite of privileged. All this is actually completely untrue, but
that doesn’t take away from the point at all.
Through all the Harry Potty novels, are there actually seven of them, we
find Harry always portrayed as part of the common ilk. We discover that his family is well
respected, from a long line of famous witches and warlocks—isn’t that
nobility. He is very wealthy—must have
been the insurance payments. He is
absolutely privileged as the messiah child who did not die. He is famous without any action at all, which
is kind of the definition of privileged.
The author very astutely places the very noble Harry on a writing plane
that makes him constantly appear to be normal and common when in reality he isn’t
at all.
Let’s look at the idea of nobility
in Harry Potty. The noble families as portrayed
as snobbish, evil, and bigoted. They are
the supporters of the bad guy and work evil magic. Even though Harry qualifies as one of these
nobles, he and his similarly situated friends are shown to be not noble—in the
sense of the novel. This is very interesting. The Victorian Ideal was the noble. The Romantic Ideal is the common man. Harry Potty depicts a relatively common
Romantic theme, the common protagonist and the noble antagonist. What is a little surprising is the animosity
and hypocrisy from both sides—Harry isn’t really common at all and the nobles
are not noble at all.
In our writing, we should strive for
Romantic characters. Nobles are not
generally an accepted protagonist idea in today’s world—not unless you pull
them down to the common. For example, in
my novel Blue Rose Enchantment and the
Detective, my protagonist comes from a noble background. She has all the responsibility of her noble
office, but she has lost her standing and estate. She is not respected for her noble rank
because of her father and his crimes.
This is a method used to bring the noble down to the common.
You can see this at work in Harry
Potty. Although noble, in the sense of
birth, birthright, and position in society, the author presents Harry in a
situation and circumstance of poverty, insignificance, and meanness. This is a perfect method to present such a
character. This is called bringing a
protagonist to a zero state. In a
perfect Romantic model, we expect the protagonist to then claw his or her way
back to respectability and to being a hero.
This, in itself, is the beginning of a plot. It is also the reflection of the novel’s
telic flaw in the protagonist.
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
