28 February 2019, Writing
- part x783, Writing a Novel, Protagonist and Modern
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.
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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
Romanticism and Romantic
protagonists typically reject the modern.
This isn’t what it might seem.
Romanticism, because of its love of nature and the natural, saw
perfection and enlightenment in the antecedents of culture and society. Thus, they brought myth and spirituality into
their writing.
The Victorians and realists, in
general, rejected myth and spirituality.
I write, in general, because they accepted as real the spirituality of
Christianity and especially ancient Christianity, but tended to reject any
other form of spirituality. You do see
spirituality and especially Christian spirituality used in some Victorian Era
novels. A Christmas Carol and Dracula
are examples. You also see the
spirituality of other religions and groups used as a prop for some novels. The
Moonstone is one example. But
Romanticism allowed the author to go back and take hold of myth, fable,
stories, spirituality, spirits, creatures, magic, and all, and interject these
ideas into the writing to produce literature that reflected ideas and thoughts
that realism and Victorian Era fiction could not.
This is a key and critical feature
of Romantic Era literature that realism could not touch. In fact, realism could not touch many of the
subjects of Romantic literature. The
Romantics wanted to be able to write entertaining novels that covered ideas and
subjects the realism of the Victorians could not touch. For example, the Romantics wanted to express
the anguish of the people who could not keep up or even find livelihood under
the Victorian ideals of royalty, birth, wealth, technology, and
urbanization. The Romantics wanted to be
able to express their dismay at the crime, criminality, sexual abuse, child
abuse, slavery, paternal ownership, lack of human rights for some, sex,
marriage obligations, and all, but they needed a mode to make these expressions
without upsetting the apple cart, so to speak.
The means was through metaphor and allegory. The metaphor and allegory was carried in an entertaining
manner through myth and spirituality. An
example of this type of direct use of metaphor and allegory is found in Herik
Ibsen’s plays. That isn’t all.
The Romantics were freed from the
idea of only Christian spirituality.
When you mixed this with myth, fable, and other religions you were able
to produce reflective worldviews of more than just the Victorians. The reflective worldview allowed many new and
very entertaining subjects to suddenly become the focus of fiction novels. One such is magic. We’ll look at a reflective worldview and the
rejection of the modern.
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
