Writing - part x797, Writing a Novel, Imagination

14 March 2019, Writing - part x797, Writing a Novel, Imagination

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:  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

This focus on imagination is what brought the Romantic protagonist from the common through knowledge and education to skills, powers, and learning.  The imagination is the key that turns the Romantic protagonist into the Romantic protagonist—the only being in the world who can accomplish the telic flaw of their novel.

I’m going to conclude this section with an important observation about imagination.  The greatest importance of imagination is the development of the connection between the protagonist and the reader.  I think this is the real power that drove the Romantic Era out of the Victorian Era of literature.

As I’ve written, I argue that we are still in the Romantic Era, and although there are some indications that we might be seeing a new and less defined Era in writing, production and numbers of novels say no.  The defining aspect of the Romantic Era and Romantic literature is imagination…and I don’t mean that generically.  That’s why I’ve spent so much time connecting imagination to the characteristics of the Romantic protagonist.  There is even more.

I’ve written about this before, but I want it to be very clear.  Imagination is the quality that connects the Romantic protagonist to the reader.  This is perhaps the most important point of the Romantic protagonist and Romantic literature.  We’ve noted that a protagonist might share few direct characteristics with the reader.  Primarily, the protagonist will share common, love of reading, and love of learning directly with a reader, but that isn’t enough to develop any character.  Look carefully at what I wrote.  I’ll bet you bristled at the “share common.”  I do.

Readers and Romantic protagonists are “common” that is they are usually not of aristocratic or privileged birth, but they desire to be more than common.  Readers want to be more than common and they direct their lives using imagination (desire to change or a picture of change) to become something more…at least in their own minds.  This is all of us.  We all strive to become the greatest we can.  This is especially true in our professions, but we try to or desire to accomplish the same in our personal, private, family, as well as professional lives.  Not all of us live up to our own imagination or desires, but we strive to achieve. 

Romantic characters also strive.  The difference is that they do achieve.  The direct connection between the Romantic protagonist and the reader is this desire to achieve and that is driven by imagination (thoughts about what the person might become or might be). 

Let me point out for you, if it isn’t obvious.  Many of the characteristics of the Romantic protagonist are not necessarily characteristics of readers.  For example, leaders—many readers would like to be leaders, some are, but we all know that leaders are a definite subset of readers.  Readers would like to know and believe that leaders are readers just like they imagine, but this isn’t always true.  I would go further, this is seldom true.  The same people who were leaders in elementary school are leaders in their fields and in the work place.  There are definitely a lot of leaders who are readers, but there are a lot of leaders who wouldn’t pick up a novel if their life depended on it.  We readers would like to imagine that the non-readers don’t have any imagination, but that’s wrong too.  Many non-readers do have imagination, but we can’t understand how that can be.

The point is this—imagination is the connection between the reader and the Romantic protagonist.  This connection allows the Romantic protagonist to be completely different from the reader and still appeal to the reader.  For example, the protagonist might be a female, child, impoverished, well-born, student, striving to be a chemist, and still greatly appeal to a middle aged male librarian who loves to read.  That example is directly taken from Flavia de Luca by Alan Bradley.  I can’t imagine a more diverse example.  The connection is imagination.  Flavia connects with the reader because of imagination and because she is a Romantic protagonist. 

This is what we need to strive to develop in our writing.  Understanding the Romantic protagonist and the connection of imagination should help us design protagonist and characters who appeal to our readers.         

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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