28 March 2019, Writing - part x811,
Writing a Novel, Changing World and Knowing Truth
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.
Let’s look at a subject that is
really ignored in the modern era. I’m
not certain how much this can help your current writing. I would argue that theoretically, this
subject can really help those who write historical and futuristic fiction. It depends on how your write your historical
and futuristic fiction. There are two
ways to write historical fiction—let’s look at this.
The first and most common way to
write historical fiction is to write a novel that projects modern ideas and
history as historical ideas and history.
In other words to present modern ideas and historical ideas as the same. I think this is perhaps the most egregious
and perverse means of presenting a false view of history. The author is either completely ignorant of
the past, is intentionally attempting to education people in a false view of
history, or both. The real historical
world is very different both culturally and socially from our current
world. The true author attempts to
convey this in historical writing.
The second and less common means of
historical writing is to actually incorporate the past into a novel to convey
the actual way people thought and acted in the past. This approach actually goes back into time to
give a complete view of the way the people thought and acted. To this end, let’s look at how the world
changed and how people thought in the past.
This is more of a historical look at the world for the purpose of
understanding how the world worked in the past and how people thought and
acted. We’ll use historical information
to see what concerned affected their lives. Here is a list of potential issues. We’ll look at them in detail:
1. Vocabulary
2. Ideas
3. Social
construction
4. Culture
5. Politics
6. History
7. Language
8. Common
knowledge
9. Common
sense
10. Reflected
culture
11. Reflected
history
12. Reflected
society
13. Truth
14. Food
15. Weapons
16. Transportation
17. Communication
18.
Writing
Perhaps the greatest change in
cultures comes with literacy. Before
literacy a people can’t understand forms or complex ideas. Studies have been accomplished on preliterate
cultures and their concept of the world are very interesting. It might be easier to look back from a
literate point of view.
You might have been told that you
can’t prove truth—whoever told you that is gravely misinformed. There are precisely three methods to prove
truth in the world. The ancient Greeks invented
the third method to prove truth at some time after 300 BC. They might have developed it much earlier,
but we don’t have much historical data before that—the historical-legal method
remember. The third method is the
scientific method. We think it was
developed a little later than 300 BC because Aristotle mentioned and used it.
There are many many many events,
ideas, concepts, and principles that you can prove using the proper or mixtures
of the three methods to know truth. As I
noted before, the historical method can be used to prove non-repeatable events,
thus historical events can be proven using the historical method. If you don’t have written records of events,
you can use paintings, archeology, architecture, photographs, videos,
recordings, and other historical evidence.
In many cases, you might have to use logic to prove some of the ideas in
history if you don’t have strong written records. You might ask, what about carbon dating? Isn’t that the use of the scientific method
for historical events?
Actually, in using science based
dating methods, we use the measured degradation of radioisotopes. A radioisotope is a radioactive isotope of a
common atom like carbon. When a living
thing consumes carbon in nature, it acquires some of the radioisotope. When it dies, it stops acquiring the
radioisotope and the isotope degrades at a constant rate back to normal
carbon. I can measure the rate of
degradation and by the amount of remaining radioisotope, I can estimate the
time between now and the death of the creature or plant. This is using the scientific method to
measure the repeatable degradation of an isotope to estimate the age of
something. Logic is used for the
estimate, but the repeatability of the degradation of the radioisotope is the
use of the scientific method. Remember,
the scientific method can only be used to prove repeatable events.
Thus, the scientific method can’t be
used to prove, let’s say, the beginning of the universe. We can gather all kinds of data about the
beginning of the universe, but unless it is repeatable, we can’t prove much
about it. The other thing is repeatable
is dependent on time. If time doesn’t
exist, we have no way of repeating an event, thus in the beginning of the
universe, the Big Bang, until 0.3 seconds into it we can’t measure anything
because there is no time to use. All the
time before 0.3 seconds might as well be eternity. The other problem with the scientific method
is extrapolation.
Yes, you can extrapolate using logic
and you can interpolate using logic, but extrapolation tends to be very
misleading and unpredictable. For example,
in a lift curve slope, the slope is usually a straight line—interpolation is
okay, but as any pilot and aerospace engineer knows, the lift curve slope ends
with a significant non-linearity at the peak of the slope called a stall. An extrapolation of the lift curve slope on
any airfoil is a fool’s errand—it will lead to significant errors. This is why scientific predictions based on
extrapolations are usually considered the fair or fools and charlatans—no scientist
is usually willing to go out on a limb to extrapolate any data because the
continuing logical reduction of the data might be significantly in error. The historical method then comes into
significant play for scientific method comparisons and records.
The historical method has its own
set of problems, but most of these are due to the primacy of witness. In almost every case, a primary, first hand,
witness is always considered a primary source of historical information. In some cases, tertiary sources can provide
great ancillary information, but never as good as a primary or secondary
witness. A great ancillary witness would
be the settings of a Victorian Era novel and the interactions of the people in
it. We can’t learn much about the times
from the novel itself, but we can glean some great information about what
people wore, ate, said, and thought. In
any case, without a primary witness, you have a problem with historical information. For example, in the Torah (first five books
of the Old Testament), the accounts of Moses that he saw and experienced can be
considered good primary information. On
the other hand, the information Moses wasn’t around to see or experience is
only secondary and those things humans could not see or experience are worse
than tertiary—if that’s possible. In every
case where you have a witness to a historical event, that witness is considered
accurate unless you have another witness of greater primacy. That’s the way we understand history and use
the historical method. There is much
more to this.
Logic refines, interacts, and interoperates
the scientific and the historical methods.
Logic with the scientific and the historical method can be used to prove
many things especially principles. You
might be surprised at the many things you can prove using logic. As I mentioned, Emanuel Kant proved there can’t
be a “not God.” To be clear, if you
remember from geometry, you can’t prove any affirmation. You can only prove a false or not
affirmation, but you can infer from the not affirmation that the affirmation
must be. Thus, you can’t prove there
must be God, but you can prove that there can’t be not God. Kant proved using logic that there can’t be
not God. His proof still stands. If you don’t know this, you need to study
philosophy and especially Kant. Indeed,
philosophy can be used to prove many concepts.
We use philosophy to prove many
modern ideas that we later use in science and technology. Technology is the use of science in everyday
products. Much logic, scientific method,
and historical method work goes into each scientific breakthrough and every
technological use. However, there is
much more that you can prove and use than just in science and technology. The three methods to know truth are
fundamental to human understanding of the world. Your heart doesn’t matter if your head can’t understand. What I mean by that is that many things in
the world that appear simple aren’t and many things that might seem complex are
provable and understandable. A quick
example, feeding wildlife. Feeding
wildlife makes animals dependent on humans and reduces their ability to fend
for themselves. If you didn’t realize
this, you might just continue to feed wildlife.
That’s why they put up signs all over the place to not feed the
wildlife. In some places it is against
the law to feed wildlife. There is much
more to this.
The use of the three means to know
truth make modern human life possible and the world understandable. Still, there are many things and concepts
outside of current human understanding.
The use of the three means to know truth continue to increase our understanding
of the world and our knowledge of the universe.
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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