Writing - part x852, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Developing Common Knowledge

8 May 2019, Writing - part x852, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Developing Common Knowledge

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. 

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 

What is common knowledge?  In the main from a very simplistic standpoint, common knowledge is cultural, but there is more to it than that—and there can be problems with common knowledge.  The most important point of common knowledge is that as an author, I must be able to make a connection with my readers. 

I hope you agree, if a person who had no experience of their own culture and society tried to write a novel that writing would have almost zero chance of appealing to any reader.  The reason is there is no connection to the culture and society.  The means of connection is through common knowledge.  I didn’t write common knowledge and experiences because as we shall see—there are ways to overcome the problem of common knowledge.

Let’s clarify and specify—an author must share common knowledge with his readers.  The sharing of common knowledge makes the author able to write in a way that can communicate with potential readers.  An isolated person can’t share common knowledge even if they share a common language.  Common language is important, but common knowledge is critical.  As I’ve noted or at least implied, a literal translation of any foreign language will not appeal of be entertaining to anyone.  The translator must interpret and translate the intent and common knowledge of the author into the new language and culture.  This is the point, as a writer, we must be able to share knowledge through the writing.  The means of knowing is common knowledge.  The question is how do we learn this common knowledge that allows us to connect with others through writing?

Number one, you must live in your culture and society.  The more the better.  This doesn’t mean you need to participate in any negative, illegal, illicit, or immoral pursuits.  It means you need to live in the culture you intend to write for.  You need to be conversant in the dialects, ideas, and good pursuits.  You can’t live in the basement without experiencing the society or culture and expect to communicate or understand your audience.  Now, how much is understanding your audience and how much understanding your culture and society?  The answer is yes.  You can’t participate in the culture without also gaining understanding of your audience.

Number two, you need to expand to other cultures and societies.  The more experience you have, the better you can understand your own culture and the culture of others.  This provides information to entertain your primary audience and expands what you know and what they know.

Number three, you need to read and read everything.  This is the same as you need to understand and understand everything, but I think you can begin to understand everything through reading.  Don’t read trash, read the kind of books and novels that expand your knowledge and your ability to understand your culture and society.  This means math, science, history, logic, reasoning, literature, poetry, and all.  The point is to expand your knowledge, understanding, and event horizon.  This allows you to understand greater and greater pieces of your potential audience.  What I mean is that your theoretical audience are only those who share your event horizon and culture, thus your common knowledge.  That is a tiny group at first.  If you can expand your event horizon by a year, two years, five years, ten years, twenty years.  Your audience expands greatly.  If you can expand your culture understanding and comfort out to your town, your city, your state, your area in the nation, your nation, other nations, you have significantly expanded your potential audience.  Notice, this is also number one and number two.

Is there a four?  Could be.  The entire point is the expansion of your common knowledge drives your writing and your audience.  Like R.L. Stevenson and Jack Wolf, their travels and experiences created great and entertaining subject as well as expanded their audience.  They wrote exciting and entertaining novels about all kinds of other lands, places, and times.  Remember Treasure Island?  How about The Call of the Wild? 

Expand your common knowledge to allow you to entertain and to expand your audience.  You must be able to communicate with your audience in order to write for them.    

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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