Writing - part x880, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Cooking

5 June 2019, Writing - part x880, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Cooking

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 s 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 

Food in history is one of my most favorite topics.  The reason is that most people have no clue.  We all assume the worldview of our event horizon.  The real world of food—that is what people ate is a significant marker in human history.  Why can’t the writers get it right?

First of all, you need to look at how we cook and what we cook.  What are the basic foods, and how are they cooked?  Let’s make a list:

1.     Meat

2.     Fruits and vegetables

3.     Grains

4.     Milk

5.     Water based stuff

Methods of cooking:

1.     Baking

2.     Broiling

3.     Boiling

4.     Frying

As long as I have the ability to make a fire and have a knife or other cutting tool (stone), I can cut and cook meat.  I have to broil the meat over a stick, and usually, I have to cook or partially cook it whole first.  If you don’t believe me, you try it.  Make a stone knife and start cutting.  It is likely that early humans discovered how to make fire about the same time they learned to make stone tools—you make great stone tools by chipping flint, and flint can make sparks.  It’s best with steel, but that’s a later invention.

So to put this into perspective, people could eat meat with a cutting tool and fire.  You could also eat meat raw, but that’s not cooking, and it isn’t as good for humans as cooked meat.  Plus cooked meat lasts much longer than raw meat.  I guess I should mention drying.  Drying meat produces jerky.  This is a form of broiling, slow broiling.  Drying produces very long lasting meat for consumption.  There are other things you can eat raw, but there are very good reasons to cook them.

You can eat fruits and some vegetables raw, but many vegetables and some fruits are not edible without cooking, some are poison, and many pass through the body with minimal nutrient absorption.  In other words, without cooking some fruits and many vegetables are not good human food.  The reason this is important is due to starvation, hunger, and caloric density. 

Based on size, weight, environment, coverings (clothing and housing), and activity, humans need a specific number usable calories a day to survive.  Calories from carbohydrates (starches and sugars) are the easiest for the body to use.  The body can also use protein to make sugar, but that takes more energy and wastes calories.  The body can also use fat to make sugar, but that is the least efficient and takes more energy than the resulting fuel.  Humans love sugar and carbohydrates.  They also love fat and meat.  They need the macro elements, calories, protein, and micro elements in food for survival.  The main point is to get the maximum of all these necessary nutrients from the food you eat.  If you don’t, you are simply wasting necessary energy.

In our oversized and well-nourished societies in the modern first world, it is hard to imagine that people worked very hard to maximize the nutrient value of food.  If you understand this, you will also understand the history and importance of food and cooking.  For example, fermentation was found very early to increase digestibility, taste, and longevity of food.  This is why Koreans, British, Northern hemisphere people of all nations, and many others invented such foods as lutefisk and kimchi.  Kimchi is fermented cabbage.  It is easier to eat, has more nutrients due to the fermentation, lasts much longer, and has stronger flavor than regular cabbage.  In addition, the process of fermentation packs more calories in the same weight of food plus begins breaking down the cellular walls of the vegetable so more calories and nutrients are absorbed by the body.  In addition, fermentation can be accomplished without heat (fire), without much cutting (no tools), and without fire safe containers.  The fire safe containers is an important point.  I can just use holes in the ground, but that results in food waste.  Remember, in a starvation culture (all ancient cultures) food wasted is food that humans can’t eat, and there are no domestic animals to feed yet.  Containers led with fermentation.  Plus, most early containers were made from hide or hollow animal organs.  The enzymes in the stomach cause fermentation—the stomach is a hollow organ.

So, now I have a cutting tool, fire, and a non-fire safe containers.  I can eat raw meat, broiled meat, dried meat, raw, broiled, and fermented fruits and vegetables.  This wouldn’t excite a French chef, but it’s a start.  There is a bit of a problem, you don’t get that much carbohydrates from meat, fruit, and vegetables.  Plenty of protein, fat, and roughage, but roughage is completely empty of calories—it’s indigestible.               

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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic