Writing - part x883, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Pottery

8 June 2019, Writing - part x883, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Pottery

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 and warfare

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

With a cutting tool, fire, a non-fire safe containers, ovens, and a mortar and pestle.  I can eat broiled meat, fermented stuff, and baked goods.  We’ve added beer, wine, cheese, and our vegetables and fruits.  The next great invention likely came directly out of ovens and mud.

There were places where people couldn’t get the proper rocks, or the rocks they could get were water saturated—they can explode.  People figured they could make ovens out of mud.  They likely were building houses out of mud and started building ovens out of the same mud.  What happened then was a wondrous discovery. 

Mud when heated with fire (fired) formed pottery.  The pottery it formed was more akin to glass (which they hadn’t invented yet).  Fired pottery is nonporous, heat proof, not fire proof, but you can contain water and liquids in it.  You can put it in an oven or next to a fire, but not in a fire.  Fired pottery tends to shatter when a direct fire or very high temperature are applied to it.  Still, at this point, the people had a water holding, heat safe container.  The options of food and cooking increased nearly infinitely. 

Likely the first great use of these pots was to make loaves of bread.  Obviously, flat bread was great, but leavened bread was even better.  A loaf shaped pot (container) makes a great form for loaves.  It is so good, that most loaves are still shaped this way.  There are other things you can do with heat safe pots.  You can make cakes, bake meats, make mixed baked dishes, and cook porridge/crusted type foods.  You really can’t make soups very well.  You can’t stir the contents very easily.  However, finally, the people could really use fillers to make the food palatable, good, and stretch a long way. 

How is this?  Well, if I mix flour and water, vegetables and fruits, a little meat, I get a very good casserole that will feed a lot of people.  If you notice, there is protein, fat, nutrients, and plenty of carbohydrates.  As long as you could get plenty of raw ingredients, you can feed people relatively effectively.  Plus the cost is reasonable.

What I can’t do is boil stuff.  Not easily and not well.  Plus, the problem with pots and water is that pots tend to break when water is heated in them.  I definitely can’t fry stuff.  There is a means that was just being invented, but that still posed a problem that wouldn’t be solved until about 4000 years later.

So, with a cutting tool, fire, non-fire safe containers, ovens, a mortar and pestle, and a heat safe pot, I can eat broiled meat, fermented stuff, baked goods, and mixed food casseroles.  We’ve added beer, wine, cheese, and our vegetables and fruits.  I need to reiterate, in a starvation culture (all cultures in the ancient world) stretching calories is the goal and is critical to survival.  The concept of the casserole or whatever you want to call it, it significant to making food go far enough to feed people.  The next great invention was just being invented, but couldn’t be used effectively for a long time.

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