Writing - part x884, Writing a Novel, Changing World and then there was Metal

9 June 2019, Writing - part x884, Writing a Novel, Changing World and then there was Metal

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, 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 that is critical to survival.  The concept of the casserole or whatever you want to call it, is significant to making food go far enough to feed lots of people.  The next great invention was just being invented, but couldn’t be used effectively for a long time.

Here we are, we can provide cooked and digestible food that contains proteins and fats, nutrients, and carbohydrates and make it go as far as possible.  In a starvation culture (all ancient cultures) people need to stretch their food as far as possible, provide as much calories as possible, and fill up people as much as possible.  This is the reason fats are so important.  Fats are not digested very well or effectively, but they give a feeling of general satisfaction and fullness.  As I noted, mixing meat, fruits and vegetables, and bread together puts everything in one place and stretches the food as far as possible.  This is the likely state of the world for a long time following the inventions I mentioned above.  Examples from the history of food for this are meat pies, pot pies, casseroles, other gloppy mixes.  You can see this in most European food.  For example, shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie, all kinds of meat pies and meat breads.  However, something was brewing but just not very available because of cost.

The next great invention was metal.  In Greek mythology and in human culture, we see the development of metal refining as a measure of civilization in history.  In Greek mythology, we have the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of Heroes, and the Iron Age.  Each of these Ages according to Hesiod related to the gods and men.  Historians more correctly related these Ages to the ability to refine and work the metals specified in each age.  Thus in the Golden Age, people could use gold to produce objects, in the Silver Age, silver, and so on. 

Notice, silver and gold can be used to make all kinds of items, but there is a problem with using them for cooking.  Gold is the worst, but silver isn’t much better—they are malleable and have a relatively low melting point.  Cooking over a fire is possible, but difficult and potentially dangerous.  Plus, both gold and silver pots and pans are too expensive and too rare to be used for cooking.  Utensils made from gold and silver are possible, but not very sharp or durable.  Today people use gold and silver utensils for eating, and knives might be useful in the kitchen and at the table, but you need to understand the rarity and expense of both gold and silver.  The average person might not ever see either of these.  If they did, they might have a charm, an earring, or a ring.  In any case, both gold and silver items were much more valuable than they are today.  There wasn’t enough gold and silver in the world to be used for cooking.  We do see both gold and silver used for plates, drinking vessels, and for ornamentation.  Mostly, we see drinking vessels and ornamentation.  So, then someone figured out how to make bronze.

Copper is not as rare as silver or gold, and it’s much more available mixed with tin.  We don’t know how humans got to bronze, but bronze is harder, more fire safe, and more durable than pure copper and definitely more than gold or silver.  It is likely that early sources of copper had lots of tin mixed in or near it.  Whatever the source, bronze became the metal for the Bronze Age society.  However, bronze was used mainly for weapons and armor and not for pots, pans, or utensils.  Any utensils that would be used or nearly common would be knives. 

As bronze armor and weapons became more prevalent, the wealthy first and the warrior class next, had available items that could be used for cutting and for cooking.  You can cook in a helmet.  You can cook in a shield.  You can cook in a breastplate.  This likely led to boiling and frying.  There is still not many people or groups, other than armies, who had access to bronze.  However, something really fun happened on the way to the temple.

Ancient religions are all about sacrifice.  The sacrifice was, of course, animals.  The sacrifice of animals resulted in meat.  The sacrifice was for the gods, but at the end of the day, the people got to share in the meat from the sacrifice.  In general, this was the only meat most people got during a year.  Therefore, everyone wanted to participate in the sacrifice.  Now, broiling is great, but you can’t stretch the meat very far.  Casseroles are great for stretching meat, vegies, and bread, but can you make it go further? 

Some smart priest got the idea that a big pot filled with meat would provide a great stretcher—the culinary invention was soup.  If you put a little grain in the soup, you made gravy—and the only place regular people could get it was at the temple.  This is just what we see in Israel.  It likely came out of Egypt.  In the tabernacle, they had a couple of big pots.  Sacrifice the meat, throw it into boiling water, add some flour, and you have soup.  Soup is a great stretcher, and likely because it was only available at the temple, people loved it.  The wealthy could also afford a pot or two.  Armies really could afford a pot or two.  The Roman Legions had to have their pots.  Soup goes a long way, but a new food could be made in a soup pot.         

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