Writing - part x906, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Political Control

1 July 2019, Writing - part x906, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Political Control

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 websites 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. Money

16. Weapons and warfare

17. Transportation

18. Communication

19. Writing

20. Education

In the modern era with the advent of ubiquitous police and the government control of many aspects of society, it becomes very simple to exert control over an entire society.  Marx expressed this in the Communist Manifesto.  Everyone should be familiar with these procedures.  I’ll add a couple of ideas that Marx never would have thought of. 

The scientific means to control a conquered people or to take over a society from within from the Communist Manifesto:

1.     Abolition of Property in Land and Application of all Rents of Land to Public Purpose.

2.     A Heavy Progressive or Graduated Income Tax.

3.     Abolition of All Rights of Inheritance.

4.     Confiscation of the Property of All Emigrants and Rebels.

5.     Centralization of Credit in the Hands of the State, by Means of a National Bank with State Capital and an Exclusive Monopoly.

6.     Centralization of the Means of Communication and Transport in the Hands of the State.

7.     Extension of Factories and Instruments of Production Owned by the State, the Bringing Into Cultivation of Waste Lands, and the Improvement of the Soil Generally in Accordance with a Common Plan.

8.     Equal Liability of All to Labor. Establishment of Industrial Armies, Especially for Agriculture.

9.     Combination of Agriculture with Manufacturing Industries; Gradual Abolition of the Distinction Between Town and Country by a More Equable Distribution of the Population over the Country.

10.  Free Education for All Children in Public Schools. Abolition of Children's Factory Labor in it's Present Form. Combination of Education with Industrial Production.      

11.  The control of healthcare by government and the abolition of private healthcare.

12.  The abolition of cash money.

13.  The disarmament of the people and the arming of secret police forces under the control of the government.   

I added three other planks.  We see theses being used by modern societies to control the populace.  I think Marx left off the control of arms because he assumed the other mechanisms would allow full control of the people.  Let’s look at and evaluate how governments and societies have used these ten planks to enforce their control and goals on nations.

1. Abolition of Property in Land and Application of all Rents of Land to Public Purpose.

This is the ownership of all private property by the government.  Governments and nations can enact this in many ways.  The easiest isn’t to take property from the people.  In the USA, the government has the power of eminent domain, but they are obliged to pay for the property.  Plus people tend to sue them in court.  A better means to take control is to regulate the land to the point that the owner no longer has any real control.  This has the secondary effect of making land and property so expensive that the people, and especially the poor and middle class, can’t afford to purchase it any more.  You can see this technique being used to great effect in the Northeast and West especially California.  This has also been a technique of the European nations and Australia.  Today, the average price of a new house in California is about a million dollars.  This is about equal to the cost in European nations and Britain.  You can see some effects of population crowding in Europe, but in the USA, less than 5% of the landmass is developed.  There is exceedingly large amounts of property available, but California, the Northeast, and the West have regulated the use of property to the point that it is unaffordable.  They also have overall control.  Texas has used this technique to take property from beachfront owners.  By regulating the property at the coast, they can prevent the rebuilding of houses after weather events.  This effectively takes property without any government costs—it can result in lawsuits.  In Florida, where the government tries every five to ten years to steal coastal property, the use of all kinds of legislative and legal tricks like customary use, legislative and judicial takings, and regulations have caused significant lawsuits.  The only purpose of government, according to Locke, is the protection of private property, so these takings by any government should be suspect.  Another means of control and takings is property taxes.   

Property taxes mean the owner has to pay a rent to the government to use and keep their own property.  This is likely the most corrupt means of property control and assertion of ownership by government.  The legislation of a property tax means the government asserts complete ownership over the deed holder.  This is a technique of almost every government in the world.  If the deed holder doesn’t pay the tax, the government usually takes control and sells the property to pay the taxes.  In most cases, the government can’t seize the property outright, but that is also a technique for government control of private property and has been used extensively in the modern era.  In many cases, the government in question will nationalize a property or business, which leads to the government ownership.  These are exactly the opposite of the purpose of any legitimate government.

Nationalization of lands or businesses can be overt like I mentioned in the previous paragraph.  This is one way to take private property.  Another less obtrusive means is the slow nationalization of private property under the claim of making parks or reserves.  In the USA, the USG (United States Government) is prevented by the constitution from owning land except D.C.  They can’t even own the land under military bases, but the USG has found a wonderfully sneaky way to acquire property.  In the beginning, the USG only held D.C.  They slowly began taking over reserves and state property for national parks.  This wasn’t really a problem until the end of the 19^th Century.  Then the USG began taking over land for parks and reserves and asserting control over that land through the 20^th Century.  Today, the USG holds over 20% of the landmass of the USA under their control.  This is patently illegal according to the Constitution, but who’s stopping them?  The states certainly aren’t.  Twenty percent today, at some point it will be 50%, 60%, 70%, tell me when they control all the property. 

The control and ownership of property by the government is already done.  I lost my case on property rights at the Supreme Court and the USG asserted then that all property belonged to the states and not to any deed holder.  That hopefully will eventually be reversed in the future.  They still tax you a rent and assert regulatory property control over you.  You don’t control or won your property—you hold it as a tenant.  The first plank is complete.

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