Writing - part x931, Writing a Novel, Aircraft in Warfare

26 July 2019, Writing - part x931, Writing a Novel, Aircraft in Warfare

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

Transportation means have changed significantly over time. 

Obviously, or perhaps not so obviously, warfare is all about fire and maneuver.  This was true from the very beginning of infantry with sticks to cavalry to tanks to whatever the future might bring.  Fire and maneuver is all about speed, transportation, and fire power.

The application of fire and maneuver is the point of all warfare.  As a military person, on the defensive, you want to take the high ground (defensive ground) and prevent the enemy from disrupting your command and control and supplies.  On the offensive, you want to bypass or defeat (bypass is better) and disrupt the enemy’s command and control and supplies.

Both effective defense and effective offense means you need to maneuver into position before the enemy and to use your firepower to defeat or at least disrupt.  Airpower is perfect for fire and maneuver.  It has its limitations and vulnerabilities, but it has nearly unlimited maneuver and immediate firepower. 

With modern airpower, you can get to your target quickly and what you can see with your sensors, you can kill.  This wasn’t always true and there are vulnerabilities and limitations with airpower.  In addition to fire and maneuver as we have described warfare, airpower also has the ability for near immediate transportation.  Helicopters and rotary wing aircraft can quickly move troops and in some cases ground vehicles into combat.  Fix winged aircraft like C-130s, C-5s, and C-17s can drop troops and heavy vehicles into combat or land them close to the points where they are needed.  Fire and maneuver depends on maneuver to arrive at the point to attack or the point to defend.  Airpower can deliver this maneuver at speeds well above anything imaginable in the past.  In the future, we can expect this speed and capability to increase.

More slowly, we can expect the vulnerability and limitations of airpower to decrease.  The vulnerability and limitations of airpower are related to the visibility and weakness to aircraft.  From fixed wing to rotary wing aircraft, since they must fly, they are limited in the armor and protection that they can have and still carry stuff and weapons.  Additionally, you can see them in the air.  It isn’t necessarily true that what you can see you can kill, but depending on the weapons, you can try.  Aircraft carry armor and specific protection, but their speed, maneuver, and altitude provides significant protection from most ground weapons.  Specialty anti-aircraft weapons are another problem.  They are designed to shoot down aircraft.  Then rotary wing aircraft have their own problems.

Unlike fixed wing aircraft, rotary wing are limited by airspeed, altitude, and maneuver.  This means they must keep hidden and close to the ground and protection, and they must incorporate special defensive capabilities.  The advantages of rotary wing are also their chief vulnerability, and provide their main protection.  

In air warfare, we usually recognize three different levels of air conflict.  The first is total denial of freedom of operations.  This is where the enemy can shoot down almost every aircraft that enters the battlespace.  We saw this in the Cold War Era with mostly Soviet and Eastern Bloc nations.  North Vietnam had certain areas that had near total denial of freedom of operations for airpower. 

The second is partial denial of freedom of operations.  This is the normal state of most battle space with high end warfare.  Neither side has absolute air superiority, but can exercise air superiority over various parts of the battlespace based on the airpower and ground weapons that are present.

The third and most common for modern warfare is complete air superiority.  During the wars against terror in the middle east, the allies gained air superiority early by destroying anti-air weapons on the ground and the air forces of the enemies.  This allowed the allies unrestricted air operations against the enemies.  I’ll get to these tactics and strategies next.            

Then there is the air component in warfare.   

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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