Writing - part xx015 Writing a Novel, Plot and Scene Notes

18 October 2019, Writing - part xx015 Writing a Novel, Plot and Scene Notes

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

Perhaps I should go back and look again at the initial scene—maybe, I’ll cover that again as part of looking at the rising action.  The reason is that I’m writing a rising action in a novel right now.

That gets us back to the protagonist—complexity makes the protagonist and the telic flaw one and the same. 

I wrote that I don’t use outlines, and I told you I would tell you what I use instead of an outline, but I forgot to tell you.  So let’s look at that today.  This is all related to the protagonist and the telic flaw.

If you remember, a novel is always the revelation of the protagonist, and the telic flaw is the problem that must be resolved by the protagonist in the novel.  We can therefore plan our novel in two ways.  There appears to be two means, but there is really only one.  We’ll see.

When I write you develop your protagonist, you write notes about:

1.     Name

2.     Background

3.     Education

4.     Appearance

5.     Work

6.     Wealth

7.     Skills

8.     Mind

9.     Likes

10.  Dislikes

11.  Opinions

12.  Honor

13.  Life

14.  Thoughts

15.  Telic flaw

Now that we have tied the telic flaw to the protagonist—to whatever degree you have designed it, the point is to write, plan, or outline a plan for the revelation of the telic flaw resolution.  

I place my notes about the characters, study, places, and descriptions in a separate file.  This is convenient for me, but you could use multiple files if you needed to.  The point is to place the notes that apply to the entire novel where they are available.  Thus, I mentioned before, if I need to know how I described a character, I can immediately find my notes on them.  Further, perhaps more importantly, I can find out how I designed the temperament and abilities of the character.  I rarely forget how a character looks, I commonly forget some of the details of the character’s qualities.  Usually, I design characters who are very unique from one another—notes help keep this clear.   

The notes for the scenes and plot development are different.  As I write a scene, it has an output which becomes the input for the next scene.  The question is the next scene.  I have an idea where my overall plot is moving—it must move to the telic flaw resolution.  The trick is to develop each scene toward that resolution while revealing the protagonist, providing an unexpected but logical and in retrospect, predictable resolution, and to end up at around 100,000 words.  All of these are critical.

You might ask, why 100,000 words?  Well, some publishers want fewer, but most are looking for full length novels at somewhere around 100,000 words.  It is possible to cut a novel if necessary.  It is very difficult to add to a cohesive novel.  100,000 is just about right.  Get too big and publishers won’t touch it (unless you are a bestselling author).  Get too short, and many publishers won’t waste their time with it.  As a reader, a short novel just doesn’t seem like the proper value for the effort.  Publishers know this.  They know readers are looking for a certain length and feel of novel.  Usually, the only markets that are looking for much shorter than 100,000 words are the children’s, specialty, and young adult publishers.  Even then, bestselling young adult novels may reach into the 100,000 word range.

In any case, your goal should be somewhere around 100,000 words.  I’ve discovered that I can easily reach a novel of this size, and meet all my other criteria by writing using scene development.  I’ve also mentioned that I aim for twenty chapters of about 5,000 words each.  Using this criteria and this goal, it isn’t difficult to determine where I am in the development of a novel.  I aim for the goal of chapters, but not scenes.

The number of scenes in a novel are not material.  You shouldn’t have too many nor too few.  The criteria for scenes has nothing to do with the number of words—a scene must be complete.  Thus, you must write from the input to the output with a tension and release in the scene.  A scene must have some degree of tension development and release.  This is what my scene and plot notes are all about.

I know the end—it must be the telic flaw resolution.  I know generally what my characters must do to get to the resolution.  The point is to get from the initial to the final scene, each scene filled with entertaining tension and release, and complete the resolution.  The means to do this is to craft each scene.

The means is to craft each scene.  The goal is the telic flaw resolution.  The way to craft a scene is to take the output from the previous scene, use that as the input, predict or plan the output of the scene, and then plan the tension and release development (the contents of the scene) that goes from the input to the output.  This is as complex as it sounds.  This is what I will attempt to explain.   

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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