Writing - part xx021 Writing a Novel, Writing the Tension and Release

24 October 2019, Writing - part xx021 Writing a Novel, Writing the Tension and Release

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.  

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.

How do you craft a scene?  First, you must start with 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

 

The tension and release are what make the scene.  What I mean is this, you can just write a scene, but a scene is like a novel.  In a novel, we have the initial scene which leads into the rising action to the climax.  A novel further has a falling action and a dénouement. 

Once you have an idea or have developed the idea for the tension and release of the scene, now is the time to write the scene.  The most important point is this—every scene must be entertaining.  Every scene should also be exciting.  Then there are my four plus one basic rules for 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.

So then, how do we write the tension and the release?  Let’s start with the scene.  You must start with the scene input.  If it is the initial scene, you must start with the setting.  These statements are practically the same.  The initial scene starts with a setting.  The scenes of the rising action start with the setting demanded by the output of the previous scene.  For example, if in the previous scene, the characters are going to explore a castle, then the setting of the next scene is most likely a castle.  You don’t have to be this linear.  Your next scene might be on the way to the castle.  However you situate your next scene, you must be going to explore a castle.  Do you see how this makes the initial writing of the scene easy?  All I have to do at first is set the scene.

Setting the scene means placing the characters and creative elements on the stage of the novel.  Look at each scene as if it is a scene in a play.  When the curtain rises, what do you see on the stage?  The scene is just like this.  What does the reader see when the curtain of the scene rises. 

Look at basic rule 4a above: show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.  The reason for 4a is to show you that the writer is never playing I’ve got a secret with the physical world of the setting of the novel.  Rule 4 shows that there are all kinds of secrets in novels.  These secrets are some of the plot elements which make up the tension and release, and many of these secrets may or may not be revealed.

Let me refer back to my examples from Lady Wishart: Enchantment and the Detective.  In the examples I gave you, there are numerous secrets in play.  The most glaring is just who is this Miss Rose.  The second is why she is doing what she is doing—that is, how can she be a supernatural detective?  The example of solving the crime begs this question.  She is supposed to be a supernatural detective, but the result of the solution was anything be a supernatural crime.  These are all secrets about the protagonist that will be revealed in the novel.  I might write, that must be revealed in the novel because these are fundamental to the novel and to the character.  There are other secrets which might not be revealed.

Secrets or the revelation of secrets are the plot elements that build tension and then through revelation give a release to the scene.  Some are quick and decisive like the revelation of the crime in the second scene example.  Others are a slow burn like the first scene example. 

In the first scene example, the revelation of the presence and existence of Miss Rose occurs early in the scene.  This is not the release in the scene, but it is a fun part of the revelation.  It also takes a setting element, Miss Rose, and turns that setting element into a creative element, also Miss Rose.  This is also an example of a Chekov’s Gun. 

When I set the scene, I wrote about the setting elements on the stage of the scene.  Miss Rose happened to be one of those setting elements.  The reader knows the author doesn’t just mention a setting element like that without the purpose of making such an element a creative element in the scene and the novel.  What I have done is to create an expectation in the reader.  The reader may or may not suppose the woman in white is Neel Rhosyn.  The moment it is revealed to Chief Inspector La Cross that Neel Rhosyn means Blue Rose in Welsh, the reader, like the Chief Inspector, has a sudden flash of appreciation that they too could have figured out this little puzzle with that information.  This is what we call managing the expectation of the reader by providing the unexpected.  It’s just revealing secrets.  Some are small and some are large, but this is the way books are properly written. 

We’ll look at more on how to write the tension and release.  

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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