Writing - part xx022 Writing a Novel, Secrets

25 October 2019, Writing - part xx022 Writing a Novel, Secrets

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.

I want to write a little about secrets.  Notice my fourth rule for writing.  This is an explicit direction.  If you do this well, you will write well because this little set of statements is what all writing is about.

The first to note is what you must show in the novel.  Every novel is the revelation of the protagonist.  The secret at the beginning of the novel is the protagonist.  In the novel, the author reveals the protagonist, the telic flaw resolution, and the plot.  Theoretically, these are all the same thing.  See the argument about the telic flaw above.  Ultimately, the novel is the revelation of the protagonist.  In reality, the telic flaw and the protagonist are one, and the plot and the protagonist are one.  This is especially true in Romantic Era novels—the era of writing I argue we are currently subjected to.

The rule 4a tells you what you must show and rule 4 shows you what you don’t show.  The secret or mystery of the novel is the protagonist.  From the beginning, everything about the protagonist is unknown and therefore a secret.  Your question should be, 4a tells me what to show, then what do I keep secret—what do I not show?

I think it is more important to dwell on what I must show.  You must show everything on the stage of the novel.  You design the novel to reveal the protagonist.  The revelation of the protagonist is driven by what you show in the scenes.  And let me add a level of complexity to this.  There are three basic types of secrets in a novel. 

The first type of secret is the ones that have not been revealed at all.  These are unknown to the reader or characters.  They might be known to the protagonist, but not yet revealed.

The second type of secret is the type that is known to the reader and possibly the protagonist, but not to anyone else.  You can include in this, secrets that are known by the reader but not by the protagonist.

The third type of secret are those that are revealed to the protagonist, readers, and other characters in the novel.  Management of these three levels of secret are what make a novel powerful.

For example, remember back to the two scenes I gave you from Lady Wishart.  The author knows all, but in the first scene, the police and the reader have no idea what Neel Rhosyn looks like.  The police learn just who is Neel Rhosyn and then who is Miss Rose.  They still don’t know much of anything about Miss Rose.  In fact, the readers don’t know much about her at this point.  The readers, at this point, only know as much about Miss Rose as the police.

Also, at this point, the police know about the murder at the Bank of London—Miss Rose and the readers don’t.  In this case, Miss Rose, the readers, and to a degree, the police learn about secrets at the Bank of London when Miss Rose solves the crime.

At the end of the two scenes, the readers and the police know much more about Miss Rose, but certainly not everything.  In fact, they both know enough to want to know much much more.  And so the novel continues.

The one thing that is not hidden is the setting and what Miss Rose and the other characters are doing.  What I mean is that the scenes reveal exactly what is happening.  The tension and release basically reveals all within the scenes.  We reveal through showing and not telling, thus if you aren’t ready to reveal it, don’t show it.

That, in a nutshell, is what to show, how you show, and how you keep secrets in writing a novel.  You might ask, how do you plan for all these secrets and revelation—let’s look back at the list that describes our protagonist.         

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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