30 November 2019, Writing
- part xx058 Writing a Novel, Characters and Pathos, Secrets as Revelation
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 29th 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.
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Cover
Proposal
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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 30th novel, working
title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th 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.
The novel is a revelation of the
protagonist. The telic flaw is connected
directly to the protagonist. The plot is
the revelation of the telic flaw. This
connects the protagonist to the plot and the telic flaw. The point is that to plan a novel, I simply
need to plan the revelation of the protagonist.
To accomplish this, you need to develop a protagonist.
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
I design a protagonist around the
initial scene. This is the way I write a
novel. This isn’t the only way to write
a novel, but it is the way I have discovered to write well-conceived and powerful
novels. This goes back to the initial
scene.
Above, I gave you four options for
developing the initial scene. Yesterday,
I told you to take two off. Authors have
used three and four, but they don’t produce the kinds of exciting initial
scenes we want. Here’s the list again.
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
Let’s plan to put one and two
together. Let’s also focus on the other
characteristics of the initial scene.
Notice that first, the initial scene must include the protagonist. This should be obvious, but let’s go down the
list. I’m looking at pathos and secrets.
Secrets are the building blocks of
novels. This is true of all novels. First, all novels are a revelation of the
protagonist. This is the basic feature
of all novels. A revelation presumes
there is a secret to be revealed, and this is so. The protagonist is an unknown until revealed
in the novel. Thus all novels are a
revelation of the secrets of the protagonist.
This is also true of the plot.
How do you develop secrets which you
plan to reveal in a novel? In the first
place, you really need to think about revelation, secrets, and when you intend
to reveal them in the novel. The revelation
of secrets is to readers, individuals, groups, or universal.
I wrote before, revelation to the
reader can be very powerful. Usually,
this is accomplished in the narrative, but you can also do it with dialog. This is usually a part of the protagonist
revelation. Thus, if I describe, show,
or reveal in dialog some secret of the protagonist, this is a revelation to the
reader. Usually, you want to emphasize
any important secret revelation. The
point is this, revelation to readers is usually a setting element. If you use it as a secret revelation, you
have turned the setting element into a creative element or a plot element. You might ask, what is the difference?
A setting element (characteristic of
a protagonist) is simply a description of some attribute of the protagonist or
other character. A setting element
becomes a creative element the moment it is used in the plot or dialog. For example, if I write in narrative the
protagonist is homeless—that is simply a setting element. I suggest not using juicy bits of information
like this. There is a better way.
If instead of just saying in
narrative, the protagonist is homeless, I show you the protagonist is homeless
in some way, I have made the secret that the protagonist is homeless to be a
plot element. It is also a creative
element. This means I have turned it
into a Chekov’s Gun, and at some point I must fire it. Some might say just telling in narrative, the
protagonist is homeless, makes it a Chekov’s Gun. I’ll agree with that.
I might have put the list of
revelation in the wrong order. I should
have mentioned, if I have the protagonist or another, mention in dialog, the protagonist
is homeless, that is a setting element, turned into a creative element. It is likely a plot element, and should be a
Chekov’s Gun. What does all this mean?
We are talking in the first place of
a revelation to the reader. Usually, in
showing that the protagonist is homeless, the writer has already brought the
homelessness of the protagonist as an element of the plot into the novel. Additionally, usually, the writer has revealed
the secret, the protagonist is homeless, to another character or characters,
but that’s the next stage of this discussion.
What I want to focus on is the secret as a plot element, creative
element, and Chekov’s Gun.
In each case, the expectation is
that the writer will use the fact the protagonist is homeless as an important part
of the plot. The revelation of the
secret is indeed a use of this information, but there is much more to this.
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
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
