Writing - part xx048 Writing a Novel, Characters and Pathos, Reflected Characters, Example

20 November 2019, Writing - part xx048 Writing a Novel, Characters and Pathos, Reflected Characters, Example

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. 

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 background and pathos.

Looking at the classic pathos developing scene from A Little Princess, the emotions of the characters are not very strong, but the reader is significantly affected by the circumstances and situation.  How can this be?  More specifically, what are the characteristics of a scene or of a characters that builds pathos?

A character is pathos building who through no fault of their own is:

1.     hungry

2.     sad

3.     abused

4.     an orphan

5.     penniless

6.     abandoned

7.     cold

8.     injured

9.     falsely convicted or accused

10.  desiring for information

11.  education

12.  to read

13.  a child

14.  a female

15.  beauty

16.  loss of a child

17.  general loss

18.  friendless

19.  alone

20.  afraid

21.  helpless

22.  isolated

The antagonist or less positively, the circumstances of the setting, produces suffering and misfortune in the protagonist and this results in pity and fear in the reader.  This is the formula for the development of pathos in any fictional work.

Overdramatic is hard to do, but perhaps it is possible.  The worst problem in most cases of melodrama is not any of these, but rather deus ex machina.

What we want to do, and what I attempt to do is produce pathos development that both men and women, boys and girls can appreciate because the desires and problems of the protagonist’s may not be their problems, but the readers can imagine the protagonist’s problems as their own.  For this reason, the reflected worldview provides some very powerful ammunition for the author.               

In my opinion, the created and the reflected worldview allows more room for the author to develop pathos.  Additionally, they allow the author more latitude to resolving the telic flaw. 

I’m addressing reflected worldview characters.  These are characters based on ideas in human thought, but not usually in actual human history.  I used the example of vampires.  You could add in ghosts, witches, dragons, fairies, mythical creatures, goddesses, gods, werewolves, and all.  In a real historical novel, you get to meet actual historical figures.  In a reflected worldview novel, you get to meet mythical and fictional creatures. 

So, here is an example of Fae characters from my novel, Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse.

Shiggy woke to her usual alarm.  Her head hurt.  She saw something white flutter near her face and unconsciously batted at it.  She heard a voice of indignation and felt a tweak on her nose, “Shiggy, get up.  You’re simply delaying the inevitable.”

Shiggy dug deeper into her bedclothes, “My head hurts.  I don’t want to get up yet.”

Shiggy felt small fists pelting her back, “Get up, Shiggy.”

“Angel, there is no reason to get so excited.  I’m getting up.”  Shiggy threw off the covers and sat up. 

Angel just missed being entrapped in them.  She rose up with greater outrage.

Shiggy stood, and at that moment, a black mote appeared inside near the window.  Ashly hovered for just a moment.  She gave a cry, “Shiggy, there’s a dangerous creature in your room.”

Shiggy didn’t have any time to get a word out.  Ashly blazed across the room and attacked.  Angel responded in kind.  Fists pummeled, fingers pinched and gouged, hands slapped, feet kicked, and hair was pulled.  All Shiggy could see was a flurry of black and white that turned to grey.  Every moment or so, the little ball would stop for a moment to reveal the fairies locked in their fight. 

Shiggy ran over to them and tried to separate them.  They were much stronger than they looked.  She finally gained a hold on both and tried to pull them apart, but that didn’t do any good.  Shiggy felt her hair poof out, then a shock surged through her body that shot her across the room.  The two fairies remained still clasped together in fight.  Bright and dark motes cascaded from their blows and began to fill the room.

Shiggy tried to speak to them, “Ashly, Angel, um…you need to stop fighting…um, Mrs. Calloway assigned Angel to me.”  Shiggy couldn’t tell if there was any decrease in the fighting.  She increased the volume of her appeal, “Angel, Ashly…stop right now.”

The little ball of floating battle continued to careen around the room.  Out of it, Shiggy could hear what sounded like cursing in some strange language.  Every now and then a dark or a bright flash of energy would elicit a scream from the fighting pair.  Shiggy couldn’t do anything and the clock was moving, she ran to the water closet, locked the door, and started her bath.  From there, she couldn’t hear much of the fighting anymore.

When Shiggy exited the water closet, Ashly hovered on one side of the room, and Angel on the other.  They glared at each other and tears of rage fell in silver tracks from their eyes.  Sorcha stood at the top of the stairs glowering at both of them.  She turned her scowl to Shiggy, “Really, Shiggy.  How long were you going to let them fight?”

“I tried to stop them, ma’am.”

“All you have to do is order them.  Say, in the name of your sovereign the Aos Si, Ashly and Angel stop your fighting this instant.”

“Is that how you did it?”

Sorcha rolled her eyes, “Now what is this all about.  Ashly why did you attack Angel.”

Ashly spat, “I did it before she could attack me.  Who let this creature into our house?”

Sorcha looked at her fingernails, “Actually, Mrs. Calloway invited her inside.  Angel is required to travel where Shiggy travels.”

Ashly cried in dismay, “Mrs. Calloway.  Why?  This is an Unseelie House and an Unseelie place.”

Sorcha snapped her fingers, “Mrs. Calloway gave Angel to Shiggy to provide her a conscious.”

Ashly grumbled, “I could provide her a conscious.”

Sorcha laughed, “I doubt Mrs. Calloway intended Shiggy to commit dark deeds or criminal mischief…”

Ashly cried, “Angel Trumpet is a poisonous flower.  She is only Seelie because of her association and not because of her character.”

Angel growled and launched herself at Ashly, “Taste my venom, Dark Ash.”

Ashly screamed.

Sorcha cried out, “In the name of the Aos Si, stop!  Now!”

Ashly and Angel halted mid-air.  They slowly floated back away from one another to their respective corners.

Sorcha tried to keep her voice calm and gentle, “Listen very carefully, Ashly.  Angel has been assigned to aid Shiggy in knowing when she is about to use bad judgement or do something wrong.”

Angry tears flew from Ashly’s face, “I want to do that.  I’m as fit as she.”

Shiggy held her head, “Could you all speak a little more quietly?  My head hurts.”

Ashly pointed, “There, Shiggy has a hangover.  Did Angel warn her about that?”

Sorcha puckered her lips, “That’s a great question.  Shiggy did get a bit snockered last night.  Did you warn her, Angel?”

Angel twitched her nose, “I thought she was safe enough.”

Ashly snarled, “She was with a man, and he carried her up to her room.”

Shiggy seemed visibly shaken, “Really?  He took me to my room.”

Ashly added, “I didn’t look any longer after that because I thought Shiggy might desire some privacy.”

Shiggy’s mouth opened wide, “I wasn’t in any shape to participate in anything like that.”

Ashly pounced, “There, Angel put Shiggy in danger of her virtue…you’re supposed to warn Shiggy about these things.  I told you she’s poisonous, and she has bad judgement.  She has always had bad judgement.  She should have warned Shiggy about drinking too much while with a man, and she should have warned Shiggy about a man in her room.  Plus, he undressed Shiggy before.”

Sorcha added, “I told him he could do it again.”

Shiggy held her towel closer, “He undressed me?”

Sorcha acted bored, “The time you barfed up most of your insides and collapsed in the water closet.  I couldn’t carry you myself, and you were a mess.  I called Captain Cross and Major Easom to help.”

Shiggy blushed from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes and back again.

Ashly flitted toward Shiggy, “I insist that I be allowed to help as Shiggy’s conscious.”

Sorcha smiled, “You may do so.”

Angel gave a yell, “That’s my job.”

Sorcha put out a placating hand, “Ashly’s job is the protection of Sherwood House.  She is bound to it.  She can’t leave it, and she can’t enter where she was not invited.  Angel has been assigned to protect Shiggy.  Angel, you will only have to deal with Ashly when you are here and inside the general areas of the house.”

Ashly answered with some bitterness, “Angel won’t be able to leave the UK.”

Angel snarked, “But I can leave Sherwood House.”

Ashly settled on Shiggy’s right shoulder.  Angel settled on Shiggy’s left shoulder.  They glared at each other.

Sorcha didn’t allow a smile to touch her lips, “That’s better.  Shiggy today dress for training.  Mini and a loose blouse.  Sensual underclothing, weapons, and stiletto heels.  Hair and makeup to a tee.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Angel and Ashly were not very helpful.  Angel wanted Shiggy to wear light clothing.  Ashly only wanted dark clothing.  Angel wanted bright makeup.  Ashly wanted dark makeup.  Shiggy just made her own decisions.  None of it pleased either of the two fae. 

Shiggy came down to the kitchen wearing a harried expression.  Ashly and Angel still sat on her shoulders.  Shiggy put on her apron.

The point of this example is to show the entertainment possible with a conflict between the Seelie and the Unseelie Fae.  One of the storylines in this novel is all about the Fae especially the conflict between the Seelie and the Unseelie. 

The fun part is the obvious differences and the not so obvious differences between the two—that is Ashly and Angel.  There is much more to them and to this conflict.  Perhaps a little more example might be appropriate.       

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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