Writing - part xx140 Writing a Novel, Highly Visual

20 February 2020, Writing - part xx140 Writing a Novel, Highly Visual

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

Ideas.  We need ideas.  Ideas allow us to figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.  Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus.  We need to cultivate ideas. 

1.     Read novels. 

2.     Fill your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about. 

3.     Figure out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.

4.     Study.

5.     Teach. 

6.     Make the catharsis. 

7.     Write.

The development of ideas is based on study and research, but it is also based on creativity.  Creativity is the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, schience, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.

If we have filled our mind with all kinds of information and ideas, we are ready to become creative.  Creativity means the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  Literally, we are seeing the world in a new way, or actually, we are seeing some part of the world in a new way.  Let’s look at an example.

The writer must create like an artist with the manipulation of writing (language) in the world through hard work to present something that is not natural, common, or previously existing in the world, and adds beauty to the world and humanity.

Art must add beauty (entertainment) to the world and humanity.  It must be entertaining or it isn’t fiction.  There are characteristics that make writing entertaining.  Here’s a list from Jeff Lyons at https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/write-better-the-7-qualities-of-high-concept-stories

1. High level of entertainment value

2. High degree of originality

3. Born from a “what if” question

4. Highly visual

5. Clear emotional focus

6. Inclusion of some truly unique element

7. Mass audience appeal (to a broad general audience, or a large niche market).

I have no idea what a high concept story is.  I’m not into high concept stories, I’m into fiction that is entertaining—and sellable.  So let’s redefine “high concept” as sellable, to readers and to publishers.  I’ll go for that.  With apologies to Jeff, let me look at this list because I agree with his list.  Let’s see how this looks.

Number four, highly visual.  Here’s what Jeff writes:

High-concept stories have a visual quality about them that is palpable. When you read or hear about a high-concept story, your mind starts conjuring images and you can see the story unfold. High-concept books tend to make for great film adaptations, and this is why. Books with cinematic imagery are almost always high-concept stories.

Highly visual means appropriate settings and description.  Settings and descriptions is perhaps the most egregious problem with most modern writers and writing.  In fact, I’m not certain how some of novels get published with such incomplete description and settings. 

Some authors are excellent at description and setting, but most are very poor.  Arlo Guthrie Jr., one of the greatest modern authors wrote the Field Guide to Fiction Writing.  If you don’t have a copy of this book, but need to get one.  My mentor, Roz Young, recommended the book to me.  In the era before Amazon, finding an out of print book like this was difficult.  I made a copy of the one Roz had. 

Arlo Guthrie’s fiction is also noteworthy both for its clarity of structure (setting and description) and its subject matter (early American mountain men).  A side note, Guthrie properly saw the great American expansion was conducted first by the mountain man and not the cowboy or the settler.  This was a forgotten part or American history before Guthrie gave it a face in his novels.  We realize that all Guthrie was doing is channeling Fennimore Cooper—the original American writer.  Cooper’s protagonist was also a mountain man, Natty Bumpo.  Funny how literature comes back around to the truth of history.

In any case, Guthrie and Cooper are wonderful at settings and descriptions.  Here’s what Guthrie advises.  A writer should use at least 300 words to describe every setting and major character that is introduced.  The author should use 100 words for a miner setting or minor character when they are introduced.  This is a minimum, but I’ll add, don’t use more than 500 words for any character or setting.  More than 500 just becomes tedious.  My experience with most authors is they don’t use five words to describe a setting or character.  This ruins your writing. 

Highly visual means the reader has enough words to visualize the settings and characters.  This means 300 and 100 words of description.  What it means functionally is that the author provides sufficient description for the reader to see the setting and characters as described by the author in their imagination.  Too few words means the reader can’t visualize the characters or settings.  Too many words means the imagination of the reader wasn’t properly engaged.  As I noted from Guthrie, 300 words is about perfect.  This allows the imagination of the reader to engage and visualize the settings and characters.  Too many provides too much direction.  Too little leave the reader’s imagination improperly engaged. 

This also has relation to suspension of disbelief.  Not enough words prevents the reader from entering the suspension of disbelief.  Too many words drives the reader out of a suspension of disbelief.

Whatever you do, follow Arlo Guthrie’s advice: use 300 words for major characters and settings and 100 words for minor characters and settings.   

Let’s look at the other suggestions and see how we can use them to develop entertaining writing.

The beginning of creativity is study and effort.  We can use this to extrapolate to creativity.  In addition, we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.    

    

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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