31 May 2020, Writing - part xx241
Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Nikita Protania
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.
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
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, science, 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.
So, modern characters must look like
the reader’s impression of the protagonist.
This is an interesting problem as culture and society change as does the
impression of the readers.
Here is the list of characteristics
for great protagonists (this is based on the concept of a Romantic protagonist):
1.
Hero, independent, and
individualistic – characters who truly risk their lives for others.
2.
From the common ilk – as opposed to
the nobility and wealth.
3.
Educated – both seeking education
and study and loving to read and learn.
4.
Focus on the inner world of the protagonist
– the mind and motivation of the protagonist.
5.
Celebration of nature, beauty, and
imagination – the expression of the mind of the protagonist.
6.
Rejection of industrialization and
social convention – from urban to rural.
7.
Idealization of woman, children, and
rural life.
8.
Inclusion of supernatural or
mythological elements.
9.
Inclusion of historical elements.
10. Frequent use of personification.
11. Emphasis on individual experience of the sublime.
12. Discovery and skills—the protagonist finds his or her
special skills and abilities and uses them to resolve the telic flaw.
13. The readers agree with the mind (thoughts and decisions) of
the protagonist
I added the last statement, but
really this last statement is a direct reflection of 4, 11, and 12.
My ultimate point is that first I
develop a great protagonist and the plot and theme of the novel I want to write
comes directly out of that protagonist.
Every great protagonist comes with his or her own telic flaw.
Yesterday, I gave you an example of
Azure Rose from my novel, Blue Rose:
Enchantment and the Detective. I
showed how she was a Romantic protagonist and how she herself resulted in a
plot and theme for the novel. In other
words, I didn’t develop a plot or a theme first, I developed a great
protagonist and found the telic flaw, plot, and theme from her revelation. Azure Rose came with a plot and a theme. I’ve done this before and at the risk of
repeating myself, I’ll do this a couple of more times or more. Here is a list of my completed novels and
protagonists:
A Season of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox III), published, Shawn du Locke
The Fox’s Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox II), published, Devon Rathenberg
The End of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox I), published, John-Mark
Antebellum,
not published, Heather Sybil Roberts
Aegypt, published,
Paul Bolong
Centurion,
published, Centurion Abenadar
Athelstan Cying,
not published, Den Protania
Twilight Lamb,
not published, Den Protania
Regia Anglorum,
not published, Nikita Protania
The Second Mission,
published, Alan Fisher
Sister of Light,
not published, Leora Bolang
Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth, not published, Angela Matheson
Sister of Darkness,
not published, Leora Bolang
Shadow of Darkness,
not published, Lumière Bolang
Shadow of Light,
not published, Lumière Bolang
Children of Light and Darkness, not published, Kathrin McClellan
Warrior of Light,
not published, Daniel Long
Shadowed Vale,
not published, Nikita Protania
Warrior of Darkness,
not published, Klava Calloway
Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden, not published, Byron Macintyre
Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon, not published, Aksinya
Khione: Enchantment and the Fox, not published, Khione
Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire, not published, George Mardling
Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer, not published, Lilly
Escape from Freedom,
not published, Scott Phillips
Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si, not published, Essie
Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse, not published, Shiggy
Deirdre: Enchantment and the School, not published, Deirdre Calloway
Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective, not published, Azure Rose
Regia Anglorum,
is currently not published. The
protagonist of this novel is Nikita Protania.
Nikita Protania is an excellent an example of how a protagonist defines
the telic flaw, plot, and theme. Although
Nikita Protania is one of my early protagonists, she was crafted before the
novel.
Nikita Protania was developed from
the protagonist of a peer also published by my regular publisher—the one who
went out of business. I can’t remember
the title of the novel, but it featured an abused ten year old girl who had to
take care of herself and her elderly neighbor.
What was intriguing to me was the idea of a girl on the streets who was
forced to take care of herself—so I developed the character of Nikita Protania.
Nikita Protania is a science fiction
protagonist. She is a highly sensitive psyonic
who is very intellectual. She seeks
anything she can to read and lives on the streets of El Rashad. Nikita’s mother was a dancer in the carnival
on El Rashad, and her father was a Free Trader from the trading
spaceships. Nikita Protania has learned
the work of flying a space shuttle by psionically listening to the
conversations and minds of the shuttle pilots who fly into the space port on El
Rashad. She is a castoff child who uses
her skills to stay away from creepers and nappers who take the street children
to use in carnival. I took a protagonist
idea and turned it into an entirely different science fiction protagonist. My character is very different from my writer
friend, but the basis came from another character and novel. This is the use of creativity to extrapolate the
new. My character isn’t a copy, but an enhancement—a
character developed for a different environment, time, and experience. Let’s look at Nikita Protania as a Romantic
protagonist.
Nikita Protania is a born hero. She would love to be a real hero, but life
has made that nearly impossible. She
lives in an environment that squashes heroes, but still she could be one in the
right circumstances. She is highly
independent and individualistic. She is born
into psyonics and born of a Free Trader background, so in the Human Universe,
this isn’t common, but she is zero at the beginning and eventually, she returns
to the Free Trader environment where she is considered a “dirt eater” since she
came from a planet. Nikita Protania is
educated, but not educated sufficiency for what she needs to do as a Free
Trader. The best education on a planet
can’t teach astrogation and running a spaceship—although I did write that Nikita
Protania did learn how to run a shuttle.
Education is a major focus of the novel, as Nikita Protania goes to
school on the Free Trader ship that takes her in.
The inner world of the protagonist, the
mind and motivation of the protagonist, is the main part of this story about Nikita
Protania. I didn’t mention the abuse,
isolation, and neglect she faced. The
novel is about her recovery and redemption from all of this. You see a celebration of nature, beauty, and
imagination in the Free Trader ships and the worlds of the novel. There isn’t a rejection of industrialization
and the urban as much as an assimilation of the rural into the urban and
industrialized. The idealization of woman,
children, and rural life comes out of the Free Traders, the protagonist, and
the subject matter.
This is a science fiction
novel. There are no supernatural or
mythological elements, and there are no historical elements unless you count
the history from my other science fiction novels. The individual experience of the sublime for Nikita
Protania is mental and physical redemption.
This is the classic science fiction theme mode.
The telic flaw of the novel is the
physical redemption of Nikita Protania.
She needs to be accepted and successful in a Free Trader spaceship. The plot comes out of this telic flaw. In the novel, she is discovered by Free
Traders and convinced to join their ship.
The theme, I already mentioned, Nikita Protania seeks physical and
mental redemption—the classic science fiction theme.
I hope you can see that the entire
plot, telic flaw, and theme came out of the development of this character. This is exactly what I mean when I write that
the plot, theme, and telic flaw comes directly out of the protagonist.
Ultimately, the point is that we
need to keep our readers content and pleased with our characters while
presenting the revelation of the protagonist and the plot.
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
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