Writing - part xx224 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Essie

14 May 2020, Writing - part xx224 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Essie

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 21^st 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, 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, David 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, Pearce Wimund

Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire, not published, George Mardling

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer, not published, Dane Vale

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

Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si, is currently not published.  The protagonist is Essie.  I developed Essie as an experiment for my blog.  Let’s look at Essie and see how the development of the protagonist resulted in a telic flaw, a plot, and a theme.

My desire was to develop an initial pathos building character and protagonist.  Essie is just that.  We meet Essie as a naked wild girl who is raiding pantries for meat.  She’s put the constable and the shire on edge.  Mrs. Lyons, who is an interesting character on her own, captures the feral girl in her kitchen.  Essie initially doesn’t speak, has no clothing, appears abused, and doesn’t seem to understand human society at all.  She is the classic pathos building protagonist: poor, girl, hungry, needy, abused—you can’t get any better than that.  Essie is much more than that.

Mrs. Lyons works diligently to figure out Essie.  She and we know inherently there is much more about Essie than appearances tell us.  We find that Essie was captured at the orders of Ceridwen, the goddess of the Gaelic and Celtic lands.  She was held a captive for a long time.  We also discover that she is a sovereign of the Fae creatures and an equal of Ceridwen.  Ceridwen was tricked by the Fae into capturing Essie.  The reason was that Essie is plain, uneducated, unsophisticated, and represents the world and the powers of the world that bind the Fae in their place.  This gets complicated, but we discover through the novel that Essie is a messiah-like being to the Fae, and they hate her for it.  Woo, this is a complex character, and the revelation of the novel is all about her.  Now, to see how she fits in the Romantic model.

Essie is indeed a great hero.  She is willing and has been consistently willing to give her life and love to help her people and humans.  She is an entirely independent and individualistic person—alone and usually unfriended in the world.  Essie is not from the common ilk.  She is created as pathos building so she is impoverished, abused, unaggressive (in some ways), a girl, and like a child in some ways.  Essie is not educated but she is seeking to learn—this is classic in a Romantic protagonist. 

We see the inner world of Essie only through her actions.  It is important, but we only see glimpses.  The celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination should be obvious.  Essie is a force of nature embodied in the Fae world.  The urban to the rural is also fixed in the plot and the scenes.  There is also a more modern theme of bringing the rural into the urban.  The idealization of women, children, and the rural are obvious in Essie also.  The inclusion of supernatural and mythical elements are also obvious—Essie is a supernatural and mythical creature.  The historical elements are also evident.  Personification is also evident—Essie represents a being who represents the force of the world within the supernatural. 

Most important in the novel is Essie’s experience of the sublime.  You would think that Essie as a representation of a Fae messiah would not need any redemption, but Essie both represents redemption to the Fae and desires reconciliation with Ceridwen and the Fae.  This produces a very powerful theme.  And here we come to the plot. 

Essie’s discovery of her skills and her education are what the plot is all about.  She discovers she has amazing musical skills—it is part of her essence.  In some ways this part of discovery develops the entire rest of the novel.  This is exactly the type of novels I like—the protagonist discovers herself and the reader discovers the protagonist. 

We see in Essie the telic flaw comes directly out of her existence.  She is held captive and needs to be reconciled to Ceridwen and the world.  The plot leads to the discovery of her skills and her education.  Finally, the theme is connected directly to this—Essie must find reconciliation with herself, her subjects, and her sovereign (Ceridwen). 

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  

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