28 March 2021, Writing - part xx542 Writing a Novel, Turning the Telic Flaw into Camaraderie Plots
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.
|
|
|
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 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.
I’ve worked through creativity and
the protagonist. The ultimate point is
that if you properly develop your protagonist, you have created your
novel. This moves us on to plots and
initial scenes. As I noted, if you have
a protagonist, you have a novel. The
reason is that a protagonist comes with a telic flaw, and a telic flaw provides
a plot and theme. If you have a
protagonist, that gives you a telic flaw, a plot, and a theme. I will also argue this gives you an initial scene
as well.
So, we worked extensively on the
protagonist. I gave you many examples
great, bad, and average. Most of these
were from classics, but I also used my own novels and protagonists as
examples. Here’s my plan.
1.
The protagonist comes with a telic
flaw – the telic flaw isn’t necessarily a flaw in the protagonist, but rather a
flaw in the world of the protagonist that only the Romantic protagonist can
resolve.
2.
The telic flaw determines the plot.
3.
The telic flaw determines the theme.
4.
The telic flaw and the protagonist
determines the initial scene.
5.
The protagonist and the telic flaw
determines the initial setting.
6.
Plot examples from great classic
plots.
7.
Plot examples from mediocre classic plots.
8.
Plot examples from my novels.
9.
Creativity and the telic flaw and
plots.
10. Writer’s block as a problem of continuing the plot.
Every great or good protagonist
comes with their own telic flaw. I
showed how this worked with my own writing and novels. Let’s go over it in terms of the plot.
This is all about the telic
flaw. Every protagonist and every novel
must come with a telic flaw. They are
the same telic flaw. That telic flaw can
be external, internal or both.
We found that a self-discovery telic
flaw or a personal success telic flaw can potentially take a generic plot. We should be able to get an idea for the plot
purely from the protagonist, telic flaw and setting. All of these are interlaced and bring us our
plot.
For a great plot, the resolution of
the telic flaw has to be a surprise to the protagonist and to the reader. This is both the measure and the goal. As I noted before, for a great plot, the
author needs to make the telic flaw resolution appear to be impossible, but
then it happens. There is much more to
this. Here’s the list of plots I’ve
looked at already:
Redemption: the protagonist must make an internal or external
change to resolve the telic flaw. This is the major style of most great modern
plots.
Revelation: the novel reveals portions of the life,
experiences, and ideas of the protagonist in a cohesive and serial fashion from
the initial scene to the climax and telic flaw resolution.
Achievement: the novel is characterized by a goal that the
protagonist must achieve to resolve the telic flaw.
I evaluated the list of plots and
categorized them according to the following scale:
Overall (o) – These
are the three overall plots we defined above: redemption, achievement, and
revelation.
Achievement (a)
– There are plots that fall under the idea of the achievement plot.
Quality (q) – These are plots based on a personal or character
quality.
Setting (s) – These are plots based on a setting.
Item (i) – These are plots based on an item.
All of the plots we looked at fall
into one of these five. Let’s do that:
Overall (o)
1.
Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 –
49%
2.
Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60%
3.
Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43
– 73%
Achievement (a)
1.
Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e –
51%
2.
Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e,
45 – 46%
3.
Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%
4.
Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%
5.
Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%
6.
Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%
7.
Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%
8.
Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25%
9.
Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%
10. Legal (a) – 5 – 4%
11. Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%
12. Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%
13. Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%
14. Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4%
15. Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%
16. Escape (a) – 1ie, 23
– 21%
17. Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%
18. Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%
Quality (q)
1.
Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%
2.
Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%
3.
Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei,
21 – 20%
4.
Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%
5.
Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%
6.
Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%
7.
Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e,
26 – 25%
8.
Psychological (q) –1i, 45 – 41%
9.
Magic (q) – 8 – 7%
10. Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%
11. Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%
12. Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%
13. Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%
14. Satire (q) – 10 – 9%
15. Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%
16. Curse (q) – 4 – 4%
17. Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%
18. Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%
Setting (s)
1.
End of the World (s) – 3 – 3%
2.
War (s) – 20 – 18%
3.
Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%
4.
Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%
5.
Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%
6.
Horror (s) – 15 – 13%
7.
Children (s) – 24 – 21%
8.
Historical (s) – 19 – 17%
9.
School (s) – 11 – 10%
10. Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%
11. Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%
12. Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%
13. Prison (s) – 2 – 2%
Item (i)
1.
Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%
Let’s start with the idea of an internal and external telic
flaw. Then let’s provide it a
wrapper. The wrapper is the plot.
If we have a protagonist, we have a
telic flaw. In fact, we should have an
internal and an external telic flaw. We
want to take the telic flaw and turn it into an overall plot and plots.
In looking at the classics and most
specifically, the plots in the classics, it became obvious that every novel
contains more than one plot. In fact,
all novels contain many plots that support the telic flaw resolution. This was unexpected for me. I just presumed that each novel just had a
plot, but evaluation of plots in a novel showed us this just wasn’t true. What is true is there should be only one
telic flaw in a novel and the various plots all work together to resolve the
telic flaw. We also saw that there can
be an internal and external telic flaw.
These are usually resolved in the same climax.
I showed and charted the various
plots we find in the first Harry Potty novel.
These are listed below. All of
these plot types and plots result in the resolution of the telic flaw of the
first Harry Potty novel.
In Harry Potty you have these plots:
Overall (o)
1.
Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 –
49% - yeap, Harry must change and learn about wizarding or something.
2.
Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60% -
yeap, the whole wizarding world
3.
Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43
– 73% - yeap, Harry must defeat Voldermort.
Achievement (a)
1.
Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e –
51% - yeap, Harry has to solve some mysteries
2.
Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e,
45 – 46% - yeap, presumed since Voldermort murdered Harry’s parents
3.
Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26% - yeap,
Harry is a hero from supposed zero (not a very good one)
4.
Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37% - yeap,
very slight.
5.
Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23% -
yeap, presumed.
6.
Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54% -
yeap, all about magic.
7.
Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13% -
yeap, coming of age is self-discovery
8.
Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10% - yeap,
the end climax is based in the use of magic, chess thinking, riding a broom,
and figuring out what the philosopher’s stone can do.
9.
Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23% -
yeap, that’s magic.
10. Secrets (a) – 21 – 19% - yeap, everybody has a secret in the
wizard world
Quality (q)
1.
Messiah (q) – 10 – 9% - yeap, Harry
is a messiah.
2.
Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43% -
yeap, Longshanks gets betrayed and that turns the success of Griffindor.
3.
Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e,
26 – 25% - yeap, Harry was born to be the messiah.
4.
Magic (q) – 8 – 7% - yeap, it’s all
about magic.
5.
Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17% - yeap,
with his friends.
6.
Curse (q) – 4 – 4% - yeap, the mark
and his power over Voldermort.
7.
Mentor (q) – 12 – 11% - kinda, you
get this more in the other novels, but Harry has his mentors throughout.
Setting (s)
1.
War (s) – 20 – 18% - yeap,
Voldermort is at war with the rest of the wizard world.
2.
Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56% - yeap,
some travel to Hogswart and around.
3.
Horror (s) – 15 – 13% - kinda, it’s
low grade, but supposed to excite.
4.
Children (s) – 24 – 21% - obviously
5.
School (s) – 11 – 10% - duh
6.
Parallel (s) – 4 – 4% - yeap, with
the real world. This is a reflected
worldview.
7.
Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4% - yeap,
there ain’t no real magic out there.
Item (i)
Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42% - yeap,
the broom, the philosopher’s stone, the mirror
Here’s the question for us as
authors. If we have a protagonist with
his or her telic flaw (the telic flaw of the novel) can we plot shop to help
write and improve our novel? You’d think
the answer should be a resounding yes.
The actual answer is a resounding meh.
Most of the time, the protagonist and the setting determines large
portions of the plots. This is really
important to understand. Let’s continue on
with Harry Potty looking at the quality plots.
Quality (q)
1.
Messiah (q) – 10 – 9% - yeap, Harry
is a messiah.
2.
Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43% -
yeap, Longshanks gets betrayed and that turns the success of Griffindor.
3.
Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e,
26 – 25% - yeap, Harry was born to be the messiah.
4.
Magic (q) – 8 – 7% - yeap, it’s all
about magic.
5.
Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17% - yeap,
with his friends.
6.
Curse (q) – 4 – 4% - yeap, the mark
and his power over Voldermort.
7.
Mentor (q) – 12 – 11% - kinda, you
get this more in the other novels, but Harry has his mentors throughout.
Now, we might be getting
somewhere. We may be able to choose
quality plots. Perhaps not, but I think
there is some scope here that the achievement plots didn’t. Let’s look at the camaraderie plot.
What is Harry Potty without his friends? The answer is nothing. Well not quite nothing, but the entire set of
novels is set up as a youthful gathering of students fighting the dark lord,
and I don’t mean Saurumon (or whatever his name is).
The reality is that because Harry
Potty is such a poor Romantic protagonist, he can’t really succeed without his
buddies, but this is a plot add. I
wouldn’t do it, but Harry could have been as independent as Voldermort, Rowling
just didn’t write him that way. Harry
has a great hole that is filled unfortunately by his friends. This is a great add, but also detracts from
the real potential in the novel.
I’m admittedly not a bestselling
author, but here’s what I would do with a Harry Potty type protagonist. First, the camaraderie plot is an excellent
add. I’d definitely put it in. I’d have Harry with as many friends or even
more friends than he currently has. For
example, I don’t buy the everyone who is a Slythern is an antagonist
pitch. I think that is juvenile and
stupid. I also don’t buy the, everyone
who is in Griffindor is a good guy. That’s
equally juvenile. Plus, where are the
other houses and their people. Oh, Harry
gets to snog with one of them, but they are just add-ons and not really setting
elements in the plot.
So first, we need a protagonist helper. Hermione would have made a great protagonist’s
helper. Harry needed a real friend and comrade
not just friends. He needed someone he
could speak to and express his deepest needs, wants, and desires. Right now, he doesn’t even have drinking
partners. In any case, a protagonist’s
helper would vastly improve Harry Potty.
Even if he had a familiar who he kept secret but who was his sounding
board, that would be much better than the current state of affairs.
Second, my Harry would make friends
in Slythern. Why not—the true Romantic protagonist
appeals to not everyone, but is a natural leader. Or at least, a reluctant and accepted
leader. The true Romantic protagonist is
the person who reluctantly steps up to lead when no one else will, but whom
everyone knows is the best leader. This
never happens in real life.
Comrades support each other in every
way. In many ways they balance out each
other’s faults and add to each other’s strengths. We see exactly this in the first Harry Potty
novel. This might be the strongest use
of the camaraderie plot in the novels. In
the end, Ron’s unexpected chess skills, Hermione’s magic skills, and Harry’s
quiddich (broom) skills save the day.
What is interesting is that although
Hermione continues as the greatest witch of her age, we don’t hear anything
more about Ron and chess. Ron turns
right back into the bumbler scholarship student—wait every student at Hogwarts
is on scholarship. This is a side point,
but in Victorian literature, the poor scholarship student was denounced for
poverty and lack of aristocratic skills.
This changed with the advent of the Romantic Era or really the Romantic
protagonist. Then the scholarship
student was constantly beating and excelling the nobility. In Harry Potty, we get a funny flip back to
the Victorian. Ron is a nose picker with
few noble skills. Everyone is at Hogwarts
on scholarship. No one can lord wealth
over another because class position is all that matters, but then it doesn’t. In Harry Potty, we never really hear about
class ratings or position. This would be
the power of the Romantic and common, the scholarship and poor student who excels
the wealthy aristocrats. What a waste of
creative elements in the plots of Harry Potty.
I hope you see how the mudblood
attacks against, Hermione, for example, would be entirely blunted by her class
standing. Perhaps this couldn’t become a
creative element in the novels because Rowling knew it would ruin the power of
the Slythern students. Who knows? I just say use this type of creative element
in the Romantic protagonist and setting and plot to empower the entertainment
potential in your novels. If you want
comrades don’t forget the power of the Romantic is the common and the skills of
the common over blood will out. Whoops,
that might have messed up Harry’s messiah thing too.
In the end, we can figure out what
makes a work have a great plot, and apply this to our 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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