14 April 2021, Writing - part xx559 Writing a Novel, Developing a Protagonist Using 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%
This time,
let’s start with the plots that we found define the protagonist, and then
determine a telic flaw from that. We
will develop a protagonist and a telic flaw from archetype plots.
I’ve never tried this before but is sounds interesting. Perhaps I’ll determine a protagonist with a
telic flaw I want to write about.
I guess I should approach this in as logical a fashion as
possible. So, I guess we should start
with the overall plots. Here’s the
list.
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%
Perhaps one method would be to write a list of the various
types of plots. For example, let’s start
with redemption. What things might a
person be redeemed from. Let’s realize
our list won’t be comprehensive. There
are possibly millions of things a person could be redeemed from, but let’s make
some kind of list. I’ll put down a whole
bunch of things—even ones I’m not very interested in:
Redemption:
1.
From some kind of life of sin or
immorality – this is a classic redemption.
This might include criminality, murder, stealing, adultery, rape,
pornography, prostitution, general immorality, and all. This is actually a classical type of redemption,
but it isn’t all there is.
2. From some kind of curse – this is a type of redemption found
in the classics. This is one of my
favorites to use. Here’s some
specifics. How about from being a
vampire, a werewolf, a family curse, a specific curse, from magic use, from
some other esoteric physical belief.
I’ll leave that to your imagination.
I can think of some things, but it might get ugly. We’ll here is an example, in the days of
Galileo much of the world believed in an terra-centric (earth-centric) solar
system (universe). Galileo observed the
solar system was helio-centric (the earth revolved around the sun). Such a redemption from a false belief to a
true scientific belief, could be seen as redemption from an esoteric physical
belief.
3. From an incorrect or evil system of belief. For example, from a cult or a different
religion. A classic is from paganism to
Christianity. This is also a type of
classic and historical redemption. The
opposite is true to some people. For example,
an atheist might consider redemption from religion to atheism. This is a pretty varied view of the world.
4. From lack of success to success. This includes from poverty to wealth, from
ignorance to education, from lack of training to training, from lack of skills
to skilled. If you remember, the
redemption plot means the protagonist must do something to change, this becomes
very clear.
5. From physical, emotional, or mental slavery. This really has legs. If the term slavery seems too far, how about
from an abusive relationship or abusive job or an abusive situation. This is a very common theme and plot
today. Think about the Red Badge of
Courage where the protagonist is afraid and a coward. That is this type of redemption.
6. From a life of penury to a life of value and success. Perhaps this is too much like number four
above, but this is kind of a mix of four and five. The idea that people are locked in a cycle of
poverty or of lack of education is this point.
7.
Are there more—yeah I think so. I’ll try to think of more for tomorrow when
we look at the revelation plot.
Revelation
1.
The protagonist, but this might be
too general.
2.
The life of the protagonist—that’s
just the plot of the novel.
3.
The secrets of the
protagonist—that’s the life of the protagonist
4.
Okay, we can see this is a very
general kind of overall plot. It’s still
important. The protagonist needs something
to reveal. In the past, that is in the
Victorian Era and before, the revelation of the protagonist was a new
idea. The authors did it, but they had
little perception of this idea. In
general, in the early development of the novel, the authors were more
interested in presenting a revelation of the plot and not the protagonist. In the earliest novels, the authors couldn’t
help but reveal the protagonist because they were journal style novels. In a journal, the revelation of the
protagonist is a given, but even with these novels, the author’s focus was on
the plot (what the protagonist did) and not necessarily the protagonist. As the novel evolved and matured, the
protagonist became more and more important, while the plot became less
important. This is not to say the plot
wasn’t important, but look at novels like David Copperfield or The
Christmas Carol or Great Expectations. These are all Victorian Era novels, but their
focus is more on the protagonist and the protagonist revelation than the plot. As I noted, the plot is still important, but
a rambling plot is an indication of a protagonist revelation. In the modern era, we see even more focus on
the protagonist with the true development of the Romantic protagonist. Just look at Harry Potty or any other modern
and especially youth novels. Yeah, there
is a strong plot, but the protagonist is the focus. The revelation of the protagonist is the most
important part of these novels. Where
you see a dilution of this is with multiple protagonists and with multiple
plots. Game of Thrones and The
Martian Chronicles are examples of these types of novels. In fact, you will find in most short story
style novels, this is true. In any case,
the revelation of the protagonist means we need an interesting and exciting
protagonist. Long story short…
Let’s go ahead and transition to the achievement plot.
Achievement
1.
Wealth
2.
Position
3.
Education
4.
Any goal
5.
Magic
6.
Athleticism
7.
Defeat enemy
8.
Save someone or something
9.
Profession
10. Redemption
11. Solve crime
12. Solve mystery
13. Find something
14. Uncover mystery
15.
Discover something or someone
Above are our lists of overall plots. We definitely want a redemption plot—there
are so many, and we really want a matching achievement plot. Let’s start with the concept of the Romantic
protagonist and move from there.
The Romantic protagonist comes from the common man (person
okay). Literary critic Northrop Frye
noted that the Romantic hero is often "placed outside the structure of
civilization and therefore represents the force of physical nature, amoral or
ruthless, yet with a sense of power, and often leadership, that society has
impoverished itself by rejecting". He
or she is also introspective, displays the triumph of the individual, melancholic,
wanderlust, misanthropic, alienated, and isolated.
All these characteristics are common to the Romantic protagonist,
but not all required or all inclusive. Let’s
take these and begin building a protagonist from the plots.
Let’s put together a Romantic protagonist and then apply the
overall plots. I’ll build a great Romantic
protagonist. I may or might not use this
protagonist in the future, but let’s just take a look at making a really good
one.
Here is our protagonist so far.
I’m thinking a girl who is in her teens. If you look at my protagonists about half are
male and half are female. I have written
about this before, but females make the best pathos developing
protagonists. Readers of both sexes and
all persuasions can’t help feeling sorry for them especially if they are
presented in an environment of suffering or poverty. This is just what I want for my example. I’m going to start with an impoverished female
teen who is orphaned and has been abandoned.
Outside of the structure of civilization. This protagonist has been raised by her
father in upper Scotland. She has been
culturally and socially isolated because her mother was fae and her father was
a common man. Her father was a handsome
workman with zero connections and from an isolated Scottish background himself. He lived with his father and mother in an old
house at the outskirts of a village in the Scottish Highlands. He was enamored of a garden fairy, and she
had a child. The garden fairy hung around
until the garden outside the house fell into disrepair. The disrepair was because the mother and
father who took care of it died and the workman would not or could not take
care of it. The garden fairy hung around
long enough to train her daughter in fae glamour (the power of the fae), so our
protagonist is not without power, but she doesn’t understand how she can use it
very well. The workman father has kept his
daughter a secret from the village and the people. You have a person who is outside of the structure
of civilization. Her workman father dies
before the novel, and she has been living alone in the house and decrepit
garden. She is an orphan. Let’s say the workman died of a broken heart,
alcohol poisoning, and exposure. His
daughter has been surviving through stealing food, rummaging in the garbage,
offerings left by the superstitious people of the village. We’ll build more into this.
Force of physical nature.
The force of physical nature is the garden fae and the child of the
garden fae. This is a supernatural idea,
but still represents the wild and untamed world of the Scottish Highlands. In addition, we have the inclusion of Fae glamour. I use this idea in my books to separate the
idea of angelic or post angelic power which is a type of miracle form magic.
Amoral or ruthless. Our
protagonist must go to certain lengths to be able to continue to live. She is unlike the civilized person who would
just lay down and die. She has skills
that allow her to survive in the wild and without much help. We also are moving in the plots and the telic
flaw quite unintentionally. We need to
begin to write about what we will do with our protagonist. We are already seeing the development of the
telic flaw. If she is abandoned,
uneducated, orphaned, hungry, and living in an abandoned house, we are already
seeing the development of the telic flaw.
I noted that the workman kept his daughter a secret form the village people. When he dies, the property goes to the
state. We can say he had none or perhaps
few relatives. Perhaps we should add in
a London or lower English relative. This
would be a great add. The house has
become the property of this London or lower English dwelling person. The girl is living secretly in the
house. No one knows who she is or that
she is there. However, the house has a
reputation for being haunted. This
started with the fae in the garden and progressed to the workman after the
death of his parents. The story in the
village is that he died from a haunting and fear. The girl just wants a roof over her head and
nothing more, but time and the world are cast against her. Then it happens…
Sense of power and leadership. Our little half-fae girl does indeed have
some independence and leadership. Let’s
say she has the fae of the valley and highlands under her thumb. She keeps up the pretense that the house is
haunted to prevent it form being rented or sold. This is her power until this happens…
Society has impoverished itself by rejecting him or
her. Indeed, this girl has skills and
abilities that would be of great use to herself and others if they could be
trained, used, and harnessed.
Introspective means intellectual. Here is a small move from the norm. The house is large and Elizabethan with many
rooms and multiple stories. It has an
extensive library. The workman’s parents
were well educated. His father was a
builder and his mother was a teacher.
They were both studious, but their son was not. Our girl protagonist has been reading the
books since she was a child. Her father
was selling the books over time. The girl
has hidden the library so she can’t lose more books. At the same time, the protagonist has not had
a normal or a complete education.
Triumph of the individual.
Our protagonist needs some help to triumph, but once she gets training for
her skills and abilities, there is hope.
The telic flaw is the achievement or accomplishment.
Melancholic. Yeah, this
protagonist is deeply melancholic. She
has had little help and has been constantly abandoned through her life. She imagines there is no real hope for her.
Wanderlust. Here we
will make some slight difference or change from the list. This protagonist is tightly attached to her
place, the house and garden. Still she
will be willing to move around for the reason of success and change. We shall see how this will work.
Misanthropic. Yes,
she doesn’t trust people. This is a
pressing idea from her background. She
must be redeemed form this lack of trust and dislike for people. There, we are moving toward plots. That’s actually what we will look at next.
Alienated and isolated.
Our protagonist is alienated and isolated. She is alone and abandoned in an abandoned
house on the outskirts of a Scottish village.
Above is our protagonist, and we see the development of some
of the setting. Now, we need to take
this Romantic protagonist and apply the overall plots. Just which of these plots shall we add to our
protagonist?
I already said I want to include a redemption plot. Redeemed from what? We have a young person who is isolated and
alienated in an abandoned house and an isolated village. The obvious redemption is from this life and
from her isolation and alienation.
This is a redemption plot and a telic flaw for the
novel. There can be more to this telic
flaw. Fro example, I’d like to add that
in the redemption, our protagonist needs to achieve some type of success. Did you read that “achieve some type of
success?” This is an achievement plot.
The question then is what should be the achievement? I have an idea, but that idea plays more into
a plotline. Now, a plotline is okay at
this point. We have a protagonist. We have a redemption plot. We have a telic flaw. We are just starting to apply plots to the protagonist. The first is achievement. We don’t have to solve the problem at this
point that is we don’t need a plotline, but let’s see if we can put an
achievement plot to the protagonist.
Let me mention this.
We will have a revelation plot for our protagonist. You know more now about the protagonist than
the reader until reading the novel. The
point is to write the plot to reveal the protagonist.
Now, to the achievement plot. Here’s the list again:
Achievement
1.
Wealth – this kid has mostly
nothing, but a little wealth is going to be necessary. She doesn’t own the house. She has nothing that is her own. This might not be a problem now, but it will
be a problem in the future.
2. Position – She has no position and no hope for some position. Se does need something.
3. Education – She has literally zero normal education. To acclimate and move into some degree of
education is going to be important.
4. Any goal – She doesn’t have any goals other than survival. The point is to get her some goals.
5. Magic – Ah, she knows magic or rather glamour as I call it.
6. Athleticism – This is likely unimportant at first.
7. Defeat enemy – We shall see if this is a limited duration plot.
8. Save someone or something – Save herself.
9. Profession – Yeap, she needs something for the future.
10. Redemption - Yeap
11. Solve crime – I actually have an idea as a subplot for the
novel.
12. Solve mystery – She and her life is the mystery. This will be the revelation.
13. Find something – Perhaps.
14. Uncover mystery – Perhaps.
15.
Discover something or someone –
Perhaps.
There is lots of latitude here for our protagonist and for
this novel. I have an idea for how we
will reveal this protagonist—that is I have an idea for a plotline based on the
telic flaw and the protagonist. I’ll
write about it next.
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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