23 April 2021, Writing - part xx568 Writing a Novel, More Plots and Telic Flaw to Themes
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.
I hate to pull down our list of plots and the information
we’ve developed from them, but it is time to move on.
Plots, the telic flaw, and how they relate to the
protagonist are very deep and important subjects for the writer. At this point, I’d like to address an even
stickier issue—theme.
First of all, no single word can ever express the theme of
any complex work of literature, or even not complex work of literature. This idea is both silly and wrong. My mentor and many of my literature professors
would have smacked anyone who put out this idea.
Second, plots are not themes, but in some cases, they sure
look like themes. For example coming of
age. One of our definitions uses this as
an example. This is a type of plot. Is it also a theme—of a type.
Third, themes are much more complex than they appear.
Here are the boiled down definitions of theme:
A literary theme is the main
idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a novel, short story, or other
literary work.
A theme is a universal idea, lesson, or
message explored throughout a work of literature.
Theme is defined as a main idea or
an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or
indirectly.
a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation
In contemporary literary studies,
a theme is a central topic, subject, or message
within a narrative.
I would argue that these really don’t fully represent well
the true depth of the theme. My mentor
would say the theme must represent the entirely of the writing. Really all these definitions just beg the
question of what is a theme. If you look
at all of them closely, the major theme in all of them is the main idea,
subject, message, and topic. All these
are different aspects of a work. So,
what really is a theme?
Let’s go back for a moment to the purpose of the theme. Okay, we really haven’t written about
that. Perhaps that should be the next
topic of discussion.
What is the purpose of a theme? First, let me repeat my theme for Aegypt.
Theme: How do men
react to the spiritual when it is revealed to them plainly, and how do we
communicate those thoughts across centuries and drawing rooms?
I never have ever started a novel based on a theme. The idea of the theme of a novel has never
been an issue or a point to any of my writing.
In fact, the only time the theme of my novels has ever come to my
attention is when my mentor Roz Young asked me to write the theme of Aegypt.
I repeat, I have never even considered the theme of any
novel I have ever written. On the other
hand, I have always written a theme statement for every novel I have
written. The theme statement, in my
opinion, is much different than a classical theme.
Look back at my theme for Aegypt. This is what I would call a classic
theme. This is what a person in the past
or not so past would say is a theme. But
does this kind of theme matter at all. I
think that the theme is completely immaterial to any author or any writer. The theme is meaningless because the purpose
of any novel is not a theme but entertainment.
In fact, let’s say this—the theme of every publishable novel
is entertainment. Yes, you do get some
novels that are drivel like Ulysses.
Don’t worry, the theme of Ulysses is inchoate and illogical. It has no theme unless you consider KMRIA as
a theme.
The theme of every publishable novel is entertainment. There is no other purpose for fiction
writing. Now, if you discover some theme
after the fact, then that’s wonderful.
Perhaps you are a reviewer or a critic.
Really, what does the theme matter when all we want in a novel is
entertainment.
My conclusion is that the theme in the normal sense is
worthless to fiction. On the other hand,
there are main ideas, central topics, subjects, or messages within a narrative. These are characteristics of the many
definitions of a theme.
What I want as an author isn’t help with a message or a
lesson in a theme. If you want a message
or a lesson, go to church or study philosophy.
If you want entertainment read good fiction, and all good fiction is
entertaining. What I want is a guide or
focus for my writing. I need a main
idea, a central topic, a subject, but not necessarily a message. Not unless that message is entertainment.
So, this is what we are going to do with a theme. We are going to go for a theme statement and
forget the idea of the theme. The
protagonist and the telic flaw can give us a theme statement, but not a theme
perse.
In the end, we can figure out what makes a work have a great
plot and theme, 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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