Writing - part xx671 Writing a Novel, Plots and My Novels, Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth

 5 August 2021, Writing - part xx671 Writing a Novel, Plots and My Novels, Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth

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

    Since I'm writing about Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth here is the proposed cover:

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. 

 

For Novel 32:  Shiggy Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization gives her for her latest assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.

 

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. 

 

I evaluated the plots from the list of 112 classics 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 looked at each novel and pulled out the plot types, the telic flaw, plotline, and the theme of the novel.  I didn’t make a list of the themes, but we identified the telic flaw as internal and external and by plot type.  This generally gives the plotline. 

 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%

Here is a list of my novels:

 

1*	SF	A Season of Honor (Honor III)	1986	P 08
2	1		30-Oct	Nov
2*	SF	The Fox’s Honor (Honor II)	1989	P 08
3	2		2-May	Oct
3	SF	The End of Honor (Honor I)	1995	P 08
9	3		13-Jul	Jul
4	HF	Antebellum	1991	*
4	4		7-Feb
5*	F	Aegypt	1992	P 08
5	5		16-Jun	Jan
6*	HF	Centurion	1995	P 08
8	6		1-Feb	Jan
7a*	SF	Athelstan Cying	1992	A
6	7		26-Sep
8 15	SF	Twilight Lamb	2007	A
7b*	8		8-Aug
9 16	SF	Regia Anglorum	2007	A
7c	17		23-Nov
10*	SF	The Second Mission*	1996	P 03
10	9		13-Nov	Aug
11	Fan	Illidin	1977	I
1			Sep
12	F	Sister of Light	1997	C
11	10		16-Aug
13	F	House	1994	I
7			23-Dec
14	F	Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth	2006	*
13	11		28-Dec
15	Fan	Aramis	2006	I
12			27-Apr
16	HF	Japan		I
14
17	F	Sister of Darkness	2008	C
17	12		3-Jun
18	F	Shadow of Darkness	2008	A
18	13		14-Sep
19	F	Shadow of Light	2008	A
tt5t	14		24-Oct
20	F	Children of Light and Darkness	2008	A
20	15		1-Dec
21	F	Warrior of Light	2009	A
21	16		1-Feb
22	HF	Praetorian
22
23 23	SF	Shadowed Vale	2009	A
	18		10-May
24 24	SF	Ddraig Goch	2009	W
			25-Aug
25	F	Warrior of Darkness	2009	*
25	19		29-Oct
26	F	Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden	2010	*
26	20		10-Jun
27	F	Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon	2010	A
27	21		1-Nov
28	F	Khione: Enchantment and the Fox	2011	*
28	22		1-Mar
29	F	Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire	2013	*
29	23		26-Nov
30	F	Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer	2014	*
30	24		1-May
31	SF	Escape from Freedom	2014	*
31	25		2-Oct
32	F	Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si	2015	*
32	26		1-May
33	F	Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse	2016	*
33	27		1-Mar
34	F	Red Sonja	2016	W
34	XX		1-Mar
35	F	Deirdre: Enchantment and the School	2016	*
35	28		1-Jul
36	F	Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective	2018	*
36	29		1-Jul
37	F	Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors	2018	*
37			1-Jul
38	F	Rose: Enchantment and the Flower	2021	*
38			1-Mar

 

Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth is the first novel in my Enchantment Series.  I write novels now based on protagonists and not necessarily inspiration, but I was inspired to write this novel.  The idea came from the initial scene.  I’ll write more about this novel tomorrow, but just to set the scene, I visualized a scene where an archeologist who was reading an ancient Greek spell accidently called an ancient deity.  I got the idea while reading the translation of an ancient Greek Mysterion spell to call on a deity.  I just put in Hestia instead of Mithras.  The result was that the archeologist called Hestia.  I’ll explain more about this tomorrow.  Let’s look at the contents of the novel.

 

Here is some of the information on the novel:

 

An accidental invocation changed the world for four archeologists:  Dr. Adams doesn’t believe in anything, Phillip Ryan does believe, Jack Agnos doesn’t know what he should believe, and Dr. Angela Matheson would like to know what to believe.  At their archeological site in Greece, Jack accidentally invokes Hestia, the goddess of the hearth.  Not a spirit or a ghost or a phantom, but the actual goddess Hestia all five feet one hundred pounds and completely miffed about not being invoked in two thousand years

 

Unfortunately, no one believes in Hestia anymore and her god-like powers are more subtle than thunderbolts, earthquakes, and superhuman strength.  But power she has and power that affects Phil, Jack, and Angela—Dr. Adams is too focused in his own unbelief.

 

Events become unexpectedly difficult when Phil gives Hestia a Greek New Testament, and she wants to meet the one true God--not spiritually, but physically.  As a consequence Angela, Jack, and Phil accompany Hestia to Athens only to discover the Orthodox Church has known about and worked with displaced gods, goddesses, and demigods since its beginning.

 

In Athens, they chance upon the satyr Nomius who is trying to revive the worship of the ancient gods.  When Hestia intervenes, Angela is cursed with a set of three ancient keys (iron, bronze, and copper) on a ring that cannot be removed from her wrist.  Father Dioletis head of the church’s ancient being office gives them help, and through his efforts, they receive decisive direction.  Now, they must solve the problem of Nomius, the mystery of the keys, and get back to the dig before Dr. Adams fires them all.

 

Let’s evaluate the plots.

Overall (o)

1.     Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49%  Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth is ultimately about the redemption of Hestia, a real goddess.  This is the theme of all of my Enchantment Novels, the redemption of beings that we think can’t be redeemed.  Also, there is a plot about the redemption of each of the archeologists.  The redemption I mean is more along the classic spiritual redemption.        

2.     Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60%  The really fun part of this novel is the revelation of the world of the ancient Greeks through the modern world in the eyes of Hestia.  This is the type of theme I use in my historical novels.  In this novel, I bring a historical figure into the modern world—this allows the modern person to see the world through the eyes of the ancients. 

3.     Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73%  The achievement in the novel becomes the discovery of the secret house from the ancient times.

Achievement (a)

1.     Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e – 51% The initial mystery is how to return Hestia, but this transforms into how to save the demigods of the Greek world who are still in the world.   

2.     Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46%  There is a strong plot about the ancient gods trying to take vengeance on the God and those who follow Him.

3.     Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%  Angela becomes the unlikely hero of the novel.

4.     Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%  Not really.    

5.     Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%  Nope.

6.     Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%  There is a sense of this plot in Hestia and her understanding of the world.

7.     Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%  Yes, this is all about archeologists and the discovery of ancient and modern secrets borne out by discovery and especially archeology.

8.     Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25%  Not really.   

9.     Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%  Nope.

10.  Legal (a) – 5 – 4%  Nope. 

11.  Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%  Nope.

12.  Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%  Angela is a person struggling with her faith and her belief.  As a person and a scientist, she has to resolve her own problems to understand what she is seeing in the world.

13.  Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%  Yes, Hestia has wasted her time and Angela has also wasted her life in regret.   

14.  Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4%  Nope.

15.  Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%  Yes, the discovery of the solution, the house, the resolution of the problems requires reason.

16.  Escape (a)  – 1ie, 23 – 21%  Yes, Hestia, at first, wants to escape back to her world, but this changes.

17.  Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%  Knowledge and skills are the tools of the archeologists to figure out the mystery.  In addition, they get the help of the Orthodox Church in solving the ancient problems.

18.  Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%  The secrets are really fun.  Most of them are known and based on history.  The reader could figure them out.  Some are more esoteric, the readers and the archeologists discover them together.  That’s fun and entertaining.

Quality (q)

1.     Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%  Nope.

2.     Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%  Nope.

3.     Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei, 21 – 20%  Nope.

4.     Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%  Not really.

5.     Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%  Nope.

6.     Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%  Yes, there is a faction of the ancient gods and demigods who are causing problems in the modern world.  In addition, the three archeologists are going after secrets in opposition to their boss, Dr. Adams.

7.     Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e, 26 – 25%  Nope.

8.     Psychological (q) –1i, 45 – 41%  This is a psychological novel on many levels. 

9.     Magic (q) – 8 – 7%  Not really—there is a touch of spiritual power from Hestia and other gods.

10.  Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%  Nope.

11.  Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%  Yes, a small part of the plot.

12.  Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%  Nope.

13.  Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%  Yes, the actions of the ancient gods and demigods as well as their actions in the world.

14.  Satire (q) – 10 – 9%  Not really.

15.  Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%  Yes, three of the archeologists and their new friends and helpers.

16.  Curse (q) – 4 – 4%  Yes, there is a curse on the demigods from all of time that Angela and Hestia have to resolve.

17.  Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%  Nope.

18.  Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%  Yes, Hestia becomes the mentor to Angela.

Setting (s)

1.     End of the World (s) – 3 – 3%  Nope.

2.     War (s) – 20 – 18%  In the past.

3.     Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%  Nope.

4.     Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%  Yes, travel all over Greece in the search of clues and historical items..

5.     Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%  Nope.

6.     Horror (s) – 15 – 13%  Yes, there is a touch of horror in the novel it is a type of suspense novel.

7.     Children (s) – 24 – 21%  Nope.

8.     Historical (s) – 19 – 17%  Yes, the novel is filled with historical information, events, and people.

9.     School (s) – 11 – 10%  Not really, but the archeologist are from a university.

10.  Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%  Nope.

11.  Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%  Nope.

12.  Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%  Nope.

13.  Prison (s) – 2 – 2%  Yes, the souls of the demigods are imprisoned.

Item (i)

1.  Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%  Yes, the demigods all have items which bind their souls and the physical bodies to slavery.

 

Next we’ll look deeper at Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth.

 

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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic