Writing - part xx681 Writing a Novel, Plots and My Novels, Warrior of Light

 15 August 2021, Writing - part xx681 Writing a Novel, Plots and My Novels, Warrior of Light

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 Warrior of Light 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

 

Now, out of Children of Light and Darkness I have two children, Klava and Sveta whose parents are missing from Burma and who might be in China.  The children are the new incarnate goddesses of light and darkness, and their adopted mother is Kathrin McClellan Calloway who is Ceridwen.  Now, I need to build the next level of history in the novels.

 

The setting is these girls and their mother.  The plots are recovering their father and mother as well as learning the skills they need to use their power.  What better thing to do than to bring in a romance plot with a young man who needs to open his wings. 

 

Here is some of the information on the novel:

 

Daniel Long’s life changed. His family moved to a new neighborhood. He graduated and is entering a new school in the Sixth Form. He has left behind bullies and teasing and a painful schooling. Some of that teasing came about because Daniel has no idea what his father does for a living. His father works for the British government and always carries two pistols. Their family moved because of a promotion. The rest of the bullying came about because Daniel is an intellectual who loves to study languages. Though Daniel ran track because his mother thought it was safe, he never really imagined anything different for his life—then he met Sveta and Klava Calloway.

 

Sveta and Klava are remarkable twin girls. When Daniel first meets them, he is sixteen and they are fourteen. At fourteen, they are entering the Sixth Form with Daniel at the same school. They speak multiple languages and won’t say how many or what. They know what Daniel’s father does for a living, but they won’t tell him. Their parents work for the British government too. But there is something more peculiar about these girls. They are different and they are handicapped. Sveta is deaf, and Klava is blind, but their disabilities don’t seem to slow them down. There is more, much more Daniel doesn’t understand about them.

 

Sveta and Klava take Daniel on as their special project. They invite him to come to America with them for the summer to visit their grandmother and grandfather, Leora and Paul Bolang. Daniel has no idea the plan is for Colonel Paul Bolang to train him in manly arts. These were all the skills Daniel’s mother feared for him to attempt. They were the kinds of activities she protected him from, and Daniel discovers he loves them. He is remarkable at them—he has the best teacher in Colonel Bolang to train him. Daniel learns to shoot, ride, fence, operate weapons, and vehicles—all the skills of a professional soldier, or a spy.

 

At the same time Daniel is in training, so are Sveta and Klava. Their training is more arcane; Leora Bolang leads it. Daniel has no idea what it could be.

 

Sveta has more than a friendly attraction for Daniel Long. She made Klava step away from an interest in the intellectual young man. She brought Daniel along to train with Paul Bolang. She is preparing Daniel to be her warrior. Whatever that means, and Daniel is all for it. He has discovered he loves soldiering more than intellectual pursuits. He has discovered he is a man of action. He finds that he is falling in love with Sveta Calloway.

 

Following Sixth Form, Sveta and Klava attend Oxford and Daniel Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. All is well until Daniel receives a cryptic letter from Sveta and Klava’s adopted mother, Kathrin. Sveta and Klava are both missing, and they are lost in Communist China…

 

Let’s evaluate the plots.

Overall (o)

1.     Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49%  Warrior of Light is about the physical and spiritual redemption of Sveta and Daniel Long.  Sveta is grooming Daniel to be her warrior, but she is having problems with her own training.  This is a very entertaining and adventurous novel about love, romance, and training.               

2.     Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60%  The revelation is about training both the girl’s and Daniel’s.     

3.     Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73%  There are multiple objectives in this novel.  The first is the romance.  The second is the training.  The third is the rescue of Klava and Sveta’s parents.  There is more, but those at the main ones. 

Achievement (a)

1.     Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e – 51% There is a huge mystery plot based on who these girls are.  The readers might know if they have read the last novel, but most readers will be like Daniel Long, trying to figure out who and what these girls are while Sveta uses her wiles to try to make him fall in love with her.   

2.     Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46%  Oh yea, there is a very interesting vengeance plot and change of heart with Sveta.  She gets angry at Daniel and causes a major meltdown.  

3.     Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%  Our protagonist, Daniel Long is the beginning zero to hero.  Sveta becomes the second one.

4.     Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%  This is the story of a young and slight wild romance.  It shows the problems of young love with all the strength of a growing mature love.    

5.     Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%  Very strongly coming of age.

6.     Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%  Not really.

7.     Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%  There is a very strong discovery with who Sveta and Klava are as well as who Daniel Long is being made to be.

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

9.     Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%  Yes, Sveta comes across as a spoiled child, but she gets her head rearranged.

10.  Legal (a) – 5 – 4%  Nope. 

11.  Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%  Nope.

12.  Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%  Yes, self-discovery for Sveta, Klava, and Daniel.

13.  Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%  There is some suppressed guilt based on Sveta breaking the rules her parents have set for her, and her immature attempts to seduce her love.  This is a clean and sweet novel about young love and nothing salacious.

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

15.  Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%  Yes, the resolution all comes through reason.

16.  Escape (a)  – 1ie, 23 – 21%  Yes, Sveta, Klava, and Daniel are all held captive by another Chinese creature, who is also holding their parents.

17.  Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%  Knowledge and skills are the tools that are used and that they are learning.

18.  Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%  This novel is filled with secrets and revealed secrets.

Quality (q)

1.     Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%  Nope.

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

3.     Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei, 21 – 20%  Yes, to a degree.  Sveta is in competition with her sister, Klava for the love of Daniel, but Klava backs off—that doesn’t mean Sveta isn’t any less worried about her romance and her love.

4.     Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%  Yes, this is one of the main drivers in the novel.  Sveta misunderstands and that causes many of the problems for her and others.

5.     Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%  Yes, to a slight degree.

6.     Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%  Yes, this is in a later part of the novel.

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—Sveta, Klava, and Kathrin as well as others all have spiritual powers but it isn’t magic in the normal sense.

10.  Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%  Yes, no one knows who Sveta, Klava, and Daniel really is.

11.  Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%  Some.

12.  Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%  Nope.

13.  Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%  Some tension with love and desire, but not full on immorality.

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

15.  Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%  Yes, there is a large degree of moving camaraderie based on associations and groups.

16.  Curse (q) – 4 – 4%  Nope.

17.  Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%  Nope.

18.  Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%  Yes, Sveta, Klava, and Daniel are mentored by Leora and Paul.

Setting (s)

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

2.     War (s) – 20 – 18%  Yes, the Cold War to a degree.

3.     Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%  Nope.

4.     Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%  Yes, travel to the USA and to China.

5.     Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%  Yes, in China.

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%  Yes, big time with Sveta and Klava but they are growing up.

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

9.     School (s) – 11 – 10%  Yes, the girls attend a school with Daniel and Daniel goes to military training.

10.  Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%  Nope.

11.  Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%  Nope.

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

13.  Prison (s) – 2 – 2%  Nope.

Item (i)

1.  Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%  Yes, the golden tablet and the dark tablet are very important items in the novel.

 

Next we’ll look at Warrior of Light in more depth.

 

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