01 January 2022, Writing - part xx821 Writing a Novel, Using Fantasy World Setting Plots in Scenes, Example Two
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.
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 becomes inevitable in the climax.
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%
So, what is it about writer’s block? Many if not most authors and writers will
complain about writer’s block. When I
was a younger author, I would get writer’s block very often, but I’ve
discovered something very important about writer’s block. Writer’s block is a function of the plot and
not the protagonist. The correction or
resolution of writer’s block comes from centering our writing on the
protagonist instead of the plot. This is
what I’d really like to get into as a topic.
Here is an outline of how we will approach this.
1.
Problems
with a plot focus
2. Correcting with a protagonist focus
3. How to figure out a plot with a protagonist focus
4. Writing development
5. Fixing or blowing through problems with writing
6. How to write to prevent writer’s block
7. The Scene Outline
8. Exercises
9. Examples
10.
Conclusions
The novel is the revelation of the protagonist and the scenes,
not the plots, are the process of that revelation. In fact, the plots are really part of the
scenes. Now, some plots interact beyond
and between one scene, but this is the real point we should address. What really is the plot and how is the plot
connected to the scene and the telic flaw.
I didn’t want to address the scenes yet, so let’s start with
the plot(s). In the first place, we have
a telic flaw. This is the problem the protagonist must resolve. In a comedy, the protagonist overcomes the
telic flaw, while in the tragedy, the telic flaw overcomes the protagonist. Where is the plot? That’s a great question.
Almost every novel is a revelation of the protagonist. The author uses various plots and nudges the
novel toward the telic flaw resolution. What
about these plots, and how can we create, invent, and/or use them?
Except for the protagonist, the telic flaw is the most
important point of any novel. It’s so
important that most people don’t even know what it is, yet it is the key point
of every novel, and as I’ve noted over and over, the telic flaw is a
characteristic of the protagonist. The
protagonist owns the telic flaw. Just
like Harry Potty and Voldermort. Voldermort happens to be the overall
antagonist as well as the telic flaw of all the Harry Potty novels. Then there are the plots.
Now, the plot or plots are the means of the telic flaw
resolution and they are the means of tension and release development in the
scenes. They are also the means of the
development of the rising action to the climax of the novel. They are parts, but look at the other parts.
Mainly, we have the scenes.
The scenes are cohesive parts of a novel. They are the building blocks of a novel. Yes, scenes are made of paragraphs,
sentences, and words, but you can’t have a novel without scenes. As I noted in the outline of writing 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
So, I have a telic flaw, and I know there are scenes. Each scene is filled with tension and
release. The tension and release are the
plot(s). In fact, the tension and
release are the plots. This is the
trick, and this is where we want to go.
We need to develop tension and release in the scenes and this happens to
be the plots.
In the development of a scene, we start with the output of
the previous scene. The author then
needs to design the output of that scene.
For example, in the Harry Potty travel scenes, the output of the
previous scene is that Harry Potty must go from London to Hogwarts. That becomes the input for the travel
scene. The output for the travel scene
is that Harry arrives at Hogwarts.
Anything else is purely for tension and release. The author then provides other plots in the
scene to create tension and release.
The focus of writing any novel is the scene. The scene is all about tension and
release. The tension and release comes
from the plots. This is how we bring the
plots into the scenes and into a novel. This
means that as an author, we have the scene input and output of the scene, we
need to choose plots to then write and install in the scene.
We have five types of plots: overall, achievement, setting,
quality, and item. From these plots, we
note that, in the scene, achievement, quality, and item can be set into many
scenes. Setting can be used as the
setting of the scene, however, there is generally less control over these
plots. In other words, when we move into
the scene, the setting is usually already set.
The other types of plots give us the opportunity to build
tension and release in a scene. In
general, it is difficult to demonstrate this without delving deeply into
examples. Instead, let’s review the
potential plots and see how we might use them.
We choose plots based on three things.
First, is the input and output of the scene. Second, is the telic flaw resolution. Third, is the tension and release of the
scene.
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%
Achievement plots are easy to apply
to scenes and to overall novels. Some
quality plots lend themselves very well to scenes and some do not. Still, just like the achievement plots, we
can pick and choose them based on our overall plot(s) to power the novel and
our scenes. Then, there are setting
plots.
As I mentioned before, we want to
pick our plots first based on the input and output of the scene, second, the
telic flaw resolution, and third, the tension and release of the scene.
Setting plots are based on the
setting of the novel or the scene. Now,
here we have a slight conundrum. There
are obviously some setting plots we might not be able to use in a scene. I will try to place each of them in a scene,
but I can’t guarantee we can be successful.
Let’s look at the fantasy world
setting plot. The question is, of
course, can we use the fantasy worldview in a scene? Here is where we can really see the use of the
reflected worldview in writing.
I know you are thinking that the
fantasy world setting plot is only an overall setting plot, but Harry Potty and
the normalized magical world plot shows you are wrong. The reason is the reflected worldview. I can even give you examples, but let’s
define exactly what I am writing about.
There are three worldviews in
writing: real, reflected, and created.
The real worldview is the natural world with no spiritual, fantasy, or science
fiction trappings. It is the world as it
is in the glory of the current societal and cultural event horizon. This is where many if not most modern writers
write.
The created worldview is a
worldview that might or might not be based on either the real or reflected
worldview, but projected into a nonreal setting. Most science fiction is like this. Any time you are writing about things outside
of human comprehension in a setting beyond human knowledge, you are writing in
a created worldview. The reason it is
called a created worldview is that it is mostly created by the writer. For example, if I write about a planet other
than the earth or even the worlds of our solar system, if I create a setting
outside of human knowledge then that is a created worldview. To be more concrete, if I write about the
planet Pern as Anne McCaffrey does, that is obviously a created worldview. Likewise, If I write about the fantasy lands
of Lyonesse as does Jack Vance, that is a created worldview. Harry Potty can also be seen as a created
worldview. However, Harry Potty does
something that Pern and Lyonesse cannot.
Harry Potty moves between the real and the magical worlds presenting
them as coexisting, the magical not discernable by the nonmagical. This is the basis for potentially having a
fantasy world setting in a scene.
I will state that I consider Harry
Potty to be closer to a created worldview than a reflected worldview, but we
need to define the reflected worldview.
The reflected worldview is the worldview
based on what humans in any event horizon, society, and culture believed
existed. Therefore, dragons, fairies,
witches, gods and goddesses, demigods, monsters, magic users, sorcerers, and
all can exist in the reflected worldview depending on how the author uses the
materials from any human worldview. It
should be very easy to see how a fantasy world setting can exist in a scene in
such a novel. That is, if the fantasy
world is part of the reflected worldview, then certainly, the fantasy world
setting can exist in a scene.
You should know what I’m writing about. If your characters go to almost any part of
rural Britain, Wales, or Scotland, they will find people who believe in the old
ways and the old beliefs. That’s not
just Christianity, but rather the beliefs that existed before Christianity came
to the islands and those of Christianity itself. All these ideas are ones reflected in the
society and culture of the people. They believe
in saints, demons, fairies, gods, dragons, and all kinds of other
creatures. If you are in their lands,
they also think you can go to some fantasy realm through some means. Whose to say you can’t?
The reflected worldview takes
advantage of what people believe and have believed to produce a worldview that
is not real, but is reflected based on historical and cultural ideas. I love to use this worldview. Let’s look at the scene outline to see how we
can potentially put a fantasy world setting in a scene.
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
All we have to do is create the
circumstance for a character or characters to interact in a setting we can call
fantasy world. This is much like the
characters from Harry Potty moving to the real world to interact then go back
to their created worldview. Can you see
how Harry Potty is a created worldview, but then moves occasionally over to the
real?
In this case, we intend to have a
reflected worldview—our characters mainly interact in the real worldview, but
then occasionally move to a fantasy worldview setting for a scene or two.
This is a very powerful means of
using entertainment in scenes. The
reader looks forward to these unexpected crossings. It is like many of the magic based novels I
read as a child. You wanted the
protagonist to use their magical skills and abilities. These were exciting and entertaining. When the protagonist finally did, you were so
excited and happy. Likewise, in the psionic
type novels of Andre Norton, you looked forward to each use of the “power”
because that was a foray into the reflected worldview and the exciting point of
psionics and magic in general.
Taking a reflected worldview and
moving it into a fantasy world setting for a scene or two is an entertaining and
powerful way to develop a novel, especially a reflected worldview novel. I’ll provide some examples from my own
writing.
This is a scene from my novel, Essie:
Enchantment and the Aos Si. This is
one of my really fun novels about a girl who is really not a girl. Essie is the sovereign leader of all the
British Fae. She is a very different and
special character and person. She goes
to boarding school and is bullied by some of the girls there. Mainly, she is bullied because she is a
scholarship student in the Organ. This
gives a small taste of her problems and her subjects the Fae. It also is an example of moving from a real
world to a fantasy world plot setting in a scene.
Essie
and Rose walked back to TD House together.
There Essie found her books stacked neatly in front of her door. The pages had been glued together, and black
marker covered her homework and notes.
Rose
bit her lip. Essie just stared.
Rose
blubbered slightly, but her voice remained clear, “What are you going to do
now?”
Essie
sighed, “Fix my notes and look after my bag a little more closely.”
“Essie…”
Rose cried.
Tabitha
stepped up, “Essie what?”
Big drops suddenly began to roll down Rose’s
cheeks, “They’ve ruined Essie’s books and notes…”
Tabitha’s
face turned scarlet, “Who’s done that?”
Rose
wept, “The same ones as before…I’m sure of it.”
Tabitha
took Essie by the arms, “Essie, please tell me who did this.”
Essie
ignored her and dug in her pocket.
“You
can’t let this continue.”
Essie
placed the key in the lock, “Why not?”
Tabitha
had no response to that.
Essie
opened the door, “They’ll eventually get tired of their play and give it up.”
Rose
grabbed Essie’s arm too, “What makes you think they’ll stop? They’ll just become more and more hateful.”
Tabitha
swallowed, “She’s right. What makes you
think they’ll stop?”
Essie
picked up her books and placed them inside her room, “They’ve always stopped in
the past. Sometimes it’s taken a while,
but eventually…”
Tabitha
asked, “How long before?”
“Years,
sometimes decades…”
Rose
and Tabitha both looked to see if Essie was serious.
Essie
closed and locked her door, “I’m hungry.”
Rose
ran to put her bag away, and they all walked to dinner.
After
dinner, Essie began the long work of recopying her notes from her marked
notebooks to new ones.
That
evening, Essie didn’t fall asleep right away.
The tap and gentle light she expected came to her window. Essie knew immediately who was there—after
all, her room was on the second floor.
Essie threw off her covers and pulled on her dressing gown. She picked up her key, exited, and carefully
locked the door behind her.
When
she left TD House, she noted the door was locked. She smiled.
The glimmer of a willow-the-wisp moved from her window level down to the
quad and then across the campus lawn.
The breeze picked up and the night chilled, but Essie stepped forward in
her bare feet almost reveling in the chill and the crisp brown autumn grass.
The
willow-the-wisp led, and Essie followed.
She followed it to the small open glade where the girls had their little
drinking and smoking party on Fridays.
Even at night, it remained a beautiful place. The moonlight just touched the tops of the
trees and the night mist just rose over the thinning, but not yet nude
foliage.
A
figure grew up from the bright spot Essie followed. She knew him immediately. Pryderi fab Pwyll stood before her. Essie raised her face to the moonlight and
opened her sweet lips. Pryderi remained
off to the side and wouldn’t look at her.
Essie stood straight and allowed her dressing gown to fall to the dark
earth. She snapped her eyes toward
Pryderi, “Pryderi fab Pwyll you begin already in a way that displeases me.”
Pryderi
immediately and awkwardly ran near to Essie.
He fell to his knees and bowed his head to the crisp dark ground, “I…I’m
sorry. I forgot myself, Your Grace.”
Essie’s
face filled with compassion. If Pryderi
had looked at her, his heart would have felt lighter, but he didn’t. Essie graced him with a smile, “Pryderi, you
have come far—what do you wish? Is
everything well with the Tylwyth Teg?”
Pryderi kept his head low, “All is well
with your subjects, but the reports we have heard…”
“What reports, Pryderi? I know you spy on me.”
“We do not spy on you, Your Grace. We watch to ensure your safety and ours.”
“What have you seen?”
“You are being mistreated…our messengers
have seen it. You need not deny it.”
Essie laughed. Her laugh lifted gentle and filled with the
sound of bells, “I know I am being mistreated.”
Pryderi’s face turned up toward
Essie. His mouth fell open. Finally, he sputtered, “Then let us stop
it. We can revenge you.”
Essie’s
voice dripped with distain, “You know, yourself that I could stop it—if I
wished.”
“Then
why don’t you?”
“You
should be able to guess the answer to that even if I don’t tell you.”
“I
have no idea, Your Grace.”
“You
decide what you must do, Pryderi. I
insist that you not take revenge in any fashion.”
“But,
Your Grace.”
Essie’s
voice took on an edge, “Listen to me. Do
I need to disrobe and show you again the scars you placed on my back? I did not take revenge for your many faults,
why should I do that for a group of silly human girls.”
Pryderi
lowered his head again, “Perhaps you should take revenge on us…on me.”
Essie
curled her lip, “You know that is not my way nor my being.”
Pryderi
swallowed thickly, “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Now,
Pryderi, why are you so concerned with my mistreatment? You never were before.”
Pryderi
ducked, “We are embarrassed by it.”
Essie
stuck out her small chest, “Embarrassed?
Is that all. You have no
compassion for me, only embarrassment.
You great excuse for an angel.
You have no idea what embarrassment means. Are you all fools?”
Pryderi
raised his hands as if in prayer, “We wish them to stop mistreating you.”
Essie
rolled her eyes and placed her hand on Pryderi’s head, “Listen to me leader of
the Tylwyth Teg. You may do as you wish to protect me in any
way you desire. You may not take
revenge, and you may not harm any of them.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I must go.” Essie stepped back and turned.
Pryderi called out, “I have one other
request.”
Essie raised her hand, “Speak.”
“We wish to hear your music. We have been without it for a very long
time—when you visited us last, you sang for us, but that is only a pale beauty
compared to the sounds you bring from that human contraption.”
Essie smiled. She didn’t turn, “You like it?”
“Very much, Your Grace.”
“You may all come and listen as you
desire—ensure you are not seen and do not disturb the humans.” Essie snapped her fingers, “There is at least
one here who can see you. You may let
her observe you, but use caution.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Now escort me to my door.”
Pryderi rose. He followed Essie. At the door to TD House, the lock opened
immediately to her. Pryderi disappeared
into the lush autumn evening.
Essie returned to bed and sleep.
The leader of one of the Seelie Fae
courts comes to aid Essie. Essie’s
purpose is basically to provide forgiveness even when it is not asked or repented. She is like a savior figure to the Fae
pointing them to the Dagda (God). This
is her purpose. She is trying to lead
the Fae and to lead some silly girls from their past behavior.
The part I didn’t show you is that
Essie was confined and beaten at the behest of this Fae court. That was the abuse they put on her. This is ironic because this Fae court tricked
Ceridwen, the goddess of the Celtic lands to actually demand the imprisonment of
Essie.
You might ask why this could be
when Essie is such a kind and gentle being.
The reason comes from the pride of the Fae and the making of Essie. Essie is a raw power of the wild and earth
while the Fae are those angels who didn’t take the side of God or Satan. They live by their pride and Essie reminds
them of their sin and fault. The love
her and hate her all at once and all she can do is forgive and nurture them.
The point of this scene is to
remind the reader of Essie’s power, and the fact that she holds back that power
intentionally. I’ve never written a character
like Essie before. She is unique in some
ways and very different than many of my protagonists. At the same time, I think she is a nearly
unique type of character in English literature.
She is a being, a person, who can stop her own suffering, but who does
not because of who she is and what is her purpose. I should mention that she would act to
prevent harm to another. What you don’t
know is that she took on the bullying that was being given to Rose. That is the nature of Essie.
We’ll look at the next setting plot
tomorrow.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment