16 May 2022, Writing - part xx956 Writing a Novel, We are Refining the Protagonist, Writing Development, The Rising Action, Creating Tension and Release, more Plot Elements
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
I could easily write: if you develop a great protagonist,
the writing will come. That’s basically
what I do, but I know that doesn’t work for the inexperienced and the young
writer.
Writing is really exhausting when you are first
starting. The problem, as I see it is
getting into the rhythm of the writing.
When a writer is in the rhythm, the writing seems to come easily, when
they aren’t, who knows what you might get.
When I was a younger writer, I found many times I had no
idea where I was going or what was going on in my writing. Today, I realize the problem was with my
protagonist, and also with my plot development.
Let’s lump those together and call them writing development.
Below, I’ve left up the outline for the protagonist. This is what you need to develop to build a
proper protagonist.
1.
Define the initial scene
2. At the same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the
initial scene. That means the minimum
of:
a.
Telic flaw
b.
Approximate age
c.
Approximate social degree
d.
Sex
3. Refine the protagonist
a.
Physical description
b.
Background – history of the
protagonist
i. Birth
ii. Setting
iii. Life
iv. Education
v. Work
vi. Profession
vii. Family
c.
Setting – current
i. Life
ii. Setting
iii. Work
d.
Name
4. Refine the details of the protagonist
a.
Emotional description (never to be
shared directly)
b.
Mental description (never to be
shared directly)
c.
Likes and dislikes (never to be
shared directly)
5. Telic flaw resolution
a.
Changes required for the protagonist
to resolve the telic flaw
i. Physical changes
ii. Emotional changes
iii. Mental changes
b.
Alliances required for the
protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
c.
Enemies required for the protagonist
to resolve the telic flaw
d.
Plots required for the protagonist
to resolve the telic flaw
e.
Obstacles that must be overcome for
the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
Now, if you slavishly follow this outline for the protagonist, it will not
guarantee you a great or even a good protagonist. What it will give you is a protagonist
detailed enough to write about. I’ve
covered the idea of the great protagonist before. I’ll state again, and you should review what
I’ve written, you need a good Romantic protagonist.
The protagonist is developed simultaneously, in my mind with the initial
scene. There are other means to begin
your writing development, but I don’t, and I’ve shown you the pitfalls I’ve
discovered when using other methods or starting places. That doesn’t mean you can’t come at this
writing development from another standpoint.
Here are the four, in order of precedence, means of approaching the initial
scene. I have used all four in published
works. I recommend only the first two. The others can work, but they are not as good
at producing a great initial scene. This
is the first step, in my book, to writing development. As I wrote, it doesn’t matter how you got to
this point, this is where writing development begins. The list:
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
We are writing about writing development.
You must start somewhere, and it might as well be the initial scene.
The purpose of the initial scene is to sell your novel. The purpose of the initial scene in novel
development is to sell your novels, but also to set the protagonist, the telic
flaw, the setting, and potentially the antagonist and the protagonist’s helper.
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
If you notice, the steps I use in the development of a novel
include quite a bit about the initial scene.
Once you get past the initial scene, I think the rest of the novel is relatively
easy to write. You might not have this
opinion, but I do think a strong initial scene, a great protagonist, and a
great telic flaw makes all the difference.
That’s not to say you won’t know where to go next—that’s writer’s block
in a nutshell.
So where do we go from the initial scene. Let me repeat the scene development outline
below:
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
With an initial scene, or any scene for that matter, we have
an output. We take that output to be the
input of the next scene. With an initial
scene, you have a beginning, but we have to move on to the rising action.
I know, the problem is the creative and not really anything
else. If you can’t get the creative
together, you really do have a problem. Let’s
look at these elements:
1.
Input
2. Initial setting
3. Creative elements
4. Plots
5. Telic flaw
6. Telic flaw resolution
7. Tension
8.
Release
The input and the initial setting are there—you have to have
them. The creative elements are
partially there, but not all of them.
Plus, we can make up all the creative elements we want—to a certain
degree. What are creative elements.
We take setting elements and turn them into creative
elements and plot elements. Plot
elements are Chekov Guns. One trick of
creativity is starting with the right setting elements.
The means of tension and release development is through promoting
creative elements to plot elements. Most
of those creative elements are characters, but they don’t have to be. We need to look at using creative elements in
tension and release.
Here is the ultimate point I’ve been tracking and moving
toward—tension and release. The first
question is how can we prevent or overcome writer’s block. My answer is through the development of entertaining
and cohesive scenes. I think that with
an exciting and well developed scenes, the writer can overcome or power through
any writer’s block. In addition, with
great ideas, the scenes will come—to the writer.
This is where we are.
If we have great tension and release, we can develop great and entertaining
scenes. I’ve made a logical argument
that tension and release comes through the design of great setting elements
that are then promoted to creative elements and then plot elements. The plot elements are what we are striving
for.
I wrote that great plot elements result in great tension and
release, but this is something that might not be so obvious. The best way to show this might be an example. I’ll try to explain and give an example at
the same time.
Let’s take a great setting element. I like people, but objects and places work
just as well. Any setting element will
work. Let’s take the “pony-faced”
girl. This is a short piece from my novel,
Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth:
The summer sun
sank slowly behind the buildings along the street. It left the street, Athinas, in shadows. Slowly with fits and whispered droning, the
lights along the street sputtered on.
Almost unnoticed
a young girl separated herself from the passersby and came close to the table
Angela, Phil, and Jack shared. She stood
at the edge of the street just opposite Angela and stared at Angela’s
wrist. Angela felt her gaze, but until
the lights came on, Phil and Jack didn’t notice the girl at all. When the neon lights of the taverna flickered
with a buzz and illuminated the girl’s upturned face—almost magically, there
she stood.
Angela had
discerned her presence in some way unknown and watched the darkness that
cloaked her. The girl was small and
slight. She didn’t appear over ten or
twelve, the cusp of adolescence. But
there was a feeling of age and antiquity in her bearing. Her face was beautiful but under-slung. Her face sloped at an angle so her chin stuck
much further than the tip of her nose.
Her nose and lips were slight, but well formed. Angela wondered long before she realized the
girl watched the keys on her wrist where she had seen such a face before.
Without turning
her head, Angela pronounced under her breath, “Phil, Jack, do you see the girl
at the street?”
Phil said, “Yes.”
Jack nodded.
Angela spoke to
the girl, “Hello. Would you come sit
with us?”
The girl nodded,
but no trace of shyness constrained her.
She waited until the way was clear, then with a stealthy look to the
right and left, she came to their table and sat down.
At close range,
the oddity of her profile was even more pronounced, but her strange beauty made
it impossible not to look at her.
“Who are you?”
asked Angela.
The girl’s voice
was lilting and warm like the last shot of sunlight on a hillside, “You may not
want to know my name. Ask me later, when
you know something about me.”
“Still, who are
you?” With a sudden illumination of
thought, Angela asked, “Are you with us, or do you oppose us?”
The girl ignored
Angela’s question. She said wistfully,
“It is said that the goddess of the hearth went to the big temple to seek the
one true God.”
“Yes, Hestia went
to the cathedral and accepted the worship of the true God. Would you like to go there?”
The girl took her
gaze off Angela’s wrist for the first time and stared in her eyes. The girl’s eyes were large and adorned with
long lashes. They were like deep wine
dark pools that swallowed up everything. “Not all of us can go there on our
own, many of us are bound.” Her lips
curled into a smile and her eyes narrowed, “But, lady, you hold the way to free
us.” Her eyes snapped back to Angela’s
wrist.
Angela made a wry
face at the keys, “You mean these?”
“Yes, those. I am bound and….”
At that moment,
Father Slannas stepped across the street toward the taverna. He waved at them and called. They waved back, and by the time he made his
way to their table, the girl was gone—she had disappeared.
Here I introduce a really fun character—the character starts
simply as a setting element—she is part of the background and setting until
Angela speaks to her and interacts with her.
The tension and release of this scene is driven, at that moment, but the
character. In this regard, she is a
creative element, and she is obviously intended as a plot element. We see this a little later:
Hestia frowned,
“No. I cannot identify the presence of
any gods or goddesses in this city-state.
That is, none I know. This will
make our work easier.”
“Any sign of
Nomius?” asked Angela.
“None. I walked by his shop, but there was no sign
of him or his smell. What did you meet
here?”
“What do you
mean?” Phil stared at her.
“There is a
scent. It is hard to place.”
Angela said, “A
girl came and stared at the keys on my wrist.
She was beautiful with a strange face.”
“A face like a
pony,” Hestia stated.
“Kind of like
that,” volunteered Jack, “It was long and… uh, kind of horse-shaped.”
“An abomination,”
Hestia stiffed, “Ah, that is the scent.
She was a centaur’s child.”
“A centaur’s
child,” Phil scratched his head, “But she had two legs like anyone else.”
“She said she was
bound,” said Angela.
“She is indeed
bound.”
“How is she
bound?” asked Phil.
“From her scent,
she is a being bred from a centaur and an epimeliad.”
“What’s an
epimeliad?” asked Jack.
“It is a nymph
that is a protector of sheep,” continued Hestia matter of factly.”
“But how does
that make her bound? And what does it
mean to be bound?” asked Angela.
Hestia pursed her
lips as though she spoke about a distasteful subject, “Gods and goddesses could
mate and produce other gods and goddesses.
They could also mate with humans and bear heroes. Heroes die eventually, in their time. The world was also filled with demigods—their
offspring with gods and goddesses were other demigods, but they were twisted
beings: satyrs, dinaids, centaurs, lapiths, harpies, hydras, minotaurs, and
additional creatures just as vile.
Demigods possess not unending being, but their lives are long—they are
bound to their natural substance: a dryad is bound to her oak, a hamadryad to
her tree, a meliad to her ash. When her
bound substance dies or is destroyed, the demigod dies. Its soul is unbound—released. Unlike these natural demigods, the offspring
of vile creatures like satyrs, dinaids, centaurs, lapiths, harpies, hydras,
minotaurs and nymphea are demigod beings whose lives are bound to objects. Many times to things that are manmade. Ownership of these objects gives ownership of
the life and soul of the demigod.”
Angela held the
ring of keys close to her chest, “So one of these keys may unlock a container
that holds the soul of that child.”
“Don’t be fooled,
that child may be a creature as old as mankind.
They are all dangerous and many times unpredictable. They are used creatures.”
Angela squinted
at Hestia, “What do you mean ‘used.’”
“The owners of
the object that is bound to them use them in any way they chose. The bound creature cannot object and must
obey. You know of the proclivities of
satyrs. You also know they generally
cannot have what they want without coercion.
If the child is as beautiful as you say… it is better not to think of
such things.”
Angela expelled
her breath in a rush and sat back, “The girl said I possess the way to free
her.”
“That may be
true.”
“And it may be
related to these keys?”
“It is definitely
related to the keys.”
In this later part of the scene, we get an explanation about
the girl we were introduced to at the beginning. This is how we take a setting element,
promote it to a creative element, and then tie it to the plot as a plot
element. The girl has suddenly become an
important part of the novel. Even without
showing you more of this, you can feel the tension and the release in the scene—mostly
tension. That’s the way with intermittent
scenes as we develop them in the rising action.
I write again: take a setting element. Make sure it is a great setting element. Cause that element to interact with any
character, but in the best case, with the protagonist, then engage that
creative element in the plot. That’s all
there is to it. You might want to know
how we get to great setting elements and eventually to plot elements. That’s what I’ve been trying to show, but let’s
look more closely at methods to accomplish this.
There is much more to this—I need to really delve into the
use of creative elements in developing tension and release.
This is what we should look at next. This is a very difficult subject to tackle in
a meaningful way, but we’ll try.
I’ll look more closely at this idea as we continue to move along in the list
of how of get rid of writer’s block.
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
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