16 June 2022, Writing - part xx987 Writing a Novel, We are Refining the Protagonist, Writing Development, Crafting the Climax, Bad Climax Example
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 – conflict and action resolve the
telic flaw
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
For writing a scene, we have this 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
The scene is everything in a novel. I wish I had understood this when I began to
write. It would have really helped
me. I think this is the overall key to
solving the problem of writer’s block. I
don’t get writer’s block because I know where everything is theoretically
going. If you are writing scenes using
the ideas I’ve expressed, you should too.
This is, after all, the main problem of writer’s block, not
knowing where you are going—or intend to go.
I have other solutions for you in these cases, but I think it is
worthwhile to look at the rising action in a novel.
I’m not certain I wanted to get to the climax yet, but the
climax is a very important part of the novel.
Let’s define the climax—I already wrote:
the climax is the resolution of the telic flaw of the novel. Since the telic flaw belongs to the
protagonist, it is also the resolution of the telic flaw for the protagonist.
Let’s face facts, many novel telic flaws don’t lend
themselves to powerful climaxes. Some
do.
The classic detective novel is a sink for the powerful
climax. The detective chases down the
criminal, and there is a great gun fight—the criminal dies in a blaze of
gunfire. Powerful climaxes are
characterized by action and conflict that resolved the telic flaw. Not so powerful climaxes are not
characterized by action and low level conflict that resolves the telic
flaw.
I added the idea of conflict and action to the outline for
writing a novel. I think this is a great
add and pointer. I’m really still
writing about the rising action development, but we have also stumbled into the
climax. The climax is really what the
rising action is all about except that the rising action is all about the
revelation of the protagonist.
Okay, this is not an irony, and this is not supposed to be
any kind of trick. The protagonist is
tied directly to the telic flaw and the telic flaw must be resolved in the
climax, therefore, the rising action is a revelation of the development of the
telic flaw to resolution. It might be a
better description to write that the telic flaw resolution is the revelation in
the rising action—the problem with that is we miss the connection to the
protagonist.
I’m looking at two novels by Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong and
Dragonsinger. I’ll repeat, these
are relatively simple novels that I think are outstanding examples of modern
writing. They are exactly how we should
write our novels. What makes these two
novel’s climaxes so great, and what makes the last of the Harper Hall trilogy
so crappy as a climax? Let’s look at
this in detail.
What I want to do is look at why the last novel in the
Harper Trilogy sucks. It is called Dragondrums. It is seriously lower quality than the other
two novels.
What makes Dragondrums so poor? The climax sucks, and that’s only a small
problem. In fact, the climax is poor,
but that isn’t really the main problem of the novel. Perhaps the greatest problem is the protagonist
and the lack of positive revelation.
The number one problem with Dragondrums is an unlikable
protagonist. Where Menolly is driven, Piemer
is not. Where Menolly gently pushes her
desires on her culture and society, Piemer has no idea what he is doing or
where he is going. In the end, we aren’t
certain he ever finds his way. There is
no real climax, just an end of the tension developed in the novel. In fact, we aren’t certain if the telic flaw
of the novel is even connected to the protagonist or to the resolution and
climax.
I suspect after the success of her first two novels, Anne
McCaffrey’s publisher asked for a third and paid her a lot for it. And here is a very real and interesting problem
for writers.
Generally, when I get an idea for a novel, I write it out to
the end. I’ve started a few that I haven’t
completed, and at the moment, I’ve working pretty diligently on one while
letting a couple of potentially great ones sit unloved and incomplete. The main point here is that usually when I
get an idea for a novel, from the initial scene and the protagonist, I write
until the novel is done. I usually don’t
let them sit too long.
The same would be true of a contracted novel, however, I
think my method of writing would let me put together a great novel without much
problem. It all depends on how you
develop your novels. Here’s my guess at
Anne McCaffrey’s writing system and technique—I could be wrong, but Dragondrums
gives us and me a small window into her creative process.
I think she is an outliner and a plot developer who sees the
plot movement as more important, is some degree, than the protagonist. Additionally, once she develops a protagonist,
she can’t help but impress the negatives as well as the positives. Thus, after reading many of her novels, I
find her protagonists, not unlikable, but very flawed and difficult to
love. Menolly may be her most lovable
protagonist, and even she has issues.
Many of Menolly’s issues get resolved in the first two
novels, but then in Dragondrums, we see her grow up to be a character
that is difficult to love. She is no
longer the gentle and delicate songstress who ran halfway across Nerat, she is now
the conniving apprentice journeyman of the Master Harper. She is having sex with whoever and whatever
at the estrus of her dragonlizard. She
moves from a character of innocent youth to an adult of dubious relations. I know this is part of McCaffrey’s style, but
it besmirches one of her most beautiful protagonists. I’ve written about this before.
Authors need to be careful about the morality of their protagonists. The problem is both one of the audience and
the character. You can portray a protagonist
in almost any way you desire, but if you turn off your audience, they character
will be ruined. If the protagonist is
ruined, the novel is ruined. You can go
for a redemption telic flaw (or plot), but it better be good. I’m telling you directly, immorality in a
protagonist can ruin your protagonist.
Ambivalence in a protagonist can equally ruin a protagonist. This is why Harry Potty at around the forth
or fifth novel takes a real turn for the worse.
I’m not certain what the readership of the novels looks like, but it
wasn’t immorality which downed Harry, but rather his petulance and betrayal of
his friends.
If you notice, Rowling was carefully directed and kept
immorality from her “good: characters and plots. She did throw in some grooming for
perversion, but kept it on the down low to prevent the loss of readership. McCaffrey in Dragondrums, didn’t
really care much about that, she applied her usual adult novel morals and lack
thereof to her past protagonist, and gave us a protagonist for the novel who
was way too ambivalent without any real goal.
That’s the worst point.
You must give your protagonist a great personal goal. I’m not certain I’ve written about this quite
in this way. To me, the telic flaw is
enough, but for some writers and in the writing of some books, this is apparently
not enough. I’ll put this more succinctly,
the telic flaw must be a goal that the protagonist must achieve and resolve in
the novel. This will prevent problems
like we see in other novels. I’ll give
you more.
The main problem with Dragondrums, is the protagonist. I think McCaffrey could have developed a
better protagonist. Personally, I would
have continued with Menolly as the protagonist and put Peimer and the others
around her. The telic flaw and the
overall novel would have been much different and potentially much more
readable.
If you are going to write any novel—develop a great
protagonist first. I don’t care how you
get to your great protagonist, I’ve written over and over about this, just develop
a great one first. This is a basic
requirement. You need to follow my
recommendations. Be very careful of copying
or mimicking some modern protagonists.
Make them lovable, at least to you.
If you can’t love them, your readers can’t love them, and don’t betray
your readers or your friends. What does
that mean?
Remember the traits of readers. Readers love readers ,the intellectual, the
Romantic (in the technical sense). They
love protagonists that they imagine are like them, except successful,
forthright, and determined. Not that
readers aren’t but readers read because they love to read and they love to read
about characters who are like them, but who really do succeed in ways they
might never imagine for themselves. If
your protagonist is not acceptable or likable to your readers, your readers can’t
see the world through your protagonist, and they will reject your character.
I think a great protagonist solves almost every problem in
writing, but that’s me. I’ll see what
else we can find in the rising action helping us develop the climax or vice
versa. I think I spelled that right.
Maybe I should move on to the climax in the development of
the novel and relate that to the rising action and telic flaw.
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.
F or 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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