08 September 2022, Writing - part xxx071 Writing a Novel, We are Refining the Protagonist, Powering Through, Exercises, Characters' Dialog
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.
|
|
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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
I think the proper organization and approach to the writing
itself is the best solution to writer’s black.
That’s why I spend so much time on the protagonist, scenes, and novel
development. I’m not an outline
writer—that is, I don’t like to write from an outline. You don’t have to be that organized. We aren’t writing technical papers here—we
are writing fiction.
So, the proper organization from my standpoint is the organization
that allows you the greatest latitude to write something really good. That’s what writing development is all
about. Couple that with the
understanding of how to put together a scene, and you have enough organization
to write a great novel. Add to that the
protagonist, and you have everything.
If you remember, the novel is the revelation of the
protagonist, that’s really all you need—along with the organization.
If you are organized in this fashion, I see potential
success in the future. However, I know
everyone gets to the point where they say, “I can’t get any further.” Yeap, that happened to me why I was a
younger, less experienced writer. It
doesn’t happen anymore. The reason is
this: I fix or blow through problems with writing.
It doesn’t matter what the problem is. In writing, if you know the tricks, you can
always fix or blow through your writing problems. This isn’t a great single sentence
description, but I’ll try to explain just what I mean.
What I will do is look at the writing development and
especially, the scene development. We
will apply that to the protagonist development to get into the writing.
If you are stuck at the beginning, in other words, you
haven’t written anything yet, that is definitely a problem of protagonist
development and the initial scene. I
won’t go back over everything we have explored before, but we will start at the
beginning, and figure out how to solve the problem of writer’s block from the
initial creativity. Let’s use an outline
like this (this is a type of technical paper).
1.
Initial ideas (protagonist, initial
scene, and telic flaw)
2.
The scene
3.
Review and editing
4.
Notes
5.
Exercises
6.
Ideas
7.
Picking up the pieces
We are moving on from the very beginning. I’m going to assume you have an idea with a
protagonist, an antagonist, a telic flaw, an initial setting, and an initial
scene. This is all you need to start a
novel. I showed you how to get to the
initial scene. I will also help you to
write it. I hope you have made it this
far. Usually, people get an idea for a
book and start writing. The problem
isn’t necessarily at the beginning but rather as the novel unfolds, they lose
the strength of their initial enthusiasm.
The muse is gone. I want to get
the muse moving. To kick it in the
backside and keep the creative and writing process going. That’s how we will get rid of writer’s
block. The next stage is the scene.
We need to power through the scene writing process. By this, I mean, we must use the scene
development outline to force the writing to continue—that is a means to get rid
of writer’s block. So, here is the scene development outline repeated:
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
I’m leaving the information and outline for writing scenes up because we are
still about writing scenes. All fiction
writing is about scenes. I know your writing
instructors never taught you this, they still took your money. Let me be very clear—fiction writing is all
about scenes. Figure out how to write a
good scene, and you can write a great novel.
We are up to the point where we need to bring out the big guns. If all the other help hasn’t worked or if you
really haven’t been able to break through the creative boundaries—that is, if
you can’t figure out a great protagonist or can’t develop something creative to
write.
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.
The first step is to follow the scene outline. The scene outline starts with the previous
scene output, but I’m going to make it even simpler. Let’s start with the setting.
Why the setting—you don’t need much creativity or imagination to write a
setting. All you need is the time,
place, and stuff. We are going to work
with each one.
The crumbs, or some of them are gone.
I’m moving on to characters in the scene setting.
The first thing that might seem astonishing to you is that characters are
part of the scene setting. In reality,
people are just setting elements. They
become creative and plot elements by promotion through the protagonist
characters and plot.
Think of it this way. If I have a
person, let’s say a police sergeant at his desk—that is a person as a setting
element. I can leave the sergeant at
that, but if the protagonist speaks to the police sergeant, I have just
promoted that setting element (person) to a creative element. Usually, such an important creative element
as a person and a police sergeant is a Chekov’s gun—they can’t just remain a
creative element. They must be a part of
the plot and the telic flaw resolution—otherwise, why include them at all. Thus, the protagonist speaking to the police
sergeant gets some piece of information that helps continue the storyline
toward the telic flaw resolution. That’s
the way it works.
Now, about characters or rather people as setting elements—I’m not certain you
can have writer’s block with this either.
Let me tell you why.
Let’s say my scene is a street scene.
If I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I wanted to write the description
of such a scene, I would go to the internet or to books and look through them
for an idea. If I didn’t find exactly
what I wanted, I’d find multiple pictures, and then use all the elements I
wanted from each.
Let’s say I found the perfect picture—here’s just such a one:
All I need to do is describe the scene, and put in the people I want or
need. I can even choose some for my
protagonist to interact with. Just take
a look. You have the lady in blue to the
right. Or how about the lady with the
red hat in the middle. Or perhaps the lady
in the orange and while dress in the street.
If you need a gentleman. The one with
the beard on the right is perfect. Or
the man in the brown coat in the center right.
Or the man escorting the lady in the orange and white dress. There are many other options, and if you don’t
see what you need, just make it up.
You can easily make up a character in this setting, because you have the
setting. A gentleman would be described
just like any of the examples, just put on your own spin. Each of these men or women can be described because
we can see them—their minds and professions or lives are something else. You can make all that up as you need.
For example, if you need a banker, the man on the right seems perfect. If you need a governess, the lady in blue on
the right would be my choice. If you don’t
find someone to your liking, just search for a picture of the person you need,
and describe them.
You can’t have writer’s block when you are writing description. Now, I know what your next question is.
You have your scene set and the potential characters described, you want to
put them in motion and get them talking.
That’s creativity baby. If you
have all the ingredients but stull can’t perform, that’s an entirely different problem. That is the problem of ideas.
I’m leaving up the breadcrumbs from the last part—I have too many
breadcrumbs, but I hope it is all helpful.
Here’s where we are. We need to get
some ideas of what to do with our setting—including characters. This is usually a problem of revelation.
What can we do with the setting including the characters. This is entirely dependent on your novel, but
it is also dependent on the scene and the input to the scene. It is also dependent on the setting. I should put this in bold. It is also dependent on the setting. How can that be? Let’s write about that. This can definitely help with your writer’s
block.
If I have a house or any building in the setting—don’t you want to investigate
it? If you don’t, perhaps your setting
is crap. Sorry to sound crass, but I
develop settings entirely for the purpose of entertainment for my readers.
One of my prepub readers mentioned that entertainment might be a poor word
choice for modern readers. I’m not sure
I want to change my word, entertainment to describe all fiction writing because
all fiction writing must be entertaining to be successful. Period.
Perhaps I need a synonym.
Entertainment can be a diversion or a distraction, or even an amusement. Amusement is worse. My prepub reader told me that the problem
with entertainment is that modern readers might not see tragedy as
entertaining. I’m not so sure. There is really no other word that works as
well as entertainment. Let me repeat.
I chose everything in my settings for entertainment. I want to excite and entertain my
readers. Thus, the description I gave
you for the Victorian house, I intended to provide an entertaining and exciting
venue. I wanted my readers to say with
Rose, “I want to see inside.” That’s the
point—exploration.
This is obvious or should be. If I
give you a really cool house, it should be interesting enough that you want to
explore it. There is one answer to the
question of how the setting determines the revelation or action or narrative in
the novel. How can you have writer’s
block if your characters need to explore the building in the setting.
Now, if the building is boring or not entertaining, oh well. You need some other motivation. The Victorian house I gave you screams to me—come
in and see. That’s just what I did.
The first thing my characters did, it is a cold February day, was to enter
the house. Inside was, the house, which
needs description, and a butler.
All modern houses and not all Victorian houses have butlers, but the people
in this neighborhood mostly all have butlers—especially, in named houses. They are provided by the state for these
special people. Special people is also another
part of this entire situation.
Let’s recap. We have a house, and
Victorian house in the setting. We are
going to enter the house and have a lookyloo.
There is still more house to see and to explore. You might never see it all—that depends on a
lot of things. If you really have writer’s
block, then by all means explore the entire place. Do what you need. The writing is the most important. You can always edit out what you don’t need. Just write.
I’m keeping up the bread crumbs on purpose.
We are now into making the characters come alive in the setting.
We have setting. We have
characters. We now need to do something with
the characters. This might be where your
writer’s block is happening. I’m going
to take away the writer’s block. At the
very least, we need to have your characters explore the setting. In the case of the Victorian house, we can
explore the inside or the outside. I
already gave you a foreshadowing of where we are going. Rose said she couldn’t wait to see the
inside. Simple foreshadowing for a great
idea. You don’t have to say it, you just
need to do it.
So, here we are. We have a great
setting, an entertaining and exciting setting, and I want my characters to
explore the setting. You can’t have
writer’s block if you are exploring.
Let’s just have the characters enter the house and that means moving and
description. This, by the way is all
showing, and that’s what we want to do, show.
Here it is:
Rose’s head was on a swivel. She followed Leora up the walk and the steps
to the front door. The design in the
stained glass was an art deco girl with unbelievably red hair surrounded by a
storm of ivy.
Leora pushed open the door, and almost
immediately a tall butler entered the foyer.
Leora handed him her coat and gloves.
Rose entered more slowly.
The butler smiled and bowed, “Good afternoon,
Miss…?
Leora laughed, “This is Miss Tash. She will be staying with us for a while. Please make up the tower room for her. The works, Francis.” She turned to Rose, “This is Francis, our
butler. If you need for anything, you have
but to ask him.”
Rose nodded, then remembered her manners,
“Thank you, Francis. I’ve never met a
butler before.” She put out her hand.
Francis touched her hand, “You are
welcome to Ivy House, Miss Tash.”
Rose asked, “Ivy House?”
Francis nodded, “Although it is hard to
tell at the moment, in the spring, summer, and fall, the house is covered with
Ivy.”
“How can it be more beautiful than it is
now?”
Leora laughed, “There are many beautiful
houses around here. Ivy is the special
feature of this one, plus this is a named house.”
“A named house?”
“Since Victoria, I think. It is known on the national registers as Ivy
House.” Leora made a motion to follow. Behind her back, she called, “Oh, Francis,
tell Ms. Trumble I will have a guest for dinner and for the next few days.”
“I have already informed her, ma’am. The tower room is ready. Is this young lady like our friend Ms. Shiggy
Tash? Shall I make any special
allowances?”
“No need, she is a protegee of Ms. Tash,
but not as … hazardous or boisterous.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rose wasn’t sure what to say. She followed Leora down the foyer into a
large open room with heavy stairs that led to the upper floor. The interior was all ancient oiled oak. The stairs led up to a railed walkway and
hall. The walkway went all around the
second story of the large receiving room, and Rose could spot doors at each
corner and turn. Before the stairs, to
the right lay an open formal parlor and the left a few closed doors. Artwork covered the walls. They looked like old oil paintings to
Rose. Leora led her to the right past
the stairs. A formal dining room sat behind
the parlor and to the left she heard sounds like meal preparation, possibly the
kitchen. They walked further back down a
long hallway whose walls were covered with photographs. In the photos were children of all ages,
Leora, and a man about the same age as Leora.
The man was dressed in military uniforms in many of the
photographs. He was a colonel in the
last. Rose counted four separate
children in many of the photographs.
They seemed to be a testimony to the lives of the people who lived here,
or so Rose guessed. Leora led her into
an informal parlor just behind the dining room.
The door was open and a hearty fire blazed in the large fireplace. The furniture was all age darkened leather,
but the room wasn’t dark at all. Large
framed windows let the last rays of the winter sun blaze through them. Leora turned on the lights anyway. Over the fireplace was the portrait of a very
handsome and regal looking man—the colonel from the photographs. Leora turned around and made a motion for
Rose to sit. A leather loveseat centered
on a low mahogany tea table faced the hearth.
On either side were large thickly upholstered leather chairs.
Rose read the room quickly. Although another door sat behind the chair to
the right of the hearth, it was closed, and by its looks either a closet or an
entrance to a water closet or perhaps a phone closet. She wanted a clear view of the entire room,
but she also didn’t necessarily want to sit directly next to Leora. If Shiggy was any example of the strength and
reflexes of these people, Leora could be deadly at that close of range.
When Rose didn’t sit immediately, Leora
laughed and sat on the left-hand chair.
Rose sighed and sat to the right on the loveseat.
Leora rang a bell, “Shall we have tea?”
Rose nodded.
Leora sat back, “I did notice that you
didn’t want to sit next to me or with your back to a door. I am not that dangerous.”
“Not as dangerous as Shiggy?”
Leora covered her face, “I know exactly
how you met my Shiggy. She is a
dangerous person. I’m not trained to the
same pitch as she or Sorcha—they work for me.
I know this is a question of trust, so let me tell you a little about
myself.”
Rose nodded.
At that moment, Francis pushed a tea cart
through the doorway. On it was tea,
cups, and some tea dainties arranged on a three-tiered China tray. The plates were all decorated in classic blue
Delft patterns. Rose had wondered why
one of her lessons included Delft China.
It couldn’t be for this moment.
Francis poured their tea. Rose took a few biscuits and a couple of
small sandwiches. Then Francis left, and
they retained control of the wonderful tea tray.
Leora picked one of each of Rose’s
choices of dainties. She took a single
bite of each, “If I wanted to poison you, I’d have had Burgundy Rose do it
earlier.”
Rose licked the crumbs off her lips then
sipped her tea, “Burgundy Rose would never have been able to hide that from
me.”
Leora gave a hearty snort, “I’m liking
you as much as Shiggy does already, Miss Tash.”
Rose blushed.
We are getting a little deeper into exploration than just exploration
because this is what I call the normality of writing and dialog. I might miss a few of all the perfect steps,
but here is the basic mode of all dialog:
1.
Greetings
2.
Introductions
3.
Small talk
4.
Big talk
As we are exploring, we can also engage in basic dialog. Notice, I put in a butler. Yes, a butler is unusual in the modern era, but
not so much in certain British classes or communities. There is a reason for a butler here, can you
guess it? There is also a cook, but we
haven’t met the cook yet.
In meeting a butler, you can either say nothing, but obviously, that is a waste. Yes, you are introduced to a butler. Usually, you give them your official
card. They announce you, and there is no
introduction to the butler himself. In
this case, since Rose will be staying for a little while with Leora, there is
no reason not to introduce the butler and give instructions both to Rose and
the Francis. Francis has already taken
care of things—do you think Leora is simply making comments to Francis for Rose’s
benefit? Of course. You don’t need to tell you readers these things. You may allude to them, just as I do. You might even make some comment, you don’t
need to. The point here is to follow the
guide for a conversation or dialog.
1.
Greetings
2.
Introductions
3.
Small talk
4.
Big talk
5.
Departures
I added the last, departures (good-bye).
You can’t have writer’s block until you get to the big talk. I’ll help you with this and show you an
example when I get to it. I’m still
working on this part of the writing.
These aren’t edited much. Notice
the small talk and the other parts of the dialog. I put in all kinds of fun stuff. This is just great writing. I’ve written before about writing
dialog. If you noticed, this is just fun
and cool adds based on the personalities and the style of speaking of each of
the characters.
I left up the bread-crumbs. They’ll
be gone soon, so soak them up. This is
about dialog. Here’s where we are. You can’t have writer’s block if you have something
to write. I’ve given you a plan for
writing. Find an entertaining
setting. Describe it. Put in all the other elements of the
setting. Place the stuff and the
characters. Then set the characters in
motion. We have gone through these steps. I must write again—if you are writing description,
you can’t have writer’s block—especially if you are describing from the real
world (pictures etc.). Be like an
artist, but there is more.
We took that setting and began to set in motion the characters. My advice to you was to have the characters
explore the setting, and that’s what we did.
We began with exploration and description, and moved to the interior of
the setting. As we did, we saw how
dialog suddenly sprang up, and I provided the basic rules for dialog.
1.
Greetings
2.
Introductions
3.
Small talk
4.
Big talk
5.
Departures
Let’s look at this. Whenever humans
(characters) come into proximity, you will have the natural opportunity for
dialog. In fact, if you don’t you need
to refigure your writing strategy.
People always interact verbally to some degree. You can have characters being shunned or
ignored but that is both highly unusual and highly unlikely. Let’s say you have to work very hard to
provide just such a circumstance.
In any case, when we bring characters in proximity, we need to let them
dialog, and if you have no clue, use the rules for dialog. If you do have a clue, still use the rules
for dialog. Where I want to go right now
is to the big talk.
The big talk follows naturally in the train of dialog--and this is where
every author needs to go. It does no
good in any novel to simply converse in trivialities. We need to get to the big talk for a few
reasons. The first is this—showing and
not telling.
There is a huge amount of information the author needs and wants to convey
to us that can’t be easily given through action or narrative. You can tell, but if you do, you are not a
good author. Sure, you can tell all you
want, but your chances of being published diminish significantly. Just forget about telling and try to show
everything. Showing means dialog.
When I need to convey information about or to my protagonist, we need to
either have the protagonist tell us in dialog or we need to convey that information
through conversation (dialog), thus the big talk.
To get to the big talk, we need to move through the natural rules or levels
of dialog. That’s what I was showing you
in the examples above. Now, I’d like to
show you an example of the big talk.
Rose read the room quickly. Although another door sat behind the chair to
the right of the hearth, it was closed, and by its looks either a closet or an
entrance to a water closet or perhaps a phone closet. She wanted a clear view of the entire room,
but she also didn’t necessarily want to sit directly next to Leora. If Shiggy was any example of the strength and
reflexes of these people, Leora could be deadly at that close of range.
When Rose didn’t sit immediately, Leora
laughed and sat on the left-hand chair.
Rose sighed and sat to the right on the loveseat.
Leora rang a bell, “Shall we have tea?”
Rose nodded.
Leora sat back, “I did notice that you
didn’t want to sit next to me or with your back to a door. I am not that dangerous.”
“Not as dangerous as Shiggy?”
Leora covered her face, “I know exactly
how you met my Shiggy. She is a
dangerous person. I’m not trained to the
same pitch as she or Sorcha—they work for me.
I know this is a question of trust, so let me tell you a little about
myself.”
Rose nodded.
At that moment, Francis pushed a tea cart
through the doorway. On it was tea,
cups, and some tea dainties arranged on a three-tiered China tray. The plates were all decorated in classic blue
Delft patterns. Rose had wondered why
one of her lessons included Delft China.
It couldn’t be for this moment.
Francis poured their tea. Rose took a few biscuits and a couple of
small sandwiches. Then Francis left, and
they retained control of the wonderful tea tray.
Leora picked one of each of Rose’s
choices of dainties. She took a single
bite of each, “If I wanted to poison you, I’d have had Burgundy Rose do it
earlier.”
Rose licked the crumbs off her lips then
sipped her tea, “Burgundy Rose would never have been able to hide that from
me.”
Leora gave a hearty snort, “I’m liking
you as much as Shiggy does already, Miss Tash.”
Rose blushed.
“I know you noticed the pictures in the hallway. I did slow my steps just a little so you
could get a good look. I also know that
you have an eidetic memory. It’s in
Shiggy’s reports. What did you see in
the pictures, Rose?”
“Is this a test?”
Leora smiled, “Not really. Let’s just say, I exceedingly like your
skills and want to see them in action. I
know you were looking and absorbing.”
Rose glanced up, and almost licked her
lips again. She stopped herself and
answered, “I noted four children in the photographs: two boys and two girls. Although I should say the boys are young
men. In the last, the boys were at
Oxford.”
“How did you gather that?”
“Their clothing and the background.”
“Have you been to Oxford?”
“No, but Shiggy gave me some studies
about university and advanced learning.
I recognized the buildings. The
girls are about my age—I guess.”
“What else?”
“Their father is a military man. He was an Army Colonel last assigned to the
Sixth Division, the Army Special Operations Brigade, First Battalion, First Regiment,
Ranger Regiment. He was last assigned in
Afghanistan.”
Leora’s mouth fell open, “You gathered
all that just from a glance at my photographs?”
Rose looked uncomfortable, “Shiggy
included all that in my studies.”
“About Sir Brian Marshall?”
“Is that his name, ma’am?”
“You gathered all that just from his
uniform and the backgrounds?”
“I could also give you his previous
units, at least the ones whose uniform he is pictured in.”
“No need.
I believe you. You said,
was. Did you gather that he is dead?”
“The portrait above the hearth is Colonel
Marshall. He is pictured wearing the Victoria
Cross but there is a standing lion on the table next to his hand. He is touching it with his right hand.” Rose’s voice dropped, and her eyes filled,
“I’m sorry for reminding you.”
Leora didn’t laugh this time, “The
Colonel, my husband is indeed dead. He
lost his life in the fighting in Afghanistan.
You are very astute, but I wouldn’t have asked you to make such a
decisive determination if such a reality would trouble me. I do miss him very much, and because of your deductions,
I like you even more. You are kind and
yet perceptive. Shiggy made a very good
choice. Can you tell where the girls
are?”
“I couldn’t tell. May I meet them, and your sons?”
Leora’s face regained her smile, “In the
future perhaps. I will provide you with
study materials for your assignment.
Although there is some rush, we won’t start until the morning.” Leora perked up, “Oh, by the way, the boys, my
young men are Brian and Archie. They are
both at Oxford. The girls are Pheobe and
Sophie. You will learn all about
them—that is the girls. I’m not certain
I want you around my boys yet?”
“Why not, ma’am?”
“If you don’t know, I guess I must tell
you. You are ravishingly beautiful. It is an almost unearthly beauty. I’m not sure my boys are ready for you
yet. Plus, if Shiggy was training you,
you will already be dangerous to any young man in the kingdom.”
“I’m sure Shiggy was not teaching me
anything like that.”
“You do know what I’m implying. That’s good.
We shall include it in your lessons.
We don’t need any accidents. Did
Shiggy teach you any offensive or defensive techniques?”
“I’m not sure I understand. She said I was already too proficient and assured
me my other abilities could protect me.”
This is movement from the small talk to the big talk. The transition here uses the classical means
of moving a conversation from small talk to the big talk, in the real world, “let
me tell you about myself.” The other statement
or question that drives us from the small talk to the big talk is, “tell me
about yourself.”
This is what Leora says, and then we have a natural interlude of serving tea. Then Leora does something a little trickier. She says, “let me tell you about myself,”
then she challenges Rose to, “tell me what you saw in the pictures.”
This is a direct action or interaction with the stuff or interior of the
setting. In this case, we have
transitioned from the small talk to the big talk simply by interacting
(describing) with the stuff in the setting.
In this case, Rose is just showing us in dialog what she observed in the
photographs in the place. In this way,
Rose is showing us in dialog what she has deduced about Leora and her
family. This will be very important in
the novel. In addition, this also opens
the door for more dialog and conversation pointed toward what Rose must
accomplish for Leora. This is a bit more
tricky.
Here is where authors get writer’s block.
They don’t know where their story is going. I can help you with getting to this point, but
I can’t help you much with figuring out your story. Story is all about your creativity and what
you want to write. I can help you with
some of the focus—always on entertainment.
I can help you with the details—how to get it on paper. But you have to get the idea to begin
with. I know where my story is
going. I can tell you.
Rose is being forced/volunteered to become the babysitter for five
goddesses. Actually three goddesses and two
daughters of goddesses. This is a setup. These are girls who might or might not have
powers of unbound goddesses. They are
all dangerous. Two are Leora’s daughters,
and two are Leora’s sister’s daughters.
Then there is Robyn.
To tell you the truth, this has been the entire setup for this novel. Rose is an important and powerful character
on her own. I’m giving her a very important
role which only she can handle. The why’s
wherefore’s and other details will come later, but Rose fell into this job, and
her attachment to Viera Lodge gave the fulcrum for Leora to use to entice Rose
to the work.
We should be able to see where the entertainment lies in this novel and this
setup. The telic flaw is Rose’s—just
look at my theme statement:
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.
The rescue of Rose has taken an interesting turn—it’s one I planned to a
degree from the beginning. We can also
say, I knew generally where I wanted to go, but the going and the writing
changed the ideas a little—they only got better. I can confess, my original plan was to have Rose
be the babysitter for the new Ceridwen.
I changed my mind when I introduced Robyn into the mix. Robyn is a rogue goddess out of her
time. Then as I developed the idea of
where Robyn and Rose would go to school, I researched my own characters to
discover that Leila and Leroa’s daughters would be in the same school and
potentially the same time. This became a
delicious idea to follow.
In fact, I made up Leora’s daughters and family based on the storyline as it
moved. In other words, I had already
developed Leila’s family in my other novels, but not Leora’s. As I developed her family, the ideas for
fitting everything together came to me.
The writing changed and focused the work. We shall see where this all goes.
I’m not sure I can help you with writer’s block once you reach this
point. I am trying to show how my mind
and writing keep generating ideas for the novel. The setting develops the scenes and from the
setting, we can build our action and dialog.
There is much more to this, but I think I’ll move on.
Oh, the exercise part was that you where supposed to find a setting,
describe it as I showed you, place all the other setting elements into it, and
then set the scene in motion with action and dialog. That was the entire point.
The next point is to look at ideas.
This may be difficult, but that’s the next topic in the ledger.
All of this can and will reduce writer’s block. I do all these things as a matter of course
in my writing. This is just some of the
basics of writing. It’s the kinds of
ideas they never taught me in school.
We will 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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