13 September 2022, Writing - part xxx076 Writing a Novel, We are Refining the Protagonist, Powering Through, Generating Ideas Action
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
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.
We really have touched every technical point possible about writing or
rather putting ideas on paper—and I’ve given you great ways to get to those
ideas, but there is more, and we know it.
The part that is more is not just the origin of the ideas for creativity in
the first place, but the ideas that make the writing pop through the dialog and
the action and narrative.
This is very different than the painter copying other paintings. Those are just copies. Your word copies are a new art, a new idea, a
new creation. That is the great
connection between reality and writing on paper. In a similar way, we take ideas from the
world and make them our own.
Ideas are exactly what we need. Where
can we get these ideas? In general, most
authors just have them. They wouldn’t
want to be authors if they didn’t have anything to write about. But we know exactly where we are with the
little details of scene and storyline in novels. This lcak of ideas is what we call writer’s
block.
Yes, I’ve read novels by people who should write another five to ten novels
before they try to publish another one.
These are mostly self-published authors.
Their writing is really lacking, and I think it is because of the ideas
they try to put on paper. Perhaps it
isn’t the ideas as much as the telling.
These authors blatantly break the rules of showing and telling, and
perhaps this is the solution to the idea problem.
Perhaps the problem isn’t ideas as much as it is the writing the ideas down
on paper. So, the first part of
developing ideas is this:
1.
Show
2.
Action
3.
Dialog
4.
Foreshadow
5.
Reveal
6.
Describe
7.
Don’t tell
Yeah. It’s all about showing. Showing is wonderful because you have action
and dialog, and that’s about it. If you
are telling, you are breaking the main rule of writing fiction.
Now, if it is all about showing, how can that help us with getting to
ideas? Well, the first main point about
ideas is to take other people’s ideas and interpolate or extrapolate them to
your own. That is the creative process
in a nutshell. Embedded in this idea of creativity
is action and dialog. In other words, I
take action and/or dialog from the real world or from books, movies, plays, or
other sources and then make it mine. I’m
not talking about plagiarism, I’m writing about using what you know to get to
new ideas. Thus, if we want an example from
real life, just look at real people. Real
people don’t naturally produce dialog acceptable for fiction books, but the
interaction of human beings provides some basis for the dialog.
So, here is the next idea for you, or idea generator—conflict. I’ll put it on the list. Perhaps we can move from there into action.
1.
Have one protagonist
2.
Conflict is a great idea for dialog
3.
Action ideas are plots
4.
Dialog ideas are plots
Here’s the list of action ideas so far:
1.
Meal
2.
Parties
3.
Travel
4.
Training or learning
All we need to do is to make a list of all the action ideas we can think
of. How about taking them from the list
of plots?
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%
That’s about it. Just look at the
list and pick something for your characters to do. There are more that this. This list came from an evaluation of all the
major classic novels in English. There
are also other ideas not covered quite as well by the list. For example, we already listed meals. Meals are not in the plot list. That doesn’t mean they aren’t plots or even
normative. It means that few classical
novels use meals as a plot. They do use
them as ideas and in tension and release.
There are numerous novels and books that do use meals or food preparation as
a plot—them just aren’t classics. That
means there are many other sources of ideas.
Let me give you some of them. We
have our basic list and the plot list.
Let’s add to the basic list.
What do people do every day? Here we
go:
1.
Wake up
2.
Prepare and dress
3.
Breakfast
4.
Travel to work or school
5.
Participate in work or school
6.
Lunch
7.
Participate in work or school
8.
Go to shop or entertainment
9.
Go home
10. Dinner
11. Study
or house/homework
12. Prepare
for bed
13. Go
to bed
14. Sleep
There are many other activities and ideas that can fill this short
outline. This is a basic day. You can move things around a little or change
up or specify things. For example, go to
a party, grocery shop, shop, and all. There are many ideas and things to add.
Now, if you still have writer’s block with all these ideas and help, then
what are you doing or writing? Just pick
something for your protagonist to do.
For example, if you are having a problem with where or what your protagonist
is going or doing next, just pick from the list what they are supposed to be
doing and have them do it. That’s action—don’t
tell, that’s killing action. For
example, if we choose, participate in work or school, then don’t write:
Jack participated in school.
Write to show us everything that Jack is doing. He saunters down the street (show how and where
he walks). Write descriptions about the
things he sees. I know this is going to school,
but we need to get there.
When Jack gets to school, he needs to go to his classroom. You can describe this. When he gets to the classroom, describe it
and the people in it. Then the teacher
comes in. You can keep this going on and
on and on until you get an idea of where to go from this. What is your storyline. Perhaps Jack is taking a test or getting the
results of a test back. Perhaps Jack is
meeting friends or meeting a girl or has a girl he would like to speak to.
How about this. Jack is getting his
test scores back. There is a girl who
looks especially despondent after they get their tests. His scores are pretty dismal, so he speaks to
the girl and discovers she had problems like he did on the test. They decide to meet in the library or to go
to coffee. That’s a perfect next step. The story keeps moving.
So school might not be so exciting, but I’ve used these settings in my
novels. Perhaps we need an example. Here you go:
Tuesday morning
The morning skies were
dreary, but no rain had fallen during the night or morning. Dane went to his first class. He rode his bike and took a short detour down
Park Avenue to see if he could find the gate where Kanayama-hiko had sat the
night before. He didn’t see anything
like it and gave up because it was getting late. Dane continued on to campus and locked his
bike in the rack in front of the math building.
He entered the classroom and found a place near the front. He pulled a notebook from his backpack and
some mechanical pencils. He sat the
backpack at his feet. The professor
entered the room at the front and at almost the same time, the last of the
students came in the back door. That’s
when he saw her. He hadn’t realized
Lilly was in this class with him. It was
an advanced class on theoretical mathematics.
He was taking it because it was an engineering requirement, and because
he wanted it for his electrical engineering classes. It wasn’t exactly pure theory, but it was
close. It indirectly aided in the
programming and development of electrical components and circuits. Whiz kid or not, there was no way Lilly Lin
Grant should have been at a level for that this kind of class—it was a senior
level course and had numerous prerequisites and requirements. But, there she was, plain as day. No one sat close to her.
Dane wondered why he
hadn’t noticed her before. He wished now
he hadn’t sat near the front of the class.
She was at the back, and he couldn’t keep an eye on her. With the few glances he could steal, he saw
she pulled out an old laptop with a kludged battery attached to it. She typed on it throughout class. The class went on and on. Dane thought it would never end. Finally, the prof finished and assigned the
homework. Dane stood and went to the
back to intercept Lilly. He got a better
look at her and her computer. The
computer looked like something out of the trash. The batteries were more than kludged, they
were taped and wired to the back of the computer. She was just closing the lid when Dane
arrived in front of her. Dane was
slightly breathless, “I didn’t know you were in this class.”
That’s when he really
caught a whiff of her. She reeked. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed it last
night—maybe it was the damp night. He
took an involuntary step back and covered his nose.
Lilly turned him a
sneering smile and stood, “It keeps away the unwanted and the unpleasant.” She swept her oddly taped computer into her
ragged bag and gently slipped it on her back.
She gave him a look as she headed out the door.
Dane followed her, but
not too close. He whispered, “Did you
mean because you stink?”
She stopped suddenly
and rolled her eyes then raised her lip in a very sardonic sneer, “That is
exactly what I meant.” She twirled
around and continued down the walk.
Dane followed behind
her. She headed to the Student Union and
then cut around behind it. She stopped
at the first dumpster and took a long sniff.
She shook her head and went to the second. She sniffed at this one too, then she took
off her ragged backpack and gently laid it on the ground. She threw open the dumpster lid and pulled
herself up on the side. She stood on the
metal arm welded to it.
Dane stuck his hands on
his hips, “Just what are you doing?”
She didn’t look at him,
“I couldn’t buy anything last night…and I gave the remaining bread to
Hiko-kun.”
“I’ll get you
something.”
“I don’t like being
dependent.”
“I’ll pay you…”
She stood up straight
and half turned. Her look was
suspicious, “Pay me for what?”
Dane thought quickly,
“For your class notes…,” he stated lamely.
She sucked in a breath,
“How do you know my notes are worth anything?”
“I’d rather pay you for
your notes than have you eat garbage from the Student Union dumpster.”
She hopped down and
stood directly before him, “Does it embarrass you?”
“Not really. It makes me sad that you have to eat here.”
She kept her eyes on
him and reached down to pick up her backpack, “They throw out so much good
food, it seems a waste not to eat it.”
“I’ll take your word
for it.” Dane turned around and waved
for her to follow.
They walked back around
the climbing drive to the front, and Dane led her to the small bistro inside.
He put his bag on a
couch, and she set hers beside his.
Lilly raised her chin,
“Give me money. I’m hungry right now,
and I’ll send you my notes afterwards.”
Dane waved her to the
counter, “I’ll pay with Lute Bucks. You
can order whatever you want.”
She came with him but
asked, “What are Lute Bucks?”
He turned sharply and
stared at her, “I’m surprised you didn’t hack the school accounts for
them. They are credit you can use to buy
food at the cafeteria and other places around and on the campus.”
She squinted, “As a
professional courtesy, I don’t foul my own nest.”
“I take that to mean,
you don’t hack systems you have professional associations with.”
“You are astute—that’s
just what I meant.”
When they arrived at
the counter, Dane ordered a cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Lilly ordered a breakfast sandwich with egg
and bacon. She also ordered a coke. Dane paid for everything. They went back to the couch and sat
down. Lilly sat on one end and Dane on
the other. Their bags were in the
center.
This goes from travel to class and then after class. This is a beautiful transition to a place and
opportunity to dialog. This is from Lilly:
Enchantment and the Computer, by the way.
Yes, there is more. We can add to the
list next. We are still looking at
action ideas.
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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