27 October 2022, Writing - part xxx120 Writing a Novel, Romantic Protagonist, Common and Rural
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: Let me tell
you a little about writing. Writing
isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime.
Writing is a habit and an obsession.
We who love to write love to write.
If you love
to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well. We want to write well enough to have others
enjoy our writing. This is
important. No one writes just for
themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly. I can prove why.
In the first
place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only purpose. Writing is the abstract communication of the
mind through symbols. As time goes by,
we as writers gain more and better tools and our readers gain more and better
appreciation for those tools and skills—even if they have no idea what they
are.
We are in
the modern era. In this time, the action
and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into the form
of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the future. This is the modern style of the novel. I also showed how the end of literature
created the reflected worldview. We have
three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected, and the
created. I choose to work in the reflected
worldview.
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.
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.
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.
With that said, where should we go? Should I delve into ideas and creativity
again, or should we just move into the novel again? Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we
know, will result in a new novel. I’ve
got an idea, but it went stale. Let’s
look at the outline for a novel again:
1.
The initial scene
2.
The rising action scenes
3.
The climax scene
4.
The falling action scene(s)
5.
The dénouement
scene(s)
The initial scene is the most important scene and part of
any novel. To get to the initial scene,
you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.
Let’s be very clear.
You can start with a plot, a protagonist, an idea, or an idea for an initial
scene. The easiest and most controlled
method is to start with a protagonist. As
I’ve written over and over, a protagonist must come with a telic flaw. I think it is impossible to have a
protagonist without a telic flaw, but I suppose you could develop a completely lackluster
protagonist without any telic flaw connected to them.
Here is my list for the characteristics of a Romantic protagonist. I am not very happy with most of the lists I
have found. So, I will start with a
classic list from the literature and then translate them to what they really
mean. This is the refined list. Take a look.
1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that
the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.
2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different
than normal culture or society’s.
3. Courageous
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society.
5. Introspective
6. Travel plot
7. Melancholy
8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four
and one.
9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the cultural
mold. From the common.
10. Regret when they can’t follow their own moral compass.
11. Self-criticism when they can’t follow their own moral
compass.
12. Pathos bearing because he or she is estranged from
family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or self-isolation
due to three above.
13. From the common and potentially the rural.
14. Love interest
Here’s what I want to do or how I want to place these on a protagonist:
1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that
the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.
This may be the most important characteristic of the Romantic
protagonist. The Romantic protagonist
needs some skill or power that they can develop outside of the norm of humanity. This doesn’t make them inhuman, but rather makes
them a normal human with some extraordinary capability that they develop into something
very powerful and special.
This skill can be as simple as intelligence, martial arts, shooting,
weapons use, magic, miracles, chemistry, reasoning skill, or any others. To be the most effective for a Romantic
protagonist, this skill should not be common but the Romantic protagonist
should develop themselves to be the best in the world. Or at least, capable enough to astound others
and differentiate themselves while also being able to resolve the telic flaw due
to their expertise. This is simpler than
it sounds.
Let me give an example.
Form Rose, the novel I’m working on right now. Rose has been turned into the most perfect
aristocrat possible. This was simple for
her due to her personality, but she worked for about a month to develop the
skills required. Luckily, these skills
are really dependent on both high wealth as well as personality or acting
skill. The personality and acting skill
is exactly the skill that makes Rose unique.
Rose also has other skills, but this is the one I’m examining at the
moment.
Rose has a very special skill related to her personality
that she can act with a high level of perfection at almost any endeavor she
wishes. In other words, she can fit in
perfectly or stand out perfectly. This
skill is not necessarily unique in humanity, but for Rose and in the worldview
and setting of the novel, it pretty much is.
In other words, Rose is acting nearly a prefect part of an aristocratic
girl. She can for many reasons, but mainly
nearly unrestricted wealth.
Because of her wealth, or apparent wealth, she can use her
acting skills and personality to create the perfect part.
I will develop this for another character as part of this evaluation
and protagonist development, but I’m not ready to provide one yet. Instead, I’ll give another example.
My character Lilly from Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer,
is a computer hardware and software genius.
She is also a math genius, but that is a direct relation to being a
hardware and software expert. She became
this way because she worked most of her life writing game software and building
game hardware to try to fit in with the kids in school. This is a very deep character, but you can see
that her skills and abilities are very unique, and she has developed them through
extensive effort.
That’s exactly what we are aiming for. I’ll go through the rest of these first before
beginning the development of a new character.
2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different
than normal culture or society’s.
Let’s start in on this and we will finish it tomorrow. This doesn’t mean the character is some wacko
or evil or immoral. For example, the
modern world is pretty immoral.
Therefore, a character who is church going or highly moral would be
considered different than the normal culture.
I’m leaving up breadcrumbs on purpose.
In the Victorian Era, the normal protagonist was
church-going, moral, ethical, and even knew which fork to use. The western world has changed. The chance you will find a protagonist who goes
to church, who is moral, ethical, and who can sit at a formal dinner is highly
unlikely. Our society has gone to the
barbarians. Today, the most common protagonist
is amoral, unchurched, usually atheistic or agnostic, and can’t even set a
table much less use the proper utensils during dinner. This means the Romantic protagonist in the modern
world to meet this characteristic would be church-going, moral, ethical, and
well trained socially. This is your new
Romantic protagonist.
I’m all in on this.
We are writing and providing protagonists who are different than the
society and culture. In this regard,
they must be different. Let me tell you
a little about this. When you lived in
the Victorian culture, you felt safe in your culture and a little excitement
with a Romantic protagonist who was a little counter cultural was a great thing—you
loved it.
We are in a modern era.
When all the people around you are not sure about God, unethical to some
degree, immoral to some other degree, and can’t even follow basic human
culture, you are certainly uncomfortable.
I know. I know. You likely say, these people are not
necessarily immoral or unethical. I can
assure you compared to the normal human society 100 years ago, the average
person today is certainly immoral and unethical. That’s what makes a Romantic protagonist so powerful.
When you are confronted with the squishy, a person who knows
their way in the world and can be assured to act in a certain manner is much
more safe and comfortable than one who is not.
Do you need an example? Now every
person might be a potentially bad person, that’s proof text enough to my point,
but let’s presume we have a friend who is not God-fearing and who is known to
be kind of loose around women. Let’s
also presume we have another friend who goes to church every Sunday and prides
themselves on being a virgin. Who would
you trust to drive across the country with your girlfriend or even your
children. As I noted, anyone can turn
out to be a cad, but those who are not known to be cads usually continue in
their good ethics and those who are usually continue in their caddish behavior. That’s the way the world is.
The point is that today, a moral and ethical person or the
perfect Victorian would be a Romantic Protagonist. The reason is that they are counter
cultural. That wouldn’t be true in a
novel set in the 1950s. Therefore, the
worldview of the novel and the event horizon of the novel is a critical factor
in determining the mind and ethics of the Romantic protagonist. We will definitely need to address this when developing
a character.
3. Courageous
This is where we will go next. This is an absolute characteristic and not
like the previous.
I’ve written before about the basics of characters. The reason we like or love a protagonist is basically
because we agree with them. This is a
question of rationalism and the author and not necessarily the protagonist. For example, who could ever like an
aristocratic messiah who is bratty to his friends and enemies? That’s Harry Potty, if you didn’t know. We like Harry Potty not for who he really is,
an aristocratic messiah who is bratty to his friend and enemies, but because
the author presents such a character in a way that mostly children can adore
him.
We really want to love the protagonist, and the main reason
we love them isn’t because we see ourselves in them, but because they act as we
would like to act in a similar situation.
For example, in a terse disagreement with a friend or a not so friend,
sometimes, we would just like to let it go and let it out, but we don’t. That’s not because we aren’t courageous, but
because we know the ramifications socially and culturally—so we keep our mouths
shut. In a novel, this kind of character
is mostly a wimp. The protagonist says
what we wish we could say. That doesn’t
mean the protagonist gets away with it.
There are always social and cultural repercussions for speaking one’s
mind, but the great author makes it all work out—like it usually can’t in real
life.
This reminds me of Victorian and oriental literature where
things can’t and many times aren’t said, but those miscommunications or lack of
communication creates all the social and plot friction in the writing. If you don’t believe me, just read almost any
novel or fiction from the East. Compare
that to Victorian literature. That which
can’t and won’t be said becomes the nexus for many of these works. That’s not a bad thing at all. I think Western authors can gain some real
understanding about creating social and cultural friction through
miscommunication. That means lack of
communication. Many times, it is what
you don’t say as well as what you do say.
Now, back to courage.
The Romantic protagonist accomplishes actions based on the courage to
overcome the society and the culture.
They are counter-cultural. This is
their power as a character. All Romantic
protagonists are counter-cultural to some degree. The point of courage is that they have the
conviction of their beliefs, and they are willing to accomplish them generally
no matter the repercussions.
The points we will get to for the Romantic protagonist is
also regret and self-criticism. This
regret and self-criticism is one of the author’s tools that allows them to
present the Romantic protagonist as a real and not a totally ideal
character. They do make mistakes—they may
not speak up when they should. They will
always act with courage, but they may have reasons to regret their behavior and
their actions.
Let me note one other thing about courage. As I wrote, the point of loving the
protagonist comes form the protagonist not being like the reader, but being
like the reader wants to be. If your
protagonist does something that is unacceptable to the reader, read that as
that the writer or author does not explain or make out as rational and
reasonable to the reader, then the reader’s view of the protagonist will change
in a very negative manner.
Yes, a protagonist can do something wrong, bad, and immoral—if
the writer makes those actions seem rational and reasonable from the standpoint
of the protagonist. But beware. You need to really make it work and seem
rational and reasonable—what the reader would do themselves if they were in a
similar situation. If not, you might as
well kiss your protagonist goodbye.
Placing the protagonist and especially the Romantic protagonist
in a situation where they must make a very difficult and controversial decision
is great writing. Letting them act like
an irrational or unreasonable person will ruin them.
I’ll end with an example of this. Harry Potty goes down fast in my mind when he
isolates himself from his friends and has his teenage angst stage in the middle
novels. I don’t like him then, and it is
obvious that someone got Rowling back on the hard and fast because although she
didn’t ruin her protagonist, I think she did him great damage. Those are the least readable of her books and
mostly because I don’t like who Harry is in them.
You must have your protagonist appear to be rational and
reasonable. This is especially true with
a Romantic protagonist. You would like
your protagonist to be loved or at least liked by your readers. Courage is a very important characteristic
for the Romantic protagonist. It is what
the reader wants to be like.
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society.
We will look at this next.
The important point about this comes from characteristic number one
above. This is the basis of the strength
of the Romantic protagonist as a character.
You can think of this from the normal great leader to much much
more. The much much more is what we want
to look at.
5. Introspective
There is a significant problem with this very important characteristic. Moving from the Victorian Era into that of
the common use of the Romantic protagonist, we see a very important change in
writing. Although the Victorian
characters did think internally about themselves and their actions, they did so
through telling. The author used either
the omniscient narrator or pure telling through some type of narration to tell
us the mind of the protagonist. Then the
Romantic protagonist came along with modern showing.
Showing is so effective that the world of writing uses it as
a measure of effectivity. At the same
time, the Romantic protagonist must be introspective—how can you show the mind
of the protagonist? This is the greatest
problem of this era. Some writers just
give up and tell. You can see this in a
lot of writing. What the author must do
is find a means to express the mind of the protagonist without telling. How can you do this?
The fact that a Romantic protagonist is introspective is an undeniable
fact. The means of expressing this is
more difficult with showing. What you
must do is a mix of showing the actions of the protagonist and though dialog
allowing the protagonist the opportunity to express their mind. This is exactly why I use a protagonist’s
helper in almost all my writing.
The protagonist’s helper is a character that allows the
protagonist to express themselves in a conversational and protected
dialog. You can use other types of
characters, but the protagonist’s helper is the closest to the protagonist, and
gives the best chance of open communication.
So, we need an introspective protagonist, but this also
means we need a protagonist’s helper or some means to let our protagonist speak
their mind. This means we are already
looking at some degree of other characteristics for our Romantic protagonist.
6. Travel plot
Yes, Romantic protagonists have some degree of
wanderlust. I intentionally forced Rose
to travel, but a travel plot of some kind should be a characteristic of the Romantic
protagonist. We’ll look at this
next.
Wanderlust seems like a conflict with the country and common
of the Romantic protagonist. To a degree
it is, but there is a reality of this for the Romantic protagonist. We aren’t talking about the Asian view of the
spiritual search for oneself formed by a physical wandering in the world, but
it’s close.
The Romantic protagonist is a seeker. We can see how the Romantic protagonist is
seeking his or her unique ability or abilities.
Many times these don’t require a travel plot or a wanderlust, but part
of the power of the Romantic protagonist is to take their skills into the world
to actually use them.
The picture of the power of the Romantic protagonist is to
gain their special skills for example in the common and the country. I’ll give a simple example. We have a country person who is fully trained
or training in a specific skill—let’s say horticulture. The Romantic protagonist
is a perfect farmer not just knowing the basics or the advanced skills but
rather the in depth and secret skills of horticulture. The Romantic protagonist wants to take their
skills to a higher level. That usually
means travel and further education or travel and study of some type.
The point and the power of the travel plot is both to push
the Romantic protagonist forward but also to move the plot forward. This is part of the strengths of the Romantic
protagonist.
7. Melancholy
What about melancholy?
Just what does this mean for the protagonist? This is a character trait that we can use to
great effect.
First, we should ask want is melancholy. Here is the Miriam-Webster dictionary definition
of the noun.
1a: depression of spirits : DEJECTION great outbursts of creativity alternate with feelings of extreme melancholy—
Brenda Lane Richardson
Mitchell sounds utterly alone
in her melancholy, turning the sadness into tender art.— Rolling Stone
b: a pensive mood a fine romantic kind of a melancholy on the fading of the year— Richard Holmes One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her
whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy.—
Arthur Conan Doyle
barchaic : an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by
irascibility or depression
carchaic : BLACK
BILE
Let’s not let this characteristic get too far into the weeds
or the calla lilies. Melancholy in the
sense of the Romantic protagonist means a pensive mood.
I don’t like the idea that the Romantic protagonist or
character has a melancholia similar to schizophrenia. We are not writing about 1a with depression and
dejection followed by moments or times of outbursts of creativity. The Romantic protagonist is a fixed
character. That’s not to mean you can’t
develop such a character—that is schizophrenic, but the usual Romantic
protagonist is just melancholy in the sense of 1b a pensive mood.
This is a Victorian measurement or observation. The common Victorian was a person of social
and cultural neutrality. That is, they
maintained an even strain all the time.
A stiff upper lip—if you like. Crying
and emotion was not allowed—including pensive reflection. The Romantic protagonist is always pensive
and reflective. That doesn’t mean they
can’t have any other emotions, feelings, or reactions, but their reaction
should not be effusive or over the top.
That is in general. Leave such
reactions to others. Our Romantic
protagonist is not necessarily deadpan, but they are controlled, controlled and
refined. At the same time, their minds
are always at work. They are pensive and
serious. Sometimes when serious is not
called for.
You want dry wit and a great straight-man, look for the
Romantic protagonist.
Now, lets qualify this well.
The most powerful scene in any Romantic plot based novel is when and if
the Romantic protagonist feels they must exercise their anger or emotions. Usually, we see anger followed by decisive
action. The Romantic protagonist is well
controlled until the point when they can and should not be. This is one of the major endearing points of
the Romantic protagonist.
They keep their cool when we (the reader) would not, and finally
go to war when the reader knows they certainly should. This goes back to the rational and
reasonable.
We don’t like people who fly off the handle at every
thing. We don’t like people who are overly
emotional. We want people to be
controlled, but to fight and react appropriately when the circumstances require
it. This is one of the most powerful
tension and release developments in a scene or a novel.
Here’s where we are.
Our Romantic protagonist is pensive, thinking, and controlled. We will use that to build tension and release
in the novel.
8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four
and one.
This is a very important quality for the Romantic protagonist
and ties directly into power and skills.
This can be used in novel or extra novel.
Here are one and four from the list.
1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that
the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society.
These are perhaps the most important qualities of the Romantic
protagonist with one caveat—the Romantic protagonist comes from the common and
not the wealthy or the aristocratic. They
are not born into their positions, they develop their skills and abilities and
their positions from nothing. This is
the true power of the Romantic.
Thus, we can say the Romantic protagonist is driven. This is the overwhelming desire to change or
grow. The Romantic protagonist has some skill
or ability that they develop such that they are the only being in the world who
can overcome the telic flaw of the novel.
This is an abiding characteristic of the Romantic protagonist.
Why is this important?
The power of this driving influence in the Romantic protagonist is that
they are like most readers. Most readers
believe that with enough effort, they can be anything they want or achieve
anything they desire. This is patently
untrue, but novels and especially Romantic novels give this impression. How many readers really made this
happen? This is the American dream, and
I can officially state that anyone who has come from the common—not wealthy or
aristocratic and found success has actually succeeded and most of them have
succeeded by being driven to their success.
This is a self-motivated success and a self-motivated desire.
Romantic novels are fairy tales but so are every comedy
(where the protagonist overcomes the telic flaw) based novel. The fairy tales are just bigger and brighter and
cleaner than the experience of real life.
That is exactly what we see in all novels, but the Romantic novel makes
this more clear than ever.
In the Romantic novel, we expect the Romantic protagonist to
develop some skill to an astonishing level.
They are driven to do so. They
then take that specific skill and use it to resolve the telic flaw. Do you want an example?
Harry Potty is an example, not a great one, but an
example. He starts as the common—an abused
child who lives under the stairs. He has
a skill, magic. He is invited to go to a
school for Wizards. In reality, this is
a Victorian blood will out novel, but the author probably intended to present a
Romantic protagonist. Harry learns to be
a great wizard. Now, unlike our true Romantic
protagonist, Harry isn’t driven by this.
We aren’t exactly sure how he even gains the skills to be a great wizard. He kind of just has them—that’s blood will
out, the aristocratic plot.
In any case, in an actual Romantic protagonist, we have a
character who has some skill and is driven to be the best in the world at
it. They do achieve this best ever and
then use that skill to resolve the telic flaw.
A better Romantic protagonist example is Flavia de Luca. She has learned numerous skills, but she is a
genius at Chemistry. She was driven to
learn as a child, and has reached a level of astonishing capability. She uses this skill to resolve the telic flaw
in every novel about her. This is a true
Romantic protagonist. Even though she
was born to aristocracy, she is being driven to the common. This is a very interesting theme in the
novel. She as an aristocrat has an important
role to fulfill while her family is being driven into penury. Very good Romantic protagonist, but the
wrapper is a little different.
In any case, the Romantic protagonist is driven to achieve
and to develop their skill to the highest degree.
9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the cultural
mold. From the common.
This is very important and a growth out of the Victorian
Era. There is much to this, and we will
look at it next.
The Victorian Era was filled with blood will out plots
because that was their culture. They presumed,
very incorrectly, that those born with wealth and position were more blessed
mentally and in capability than the normal or common people. This was in some regard true under a
starvation culture when the poor and common got less than half the protein and
calories of the wealthy and aristocratic, but when Britain and the USA (the USA
first of every nation) began to move out of a starvation culture, lo and
behold, the poor and common with plenty of protein and calories were just as
smart and just as athletic as the wealthy and well born.
There was a revolution in literature. Through the entire Victorian Era and before,
the charity (scholarship) students and the common students were the villains an
the antagonists. They were the interlopers
who should not be in the refined boarding schools and colleges. They were hated and bullied and called all
kinds of names, and no one cared.
Suddenly, with the end of starvation culture in the West, the common and
scholarship students became the heroes and the protagonists of all the novels
about boarding schools and education.
Why would this happen.
This was the Romantic protagonist revolution. In the same period, the common and poor had
nearly sudden access to penny novels and books.
They began to go to school and to college. There were many religious societies and
groups who actively promoted these people in education, and they were
successful. So successful that they
generally took all the awards and won all the accolades—at least in novels and
literature. How well they really did is
all up for study because, at the time, the wealthy and the connected did
everything they could to prevent awards and accolades. It’s even in the novels from the time.
The biggest deal about this change from the blood will out,
Victorian protagonist, to the Romantic protagonist, is that this was a real
change in the society and culture. The
poor and common were taking their places alongside the wealthy and aristocratic
and the wealth and aristocratic could not hold their seats.
We saw and see today the adulation of the person who is poor
or common who then achieves greatness.
This is almost a trope in general literature. It is a wonderful pathos developing
trope. We even see the fake commoner in literature,
for example Harry Potty. Harry Potty is
an aristocratic messiah, but he is made out to be a common, abused, and poor
person, until he isn’t.
In the normal Romantic protagonist, we have a person who is
common and poor who then achieves well beyond any normal capability. That person usually does not fit the common
mold of society.
In the modern world and modern novels, we see strong pathos
development with Romantic protagonists, by setting them as really poor, abused,
bullied, and just common or worse. This
is exactly what most readers want and crave.
The modern reader wants to see people like them thrive through their own
special skills.
This is why we see such a plethora of those with all kinds
of diverse or presumed to be the underprivileged as protagonists in
novels. Unfortunately, many of these are
really not as underprivileged as they seem, and the general pollution has
caught on to the truth that just because someone claims to be part of a
disaffected class, they aren’t necessarily.
The poor are still the poor and the greatest story isn’t some rarified middle
class person of a certain type being the Romantic protagonist, but rather the
really disaffected and poor who wants to work very hard to achieve.
In every case for the Romantic protagonist, achievement is
the result of hard work and not fate, special programs, affirmative action, or
any other social program. The real Romantic
protagonist is the poor person who breaks out of their problems and the common
through hard work—this is usually called the American Dream, but can go by
numerous other appellations. Whatever
you want to call it, this is the ideal of success for the Romantic protagonist. This is also the basis for the telic flaw
resolution—that is their hard work and determination to succeed.
10. Regret and self-criticism when they can’t follow their
own moral compass.
Pensive and melancholy—you can’t get away from the spiritual
in terms of both physical and moral failings.
This is a very important aspect of our Romantic protagonist. We’ll look at this next.
I put regret and self-criticism when they can’t follow their
own moral compass together. I should have
put them together form the beginning. These
are not the same but they are similar.
Regret means the Romantic protagonist shows and reacts with
outside action when they can’t achieve their goals. That doesn’t mean they fail—it means they fail
to meet their own goals.
Self-criticism means the Romantic protagonist shows and
reacts with inside action when they can’t achieve their goals. Again, this isn’t failure—unless you mean on
a progressive level. Let’s get into this.
The power of the Romantic protagonist is to have a strong
moral compass which is usually based on their skill to some degree. Thus, let’s presume the Romantic protagonist
has a skill of study and education. The
field matters a lot. So, let’s just say our
Romantic protagonist is an expert in inorganic chemistry. That’s like Flavia de Luca. I’ll just call this Romantic protagonist our Romantic
protagonist or something like that.
The Romantic protagonist whose skill and desire is organic
chemistry is driven to know and be the best chemist in the world. This is the goal and the point. This Romantic protagonist will use his or her
knowledge and special skills in chemistry to resolve the telic flaw. In the case of Flavia, she solves
murders.
Our Romantic protagonist is driven to learn and to be the
best chemist ever. This is his or her
moral compass. Sometimes you wonder if this
Romantic protagonist would resort to murder to forward their knowledge and
abilities. Note, that is exactly what Flavia
does. She specializes in poisons, and is
constantly referring to them and their effects.
What happens when our Romantic protagonist chemist makes a
mistake or fails to remember or fails to achieve to make the chemistry work out
properly. This would also be when he or
she fails to achieve the level, goal, or position of knowledge they set or
desired?
The answer is easily regret which makes them act outward,
and self-criticism which makes them act inwardly. We know this Romantic protagonist will be
disappointed in him or herself because he or she failed to achieve in the field
of chemistry.
If you haven’t noticed, regret and self-criticism are
powerful means to drive the world of the Romantic protagonist. This is good for pathos and to drive the Romantic
protagonist in the plot.
If you remember that the Romantic protagonist bases their
life and moral compass on the skills and abilities that define them, you can
see how powerful this can be. In addition,
although I used the example of inorganic chemistry for a skill, you could have
something a little less strange or dynamic culturally. For example, the special skill of our Romantic
protagonist could be ethics or kindness.
This should shape the Romantic protagonist in very normal but still important
ways. For example, if the Romantic
protagonist failed in some way to be kind or moral within the strictures of that
morality. For example, the Romantic
protagonist failed to go to Mass when they usually did. That would interject regret and self-criticism
into the plot. This allows the author to
generate pathos in ways that are not usual or that can affect the readers significantly.
You see this all the time in very well written or produced
movies, shows, as well an novels. For example,
most readers would not get too excited about the fact the inorganic chemistry protagonist
got less than a 100% on a chemistry test.
If the writer properly conveys how devastating this is to the Romantic
protagonist, then pathos has been built.
Many readers could care less about a person going to Mass. If the writer properly conveys the regret and
self-criticism of the Romantic protagonist who feels compelled to go to Mass,
then pathos has been developed. As I
noted, regret and self-criticism are tools to develop pathos in the plot.
11. Pathos bearing because he or she is estranged from
family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or self-isolation
due to three above.
There are other means to develop pathos with a Romantic
protagonist. Many of these
characteristics can be designed into the Romantic protagonist. In fact, we shall look at this and eventually
develop a Romantic protagonist who has all this designed in.
Just what is pathos, and why is it important? Pathos is what all writing, fiction, and
entertainment is about. Pathos is the
power of all writing and entertainment.
Most specifically, it is the emotions the reader or spectators
experience. Pathos is the proper emotions
the reader or spectators experience.
Bathos is an improper emotion the reader or spectators experience.
For example, if the writer meant for the reader or playgoer
or movie watcher to experience sadness and instead they break in laughter, that
is bathos. There are many examples of this
especially in movies. I can remember many
supposedly serious movies in serious scenes especially in Star Dreck movies
where the scene was supposed to be tense and sad, and everyone, except the
super nerds broke out in snickers. Science
fiction authors in movie town don’t understand pathos or how to develop pathos
well. Proper emotional response is
critical to correct writing; therefore, proper pathos development is necessary for
effective and powerful writing.
How do you develop pathos?
It really helps to start with a pathos developing character. This is a very important feature for a strong
Romantic protagonist. I’ll give you my recommendations,
and you fit them to your Romantic protagonist.
As I noted in the statement for eleven, “he or she is estranged
from family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or
self-isolation due to three above.” This
is a general statement, but can fit any pathos developing character. Estranged means separated physically,
socially, or culturally. Let me point
out that separated in the near past is very different from separated
today. The current generations are too
connected to family and each other. It’s
almost smothering. In the near past,
when people traveled the globe, they rarely expected to communicate more than
about once a month and that through letters.
Today, people can communicate via voice and video from nearly anywhere
in the world. Children have anxiety caused
by separation of days and weeks. In the
near past, people could go on assignment in a foreign country and only connect
on a yearly or less basis. In the not as
near past, people could be separated by years and yeas without any
communication. It was not unusual for
war brides from Japan and Germany to never communicate with their original
families.
Whatever, the world is not estranged by place or time—that is
physically. It can easily be estranged socially
or culturally. It can also be estranged
by death.
The Romantic protagonist in the modern and the past can
easily be estranged by death, socially, or culturally. In the past, you can also use general
physical isolation through travel. Let’s
look mainly at death, socially, and culturally.
These are usually the most effective.
I wrote before, orphans make great Romantic protagonists. This is physical estrangement through death. You can make this work in many ways. Today, you can also use death and separation
from other loved ones, for example lovers, children, siblings, spouses, and
all. The easiest however is
parents. A Romantic protagonist who has
lost their parents is already pathos bearing especially as a child or
youth. You can also go as far as young
adult, but be cautious. The reason for a
Romantic protagonist’s issues or problems should not come out of estrangement. They can, but you must use caution. Estrangement should not be an excuse, only a character
key that makes the reader feel unhappy or sad concerning the circumstances of
the Romantic protagonist.
Other estrangements come naturally to the Romantic
protagonist for example, in the Victorian, early, Romantic protagonist,
estrangement from the orthodoxy of the church could provide some pathos not
because the Romantic protagonist was ungodly or unchurched, but because they
might not hold to the specific strictures of the orthodox church. As I noted, in the modern world, the Romantic
protagonist would most likely be the orthodox and their family the unchurched
or less orthodox.
Cultural estrangement was very common in the early Romantic
protagonists with marriages outside of wealth or position. Also in professions or activities that were
considered unorthodox. For example, women
in typical men’s work. These are less
effective today for estrangement or pathos, but one thing hasn’t changed
much. Pathos can be generated by poverty,
abuse, hunger, or forced isolation. These
can be used for either sex, but females tend to generate more pathos for all of
this. This is one reason I’ve been using
female protagonists or protagonist’s helpers a lot in my latest novels. A female can provide many pathos development
circumstances that males can’t even in our enlightened societies. Just think about it, and be cautious in your protagonist
development. A burly, handsome, make
does not generate the same pathos as a hungry abused male or female. You develop the Romantic protagonist based on
the telic flaw or provide the pathos developing Romantic protagonist to make a
strong telic flaw. It’s all in the telic
flaw and in the Romantic protagonist.
Pathos development in the novel itself is critical for a
powerful novel, but remember, it isn’t the emotions or feelings of the characters,
but rather the emotions and feelings of the reader that matter. I’ve read and seen multiple scenes where
there is no sadness in the events of the show or novel, and the readers or
viewers are bawling. This is true pathos
development.
12. From the common and potentially the rural.
We touched this a little in nine above, but there is more to
this. Let’s evaluate this a little more
in depth, next.
The Victoria Era was characterized by the urban and the
new. Technology was the thing and
steampunk is the reflection of this today.
If you realize this, the movement of the counter-cultural Romantic
protagonist should obviously hail from the rural. This was the back to nature movement before
there was even some kind of modern Gaia worship.
To the Victorian, the advent of the technological and the
industrial was the beginning of common wealth creation, and they were right
about that, but the Romantic protagonist found both skills and power in his or
her foundations and that happened to be the rural.
How does this play out in our writing? This doesn’t mean the Romantic protagonist
must be a country bumpkin. It doesn’t
even mean the Romantic protagonist must desire or place the rural over the
urban or suburban. It simply means that
the Romantic protagonist is supposed to represent the commonsense heart and
mind of the rural, and also that his or her skills and abilities are linked to the
rural. What does that mean.
Linking to the rural is a kind of code word. It can mean to want to return to the rural as
away from the technological, but it also means to revive the ideas of the old
and ancient. Most specifically, it means
to return to the spiritual and the supernatural.
The Victorina and the modern eras are in large measure a
rejection of the spiritual and the supernatural. The Romantic protagonist lives in the
spiritual and the supernatural. They don’t
necessarily reject technology, but they also accept the world as more than the
physical and the technological. In fact,
some of the greatest power of the Romantic protagonist is the movement to a
reflected worldview as opposed to a real worldview. This gives legs to the power of the Romantic
protagonist. It allows their special
skills and abilities even though they are tied to technology.
So, here we are with the ability to move a novel into the
reflected worldview as well as to develop new powers and skills in our Romantic
protagonist. These are very powerful for
any novel.
The Romantic protagonist is also from the common. This may be the next most important point of
the Romantic protagonist. The Romantic
protagonist comes from the common and not wealth or position. This is because in the beginning, the only
readers in the Victorian Era were the wealthy and the aristocratic. As the poor and common learned to read and
penny novels became available (actually chapters for a penny), the entire blood
will out plot and character idea was rejected by these new readers.
In the Victorian Era only the wealthy and the aristocratic
were considered capable of anything other than manual labor. As the poor and common began to compete with
the wealthy and the aristocratic, lo and behold, the poor and common were just as
intelligent and just as capable. The Romantic
protagonist was the result, and the Romantic protagonist comes out of the
common.
The Romantic protagonist is the person who comes to school
on a scholarship and wipes the floor with the wealthy and aristocratic. This is both a plot and a character trait. This is also a characteristic that readers
love.
13. Love interest
You can always introduce a love interest for any protagonist,
but the love interest of the Romantic protagonist is a much different
thing. We’ll look at that next.
We need a Romantic protagonist.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual
novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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