07 November 2022, Writing - part xxx131 Writing a Novel, A New Romantic Protagonist, Overwhelming Desire
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 is the protagonist development list. We are going to use this list to develop a
Romantic protagonist. With the following
outline in mind, we will build a Romantic protagonist. However, I’m going to ignore the first
step. Instead of starting with an
initial scene, I’m just going to design a Romantic protagonist. Then we may apply the outline to them.
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
Here’s what I want to do or how I want to place these on a
protagonist. Let’s clean them up a
little and begin to evaluate a protagonist.
I am in a little of a quandary. Although I have written 31 novels with 15 male
and 16 female protagonists, one of my prepublication readers thought I had too
many female protagonists. I’m not
sure. I might go for another female
protagonist. They make the best examples
for pathos development. Plus, I do like
to include boarding school and school settings.
Not that you can’t do that with a male Romantic protagonist, but there
are inherent qualities that girls and woman bring to a protagonist.
What could happen, is I could develop a wonderful character
that isn’t really the protagonist of the novel.
I’ve done this before. Dana-ana
is not the protagonist of Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden. The protagonist is Byron. Dana-ana is the protagonist’s helper and a
very powerful focus in the novel. She is
the subject but not the protagonist.
That could happen. In any case,
I’ve been thinking about a novel and a certain Romantic protagonist. Let’s see what happens.
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.
I put the previous explanation in italics. The expertise or power I was thinking about
is books and reasoning. I haven’t used
this before, and I intend a novel about books.
That is a very important reason for this.
In the first place, readers love readers, and readers love
books. Books are the focus of all
readers—otherwise, they wouldn’t be readers.
You need to have a protagonist who loves books or at least reading. I’m going to take this to the extreme for
this example.
Now, this seems like a simple power, but we will make it not
be simple. Our Romantic protagonist will
have a power with books that exceeds the normal. She has grown up with books all her life
because her father owns a bookstore, and she has worked with and read books all
her life.
There, we already set this Romantic protagonist as a
female. I also have a bookstore setting
and a father character. Let’s say the
father was a late romance and he is old.
We shall get more into that, but let’s start the pathos. Her mother is dead. How did she die? Perhaps an illness. This needs to be developed. The best way to develop this kind of problem
is to connect it to the current telic flaw.
I haven’t said anything about any telic flaw yet. I will eventually. For now, we have a power: books and reason.
We have an initial setting: a bookstore. I want to place this bookstore and this girl
in Britain. I’m not certain how much of
the supernatural I want to bring into this novel. I think I want to focus on another of my supernatural
characters—shape shifters.
I’ve written a little about these kinds of people but not really
focused on them much. I think I’d like
to bring in such a creature or have the Romantic protagonist become such a
creature. I’m thinking about it.
The last Romantic protagonist I developed was Rose. The result was an entire novel that I’ve almost
finished writing. This will be a new
Romantic protagonist and an entirely new novel.
2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different
than normal culture or society’s.
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.
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.
If you are at all familiar with my work and my writing
style, I’m definitely going counter-cultural.
Therefore, I’m going to make my Romantic protagonist a moral and ethical
character. I like using the Catholic and
Orthodox. I used to use the Episcopalian,
but they’ve gone rogue. I could use the
Anglican. What does this mean.
A Romantic protagonist should definitely have their own
cultural expression of the world that is not like the world. It’s important to know when the novel is
set. I intend to set this novel in the near
modern, I’m thinking around the current time or maybe a little earlier. The best setting incorporates the history of
the times, and the history of the times is something that can be incorporated
into the telic flaw of the novel.
For example, in my Ancient Light series of novels,
the beginnings of the Foreign Legion, the rise of Hitler, the Soviet Union,
Communist China, and the PIRA all played roles in the novels. This was the use of the history of the times
in the telic flaw resolution of the novels.
I’m not certain, at the moment, what history or setting I
might use, but with near modern times, there is a lot of possibilities. I do intend to use a British setting, I’m not
sure where exactly. That requires some
study.
In any case, the Romantic protagonist of this novel will
definitely have some conservative religious bent. One that causes her to clash with her
classmates, but that attracts those she befriends. That is one of the main features of the novel
I’m contemplating.
I’d like to produce a Romantic protagonist whom everyone
dislikes because of her hard work, diligence, and maturity. That may sound odd, but in a culture of
immorality and fun and games, such a character could easily be an outcast. I’m still thinking about this one.
3. Courageous
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.
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.
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.
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.
This subject forces us to begin to define the plots and
telic flaw of the novel. That’s good and
bad. It can also begin to define the
initial scene. I haven’t thought of an
initial scene for this novel yet. Whatever
it is, I want to establish the courage of the Romantic protagonist immediately.
Courage and courageous are characteristics and result in
certain actions. The most important
point for the reader is to realize that these are shown characteristics. It does not good to tell us the protagonist
is courageous—you must show it. Showing
it is what drives the plot.
Here is what I’m planning for an initial scene. I want my Romantic protagonist to be the girl
everyone bullies. She is the goody two
shoes of the school. She is one of the
few who are not boarders. She works with
her dad in the bookstore and knows and loves books. She is somewhat poor and going to a
prestigious and expensive British school.
She is a scholarship student and very smart. She works so hard and reads so much that she
usually is the top of the class, but not the top of all the students in the
United Kingdom. She is put upon because
she is poor, a scholarship student, smart, and when she doesn’t beat every
other high end scholar. She is really
just a regular girl at heart, but feels constant pressure from her classmates. Then something happens.
One of the beautiful people’s father has a sudden change of
status. They lose everything, but
because her family is overall wealthy, they continue to pay for the girl’s
education. She will be blond haired,
blue-eyed and perfect in every way except her heart, soul, and study. She’s one of those kinds who was suddenly
blasted back to reality.
In the initial scene, the other girls are finally fed up
with her and attack her because of her loss of status and loss of wealth. Perhaps there are real changes in her
clothing (uniform), her food, and her hairstyle. All those kinds of things that separate
people, the wealthy form the less wealthy.
She has had to move out of the dormitory and her family is moving into a
small flat near to our Romantic protagonist.
When the girls gang up on this character, the Romantic
protagonist defends her and allows herself to be put down and attacked. This begins a rather peculiar
friendship. That’s the beginning of the novel.
Courage is shown by the Romantic protagonist when she
defends and protects the other girl.
This becomes a constant theme as the novel unfolds.
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society.
What is power in this context? The Romantic protagonist is a powerful
character and a powerful protagonist.
They can be ambivalent but not about certain things and issues. Can you guess which? Yes, their moral compass. They can’t or shouldn’t compromise
themselves, but when they do or come close, they have introspection, regret,
and self-criticism.
In any case, when we develop our Romantic protagonist, we
want to provide them some skills that they will develop into powerful means to
resolve the telic flaw. That’s the
overall basis of the Romantic protagonist and the novel.
I also want to mention leadership and the Romantic
protagonist. The Romantic protagonist is
a leader but usually a reluctant leader.
They don’t mind being responsible for themselves, but they have natural
leadership skills. Others want to follow
them outright. This is both a theme and
a plot. It’s usually low key in most
Romantic novels. In other words, the
characters don’t vote the Romantic protagonist into their leadership and
usually there is no question of the leadership by the Romantic
protagonist. People just naturally
follow them.
In the case where the author introduces a challenge to
leadership, the Romantic protagonist usually will graciously allow the other
person to lead, over the disagreement of the others. The end result is failure where the Romantic
protagonist then takes the proper control and leads the group to victory. Case closed.
This isn’t a trope, it’s just the low key leadership of the Romantic
protagonist. This also has to do with
how readers see leadership. That is an
entirely different subject, but worth looking at.
I’m presenting a Romantic protagonist who doesn’t have some
of the characteristics we discussed above.
Life is about the journey and novels are about the revelation of the
protagonist, so there is always scope for the Romantic protagonist to grow into
their role, but I don’t intend that necessarily for this protagonist.
Not all Romantic protagonists are automatic leaders in the
general scope of humanity. This goes
back to our reader’s view of leadership.
We’ll get to that. In the main, the
true power I’m writing about is the special power the Romantic protagonist has
that others have not perfected. This is
the most important and compelling feature of the Romantic protagonist.
In the case of this Romantic protagonist, her power is
books. What does that mean? I’m not exactly sure at the moment. I have developed characters who basically
have some degree of photographic memory.
That’s not really what I want to portray here. What I want my Romantic protagonist to do is
to be able to read books and remember the salient parts which connect
them. In other words, she is able to
connect the literary indirect and direct allusions from the books she has
read—that is her power. That is the
power she shall use and develop. That is
the power that allows her to continue in her school with a scholarship and to
help the girl she befriends.
This is also the power that allows her to resolve the telic
flaw. I intend the telic flaw to be
related to books and literature—basically to literary allusions. The connection will be to the impoverished
girl who’s family has lost everything.
I am picturing the plot like this—a literary treasure
hunt. Yes, this has been used before as
a plot and will be used again. The
characters will find some ancient book or document the exrich girl’s family
still has. The book is damaged and
worthless, but it has both an inscription in the front and a note in the book
that points to some clue. The clue will,
of course, be literary. The searching
will commence.
In the mix will be adventures in book stores and book fairs
around Britain. In addition, I’d like to
include some romance and other connections.
Now, to leadership.
What we need to realize, both as readers and as people, is about
leadership. Readers tended to be those
not chosen to be on teams first in school.
They tended not to be leaders or jocks.
The jocks in the main were not readers, but you might have had more
leaders who were readers, but those leaders would choose readers in the first
draft. Leaders are leaders because they
can lead and make good decisions.
What does this have to do with Romantic protagonists and writing? Readers’ perception of leadership is skewed
and has always been. They want leaders
who are readers, but that isn’t always the case, and readers don’t always make
the best leaders. This is especially
true in the lower levels of leadership.
Great people usually are readers, or they pretend to be.
Great people realize they need to appeal to smart people and
smart people are usually readers. They
pretend to read even if they don’t. This
is why so many so-called educated and intelligent people are so very uninformed
and uneducated. If you pretend to read,
you pretend to read—you don’t have any idea about the world or the intellectual
things in it. Any great reader can tease
these people out of a crowd.
What we have is a special power for our Romantic protagonist. Our Romantic protagonist will not necessarily
be a leader in general, but specific to her crowd—which just doesn’t seem to be
in her school.
5. Introspective
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.
I am going to design an introspective Romantic
protagonist. She is a reader, how can
she not be introspective, but I’m going to do something I haven’t done in the
past—I’m going to make her protagonist’s helper be a girl her age.
I wrote before, see above, that the Romantic protagonist
would be a reader with the power of books.
Her protagonist’s helper will be the girl who lost her wealth and
position in the school. I intend a love/hate relationship between the two. That’s a little bit harsh. Let’s say a love and hard to love back relationship.
Our Romantic protagonist will be partially oblivious to the
lack of love, but there is no lack of love at all. I intend the protagonist’s helper to be
wholly in love, and that is not a very good description at all. Here’s what I want to go for.
The protagonist’s helper is not romantically in love with
the protagonist, but she desperately loves her as a friend and helper. When no one else would stick up for this girl
of befriend her, the one person she attacked and bullied now wants to be her
friend and companion. This is a world
changing problem for the protagonist’s helper.
Her tongue is tart, but she loves with an everlasting love, and not
romantically.
The protagonist’s helper will continue to have her tart
speech and tart tongue, but she is wholly and completely dedicated to the
Romantic protagonist. They are like besties
forever. The problem is the
protagonist’s helper can’t stop running her mouth. This will be a constant tension in the novel.
What does this have to do with introspection? The Romantic protagonist will speak candidly
and introspectively to the protagonist’s helper. They will have a very close and intimate
relationship. In this way, the
introspection and the thoughts of the Romantic protagonist can be made manifest
in the novel without any telling.
There are other ways to do this, but this is the most
effective: a protagonist’s helper with a 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.
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 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.
If the Romantic protagonist is somewhat rural, then they
must travel to some degree to get to where the action is. Rural action is usually farming, and the
Romantic protagonist is involved in much more than farming. You could have a farming genius based
Romantic protagonist, but the novel I’m proposing isn’t at all.
In the novel I’m thinking about, the Romantic protagonist is
a book genius, not a cow genius. I’m not
making fun of cow, farmers, or farming.
Even a novel with a Romantic protagonist who is a farm genius would
likely have some kind of travel plot. My
point is simply this—usually the rural Romantic protagonist must move from the
rural to the city or another area where their skills and abilities come into
play. This is really true of the
Romantic protagonist I’m designing.
She is stuck in a small town or village—still working on the
setting. She works in a book store with
all her free time. She goes to a nice
school on scholarship. She has a new
friend. Her new friend has connections
and a problem. The real problem is no
friends and sudden poverty. The
positives are the Romantic protagonist is her new and true friend. The telic flaw resolution will require travel.
This is where the travel plot will come in. I’m looking at a mystery about books. The impoverished rich girl’s family once
owned an entire library of books on their estate. One book has an inscription with a note that
points to a mystery of wealth and family secrets. Solving the mystery will require moving
around the countryside and to the big cities: London, Oxford, and all. This will be part of the travel plot. I may even have more.
The big deal with the Romantic protagonist and travel plots
isn’t really the Romantic protagonist as much as it is the character of the
modern world. In the past, a novel about
a single place, Middlemarch for example, could fill an entire novel and
actually be published. Such a novel
would be difficult to pull off today. Real
places are not even as cohesive as Middlemarch, and Middlemarch wasn’t very
cohesive at all. Even a novel about
London today would have a travel plot—London is huge.
As we deal with a Romantic protagonist and develop a
Romantic protagonist, we need to see how the overall telic flaw resolution must
play out. We don’t need a blow by blow,
but we need to have an idea of how to proceed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes, the Romantic protagonist is seldom the life of the
party or the comedian. That’s not to say
that you can’t make your Romantic protagonist the life of the party or a
comedian. In fact, the power of the
Romantic protagonist could potentially be comedy or social gadfly. The point is that this should be just one of
his or her personas. And, yes, a pensive
character can also be a comedian or the life of the party.
Look at the conclusion for the above: pensive, thinking, and
controlled. This is the melancholic
personality of the Romantic protagonist.
This is what I build into my Romantic protagonists.
Now, in most cases, this results in a romantic protagonist
who is not much of a joker, but quickly get that out of your mind. Although the Melancholic Dane was indeed a
dark and unfunny character—any Romantic protagonist, well most Romantic
protagonists can be turned into a pretty funny and fun loving character.
Pensive, thinking, and controlled are the hallmarks of the Romantic
protagonist—if your Romantic protagonist’s hallmarks are funny and silly, about
how well will that go?
Here is how I want my Romantic protagonists to be. Yes they are pensive, thinking, and
controlled—that’s where their strength as a character lies. At the same time, they are witty and socially
and culturally aware. This is an
important and my important point. How
will this make me treat or design my new Romantic protagonist? Let’s see.
The bullied Romantic protagonist is seen as a pathetic
overachiever whose manners and background are dubious. This is her exterior look. This is pensive, thinking, and controlled,
but what is she really like.
As the ex-rich girl learns more and more about this Romantic
protagonist, she finds her to be very witty, funny, and cute. How can that be? The external and public person protects
themselves from pain, suffering, and bullying.
So too with this Romantic protagonist.
Once she finds a friend, and not her only friend, but one of the few and
perhaps her only friend from her current school, this person and protagonist’s
helper begins to see what kind of girl she is.
She is all the perfect things a girl like her should be—in fact, she is
the perfect girl. The problem is our
protagonist’s helper can’t tell her that or even fully believe and comprehend
it right away. This is a beautiful
build-up from zero to hero for the Romantic protagonist. The hero is in the eyes of the beholder.
Thus, we are seeing more and more plots for this novel. This melancholic plot shows our Romantic
protagonist moving or revealing herself as fun loving and fun. This has everything to do with pensive, thinking,
and controlled because she really is this way, it just takes a person who
trusts and whom she trusts to see and experience it.
Thus, part of the plot will be a revelation of who this Romantic
protagonist really is, and we shall see that through the eyes of the protagonist’s
helper
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?
In any case, the Romantic protagonist is driven to achieve
and to develop their skill to the highest degree.
This is really the abiding undertone of every Romantic protagonist
and Romantic novel—the overwhelming desire of the Romantic protagonist to build
and use their skills.
This is a capability usually bound by intentional restraint
but not by direct intent—what does that mean?
I get irritated by supposed Romantic protagonists who are
for some reason afraid to use their skills.
I can see intentional constraint (the skills to so powerful, the
character must use it with care), or unintentional constraint (the skill has an
adverse affect on the character which limits its usefulness), or variability
(the skill is not fully controlled or is variable in effect, therefore it cant
be trusted at first). These are al
legitimate reasons for restraint of a skill, but fear to use or fear of the
skill itself, like we see in some protagonists is just not legitimate. I can’t think of an example at the moment,
but you likely can remember the typical young adult protagonist who has some
great capability but who is afraid to use that capability for some silly reason—usually
to draw the story out to 200 pages. The
entire novel, I’m wondering, what’s wrong with the protagonist? Why are they unwilling to use the skills they
have.
The Romantic protagonist is supposed to exult in their
skills and specific skill. Thus, in the Romantic
protagonist I’m proposing, she exults in her book skills and uses them as often
and in as many circumstances as she can—even to the point where they are just
unusable. That is unusable in the
context of the event or problem.
Whatever you design for your Romantic protagonist, the drive
to use their skills and especially their specific skill is the engine of the
plots in the novel.
In this novel, I intent all this to be on the top of the plot
and storyline. You can also bury it
under the plot and storyline. In other
words, the character is constantly using their skills, but it’s just a normal
part of the novel. The other method, the
one I intend to employ is the direct drive to improve and equip.
I intend this novel and Romantic protagonist to be a revelation
of the journey of the Romantic protagonist in discovering the answer to the mystery
of the book, and at the same time, the discovery of the answer to her own
future and life. Remember, the novel is
a revelation of the protagonist. I just
want this novel to be an obvious revelation of this Romantic protagonist.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Sacrificial love and love independent of the person. We do know that the Romantic protagonist can
attract love because of who they are.
That is, the person who falls in love with them is typically
aristocratic or wealthy or both. They
fall in love blindly and sacrificially.
The Romantic protagonist may or may not return that love with a similar
ardor.
The main point is that love with the Romantic protagonist is
something very different than in the Victorian or earlier Eras. In the beginning it was cutting across wealth
and birth. Later, it cuts across
cultures and peoples. That is the main
power of Romantic love.
We do need a Romantic protagonist. The point is to develop one, but I’ll
conclude this section next.
In any case, the entire purpose in evaluating the Romantic
protagonist was to provide us an outline so we can make one. You can follow along and make your own or you
can just follow along and see how I do it.
I can guarantee you, a good Romantic protagonist will lead to the
writing of a novel. It must.
I have way too much here.
I’ll try to willow it down as we progress, but I want to start
developing a Romantic protagonist, next.
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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