1 December 2022, Writing - part xxx155 Writing a Novel, A New Romantic Protagonist, Editing Words, there was/were
Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the
internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t
succeed in the past business and publishing environment. I’ll keep you
informed, but I need a new publisher.
More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels—I think
you’ll really enjoy them.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire
novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the
commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained,
how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing
techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back
through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I’m using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I’ll
keep you informed along the way.
Today’s Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:
1. Don’t confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don’t show (or tell) everything.
4a. Show what can
be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
These are the steps I use to write a novel including the
five discrete parts of a novel:
1.
Design the initial scene
2. Develop a theme statement (initial setting, protagonist,
protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research as required
b.
Develop the initial setting
c.
Develop the characters
d.
Identify the telic flaw (internal
and external)
3. Write the initial scene (identify the output: implied
setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4. Write the next scene(s) to the climax (rising action)
5. Write the climax scene
6. Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write the dénouement scene
I
finished writing my 29th novel, working title, Detective, potential
title Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective. The theme statement is: Lady Azure Rose
Wishart, the Chancellor of the Fae, supernatural detective, and all around
dangerous girl, finds love, solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.
Here is the cover proposal for Blue
Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.
|
|
|
Cover
Proposal |
The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel, working
title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel, working
title Detective. I’m planning to start on number 31, working
title Shifter.
How to begin a novel.
Number one thought, we need an entertaining idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea with a
theme statement. Since I’m writing a new
novel, we need a new theme statement.
Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red
Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test
pilot’s administrative clerk, learns about freedom, and is redeemed.
For novel 31: Deirdre
and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover
difficult mysteries, people, and events.
For Novel 32: Shiggy
Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization
gives her for her latest assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and
needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.
Here is the
scene development outline:
1. Scene
input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2. Write the
scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3. Imagine
the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and develop
the tension and release.
4. Write the
scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5. Write the
release
6. Write the
kicker
Today: 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’m not ready to write a new novel yet, and I’m too busy to
put the extra time to write an initial scene.
I’ll repeat. I just
finished up Rose, and I want to finish up Cassandra. I’m moving in that direction. For now, I’ll focus on the finishing steps of
Rose, and then the marketing development steps. This might get tedious, but I’ll try to keep
it meaningful and helpful.
I am into heavy editing for Rose, and I’d like to
finish with Cassandra. I’m using Cassandra
as an example for my other blog, so I really do need to catch it up before I
run out of material. In any case, I was
going over the basics of real editing.
I’ll repeat myself.
If you have a problem with basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation, you
might not have the required level of education to write effectively. If this is true, you need to get more
education and of the correct types.
Repetition isn’t the only simple problem in editing. This is a level above spelling, grammar, and
punctuation, but there is another level above that.
The other problems with word is related to the following
list:
-ing
had
-ly
were
was
gotten
even
said
got
utilize
There was/were
This is the secret list of words you need to get rid of as
much as possible. I’ll go over them
specifically and explain why. What I do
in my writing is to evaluate every one of these and get rid of the ones that can
be fixed. Here we go.
There was/were
For example:
There was a tavern in the town.
There were wolves along the trail.
There was a face in the window.
There were a thousand flowers in the field.
This is the use of identity and a passive construction. Now to provide some information about the
passive voice. Here is some definitive information
from the UNC writing center:
A passive construction occurs when you make
the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or
whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the
sentence. Take a look at this passive rephrasing of a familiar joke:
Why was the road crossed by the
chicken?
Who
is doing the action in this sentence? The chicken is the one doing the
action in this sentence, but the chicken is not in the spot where you would
expect the grammatical subject to be. Instead, the road is the grammatical
subject. The more familiar phrasing (why did the chicken cross the road?) puts
the actor in the subject position, the position of doing something—the chicken
(the actor/doer) crosses the road (the object). We use active verbs to
represent that “doing,” whether it be crossing roads, proposing ideas, making
arguments, or invading houses (more on that shortly).
Once
you know what to look for, passive constructions are easy to spot. Look for a
form of “to be” (is, are, am, was, were, has been, have been, had been, will
be, will have been, being) followed by a past participle. (The past participle
is a form of the verb that typically, but not always, ends in “-ed.” Some
exceptions to the “-ed” rule are words like “paid” (not “payed”) and “driven.”
(not “drived”).
Here’s
a sure-fire formula for identifying the passive voice:
form of “to be” +
past participle = passive voice
For
example:
The metropolis has been scorched by
the dragon’s fiery breath.
When her house was invaded, Penelope
had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
Not every sentence
that contains a form of “have” or “be” is passive! Forms of the
word “have” can do several different things in English. For example, in the
sentence “John has to study all afternoon,” “has” is not part of a past-tense
verb. It’s a modal verb, like “must,” “can,” or “may”—these verbs tell how
necessary it is to do something (compare “I have to study” versus “I may
study”). And forms of “be” are not always passive, either—”be” can be the main
verb of a sentence that describes a state of being, rather than an action. For
example, the sentence “John is a good student” is not passive; “is” is simply
describing John’s state of being. The moral of the story: don’t assume that any
time you see a form of “have” and a form of “to be” together, you are looking
at a passive sentence.
Now, let me put some more detailed and helpful information
down for you.
John kicked the ball.
This is active voice.
The ball was kicked by John.
This is passive voice. This has a
subject defined with a prepositional phrase “by John.”
The ball was kicked.
This is passive voice. There is
no subject at all.
The passive voice is not improper or unusable in fiction,
but it has some characteristics that make it less useful and in some cases
terrible for fiction writing. The
passive voice is wordy, it is not active, and it has either a hidden or no
subject. I advise you—unless you are
intentionally hiding or suppressing the subject, or unless the object of the
sentence is so important, you need to use the passive voice—don’t use it. In other words, you need a really good reason
in fiction to use the passive voice.
What are good reasons. I told
you:
The object is much more important than the subject of the
sentence.
You are intentionally hiding the subject of the sentence.
You are presenting a dialog where the speaker is either pompous,
an idiot, or just hiding something.
The passive voice can be useful, but it is usually not
useful in fiction writing. Unless you
are trying to achieve the above. If you
don’t know what I’m writing about—then just don’t use the passive voice for any
fiction writing. The examples I gave
above of the passive voice with identity are especially bad uses of the passive
voice. Let me explain and we shall
correct them. Here they are again:
There was a tavern in the town.
There were wolves along the trail.
There was a face in the window.
There were a thousand flowers in the field.
The constructions above a wordy. They have subjects and there is no reason to
hide anything. The fact that there is a
tavern in the town is just description and showing. Let’s correct it. Subject first. That is town.
The town had a tavern.
Or The town possessed a tavern.
To create even better description:
The town’s tavern lay on Main Street.
This turns the statement from the passive to the active and
gets rid of the identity statement.
The trail was the home of many wolves. Or Many wolves roamed near the trail. Pick your subject and go for it.
A face appeared in the window. You have many options here.
The field was covered by a million flowers. Something like that.
These constructions are cludgy and poor. They may be correct grammar, but they are not
good for fiction, and they really aren’t good for other writing.
On to the next tomorrow.
Oh, I should write, that in one of my final edits of a completed work, I
search for the words above and remove them when possible. We’ll see more, 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
fiction, theme, plot, story,
storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book,
writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
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