27 January 2023, Writing - part xxx211 Writing a Novel, A New Romantic Protagonist, Marketing Materials, Synopses, 500
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 30th novel, working title, Rose,
potential title Rose: Enchantment and the
Flower. The theme statement is: 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 cover proposal for Rose:
Enchantment and the Flower.
|
|
|
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. Writing number 31, working title Shifter. I just finished 32nd novel, Rose.
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.
Here is a list of the basic marketing information I am
putting together:
Proposed Cover
Title of Work:
Rose: Enchantment and the Flower
Author(s) Name:
L.
D. Alford
Type: Either Screenplay or Book
Book
Length: Either # of words for books, or #
of pages for screenplays
113,845
words
Keywords and Market Focus:
Fiction,
intelligence operations, adventure, supernatural, Fae, fairy, Scotland, Rousay,
Britain, United Kingdom, Monmouth, MI6, goddess, Dagda, organization, the King;
will fascinate anyone interested in mystery, intelligence operations, and the Fae—will
appeal particularly to those who enjoy mystery and suspense novels.
Genre:
Magic Realism Mystery
Author
Bio: Approximately 120 words
The finest entertainment
in literature is an escape into a real and inviting world—so asserts L. D.
Alford, a novelist who explores with originality those cultures and societies
we think we already know. He builds
tales that make ancient and modern people real to us. His stories uniquely explore the connections
between present events, history, and the future—he combines them with threads
of reality that bring his fiction alive.
L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he earned a B.S.
in Chemistry, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Aerospace
Engineering, and is a graduate of Air War College, USAF Test Pilot School, and
Air Command and Staff College. He is
widely traveled and has spent long periods in Europe, Asia, and Central
America. L. D. Alford is an author who
combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that
breathe reality.
Synopsis: Approximately 1000 Words
Rose is a lost
child and a lost soul. She has been
secretly living in Viera Lodge on Rousay Island since her father died. She is the fortunate or the unfortunate,
however you like to think it, child of her da and the deadly flower Fae, Desert
Rose.
Rose has powers
that even she doesn’t fully understand.
She hides well, but because of her, Viera Lodge is considered
haunted. In any case, she is a half-starved
girl who has never had a friend or communicated with any person other than her gram,
gramps, father, and mother—she has no one now, but that’s about to change.
Shiggy Tash has
been assigned Viera Lodge as her safe-house for an assignment to the Orkney
Islands. Shiggy is an intelligence agent
and a very good one from The Organization, a covert part of the British
Intelligence structure. She is also an
agent of Stela in The Organization who works with the supernatural in the
United Kingdom. Shiggy’s assignment is
to stop illegal Chinese and Russian radioactive ore smuggling. Any supernatural involvement is the due to
radioactive contamination in the sea and on the land that is affecting the Fae
in Rousay.
Everything changes
for Shiggy and Rose when Shiggy captures Rose in Viera Lodge. Rose is a nobody, but a very powerful nobody. Shiggy can’t allow any interference or the
revelation of her assignment and work.
She can’t just let Rose go, and she can’t ignore the potential exposure of
British intelligence work. Plus, Rose
has power and potential that Stela and The Organization could use. Shiggy forces a contract on Rose—it’s most
likely an illegal contract, but Shiggy will provide training, discipline, food,
and housing to the wild girl while Rose provides cleaning, security, and
cooking.
Unfortunately,
Rose can’t cook and is completely ignorant of modern human conveniences and
life. She had nothing her entire life
and was hidden by her family from her birth.
Shiggy has her work cut out for her.
However, Rose can
control humans, animals, and the Fae using her very powerful Fae glamour. This makes Rose very valuable to Shiggy as
well as her organization. Then Rose
meets Robyn.
Why Robyn is
suddenly on Rousay is another real mystery. Her parents are from the British Foreign
Office, and Shiggy knows them. They are
likely on a similar overt assignment, and they are next door. Robyn claims to have a power greater than
glamour. That’s a new one to Rose. Rose may not be well educated or experienced,
but she’s an expert in the use of glamour.
Robyn becomes
Rose’s first friend, and she learns that Robyn is currently expelled from
school for fighting. Robyn is only
eight, but a prodigy with an odd dark complexion for a fully British girl, and her
power greater than glamour. Plus, Robyn
floats the idea that they might go to school together.
Robyn
unconsciously helps Rose solve Shiggy’s mystery, and Rose is caught up in
stopping a communist Chinese hydrofoil freighter and the Russian traders. During the action, Shiggy is injured and Rose
finds herself with Shiggy on a military helicopter flying to the London Cage
and headquarters of The Organization.
That’s when the education of Rose really begins.
At the London
Cage, Shiggy’s boss greets Rose, and takes her under her wing for training and
a new assignment. The assignment is that
Rose will accompany the brilliant but dangerous Robyn to Monmouth School for
Girls in Wales. Robyn does indeed have a
power greater than glamour, but Rose can control Robyn, and Robyn needs
control. Robyn was sent with her family
to Rousay just to meet Rose.
Shiggy’s boss trains
Rose to be an aristocratic lady, in fact, she has a title, Lady Rose Tash of
Edwinstow. Rose attends boarding school
with Robyn with the assignment to protect Robyn and others from Robyn while
helping the very dangerous and obstinate Robyn integrate into the school
body. This is indeed a difficult
assignment, but if she succeeds, Rose will get back her home, Viera Lodge.
Rose defines her
assignment as the integration of Robyn and all the other girls in their House,
Bagnall Oakley, as the goal of her work.
She draws attention to herself and brings Robyn into the fold of their
House and school by making Robyn’s skills necessary for the other girls to
succeed. To do this, she wins over all
the other girls and their teachers. At
the same time, Rose befriends the gentry of Monmouth, the police, the press,
the community, the Fae, and the school.
Rose becomes a leader for them all, and Robyn is included because Rose
makes her indispensable to everyone.
Then the recall
happens. Somehow the Chinese Communists
have tied Rose to Shiggy, and they are out for Shiggy’s blood for interfering
with their smuggling in Rousay. Rose’s
title and person are smeared in the press, and she is ordered to leave Monmouth
until she can be safely recalled. Luckily,
Rose has made friends with the local and Welsh Fae. She finds a place to hide, but no one
realizes that Rose was compromised by Shiggy’s name and past. The communist Chinese send a team of agents
to capture Rose, but Rose and her Fae friends aren’t the lambs the Chinese
imagine them to be. It’s Rose here, the
most dangerous girl in Britain.
Rose and her Fae retainers
defeat the agents. Meanwhile, The
Organization has sent a team from MI5 with Shiggy to find and rescue Rose. The Chinese host a signal to Robyn and the
Huddlu police to get civilians involved, and the mission to kidnap Rose becomes
the mission for her House in Monmouth, the Police, and the School to rescue
Rose.
Rose is rescued,
she is restored to her title and position at Monmouth. The plans of the Chinese are thwarted, and Rose
still needs to complete her assignment at Monmouth to protect and lead Robyn.
Synopsis: Approximately 500 Words
Rose is a lost
child and a lost soul. She is the child
of the deadly Fae, Desert Rose, and since her father died, she is secretly
living in Viera Lodge on Rousay Island.
Rose has Fae powers even she doesn’t fully understand. She is a half-starved girl who has never had
a friend or communicated with any person other than her family.
Shiggy Tash is
assigned Viera Lodge as her safe-house.
Shiggy is a covert agent of the British government who works with the
supernatural. Shiggy’s assignment is to
stop illegal Chinese and Russian radioactive ore smuggling. Any supernatural involvement is due to
radioactive contamination that affects the Fae.
Everything changes
when Shiggy captures Rose in Viera Lodge.
She can’t let Rose go, and she can’t ignore the potential exposure of
British intelligence. Plus, Rose has
powers her organization could use.
Shiggy forces a contract on Rose for cleaning, security, and cooking.
Then Rose meets
Robyn. Robyn’s parents are from the
Foreign Office, and Shiggy knows them.
They are on a similar but overt assignment. Robyn claims to have a great power.
Robyn becomes
Rose’s first friend, and she learns Robyn is currently expelled from school for
fighting. Robyn is only eight, but a
prodigy with an odd dark complexion for a fully British girl. Plus, Robyn floats the idea they might go to
school together.
Rose gets caught
up in Shiggy’s assignment. During the
action, Shiggy is injured, and Rose finds herself on a helicopter flying to the
London headquarters of the Organization.
Shiggy’s boss
takes Rose under her wing for a new assignment.
Rose will accompany the brilliant but dangerous Robyn to Monmouth School
for Girls in Wales. Robyn does indeed
have a great power, but Rose can control Robyn.
Rose is trained to
be an aristocratic lady. She attends
boarding school with Robyn with the assignment to protect others from Robyn
while helping Robyn integrate into the school body. If Rose succeeds, she will get back her home,
Viera Lodge.
Rose draws
attention to herself and brings Robyn into the fold of their House by making
Robyn’s skills necessary for the other girls to succeed. Rose becomes a leader for them all, and Robyn
is included because Rose makes her indispensable to everyone.
Then the recall
happens. Somehow the Chinese Communists
tied Rose to Shiggy, and they are out for Shiggy’s blood about Rousay. Rose’s title and person are smeared in the
press, and she is ordered to leave Monmouth.
Luckily, Rose made friends with the Welsh Fae. She finds a place to hide. The communist Chinese send a team of agents
to capture Rose, but Rose and her Fae friends aren’t the lambs the Chinese
imagine them to be.
Rose and her Fae
retainers defeat the agents. Rose is
rescued—she is restored to her title and position at Monmouth. The plans of the Chinese are thwarted.
I’ve been writing novels for about forty
years. I’d say for about twenty years
cogently. I’ve been writing submissions for
about the same amount of time. I did
have a publisher who was published five of my novels and had two on contract,
but they went out of business, so, I’m seeking a new publisher. I’m not ready to go the self-publishing
route.
I’m all in for submissions, and what I’ve
discovered over the years is that you need a long, a medium, and a submission
sized synopsis. That works out to about
a 1000 word, a 500 word, and a 200 word synopsis of your work.
I find it relatively easy to start long
and go for short. If I start long, I can
put a lot of really good information in the synopsis, along with a little entertainment
and excitement. As your synopsis gets shorter,
the word necessarily decrease, and you must get rid of all the fluff. I think that’s why most publishers want to
see a short synopsis in your submission—they want to get an idea about your
work, but they also want to see if you can really cut your writing from a
100,000 word novel to a 200 word synopsis.
In my experience, some publishers want a
long synopsis (about 1000 words will work), some will ask for one about 500
words long (very few), and most want some kind of synopsis in the submission—usually
around 200 words (one page total for your submission letter.
I’m sure they use the synopsis to reject
some manuscripts, but usually, they also want the entirety or a portion of your
manuscript. I don’t think the synopsis
can really give a great impression of your work, but remember, the synopsis
must sell your work to a reader. It
should sell it to the publisher as well.
I’ve never been a publisher, and I’m not certain
any publisher will really tell you exactly how their acceptance policy works. We’d all like to think, they read your novel,
see if it fits into their stable, and if they like your writing—basically, is
it entertaining—and then will contract your novel based on the quality and
entertainment value of your work. Seeing
the very terrible novels that keep getting published, I do wonder about how
they accept and choose works. Sometimes,
the novels are great. Sometimes they are
terrible.
We know there are great ideas and novels
out there, but even the film industry seems paralyzed by the inability to make
good decisions about what they will produce.
They produce many movies no one likes and a few that everyone loves. I’d like to see more great and entertaining
novels being produced.
Whatever the ultimate process, you need a
long, medium, and short synopsis. We’ll
look at the short synopsis next.
Synopsis: Approximately 200 Words
Concept
of the Work: Approximately 250 Words
Registration:
WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.
Other
Information: If you have more work, a
website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or
recognition.
Reviewer’s
quotes.
1. No more than 3 sentences about the content of
your manuscript.
2. One sentence about successful works similar
to yours.
3. No more than 2 sentences about yourself. (use
3rd person)
4. No more than 2 sentences that include
“other,” i.e. any reasons, relationships, or other factors that might make your
work more attractive.
Internet
site development
You might ask where did all this come from and what do I do
with it? It comes from my forty year
experience with writing and publishing and working with different publishers
and their representatives. I’ll have to
confess, this isn’t all my own ideas. I
received the main list years ago. The
second section came from a similar source.
My publisher wanted something very similar to that.
Through extensive submission making and writing, I’ve found
the information above fills all the squares.
I’ve also discovered that if and when you get a publisher, the first
thing they want is some of this information.
They want blurbs. They want a synopsis
(if they didn’t already have one). They
want exciting marketing stuff. In
addition, they will want a cover idea, and they will usually want you to go
through their photo provider to find photos that fit your cover ideas. Modern covers are put together from photo and
other artwork that your publisher can or has purchased from their graphics providers. Then they stitch them together into a
cohesive cover. I take a little
different approach. I’ll discuss that
tomorrow and show you what I put in the proposal.
All of this information is important for a publisher and for
you to market your work. Further, I use
this to populate my websites. I haven’t
bought a URL for a while, but I use the many I have for my novels. If I finally get another publisher and a work
on contract, I’ll get a real URL for the novel title. This is another important part especially for
sales and marketing to readers. I’ll go over
that too. I added that to the list at
the bottom.
This is the list of marketing materials. I’ll go over the cover proposal 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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