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Sunday, February 19, 2023

Writing - part xxx234 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Emotional Changes

19 February 2023, Writing - part xxx234 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Emotional Changes

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. 

 

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

 

I’ll repeat.  I just finished up Rose, and I want to finish up Cassandra.  I’m moving in that direction. 

 

This is where I’m going.  I need to finish up Cassandra, and that’s what I’m going to do.  That might take a month or so.  At the same time, I want to write a follow-on to Rose.  Basically, I want to finish up Rose, and resolve the overall telic flaw introduced in the first novel.  To do this, I need a new protagonist.  I could use Rose, and I was thinking about this, but my readers suggested I should keep the number of male and female protagonists about equal.  Not sure why, but I did get a great idea for an initial scene and for a protagonist.  I’ve been developing this protagonist for my short form blog, but I can move some of that development here and make some comments on it.

 

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. 

 

1.     Define the initial scene

 

I already defined the initial scene.  Rose has a tea party with the problem children that result in a goddess brawl where others are injured and Rose herself is harmed to a degree.  The protagonist is an observer on the sidelines (I need to figure this out).  She runs away and is found by the protagonist.  I’ve got the basic initial scene figured out, but I haven’t written it yet. 

 

That’s an outline of the initial scene, but the real scene that interests and intrigues me is the scene a little after that.  I picture, in my mind, that Rose runs away and is running the trains.  She is just riding the British trains.  The problem is that she lost her clothing in the incident, so she is riding the trains in the nude. 

 

There is some defining goodness in this—she is covering herself in glamour.  Therefore, Rose isn’t technically naked—only the sensitive or the Fae should be able to see her, and the Fae don’t ride the trains.  The fun part about this scene is that the male protagonist has been given the job to find Rose.  He is sensitive to both her, and he can see her. 

 

This leads to the delicious scene where Rose meets with the protagonist.  This is the meeting of the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.  Perfect for an initial scene.  The buildup to this scene will just be part of the overall novel. 

 

I can picture this scene and the result of this scene.  This will define the initial relationship of Rose and the male protagonist.  This will bring them into contact and a never unconnectable link of physical recognition and mental anguish.  Rose will be unable to lose her attachment to him, and he will not want to.

 

His reasons will be more than physical, but you might imagine his feelings and her recognition from the physical connection.  Rose is too much of a lady to acknowledge any of it, while the male protagonist is too much of a gentleman to allow his physical view of Rose to cloud his judgement or negatively affect his actions.  But, we shall see how this encounter affects all of them and both of them.

 

2.     At the same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the initial scene.

 

I already began to wrote how this protagonist will fit into the initial scene.  I need to actually bring it about in the scene, but I haven’t written the initial scene, yet. 

 

I plan to have this character observing and watching Rose from the sidelines.  He will have tabs on the girls, and know them all.  His job and skills will allow him to keep an eye on them.  I plan to let Rose catch a few glimpses in the runup to the incident.  Perhaps through the windows or something.  I need to work out all those details.  In the end, he sees the defining incident that causes Rose so many mental and physical issues.  Then there is the telic flaw of this protagonist.

 

That means the minimum of:

a.      Telic flaw - I’ll fit in a telic flaw.  The telic flaw belongs to the protagonist.  This protagonist’s telic flaw is that he has an assignment to look after Rose.  Just how he can do this is not clear.  He should not have any skills greater than Rose, but he should have some background that places him in both the sights of Stela and The Organization.  I haven’t worked this out yet.  Basically, the telic flaw will be his responsibility to protect Rose.  This will turn out to be a romance plot and telic flaw.  The young man will pursue Rose.  I might have to work on the telic flaw a little.  It will become clearer with the development of the protagonist.

b.     Approximate age - 16 to 17

c.      Approximate social degree - middle class to wealthy and aristocratic.  I need to pin this down.  I want to look through my characters to find one who might fit.  This is what I wrote at first, but I’ve refined this character better since then.  He is the child of aristocracy, but not exactly what you might think.  His parents have an unusual way of interacting as both aristocrats and in the overall society.  They don’t want to produce wealthy ner-do-wells.  They want to produce smart and capable children.  Their children might put on a few airs, but they are basically hard working and well developed as people.  They also aren’t as wealthy and aristocratic as you might think either.  I’ll get into more details in the description and setting elements as I round out this protagonist.

d.     Sex - Male

3.     Refine the protagonist – Here is the first cut of the physical description of the protagonist.  It might need a little refinement.

a.      Physical description - Seoirse was tall and slender.  His face was thin and serious with freckles over his finely shaped nose.  His lips fit nicely into his well-formed face, but they looked overly serious too, until he smiled.  Then his lips and face and cheeks exploded in mirth.  His smile could make you smile, and you didn’t notice the dimples in his cheeks and chin, until he smiled.  That’s when everything lit up and became apparent.  His hair was light blond with faint brown highlights, and his eyes were a dull grey, until he smiled and then you wondered what color they really were.  Because, when he had on his serious look, he looked like someone you should listen and obey--handsome, elegant, upright, and becoming.  When he smiled, you wondered exactly what kind of fun and mischief you could get into together.  He was just that kind of boy.

 

Here we are with the most important part of the protagonist—the physical description.  Why is that?  This is what the reader should see first.  We never should tell anything about the protagonist.  We need to show the protagonist.  This is what the protagonist looks like.  Everything else is what we show about the protagonist.  If you are telling, you are not writing properly.  You will likely never get a novel published.  Not to say you can get away with a little telling, but if you strive for none, and get in a little, that’s good.  If you are telling over and over, you will not have anything worth reading.

 

There is a lot packed in this short paragraph that describes the protagonist, Seoirse.  I haven’t given you his whole name, yet.  He is Seoirse, and that’s good enough for now.  We will get into his name in a little.  I have everything developed for him, and I’ll give it to you with this kind of commentary.  As I wrote, the physical description is what you really need to start with for any character.  It begins the development of the character.  Everything in the physical description plays into who, where, when, and what about the person.  That’s what we will move toward next.

 

b.     Background – history of the protagonist.  Here is more about this character.  I guess I should also reveal that his father is related directly to Ceridwen, the great goddess of the Celtic and Gaelic people.  He has no real powers himself, but he can see the Fae and knows all about the supernatural.  His mother is the Keeper of the Book of the Fae.  She has no powers or abilities other than wisdom, the ability to interact and see the Fae, and the powers of the book.  This will place Seoirse in a pathos position because Rose has great power, but he does not.  If I have him helping and saving Rose using the little skills and abilities he has, that will endear her to him.

 

There is much more about his life and background that I will need to develop, but not necessarily here or all at once.  I like to say an author doesn’t develop a character in the revelation of the novel as much as the author reveals the character or the protagonist.  I’m not into this idea about a changing or growing protagonist.  Yes, the protagonist must make some kind of change to resolve the telic flaw, but that doesn’t mean we start with a reprobate and reform him or her.  We can start with a nice guy whose understanding of the world and his or her place in it happens to change a bit.  The protagonist’s background is static, but our knowledge (the author’s knowledge) of the protagonist grows with time and writing.  That’s just what happens when we write—the end result is the fully developed character, but it can be fully developed at the beginning or the end.  It doesn’t mean the protagonist changes all that much.

                                                  i.     Birth – January 2012 – that makes him 17 at the beginning of this novel.

                                                ii.     Setting – Monmouth in Wales which is in the United Kingdom.  This is a follow-on novel to Rose.

                                              iii.     Life – I’m working on this.  He was born to the Wishart family which is an aristocratic family from my novel, Azure.  He lived in the estate at Briarashe.  His mother is…I guess that should wait to the family part.

                                               iv.     Education – Greycoat, Eton, and wants to go to Cranwell to become a flying officer like his father.

                                                v.     Work – Student being trained in intelligence for the British government.

                                               vi.     Profession – He is aware that he is being trained to work for the Organization and potentially for Stela.  Greycoat is a language focused private school.  Eton is a premilitary school for boys.  Cranwell is the British Air Force military university.  I have made Monmouth a special place in my novels for the education of certain girls who are in need of special help and supervision.  I started this with Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si.  I continued this with Rose and added a bit to it.  I also used Wycombe Abby as a place for this type of training, but moved it to Monmouth for both political and based on my own novels reasons.  The problem children were all originally in Wycombe, but moved to Monmouth because they needed more help.  Also, Wycombe lost an important teacher’s supporting asset in another of my novels.  I plan to make up with that in Monmouth, but I haven’t added in that or the travel plans to go to the Isle of Shadows.

                                             vii.     Family – His mother is Azure Wishart who was the protagonist of another of my novels.  She is the Keeper of the Book of the Fae and adjudicates for the Gaelic and Celtic Fae mostly in Britain.  His father is Lachlann Calloway, but took the name Wishart to allow the continuation of the Wishart line.  He is a British Flying officer with strong connections through his family with the Organization and Stela.  Perhaps a great tension development in the novel might be with a trial of peerage—that is that some pretender to the Wishart line might try to take over the name and the estate.

 

c.      Setting – We are up to the initial setting.  This is the setting for the protagonist.  It should also be the setting for the initial scene.  We have our protagonist, and you might be able to figure out the setting.  It’s Monmouth Haberdasher’s School for Boys and for Girls in Monmouth Wales.  This is the setting where I left Rose in the last novel.  Rose will be the protagonist’s helper or antagonist in this novel.  I haven’t chosen yet, but we’ll eventually define this.

 

I love to use real world settings and places, real world events, and real world people when possible.  The only elements that are made up are those which expand the work into the reflected worldview as well as those that expand into places and ideas that are usually unknowns.  Mostly, both the reflected worldview and the covert are unknowns because they are outside the purview of normal observation and knowledge.  This makes them perfect for fiction because who is to say if they really exist or not?

 

Therefore, I studied and chose Monmouth as my setting when I researched it for another novel Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si.  I just continued to use it as a place where the British government had special training and teachers for special students.  Those special students happen to be part of the reflected worldview, but that’s what makes this so fun, entertaining, and interesting.  Plus, who’s to say this isn’t real or not? 

 

My protagonist, Seoirse, is part of the reflected worldview and the British intelligence organization I projected from MI19.  By the way, in some measure my Organization should exist in British Intelligence—just say’n. 

 

The point is to give a setting that brings Seoirse and Rose together.  We know where Rose was heading.  We don’t know much about Seoirse, yet.

 

                                           viii.     Life – Our character, Seoirse, was directed to move from Eton to Monmouth to help keep an eye on Rose.  He is going to school in Monmouth, but I may show that he is just acclimating himself in the school and the school body.  I think I’ll have Rose help him.  That should be fun.  

                                               ix.     Setting – I already stated that the setting is specifically the Monmouth Haberdasher’s School for Boys.

                                                x.     Work – Seoirse’s work is for intelligence, but he is also learning and a student.  This is interesting in itself.  I’ve had many characters who are learning to work in British intelligence, but few working fully with intelligence.  This shows how important and trustworthy Seoirse is.  He is somewhat unique, but likely not completely unique.  Next we’ll get to the name.

 

d.     Name - George (Seoirse) Séamas (James) Wishart (Calloway).  Actually, I should write this name as Seoirse (George) Séamas (James) Calloway (Wishart) or George (Seoirse) James (Séamas) Wishart (Calloway).  The reason is that the first is Gaelic and the second is English.  Calloway is Gaelic and Wishart is English.  This represents the roots of his name.  The name is a family name and not as well developed as those I make for most of my protagonists.  The name meaning is George (earthworker from Greek), James (supplanter), Calloway (place of stones).  For the second is the same except Wishart (wise and hard).  The main point of Seoirse’s name is to project the Wishart and the Calloway families into one person.  He is the combination of the goddess Ceridwen (a grandson of the goddess) and the Wishart (Keeper of the Book of the Fae).  He was named for the family favorites and not so much for specific reasons.  I chose to call him by certain appellations due to the English and the Gaelic reflected worldviews of the proposed novel.  In this, I want him to be George in his school and to the normal students and Seoirse to Rose.  This will also allow me to project some misidentify plots and some humor when Rose calls him something else that others are not expecting.  I can also weave some secrecy into the plot plus some realization with others.  Names and the use of names in all novels is important.  They are also fun and useful for many other reasons.  They mainly connect a person to their family and to who they are as a person (in fiction).  Rose is who she is because she is a rose in many ways.  Seoirse will be Seoirse because of who he is.  This will be very fun and entertaining.

4.     Refine the details of the protagonist

a.      Emotional description (never to be shared directly) - Now we have a character, but what is he like?  Seoirse will be a typical Wishart—well what is that?  The Wishart family is tied tightly into the Crown and into the Fae.  The former Lord Wishart is still in prison (perhaps I should let him out) for cheating the crown as the Keeper of the Book of the Fae.  He is mentioned in Cassandra.  Seoirse is pretty happy go lucky.  He likes his family, and isn’t jealous of his brother.  He likes girls and wants a girlfriend.  He had his eyes on Rose, but he realizes or thinks she is way outside his league.  He will be pursuing her.  He is a fighter when provoked.  He doesn’t like to have to fight.  In some ways he is like Rose.  This will draw them together although I will have some real tension between them in the beginning.  What else can we say about the emotions.  I’d say that I’d like to push Seoirse to the point where he feels compelled to fight and defend Rose directly—even at the risk of his life.

 

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we might as well speak about love too—that’s an emotion, or not.  Love isn’t an emotion at all.  Love is a dedication and a promise to take responsibility, at least in human society.  We really get love wrong as a culture.  The problem is the word itself—we only have one normal word for love in English.  The Greeks have about eight, and none really fit the meaning of English love.  The Hebrews have four and none of them are anything close to what we imagine.  When is love not love? 

 

Really Westerners need to be cautious about what other and especially Eastern cultures think about love.  It isn’t the same.  In fact, in Western languages and cultures, love doesn’t mean the same thing.  So, what is love.

 

As I wrote love in human culture is a dedication and responsibility to another.  It really has little to do with sex and romance as much as it have to do with responsibility and trust.  For example, love for your children has nothing to do with sex and romance, and neither does your love for your pets—unless you are a pervert.  Sex and romance are considered bulwarks for love in a marriage or a conjugal relationship, but you can certainly have sex, sexual feelings, and romance without any love at all or any trust or responsibility. 

 

Part of this novel, will be about Seoirse and his growth as a person.  He will learn about love and to love Rose.  The aspect of his love will be responsibility and trust.  This is what it is all about.  

b.     Mental description (never to be shared directly) - I’m building a male protagonist who is lovable, strong, and powerful.  I want him to be like my Rose, but unlike her as well.  Rose was a child starved for love and attention.  She is a strange person who is powerful, skilled, and capable.  I also think she is lovable.  I do what her to be intimidating, and she wants to be intimidating.  Yes, to her friends as well as her enemies.  She is the consummate aristocrat, in this incarnation, so to speak.  What I mean is that in this setting and cover, she is exactly what she should be.  I’m not certain I want Seoirse to be like that.  I want him to be completely real and transparent while Rose is obvious and not transparent.  Rose is Rose, but she is not always the same Rose.  Rose is a being who can change herself at will.  Seoirse is always Seoirse.  He will have a hidden side, but he is who he is. 

 

Seoirse is my plain person character.  He’s going to be the good old boy.  I want him to be a regular bloke.  I think I’ll make him very well educated.  I want him to be a bibliophile.  Rose loves books, but she has few people who love books as well as she does.  Seoirse is the kind of person who is very much into books.  I also want him to be somewhat a jock, but not what you might think.  I think I’ll make him skilled in the special skills: shooting, fisticuffs, fencing, and the so-called martial arts.  These are skills he can’t really show off at Monmouth, but that he excelled at in Eton. 

 

These are his secret skills that is the martial skills.  Is this really mental?  I’m not into crazy characters.  I’m into weird character or real characters.  To me, the skills of the mind are the mental skills and mental description.  Seoirse will look like a jock, but not be especially skilled in sport.  His real skills are secrets, and he will play the field so he acts like a jock, but doesn’t play like a jock.  His job is to watch out for Rose.  Rose is the one. 

 

As I wrote, the other secret skill is books.  I will use these to pull him together to Rose. 

 

Another mental aspect will be his loneliness which will be similar to Rose’s issues.  Rose is the perfect aristocrat, but she has no one to really befriend her.  She has followers and not real friends.  Everyone loves Rose, but Rose has no one she can really talk to and share with.  I want Seoirse to become this for her.  Their friendship will be based on this.  I also want to give Rose and Seoirse a little of the bad girl, bad boy stink.  I think I can work this out.  Like a little off schedule meeting together in the woods.  Hey, this is fun stuff to think about, and to write.                

c.      Likes and dislikes (never to be shared directly) - Seoirse will obviously come to like Rose.  I’m not certain how I want to play this.  I do want Seoirse to pursue Rose and not the other way around.  At the same time, I want the very delicate and elegant Rose to have a deep and traumatic falling in love.  I want some real sparks between two people who are both refined and elegant.  I want Rose to upturn Seoirse’s life and Seoirse to upturn Rose’s life.  I want this to be a powerful and beautiful love story in the middle of Rose’s real assignment and problem.  This is all about likes and dislikes.  Our young lovers have their associations and friends.  This is very important to the plot.  Rose is the consummate aristocrat—everyone loves her, but she must still have her foil.  I need to work this out.  Usually, the foil is a person in the school who is a peer.  In this case, Rose’s foil should be one of her assigned problem children or perhaps more than one.  I think the goddess pair would be perfect and the others are warming up to Rose.  There is much more to these likes and dislikes.  I really haven’t developed Seoirse enough to know all his details, and I think I need to work on this with some writing.  That’s where I’m going.

 

Seoirse’s likes and dislikes are, of course more than Rose.  He is supposed to be filling a role at his school.  He is also supposed to be filling a role for the Organization.  He has an assignment.  He also has his own desires and wants.  All of this plays a role in his development and his revelation. 

 

The plot or fight between duty and desire is perhaps one of the most important ones in a novel.  Not all novels include this, but many and most great ones do.  In my novel, A Season of Honor, the protagonist has to determine how to win his love while upholding his duty.  It is a truly Romantic plot—one that looks impossible until it is inevitable.  This novel should be the same. Seoirse needs to determine what he wants and how he can make his desires match his responsibilities.  It won’t end like A Season of Honor, the upheaval of an empire and the beginning of a new era.  On the other hand, it will result in his happiness and the happiness of Rose.  Like and dislikes are deeper than just what a protagonist wants or desires, but they play very importantly in the revelation and the resulting climax.   

2.     Telic flaw resolution - This is what I wrote about the telic flaw.  “The telic flaw belongs to the protagonist.  This protagonist’s telic flaw is that he has an assignment to look after Rose.  Just how he can do this is not clear.  He should not have any skills greater than Rose, but he should have some background that places him in both the sights of Stela and The Organization.  I haven’t worked this out yet.  Basically, the telic flaw will be his responsibility to protect Rose.  This will turn out to be a romance plot and telic flaw.  The young man will pursue Rose.  I might have to work on the telic flaw a little.  It will become clearer with the development of the protagonist.”

 

The resolution of this telic flaw will run concurrently with the telic flaw that Rose brings to the equation.  Don’t get me wrong, we will not have two protagonists or two telic flaws.  What we will have is a main telic flaw, that of Seoirse, which is about looking after and pursuing Rose, and the secondary telic flaw which is Rose’s return and recovery of her house and home at Viera Lodge.

 

The second will motivate Rose’s actions, and the first will motivate Seoirse’s actions.  Since the overall novel will be about Seoirse and his relationship with Rose, the overall telic flaw will be his. 

 

The big question for me as the writer is how to resolve the first telic flaw.  The second is also a great question, but the first is what the novel is about.  The second will just wrap up the Rose question, but we know how that is supposed to be resolved.  If Rose can prevent injury to and from Robyn and others, she will win back her house. 

 

Do you see the problem here?  I already wrote that the incident touching off this novel will be the catastrophe tea party where Rose can’t stop some degree of injury and harm caused by Robyn and the others.  Because of this, she runs away.  Seoirse will have to pick up the pieces.  In addition, the resolution of the second telic flaw will look impossible—until it is inevitable.  And, the resolution of the first telic flaw, Seoirse’s telic flaw, will also look impossible until it is inevitable.  Who could fall in love with the guy who caught you naked running the trains?

 

This is all that needs to be worked out in the telic flaw resolution.

 

d.     Changes required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

                                                  i.     Physical changes - Seoirse will need to make some type of physical change to resolve his telic flaw.  This really will require deep thought and writing.  I suspect it will mostly work itself out in the writing, but the biggest change will be how and what Seoirse will do to protect and defend Rose.  This is that good old game of love.

 

Love will be the motivator and the activator for Seoirse.  The big question is will he have to give up his dreams, or anything physical to achieve his goals.  The actual loss or the intent to lose one’s goals is usually enough, but I want to drive this point home.  This might be the only thing that will really push Rose into the arms of a man.  That this man is willing to give up himself and his life for her.  That is the physical dimension of this telic flaw resolution. 

 

On the other hand, I also might be able to conform and fit both their goals and life dreams together.  This might still result in or cause loss.  That’s the way with true love and loving others.

                                                ii.     Emotional changes - We should have an emotional change in the protagonist to be able to resolve the telic flaw.  This doesn’t have to be a complete mental change or change of heart.  It can be as simple as a change of mind or a determination of some type. 

What I would like to present is a determination where Seoirse comes to the conclusion that he is in love with Rose and will stick with her. 

 

Many have embraced this in an incorrect way.  There are some protagonists who need to make an entire mental shift to resolve their telic flaw.  For example, Les Miz is like this.  Jean Valjean needs to make an entire mental change to embrace good.  However, most protagonists start as strong Romantic characters and don’t need much to fix them as humans.  They usually need to accomplish some action to fix the telic flaw.  They usually don’t have a problem with their thoughts or their minds.  They can have a need to change their determination or make a decision.  Then is that really an emotional change? 

 

Yes, to a degree.  A classic emotional change is the decision to love another, and there are others—that is decisions about emotions.  The important point is to realize this as a need and not as a flaw in the character.  Usually, a good romantic protagonist doesn’t need to adjust his or her mind to resolve their flaw.

 

Then there are those like some of my characters who do need to make an entire mental change to resolve their telic flaw.  The proposed Bookgirl is just one of those types of protagonists.

 

Bookgirl has a problem of projecting herself on the world.  She is a prefect Romantic character, but she has a character flaw, related to her telic flaw.  The character flaw is that she is unaware and passive in the world.  I’ve projected a similar character flaw in a few of my other protagonists.  This is a redemption theme with a redemption plot.  The point of the entire novel is for these types of characters and protagonists to change emotionally and mentally. 

 

The norm for the emotional change is to fall in love or to have a real change of heart about something.  That’s redemption in some fashion.  It can also be a classic redemption from a bad circumstance or bad emotional problem or issue.  It can also be from sin or other moral problem.  The emotional change is a powerful driver in the telic flaw resolution.  Work to make this a key part of your novel—if you can.

                                                  i.     Mental changes

e.      Alliances required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

f.      Enemies required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

g.     Plots required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

h.     Obstacles that must be overcome for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

 

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

 

Let’s use this list, again, to design a new protagonist.  That’s exactly what I’m going to do.

 

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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