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Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Writing - part xxx251 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Plots, Proselytizing

08 March 2023, Writing - part xxx251 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Plots, Proselytizing  

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.  I removed the breadcrumbs from the blog just to make it easier to read.  Here’s what we have left. 

 

a.      Plots required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw - What I should really do is go through the list of classic plots and pick those I would like to include in the novel.  Maybe I’ll do just that.

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

 

Here is the list of classic plots from the list of over 100 greatest novels and books in English.  What we discovered is that novels are never a single plot—they are multiple plots that fit together to eventually resolve the telic flaw.  If you can grasp this, you can pick plots to enhance and develop the entertainment in your novels.  That’s what I want to do here.  I’ll look at the plots and see what I can put into this novel as well as try to develop more ideas for the development of the novel and the protagonist. 

 

Overall (o)

1.     Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49% - I love a redemption plot.  What’s Seoirse to be redeemed from?  This is very difficult.  I think I’d like to redeem him from loneliness and isolation.  He is a sensitive person who is very outgoing, but he is also a secretive person, very similar to his mother.  I want him to be like Rose too.  Seoirse’s outward appearance is chipper and friendly, but inside he wants to have close and great friends.  Rose will help him achieve, but Rose is similar to Seoirse.  They both need a close friend and confidant.  I will give them both this confidant.  Will that solve the telic flaw… it might.

2.     Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60% - The revelation part of the plot is more simple, but we need a revelation plot as well.  Well, we don’t requires a revelation plot, but as I write, every novel is the revelation of the protagonist.  That is what we shall do.  I have set up Seoirse as a boy, man, person with some secrets.  The readers won’t know them all at the beginning, although I’ve told them to you in this little development outline.  I think the overall information about Seoirse should make plenty of revelation, but I might be able to build up some more with the writing of the novel.

3.     Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73% - I didn’t mean to hit all three of the overall plots, but achievement is an important plot in this novel.  The main early achievement for Seoirse will be the end of his assignment.  Seoirse is supposed to look after Rose for the second year of Form Six.  His plan will be to be rid of her, then he can go to Cranwell to become a pilot—that’s his goal.  But I want Seoirse to fall so deeply in love with Rose and become so close to her and with her that he is willing to do anything to stay with her.  We shall see if they will both go to Cranwell or where.  Perhaps they will go together, but I have a more important plan for Rose.  We shall see where that goes. 

 

Achievement (a)

1.     Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e – 51% - I haven’t thought much about this yet.  I’ve barely got much beyond the initial scene, in my thinking.  I was pondering a little beyond, but I didn’t make any notes and forgot some great ideas—oh well. 

 

The detective or mystery plot is a great plot.  If you notice, it is in at least 51% of the classics.  It plays a part in most successful novels.  In fact, all novels are a revelation of the protagonist, first, and the plot second.  An official mystery is even better and more important to work with.  What kind of mystery can we interject as a plot.

 

Ultimately, I want Rose to become the official caregiver for Ceridwen.  Ceridwen is the great goddess of the Celtic and Gaelic peoples.  She is an unbound goddess and reborn in every generation.  She lives as the maiden, the mother, and the crone, dies, and is reborn from a couple of bound a Celtic god and a goddess.  Perhaps the discovery of this and the appointment can be the mystery.  There can also be other events and plotlines in the novel.  I’ve not pondered all the possibilities, but many times these come, not through brainstorming, but through the writing itself.  Although, this is a very overreaching plot idea—that is a mystery.  I don’t intend a detective plot, by itself.

2.     Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46% - The revenge or vengeance plot is one to aim for.  I’m not certain how I can work this into the novel, but this plot is an important one to use.  I’m not a real fan of revenge or vengeance.  Not because of any moral reason but because I like my novels to be fully entertaining—having a vengeance character or especially a vengeance plot based on the protagonist tends to be a downer for your readers.  The trick is a balance.

 

Usually, the most effective means to run a vengeance plot is to have someone, antagonist, or minor character who is not happy with some attribute or characteristic of the protagonist.  The vengeance is against the protagonist.  If you work this right it can be very effective.  In Rose, I happily

had the two bad girls play this role.  They were adverse to Rose from a class standpoint and from their fashion viewpoint.  Rose rescued them and resolved this problem. 

 

I’d like to have a similar vengeance plot in Seoirse.  I think the problem children should be the instigators.  They or someone connected to them or their fangirls.  There might also be some advantage in using a vengeance plot against Seoirse, but I think Rose would generate the most pathos, and fiction is all about pathos. 

 

The vengeance or revenge plot is very useful and makes a great minor plot or a scene tension and release.  I like the vengeance or revenge plot as a multi-scene plot.  We shall see how we can bring this into the mix.

 

I was also just exposed to a great and innovative plot construction based a little on vengeance or revenge.  That’s a plot where the good boy fell in love with the bad girl, and they were compelled to keep their love secret from their peers and friends because of their social positions.  This wasn’t the normal good boy and bad girl characters I’m writing about.  These were basically comic criminal versus comic defender of justice.  It’s a farce plot, but I was thinking about just how powerful such a plot could be in the right hands. 

 

The show I was watching played this plot as a farce, but with very great emotional appeal.  I’d really like to figure some way to bring this into Rose and Seoirse.  There are other ways to apply this.

 

Another fun idea would be to have the protagonist protected by the protagonist’s helper.  That is have Seoirse and Rose in a strained relationship where Seoirse is supposed to be the protector, but in reality Rose is aggressively protecting him.  I think this would be an even more interesting approach to vengeance or revenge.  Perhaps that isn’t as much vengeance or revenge, but it is still a fun idea for a plot.  

 

3.     Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26% - All comedy novels and telic flaw resolutions are zero to hero.  That’s a basic in literature.  There is no other way this can be.   

 

If the protagonist resolves the telic flaw, that is a comedy.  This also means the protagonist moves from zero to hero.  Note, the terms are pretty loose.  The main point is that in resolving the telic flaw in a positive manner, the protagonist goes from not successful to successful.  No matter the plot, point, or theme of the novel, a positive resolution means the protagonist is a hero.  You can take this as loosely or as strongly as you wish.  In successful (bestselling) modern novels, as well as older novels, this is usually a very strong point.

 

What we would really like to do is to drive our protagonist to the lowest state possible, from an achievement point in regards to the telic flaw, and then in the revelation of the novel move them to become the hero in the climax.  This is the formula, so to speak, for about every comedy novel in the Western world.  Certainly, every successful comedy novel in the Western world.  Eastern literature is about the same.

 

I’m a real fan of the Sara Crew method or The Little Princess method from the novel of the same name.  Sara Crew starts at a high point and is driven to the lowest of the low.  She is a wealthy girl who is loved by everyone.  She becomes an impoverished child who is abused and overworked as a servant. 

 

In my novel, Rose, Rose starts with nothing and in the end is an aristocrat with great money and potential, at least as her cover.  In Seoirse, I want to start him with much, reduce him to zero, and then build him back up again.  Rose will definitely go through this process.  She will be beaten down, then regain her authority and power.  The telic flaw resolution will encapsulate this.

 

The how is the real question.  As I noted, you can move the zero mark in many ways.  Money is just one.  We can bring the protagonist down in all the ways noted in the list: money, emotions, mental, and all.  The point is to pick one and move the protagonist down the path.

 

4.     Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37% - Here is when we can look at romance versus Romantic.  Romantic can apply to both love interest and to a type of literature and era of literature.  Romance applies to love interest and a genre of literature. 

     

In this era, calling novels, literature, is dangerous.  Literature as a genre is unsellable and losing out as an idea.  Of course, no one reads literature anymore, so goes the adage in writing and publishing.  The reality is that all novels are literature, but not necessarily the genre of literature.  What’s the difference?  No one knows. 

 

In general, literature as a genre means erudite and scholarly fictional writing.  Many think of Dickens or the Victorian ladies when they think of this type of literature, but those authors wouldn’t have characterized their writing like that at all.  They would have called it literature, but not necessarily the genre of literature.  I’d say, as an author, all writing should be literature in every sense, but that’s not what most publishers think or people read today.  Don’t call your writing literature—if you want to get published.

 

My novel, Aksinya is no kidding literature, but in the wrapper of a really fun Magic Realism Suspense novel.  If you read it with the notes in this blog, you can see exactly what I mean by both literature and by really entertaining writing. 

 

Back to romance.

 

Romance means love interest.  The point of this type of plot is to bring two humans together who love one another.  In the classical plot, the result is marriage or promise to marry—that is engagement.  I need to point out that romance is not sex and sex is not romance.  Sexual activity can be a part of romance, but it is not necessary and in many cases it simply gums up the options and the novel. 

 

If you notice, most classics and even many modern novels either don’t have sex or cover it over in one way or another.  I have used sex both in and out of marriage as a tension builder.  Most specifically, I’ve used sex without culmination of the act as a tension builder.  If you didn’t know, incomplete sexual activity is a very powerful entity in most romance writing.  The moment you have the characters culminate their sexual activity is the moment you destroy the power of the sexual plot.  And, I’m not writing about a sexual plot—they are not in classical and successful literature, funny that.

 

Now, I do know how to use sex in a very powerful way in writing.  I did that in my novel Escape from Freedom.  In Escape from Freedom, the protagonist’s helper uses her sexuality to win and put a hold on the protagonist.  She will do anything to escape the communist island nation called Freedom including using her body.  The tension continues through the novel because of the illicit nature of their activity and the protagonist is being hunted (protagonist’s helper too) by the security forces of the island.  This makes the sexual plot very powerful, but this is a very specific novel with a very unique setting.  Such a setup and setting would be almost impossible in today’s world.  It is possible in the Soviet era (Ayn Rand’s novel We the Living), or in Fascist (National Socialist Germany) (I can’t remember a novel), or in Fascist Spain (For Whom the Bells Toll).  There are others, but you might get the picture already.

 

For the romance plot, we want to keep it at the tempting and desire stage of the relationship.  This is the best place for most literature and most novels.  The romance is about two people getting to know and falling in love with each other.  A little kissing, hugging, and hanky panky is appropriate depending on the degree and the circumstances of the novel. 

 

Let me warn you about publishers.  Publishers realize that unless you have a gem of a novel with a very well developed sexual plot, they won’t touch it.  Sexual plots tend to be erotic plots and no one will touch those (unless they publish erotic literature).  Young Adult publishers will definitely not touch anything with any sexual stink on it.  So, a warning and a point.  My novel, Escape from Freedom, will likely never be published.  It was gratuitous writing on my part—that is I wrote a novel I think is really important and entertaining that contains sexual plot elements and a very important sexual component, but most publishers wouldn’t touch it.  We shall see if anyone will want it in the future.

 

Romance is about love and finding love.  This will be a great part of the plots in the novel I’m proposing.  What about Rose and Seoirse?  I want to propose, as an important plot in the novel a romance plot.  I’d like to have the proud Seoirse fall hard for the aristocratic Rose, but he won’t fall in love with the aristocratic Rose, but the real Rose.  The real Rose won’t want to be revealed to the world—that’s not her assignment or her cover.  Seoirse will want the real Rose to come out all the time—he will be in love with the real Rose.

 

Now, we will have a circumstance where Seoirse is chasing after the real Rose, and at the same time, he must accomplish his mission of protecting her (and her assignment).  The question will be what will be his assignment—perhaps it will not be to protect her assignment as much as to protect her, and Seoirse will see nothing else as his job.  This could be a great plot, and I’m developing this more and more.

    

5.     Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23% - I may be leaving too many breadcrumbs, but this isn’t just for you, it’s also for me.  I’m designing a new novel, and thinking about how I’m going to write it.  I just happen to be accomplishing my brainstorming where you can see it.  Now about coming of age.

 

Yes, every novel that includes young adults or children is to some degree, or must be in some degree coming of age.  If there are adults, the novel usually includes self-discovery and not coming of age as a plot. 

 

The coming of age plot is very powerful.  It’s so powerful, I’m surprised it isn’t included in more novels.  In fact, I’d say the main reason is simply that coming of age and self-discovery are modern plot types and not older plot types.  I’m not certain if the older societies didn’t think much about coming of age or if it just wasn’t something they contended with in their society.

 

Whatever the reason, society, literature, and culture has seen that the coming of age plot and ideas are important for human development.  Authors, when they can, should present this as a plot and theme.  Therefore, my novel about Seoirse will include some degree of coming of age plot.  The question is what degree and what? 

 

The answer may be simple or not.  In general, the questions of youth are who am I, what is my origin in the world, what is my purpose, how do I fit into society?  Rose still has many of these questions about herself, or not.  Seoirse has many of these questions about himself or not.  To some level, just asking these questions in any manner is a good plot development.  These are very important questions, the idea is to place them in plots that answer or at least bring them up, and either resolve or leave them hanging. 

 

You aren’t required to answer the question of the meaning of life in any novel.  If you bring it up, you are supposed to use it for entertainment, not necessarily resolution or answers. 

 

So, coming of age means taking the awkward actions of the youth and bringing them into some level of maturity.  That’s the ticket for a great comedy Romantic novel.  We don’t necessarily have to answer the questions of youth, we need to provide some reasonable answer for our protagonist or protagonist’s helper to mature in their lives.  This is a great plot.  I need to think much about how to do this with Seoirse.

 

I suspect the best way to establish this coming of age is through the romance plot and the discovery plot. 

       

6.     Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5% - This is not really a plot I intend to use directly.  It is really a better plot for science fiction and not magic realism with a reflected worldview.  Let’s move on to the big plot below.

7.     Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54% - Discovery is the plot to use.  This is a fantastic plot that fits directly into any mystery plot.  Discovery is the revelation of some mystery, but it is different than the mystery plot.  The mystery plot sets up a problem or a situation to be investigated and discovered.  The discovery plot is one where the protagonist is searching for something but they might not know the goal. 

 

Discovery is one of the most used plots in all of writing.  It’s a great plot, and boy do I intend to use it in Seoirse.  What kind of discovery plot?  On the surface, the most basic is about Rose.  We know all about Rose, or at least those who would have read my first novel.  She will be a mystery to Seoirse, and to the others.  Only Robyn really knows Rose’s background and her secrets, or some of them. 

 

The best thing ever is to build a plot and plots that slowly reveal these mysteries.  The protagonist, Seoirse, will be actively seeking them.  The bad girls will be obviously looking to get to Rose, and the best way is through information.  Information and the revelation of secrets is the best way to ruin a problem and especially a human problem—that is the bad girls see Rose as their human problem.  Rose is supposed to help and control them and they don’t want help or control.

 

This is the ultimate sticky problem of the novel.  Seoirse will be trying to help Rose and still discovering about Rose.  This is a very powerful and important plots and all discovery plots.  The race is on—between Seoirse and the bad girls.

 

8.     Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25% - I’m not certain this will be a plot, but then although Rose has plenty of money and support—she’s an aristocrat.  Seoirse is supposed to be supported by the intelligence structure, but it might be fun to have him pinching pennies because the vouchers aren’t getting through.  Rose is supported by Stela, perhaps Seoirse should be supported by the Organization in general.  This can also be an area of contention between the characters. 

           

Usually, I use money with the scholarship and non-scholarship programs as a conflict between characters.  This is just a great way to use the money plot in a realistic manner and for tension development.  There are other ways to bring in a money plot.

 

Some of the best are with ancillary characters, but we have already used that with Rose herself.  In the previous novel, Rose, I had Rose originally as impoverished and destitute.  Only later was she well financed, and that is just for her cover. Plus, Airgead, the silky is self-sufficient.  Perhaps another character could help bring in a good money plot.

 

The money plot is a very powerful plot, and can be used well to develop the tension and release in a novel’s scenes.  It can also tie well into the telic flaw resolution.

9.     Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6% - This is a great modern plot.  It really originated with Gone with the Wind.  The spoiled child was almost an impossibility until the poor parenting and the non-starvation cultures of the modern era.  In an earlier era, the spoiled child would just never exist.  The idea was preposterous to the intellectuals and common people of the time.  That said, the spoiled child plot is a great one to use.  The best result is the end of the child, as in Gone with the Wind or their redemption.  We certainly don’t want a silly end like The Catcher in the Rye.  That’s an almost unreadable piece of crap novel all about a spoiled brat.  Try that novel for entertainment, and all you’ll get is inanity.  Let’s use the spoiled child plot with some degree of redemption or at least pay back to the child.

 

Seoirse and Rose can’t be spoiled children.  Perhaps Seoirse could be a little, but not enough to matter.  The obvious spiled child candidates are the bad little goddesses that Rose must train.  Robyn is an obvious spoiled child, but she has come under Rose’s sway.  The others not so much.  I’m still not certain how I’ll play all the elements of these little goddesses. 

 

We have a pair who are supposed to take over the legacy of the Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Darkness.  These are the ones who have the greatest scope for rebellion, but they were raised well although a little free.  The other two don’t have the same degree if any degree of power.  They could be spoiled child just through a little rebellion. 

 

There is also the third choice and that is a new character or characters who are really spoiled.  That might provide a perfect foil to them all.  I’ve projected Rose as the perfect aristocratic character.  She has everything, but shares everything.  The opposite might be the perfect foil and the spoiled child, that is a girl who is wealthy and haughty and mean.  That’s the typical stereotype.  This could also provide a great learning tool for the others.  I’ll keep all this in mind, and again, sorry for all the bread crumbs—I’m keeping it up for you and me.

10.  Legal (a) – 5 – 4% - The legal plot is a wonderful plot.  Although you find only about 4% of the classics with a legal plot, this is one of the best types of plots of all time.  I’m not certain if Dickens invented this plot, but it seems to have been first introduced in the Victorian Era, and Dickens used it in one of his novels.  Although many viewed this type of plot as a society changing plot or a cultural changing plot, it really isn’t that type of plot at all.  Although Dickens might have wanted to bring attention to the problems of inheritance and wills in his novel on the subject, I think he was more interested in writing an entertaining novel.  It just happened to cover a subject of interest in the legal system of the time.  As I noted, you don’t have to go that far to interject a legal plot.

 

I’ve put legal plots in many of my novels.  All you have to do is get your characters into some legal mess.  The easiest is someone commits a crime against them.  That brings them to court as a witness.  You can also have them witness a crime—that brings them to court.  You can have them sued, or sue someone.  You can have them involved in a crime.  I’ve used all of these.  You can bring in all kinds of esoteric stuff.  I like to show the trials when it fits the novel.  I’ve used that in Aksinya and in Lilly.  You can work in court procedures.  It just takes some writing effort and research. 

 

You can also bring in some quasi legal stuff very easily and with great entertainment value.  I’ve had my characters arrested—its usually a problem of miscommunication, but it’s still fun.  That way you don’t have to get involved with trials or such—you can make the charges go away in all kinds of ways.  In Rose, I had Rose and her school chums get involved in a little crime.  The outcome was police interaction and then a lot of action from all kinds of areas.  The legal plot in this case brought great attention and entertainment into the novel.  It also set up the telic flaw resolution.

 

Just keep in mind the legal plot is a powerful and entertaining plot.  I’m sure I’ll have Seoirse get involved with getting Rose out of jail or something.  That’s the problem with Rose.  The problem then is to figure out how Rose might get involved in crime or the legal system.  I think this will just flow naturally out of some of the scene’s tension and release. 

 

Here is a trick for you to contemplate.  Every scene has its own resolution.  The tension development usually doesn’t have a singular or specific resolution that is required of it.  You can pick and chose different means to give the release of the scene.  One of those might just be involving the authorities or a legal resolution or involvement.  That can propel a novel is very entertaining ways.  Since the legal plot is relatively rare in the classics, it will certainly be new and entertaining to your readers.

 

11.  Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16% - At first blush, I rejected the idea of an adultery plot, but an adultery plot doesn’t have to have a full on sexual connotation.  You can just have a really fun love triangle and setup without a full-on betrayal plot like adultery.  What would be fun is to set up a tension based on love or not love but the pursuit of another of Rose or Seoirse. 

 

This might be really entertaining to play out this kind of plot in the lives of Seoirse and Rose.  This would also set up a situation where either Rose or Seoirse has to defend the other or protect the other from a romantic situation. 

 

This requires a strong type of setup.  Perhaps we could have a situation where Rose or Seoirse is forced to have a date or go to an event with another person, and then require the help of the other.  This is a strong way to play this kind of plot without the negativity of the adultery plot.

 

Perhaps the important point is that the full-on adultery plot is that this is a very difficult entertainment plot.  It’s a powerful plot that is used in classical literature, but the problem is that of human betrayal.  You can go full on Tolstoy with an Anna Karenina who commits adultery and abandons her family and responsibilities.  On the other hand you can approach it in the sense I’m describing.  As I noted, I’m not a fan of the full-on adultery plot because it isn’t that entertaining to me.  However, the love triangle or the love pursuit by another character can make a very entertaining plot.

12.  Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13% - Self-discovery is to adults what coming of age is to youth.  Self-discovery is a modern type of plot, but it is a great and up and coming plot.  I’m not sure if people today are less responsible or bigger seekers.  In the past, people were seeking answers to more direct and less esoteric questions.  They asked: what will I do to make a living, what is my purpose in life, who will I marry, and so on?  In the modern world, people in novels ask: what is my purpose in the world (in a bigger sense), how will I solve the problems in my heart and mind, what is the world all about, how can I be successful, how can I save the world?  Save the world plots are my least favorite.  These were good for Noah, but they are overused today.  In any case, self-discovery is all about a protagonist determining about themselves and their life.  This is what we want to develop for Seoirse.

 

Let me point out again, that you don’t need to answer the questions of the meaning of life.  You can and should bring them up, but the answer should be very specific to the protagonist and not to the greater world.  In other words, self-discovery is about the protagonist and not about the greater world.

 

Perhaps the easiest to point out and look at is the romance plot in the perspective of the self-discovery plot.  If Seoirse is finding love and pursuing Rose, that is a sufficient plot.  The self-discovery comes from realization of that love and Rose are his goal and desire.  This is always a good and positive type of plot.

 

The other very obvious type of self-discovery plot is where the protagonist determine their own goals in life—or changes their goals in life.  Usually, this is in some way connected to the protagonist’s helper or the antagonist.  For example, Seoirse’s goal before meeting Rose might be to attend Cranwell or Oxford.  His goals afterwards might be pursuing her and assuring her safety or her goals.  This is a pretty big change that requires a big novel (in the sense of writing not necessarily length). 

 

I’m not sure where I want to go with this plot I the novel, but I will use it—this is perhaps the more powerful and entertaining plot you can interject into a modern novel.  With a Romantic protagonist, this is also a great game-changer.

 

13.  Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29% - Guilt or crime is a very popular plot in classical writing.  It can be a very effective plot in modern writing.  If you remember, guilt or crime can be from a heinous crime, like murder in Crime and Punishment, or a simpler crime like hacking accounts and using the credits, like my novel, Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer.  I’m not certain I want to use a guilt or crime plot in this novel, but there might be an opportunity.  I used one in Rose, but not caused by Rose—well, then she did.

 

In Rose, the initial plot was about her illegally living in Viera Lodge—that’s a crime or guilt plot.  Rose doesn’t feel any guilt about living in her own home.  That’s a great plot related to crime or guilt.  Also, in Rose, I have a real crime or guilt plot—that is the plot where the two bad girls go to buy cigarettes and beer and get embroiled in a fiasco that Rose must rescue them from. 

 

What about this novel—well, I’m already proposing that Seoirse be searching for the absent Rose who is illegally riding the rails in the nude.  No one can see her except the Fae, and they don’t care, or the sensitive, and there aren’t enough of those to know.  That’s a little guilt or crime.  The very aristocratic Rose should commit a few interesting crimes to accomplish her mission.  This is just a little contrast between her and her cover.  We shall see.

 

14.  Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4% - Every new writer or inexperienced writer wants to change the world with their writing.  This is what they have been taught and think about literature.  The reality is that every novel written to change the world is lying in a drawer or a trash bin.  Novels that are not entertaining will never be published and if they are, for some reason, they will never be purchased.  Why would any reader read any novel that is not entertaining? 

 

The purpose for fiction is entertainment.  I can’t write this any more strongly.  If it isn’t entertaining, it will never be published, and if it isn’t entertaining, it will never be bought.   A non-entertaining novel will never be read.  A novel that is about anything else than entertaining, is a novel no one will want to read, plus who wants to be preached to. 

 

If you want to preach, become a pastor.  If you want to change the world, become a community organizer or a CEO.  If you have entertaining stories to write, then write. 

 

I’m completely against the idea of the proselytizing novel or plot.  This doesn’t mean you can’t explain or teach something in your novels, but I’d stick to stuff you know or at least understand.  I’ve read self-published novels with entire sections of self-gratuitous diatribes on subjects no one really cares about.  How can this even relate to a reader or help sell a novel.  It will just irritate the reader.

 

I’d say never proselytize, but if you need to provide some difficult information to your readers to move the plot along do it through some means of reasoning or from some known authority.  It’s better to stay away from the more extreme ideas of the times, and only stick to generalities.  If you must present information, you need to be careful how you do it, and as I noted, you should address what you know, and present it in ways that your readers can’t disagree.

 

In any case, I will not use a proselytizing plot of any kind.  I don’t want any of this stink on this novel or my novels.

 

15.  Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%

16.  Escape (a)  – 1ie, 23 – 21%

17.  Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%

18.  Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%

 

Quality (q)

1.     Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%

2.     Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%

3.     Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei, 21 – 20%

4.     Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%

5.     Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%

6.     Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%

7.     Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e, 26 – 25%

8.     Psychological (q) –1i, 45 – 41%

9.     Magic (q) – 8 – 7%

10.  Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%

11.  Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%

12.  Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%

13.  Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%

14.  Satire (q) – 10 – 9%

15.  Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%

16.  Curse (q) – 4 – 4%

17.  Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%

18.  Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%

 

Setting (s)

1.     End of the World (s) – 3 – 3%

2.     War (s) – 20 – 18%

3.     Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%

4.     Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%

5.     Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%

6.     Horror (s) – 15 – 13%

7.     Children (s) – 24 – 21%

8.     Historical (s) – 19 – 17%

9.     School (s) – 11 – 10%

10.  Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%

11.  Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%

12.  Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%

13.  Prison (s) – 2 – 2%

 

Item (i)

Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%

 

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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