19 March 2023, Writing - part xxx262 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Plots, Blood Will Out or Fate
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%
2. Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60%
3.
Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43
– 73%
Achievement (a)
1.
Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e –
51%
2. Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46%
3. Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%
4.
Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%
5. Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%
6. Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%
7. Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%
8. Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25%
9. Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%
10. Legal (a) – 5 – 4%
11. Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%
12. Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%
13. Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%
14. Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4%
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% - I’m not a fan of the
messiah plot at all. This plot is way
overused in modern literature—it should be rejected unless you hit on a real Dune-like
novel idea. Let’s write a little about
the messiah plot so you can spot it easily.
Yes, Dune has a very strong classical messiah plot. This isn’t saying much because the messiah
plot is a relatively modern plot type.
It just didn’t appeal at all to the early writers. This is one of the reasons I’m not a fan, the
other reason is what it has turned into in the modern era.
The most well-known messiah plot is
Harry Potty. Harry is a full-on
messiah. And here is the problem of the
messiah plot. In Dune, Paul
Atradies had to become like a god to be the messiah. A messiah always has god-like powers. The ascent of Paul from an aristocrat to a
god is the entire point of the novel.
This is very entertaining and new (at the time) in Dune. In Harry Potty it’s just overdone.
Harry Potty is a god, if you didn’t
notice. He has god-like powers, in fact
all the wizards and witches have god-like powers. They are all like gods. This is a very sad situation, especially for
the readers. The expectation of a
messiah is that they have god-like powers and they change the world for the better. That’s exactly what Harry does, but in
addition, the Romantic protagonist is supposed to come from the common and have
skills that they discover and develop to make them uncommon. The idea of the Romantic protagonist is that
anyone can be like them if they have similar skills they develop. For the reader, the question is, how can I
ever be like Harry—he is a messiah.
Now, readers will live with the idea of
a special skill like magic or sorcery as long as it is presented
correctly. This is the magic plot. Unfortunately, Harry isn’t just about
magic—Harry is all about saving the world through the defeat of the being who
cannot be defeated except by Harry. This
is a full-on messiah plot mixed with the fate or the blood will out plot. Harry is an aristocrat born into his messiah
persona—he did not become, he was born.
The other obvious messiah plot in the
modern era is the Marvel or DC universe.
These movies disgust me. They are
all about gods not humans. The moment we
bring in a god, the entire plot is usually about saving the world. That’s cute, but it is a messiah plot not a
human plot. I don’t like messiah
plots. Now, I do have a confession.
My Aegypt novels (Ancient
Light) have goddesses as characters and protagonists. Isn’t that a messiah plot? I’d say no.
My characters are thrust into roles and skills they must develop and
learn. They self-discover their skills,
and they then develop them. This allows
the reader to feel like the magic character—the powers of the goddesses is a discovered
skill that isn’t like a messiah or like a normal god. In addition, their powers are limited in
scope, so they can’t wield them to save the world or sometimes themselves. In other words, their god-like powers are
very limited and are similar to human level skills. They just have some senses and abilities that
are extra-human. In addition, in my
novels, the characters are not messiahs.
They are not saving the world as much as they are living in the world
and trying to make it better with what they have available.
I don’t like messiah plots and I don’t like messiah
characters. I don’t intend to have this
plot in Seoirse.
2.
Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%- I’ll skip this plot
here as a quality plot because I already covered it under the achievement
plots. You might ask, what is the
difference? I’ll answer that because it
is important.
The achievement plots are all about
striving for a goal. The quality plots
are about the interjection of a quality into the novel or the plot. The protagonist with an adultery achievement
plot is striving for adultery. On the
other hand, the protagonist of the adultery quality plot isn’t striving for
adultery, but still achieves it—it is a quality of the protagonist and not a
goal. Yes, these aren’t that different,
but I think you can see there is a difference.
Achievement is a goal, while quality is an accident (or a quality in
itself).
I’m not a fan of either, but you can
see how the adultery quality plot might be used in a novel like Seoirse. If Seoirse were coerced or tricked into a
relationship that hurt or offended his love for Rose or Rose’s budding love for
him, that could be an effective adultery plot.
As I’ve mentioned before, with adultery, we are writing about the full
gamut from all-out sexual betrayal to mistaken betrayal through
miscommunication or misunderstanding.
These two are great plots we will get to, but they are seldom used in
modern writing. Or at least they aren’t
used as much in modern Western writing as they are in modern Eastern
writing.
The Eastern authors interject the
miscommunication and misunderstanding plots strongly into their writing. This is very similar to the Victorians. The adultery plot at the miscommunication or
misunderstanding and below the sexual level is prevalent in these types of
plots. For example, the protagonist sees
his love interest on a date, communicating privately, or in a compromising
situation with another. The entire
incident is an intentional or an unintentional setup, and the protagonist
doesn’t see the result. There is a
misunderstanding or an intentional misunderstanding. How might this work in Seoirse.
I’ll not say if I’ll use this, but let’s propose that Rose
wants to get Seoirse off her back and out of her life. She’s upset with him for more than one reason
and knows of his infatuation. Therefore,
Rose invites another person to take her to a dance. She dances and speaks with this person while
ignoring Seoirse. The result will be a
non-sexual adultery plot. In a more
risqué novel, this could turn into a full-on adultery plot. Now, I’ve used my entire time discussing this
type of plot. I guess it’s worth
it.
3.
Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei,
21 – 20% - I
didn’t mean to spend so much time on the adultery quality plot, but I had some
good information to write about.
Likewise, you can see how the adultery quality plot feeds into the
rejected love plot.
The rejected love plot is a great plot,
but I find it’s not used nearly as much in the West as in the East. The rejected love plot is a staple in about
50% of Eastern works while it just isn’t found that much in the West. I’d also say, although I haven’t made a
proper survey that romance as a plot is alive in the West but not in any way
that really pushes the romance buttons.
Romance used to be about two people
finding out about love and then learning to love one another. I’d say romance today is all about sex and
relationships and little about love.
That’s to be expected because love is not about the physical—love is
completely about the spiritual and mental.
Love is what you do based on how you think. It is about the doing, but not about bodies in
some kind of sexual ecstasy. Hollywood
led the West away from real love a long time ago.
What does this have to do with rejected
love? Well, rejected love is one of
those deep concepts in romance. Rejected
love comes in many flavors and is a powerful motivator and plot. Perhaps the most common in the East is
unrequited love. This is also a
potential plot in the West, but much less used.
The very idea that someone might be in love but unwilling or unable to
express it, is foreign to the Western ideas of love. In the East, as I wrote, it’s very common.
I can and I can’t see this with
Rose. I would like to use this as a plot
in Seoirse with Rose or with Seoirse. I
think it might work with both or either.
For example, Seoirse could feel that he is in no position to propose
love to Rose. That could all be based in
his assignment, his initial interaction with Rose, and Rose’s cover as an
aristocrat. In addition, Rose herself
could feel she can’t express her love (if there is any) for Seoirse because of
her work, her position, and her experiences with him. This is just one possibility for the rejected
love plot. There are others.
The other plots tend to use other
characters in the love experience. For
example, we might have a character who is in love with Rose or Seoirse and
obviously rejected. It could also be
possible to have a character from Seoirse’s past (Rose really has no connection
to such a thing in her past) who is in love with him and rejected by him. I used this for Sorcha in another
novel—Sorcha and George Mardling. This
was a very important plot in my novel Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire
and Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse.
As I wrote, in both of these novels, the same rejected love plot played
an important part in the development of the telic flaw problems. Also, in Valeska: Enchantment and the
Vampire, the misunderstanding of rejected love led to the telic flaw and
the telic flaw resolution.
There
is a very powerful approach to rejected love—miscommunication and
misunderstanding. When people are in
love, the potential for both of these increase significantly. The possibility of jealousy and the “misses”
combine to a very powerful plot and motivations in a plot. This might be the best and many times the
most entertaining spectacles in any romance or romantic type plot or
situation. The potential for unrequited
love with jealousy and miscommunication or misunderstanding is a staple in
Eastern literature. Not as much in
Western literature. It should be.
4.
Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7% - In the previous topic
of rejected love, I mentioned the miscommunication plot, and here it is. This is perhaps one of the least used but
most effective and entertaining plot available to the writer.
I didn’t think much of the
miscommunication plot until I started reading Eastern literature. Like the Victorian Era, the miscommunication
plot is rife in Asia. The reason is
their culture. The Victorian culture and
society was notorious for unwillingness to communicate directly. They wouldn’t talk much about illness, sex,
or bathroom activities much less about love or romance. Something similar affects Asian
cultures. There is a strong reluctance
to speak out or talk about things that are uncomfortable.
Now, in the West, we think we are great
communicators, but we really aren’t.
There are many things Westerners are unwilling to confront in any
media. We just aren’t that upfront about
the unmentionables. Now, on to miscommunication.
You don’t need to have unmentionables
or very unmentionables to interject a miscommunication plot in any novel—all
you need is miscommunication. The
characters don’t need any real reason to not communicate properly or
forthrightly. It does help to have
impediments to the further communications to allow the miscommunication plot to
grow and fester—that just makes the reveal even better. What might such a plot look like?
Well, perhaps the best way in is
gossip. A little gossip goes a long
way. If the gossip is juicy and less
descript the better. Here’s an
example. Let’s say we want to project
Seoirse as falling in love with Rose, but the gossip is that Seoirse has a
girlfriend back at home. Someone even
puts a name to her. Rose before really
knowing Seoirse would have very little reason to address this subject. Seoirse could hang around Rose for a long
time before the subject would even come up.
This little false love triangle (Seoirse doesn’t already have any
girlfriend) could build over time to the point where Rose decides to go on her
own date or associate with some other man.
Where the situation could come to a head is when and if Seoirse asked
Rose on a date. At that point, she could
ask him point blank and that would end the miscommunication (or not). Or she could turn him down without clearing
the problem. This is one of those
unmentionables or doesn’t have to be mentionables. Even in Western culture it’s considered
impolite to address gossip if you think it’s true.
So,
this little plot is a great plot. The
example I gave is just an example of one type of setup—there are many. There are many ways to use this little plot. You can even put up one character who is
really good with gossip to stir the pot over and over with juicy bits that
drive the protagonist and the other characters bonkers. That makes for a miscommunication novel—this
is a favorite in the East. It could have
great traction in any modern novel.
5.
Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12% - Then we actually get
to the love triangle plot. This is a
great plot, and like the adultery plot, it doesn’t require a full-on betrayal
or full on double love interest to be used properly. What does that mean?
The usual love triangle that most
people think of is the woman or man who is pursued by two lovers and can’t or
won’t choose between them. In this
classic love triangle, we have an ambivalent, usually protagonist, who is
indecisive, and the indecision drives the reader crazy (or at least it does
me). This type of love triangle was
popular during the Victorian Era. The
classic trope is the protagonist or the love interest is choosing between love
and security. Many Victorian novels
start with the premise that the parents chose love over security and the novel
begins with penury for the offspring.
Ever read Oliver Twist or Jane Eyre? This is the basis for both of these Victorian
novels. There are other ways to set up
the love triangle.
The classic Eastern set up is the
protagonist (usually female) is forced into a relationship with the man she
doesn’t desire while infatuated with the boy back home. These are interesting setups. The end can be very different than the reader
might imagine. In some cases, the girl
falls for the man who is forcing or strongly pursuing her, while she realizes
her love back home isn’t really her love.
On the other hand, the usual old-school resolution is the boy back home
comes and steals the girl away, and they defeat the bad rich or powerful
guy. In the tragedy version, both end up
dead and the girl gets no one. This is
just another type of love triangle plot.
The one I’d like to use is based in miscommunication and misunderstanding. In this type of love triangle, the female
(Rose) is pursued by more than one suitor.
In fact, you can have many more than one or two. Seoirse is the primary, but he has
competition, and he isn’t making himself as clear to Rose as he should. Rose is undecided, but you have Seoirse and
perhaps one or two other men pursuing her.
She is willing to accept the attentions and go on dates with men other
than Seoirse. This drives Seoirse into
action. He must gain Rose’s attention
from the others. In a romance novel,
that would be the entire novel, but I’m not intending to write just a romance
novel. This is just one plot in the
entire novel. It’s a great plot, but
just one of the plots.
6.
Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43% - The betrayal plot is
an important and common one in the classics.
Human betrayal is perhaps one of the most common plots in all of
literature. Well, it’s right up there
with redemption. The problem with the
betrayal plot is that it is a betrayal plot.
Now, let’s parse this plot a little—you can have big betrayal or little
betrayals and that’s still a powerful betrayal plot. You can also have intentional, unintentional,
accidental, and for your own good betrayal plots. Let’s look at all of these.
The first point is the degree of the
betrayal. You can have a high degree of
betrayal like a husband or a wife (adultery) or the right hand man
(person). I hate these types of
novels. They are popular and include
many of the classics, but I’m just not a fan.
The very idea of having your entrusted person commit an intentional
betrayal bothers me. It bothers many
classical authors, so although the high level betrayal is a modern plot—it’s
kind of sporadic in the classics. I like
a lessor degree betrayal.
This is a great tension developer. Not the high-end betrayal, but the little
betrayals—these might be as little as a small indiscretion, like in a
conversation, little pokes. It can
increase to the level of letting out information and betraying the group crowd
or the protagonist. Such a betrayal is
on a much lower level than the right-hand person letting the cat out of the
bag. You can have all kinds of small
betrayals that drive the tension and release of scenes. Now, let’s look at the intentional,
unintentional, accidental, and for your own good.
An intentional betrayal is the classic
big type of betrayal. The right-hand man
sells out the protagonist for money, fame, or position. So it goes.
Boring and unexciting, to me. The
unintentional is more interesting.
The right-hand man leaves a clue for
the evil forces and that leads to the end of the rebellion and the capture of
the protagonist. Really fun. It could also be the protagonist who makes
the mistake. This is similar to
accidental. The degree is the only
difference. What I mean is that the
unintentional was an intentional action that unintentionally led to the
betrayal. The accidental is simply an
action unrelated to the betrayal that led to it. For example, in the unintentional betrayal, a
character makes some mistake that leads to the betrayal. In the accidental, no one makes any mistake,
but the betrayal happens. Something is
overheard or the enemy makes a good guess, and so on.
The for your own good betrayal is pretty
popular today. I’ve used it with the bad
characters. I’d advise using it when
it’s worthwhile. In the for your own
good betrayal—some character thinks they know best and better than the
protagonist and betrays them for the own good of the protagonist. This can take away the sting of the betrayal
from the character who makes the betrayal.
The character can be further redeemed.
Even the protagonist can make such a betrayal. This can be a very powerful betrayal.
Now,
how can I use this plot in Seoirse? I’m
thinking low level betrayals from Rose’s enemies and Seoirse’s opponents. That’s about it. This is a great type of plot and should be
used in a low degree in any novel.
7.
Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e,
26 – 25% - This
is one of the classic plots we really don’t use any more. I don’t suggest using it in the modern era or
in modern literature. I’m not sure this
type of plot can get any novel published today, although the fate plot has made
a come-back in some of the junk literature of our time. Let me explain.
The Greeks and the ancient world
introduced the fate plot. Suffice to
say, before Christianity and really Judaism became the philosophy of the West
and really the rest of the world, every person believed humans were fated by
the gods. This idea came out of the
evolution of religion. I’ll
explain.
All religions began with animism. Animism is the idea that spirits exist in
anything that moves, lives, or grows.
When your society doesn’t understand anything about science or the basis
of the world, animism is your next best assumption. Why do things have life or move—obviously
spirits live in them. The spirits must
be placated to prevent disaster and to allow a good life. For example, you must placate the spirit of
the apple tree if you eat or harvest the apples and so on.
In the evolution of religion, with
literacy, animism turns into Pantheonic paganism. In Pantheonic paganism, the spirits are still
around to make the world move and live, but now there are gods who govern all
and to some degree control the spirits. The
gods and the spirits must be appeased.
The reason the gods are tied to literacy is that gods represent those
ideas which can only come with the written word—like love, music, thought, and
so on. Many older spirt concepts that
are extra area or being also become god-ideas, fire and Zeus for example. In any case, both animism and Pantheonic
paganism point to the idea that fate rules human life. Humans are fated by the gods. The Greeks called this pathos. In addition, the gods are fated—the Greeks
called this kronos.
It wasn’t just the Greeks—all early
cultures fully believed that all human existence and life was fated. The Greeks were just one of the first
cultures that applied literacy to fiction, and we have many of their plays and
stories (myths). Almost every Greek and
ancient world plot is about how man is fated and how the gods control the fate
of man. In addition, I should mention,
that in all ancient societies and especially notable in Greek culture, fiction
and writing was directly tied to religion and the gods. All those Greek plays were written for
religious festivals and celebrations.
The idea of the fate of mankind changes
once a culture develops philosophy—then religion evolves into mysteriums. By the way both Christianity and Judaism went
directly from animism to something different that is not mysterium or
gnostic. All other religions followed
and still follow the evolution of religion.
By the way Christianity itself caused the last evolution in religion
which is Gnosticism. Christianity is not
gnostic, but Gnosticism is caused by the discovery of science with the idea
that humanity is not fated.
So what does all of this have to do
with writing? All early writing is based
on the plot that humans are fated.
That’s all there is. Actually,
you can see other plots within this basic plot, but when push comes to shove,
the telic flaw resolution of almost every Greek play and story is fate. This plot became a holdover when the novel
was invented. Fate plays a huge roll in
early novels. Then came the Victorian Era.
In the Victorian Era and before, the
watchword for plots was the blood will out plot. This is based on fate and the idea of the
right of kings. Right of kings, by this
time, had boiled down to the idea of the aristocracy. In other words, humans were fated because of
their birth. If you had a high-level
birth, you were destined for high level stuff.
If you were of a low-level birth, you were fated to penury and the
slums. Because, in the Victorian Era, we
see a suddenly expanding middle class who were becoming aristocratic (not by
birth) by wealth, the wealthy class became part of the blood will out class. In addition, the aristocrats were never very
plentiful (they couldn’t support a huge book selling market), but the wealthy
could and did.
These ideas of blood will out, which
came out of the idea of fate, were the watchword for almost all Victorian
plots. Just look at any of the Victorian
classics and you will see, for example, Oliver Twist. Oliver was born of one wealthy parent who married
for love to a lower-level person. His
blood will out, and so in the novel, we see how because of his blood (his
birth) he is much greater and more special than all the people of the slums he
meets. In fact, those in the slums either
die in the slums or they can be redeemed, but they are still from the slums
while Oliver, with almost zero skills at all becomes the head over all. Pretty stupid theme and plot, but this is the
classic Victorian plot. Nearly all
Victorian novels follow this plot. The
big change happened with the end of the Victorian Era and the beginning of what
I call the Romantic revolution.
In began before the end of the
Victorian Era and was pushed forward by the American Dream. The American Dream was the idea that any
person could rise to wealth—birth and previous wealth and success didn’t
matter. We see this change in youth
(children’s) novels from the times. In
the classic Victorian Era youth novel, the antagonist and the bad characters
are the charity students. They are
rightfully overcome by the aristocratic and the wealthy. In the Romantic revolution, we suddenly see
that the aristocratic and wealthy become the antagonists and the bad
characters, and the charity students are the heroes and heroines. What a change—the change was from blood will
out and fate to the Romantic protagonist who is the common person who can and
will succeed.
In
any case, although I depict Rose as aristocratic, and Seoirse has some
aristocratic roots, blood will out or fate will not be plots in the novel I’m
proposing.
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
fiction, theme, plot, story,
storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book,
writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
No comments:
Post a Comment