30 April 2023, Writing - part xxx304 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Theme Statement
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.
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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%
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% - The article or item plot is one of the
most powerful and the best plot ever. It
is also an easy and entertaining plot to add to any novel. All you need is something, an article. It can even be a MacGuffin. What’s that, and what’s the difference?
In the first place, an
article or item plot is when we interject any thing (item) as an important part
of the tension and release of a scene or any thing (item) added as a part of
the telic flaw resolution. For example,
if the criminal used a pistol to shoot the victim, then the pistol is usually a
great item important to the scenes and the telic flaw resolution.
The pistol is just a
simple type of article. There are many
many other types of things we can add to a plot. For example, you can add in a crystal skull
(one of the Indiana Jones movies), an idol (the first Indian Jones movie), a
jewel (The Moonstone), a little statue (The Maltese Falcon), and
many many others. In some cases these
are MacGuffins and in others they are real article plots. What’s the difference?
In an actual article
plot, the article, like a pistol is used to cause or further the action—lead to
the resolution of the telic flaw. In the
case of a MacGuffin, the article just furthers the resolution of the telic flaw
or the tension and release in the scene without actually doing anything. The crystal skull, the Maltese Falcon, and
the jewel in The Moonstone are all MacGuffins. Then what isn’t a MacGuffin? When the article is used to further the telic
flaw resolution. These are the types of
articles I love to interact into the novel.
With a reflected worldview this is easy to do. Let me give you some examples from my
writing.
In Essie:
Enchantment and the Aos Si, Essie comes with a silver cage (to hold her), a
small book (filled with the glamour spells she can use), a stick with a stone
embedded in it (her crown). These items
are very important to the telic flaw resolution and to Essie. They are used in the novel to unlock the
secrets about Essie and for Essie to eventually take her proper place. These articles and their use are critical to
the novel. The use part makes them not
be MacGuffins.
In my novel, Valeska:
Enchantment and the Vampire, George, the protagonist, receives an enchanted
dagger that originally was owned by King Arthur. George uses the dagger in the telic flaw
resolution.
In my newest novel, Cassandra:
Enchantment and the Warriors, one of the characters has a ring and a cross
from her mother. The ring is part of the
telic flaw resolution. There are other
articles brought into play as part of the climax of the novel. Many of these items are not magical or filled
with glamour.
So, what about Seoirse? In general, we don’t just add stuff
willy-nilly to a novel, but sometimes with the writing comes ideas and items
that just fit and make the novel. These
types of articles just fit the purpose at the time. You can’t just have your characters discover
a magic sword on the ground as part of the climax. That’s a deus ex machina (god machine). You can put together a long train of
development from the beginning about a sword that might be in a certain
place. Have your characters research and
search for it. Discover it. Examine and discover its powers. Finally, use it in the climax. This is exactly what I do in some degree with
the ring in Cassandra.
For Seoirse, I
haven’t thought that far. I’d like to
interject some article that brings Seoirse and Rose closer together. Seoirse’s mother has the book, a special
staff, and some special books and stuff at the family estate. Perhaps these can be weaved into the
novel. We shall see. In any case, especially for a reflected
worldview novel, the article plot is a great plot to use. It is one of the most useful and easiest to
introduce. If you need an article, just
throw one in.
c.
Obstacles
that must be overcome for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw – This is the last main
point of part of the development of the Romantic protagonist. We shall look at some details of the
characteristics of the Romantic protagonist next, but at the moment, I want to
address the last part of developing a protagonist.
This entire section
has been specifically on how to develop a protagonist and not just a Romantic
protagonist. The next part will be about
how to make a protagonist a Romantic protagonist.
The final point is to
define the obstacles the protagonist must overcome to resolve the telic
flaw. This will wrap up this section
about a basic protagonist. Of course,
none of this information is shared with the reader except in the context of the
novel itself. This is indeed perhaps the
greatest of all the spoilers. I can tell
you straight out because I haven’t really thought about it much.
Seoirse will need to
win Rose’s trust. That is the first
point. Also, I was developing Rose for a
singular purpose from the beginning.
Rose is my character whom I wanted to become the guardian of the next
incarnation of Ceridwen in the world.
A little
explanation. In my other novels, I used
Kathrin Calloway as Ceridwen the incarnation of the great goddess
Ceridwen. Ceridwen is the great goddess
of all the Gaelic and Celtic peoples.
She is the goddess who is a maiden, a mother, and the crone in
time. She died in my worldview and is
always replaced to be born, live, and then die again. When Ceridwen is gone, there is no leadership
for the people and the courts of humans, the gods, and the Fae. I’ve been developing Rose to raise
Ceridwen. In addition, Shiggy was given
the authority to sit on the Oaken throne of Ceridwen. That’s in another novel. In any case, this is what I want as the main
point and resolution of Seoirse. Rose
becomes the keeper of the toddler Ceridwen and Seoirse becomes the love and
marries Rose. They live in Viera Lodge
in the Orkney Islands. That’s my
goal. I’ll see how far I get to it and
what I’ll do to get there. In general,
I’d like the ending to be very complex and require the cultivation of all the
little goddesses. Perhaps with a great
conflict between them and some rogue gods.
We shall see.
Seoirse will need to
overcome Rose, that is gain her trust.
He will need to help Rose meet her needs and requirements. He will need to work with teachers and others
to get everything I want for Rose to accomplish. That’s what needs to be the goal in this
novel. That’s my plan anyway.
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 – What power or ability should Seoirse
have that he develops and that allows him to resolve the telic flaw of the
novel? Great question. I’ve really waited to define this. I’m not certain entirely what I want to do
with it. Let’s start with the whys and
wherefores, then see what Seoirse might need and use.
First to the whys and
wherefores. The Romantic protagonist
always must have a power or skill that they develop through difficulty and hard
work. This power or skill is then used
to resolve the telic flaw. In fact, this
power or skill is the specific thing that makes the telic flaw resolution go
from impossible to inevitable. Let me
give you some examples.
The first and most
obvious is Harry Potty. His special
skill and power is magic. Unfortunately,
our author, in the case of Harry Potty, doesn’t really give us a very well
developed or exciting development of Harry’s magical skills. She does to some degree for Hermione but not
Harry. Hermione’s development is also
off stage, but we can see the results and the author refers to her hard work
over and over. In a really well written
and powerful Romantic novel, the protagonist is usually shown discovering then
carefully developing the skill over time.
There are also very effective novels where the skill development is off
stage. I’ll give you a great example.
In Anne McCaffrey’s
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, the protagonist, Menoly, has developed her harper
and songcrafter skills off stage and before the novel, but the author
constantly reminds us of them. Those
skills become the entire power in the novel for her transformation and the
telic flaw resolution. The question then
is how do I want to work this with Seoirse?
I’m thinking that he
should discover and develop his skills in the novel. I think that they should be the skill of the
Keeper of the Book of the Fae. Perhaps
he should discover that he has the skill, but then work with Rose to perfect it
and then to steal the book. That would
cause a great plot development. It would
pretty much bring on the telic flaw resolution I’m looking for.
The writing of this
type of development and the plots involved is very important and a work of just
writing and thinking over and over about the characters and how they live and
develop as persons. We shall see.
2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different
than normal culture or society’s – In the near past, the easiest way to
play this was to make the protagonist mostly progressive and open. Usually, in some cases antithetical to
religion or open to other religions than the norm in the current culture or
society. This isn’t to say that Romantic
protagonists are intentionally anti-religious or not religious, but rather,
like most modern characters, the authors tend to ignore religion entirely. I’m not into that.
I realize when about
80% of your readers acknowledge God and at least 50% of them go to some type of
religious service, then most of your readers are interested and dedicated to
religion. Why ignore it. That’s where the modern Romantic protagonist
can shine.
If we expect the
Romantic protagonist to have a set of beliefs that are different than the
normal culture or society’s then why not give the Romantic protagonist a full
on set of beliefs. Since I write in the
reflected worldview, I find this easy to do.
I like to build my
Romantic protagonist as a person with a full set of strong beliefs. I like to set them in a Catholic or an
Orthodox circumstance of religion, because I think both Catholic and Orthodox
are viewed by most readers as pretty neutral and safe. They happen to be beliefs and religions that
are seen as milk toast by many readers.
Why not use them as the backdrop for a Romantic character. This allows the use of religious imagery and
ideas in the context of the novel. Let
me explain.
In my reflected
worldview, I use the Gaelic or Celtic myth that the Fae (Fairies) are the
angels who were neutral during the fight in the heavens. That pretty much places the novel into some
type of religious context immediately.
If there are fallen angels as the Fae, then there are unfallen angels,
and in many cases, my characters and protagonists can see them. Why would you not subscribe to a set of
beliefs if they are evident to you. This
is the basis for most of my novels, not to bring in a religious point, but to
build a logical reflected worldview—one that includes religion. What about Seoirse?
Here is what I plan
to do. Rose has been trained in the
ideas of religion, but she hasn’t really been shown to be involved. I think I’ll have Seoirse get her more
involved. I’ll give Seoirse a fine set
of values and beliefs. From the very
beginning, we shall see that he is a valiant and moral young man. I’ll tie those to his ideas and beliefs. This will get Rose thinking and help move the
telic flaw resolution. In addition, it
will excite a core of ideas for the reader and within the novel itself. As I noted, about 80% of your readers believe
in God, while 50% or more actively worship God.
That means a large core of your audience will like some degree of
encouragement and interest in Godly things.
A little Catholic or Orthodox symbols, ideas, and imagery can’t hurt and
will excite your readers. Plus, the
entire idea of the Romantic protagonist standing up against the immoral and
wrong always provide entertainment and excitement to your readers.
3. Courageous – Yes.
That’s likely not enough to write, but yes, a Romantic protagonist is or
should always be courageous. He or she
pretty much must be, or there is little point for every other characteristic in
this list. You can’t not be courageous
and hope to hold to skills, abilities, belief, and such outside the norm of
society and culture. Just look at the
list. Now, let me tell you about
characters I despise.
The modern wimpy
protagonist is my least favorite character.
These have no backbone. If you
need an example, think about the waffling of Harry Potty in one of the middle
books. I think it was the one where he
escaped on the night bus or something.
He couldn’t get his act together and do anything. Plus, he dithered about his friends and about
his life. I really can’t stand
that. It’s okay for a Romantic
protagonist to have deep thoughts and angst, but they step up and do. Their skills and abilities are what set them
apart, and they can have moral qualms about the use of their abilities, but
usually not about the abilities once they have been developed. Yes, there is scope for development,
indetermination, and lack of skill, but the Romantic protagonist knows what he
or she can do and then does it. Usually,
the question is the means not the ability.
There is more. The next type of character I can’t stand is
the modern character who won’t accept the importance of their actions and power
to change the world. The ones who are
worst have some moral problem with the use of force when necessary. We are seeing this come from the Japanese and
Asian markets, but mostly the Japanese.
You can also see this in the Germans especially after World War Two. In these societies, it’s as if the loss of a
war they caused made them especially doubtful of the use of power. I can assure you the allies had no such
doubts and neither did the Germans or the Japanese when they thought they were
winning. They would have killed anyone
who got in their way. So while millions
die in the Marvel and other god-based adventure movies, the Japanese literature
and some German literature screams about how ineffective violence really is.
Violence is
ineffective to the loser, except they are usually dead. This is the concept of war and how wars never
solve anything—tell that to the Carthaginians.
The Romans decimated them. They
destroyed every man, woman, and child in Carthage and salted the ground. The main reason was the Carthaginians were
child sacrificers and even the Romans couldn’t stomach that. In any case, violence does indeed solve many
problems, and although we don’t promote or want to promote that might makes
right, sometimes that is a springboard to the plot or theme of a novel. We do want to promote courage and the proper
use of violence by those who are willing to fight for good and not necessarily
for themselves.
So what do we want
for courage in Seoirse and with Seoirse.
We definitely want him to display courage especially about Rose. That’s what we will work with. Now, to show courage, we need to place our
protagonist in situations where he must show courage. These are usually action oriented, but they
can also be moral issues or control issues. Courage is a pretty big tent about many
different things.
So, I will put Seoirse
into circumstances and make him take stands that require courage. This is what readers are looking
for—especially when the protagonists take stands that are courageous.
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society – Yes, power is definitely a quality of the Romantic
protagonist. Notice that I qualify that
power. The Romantic protagonist isn’t
really interested in power over people or things perse. They aren’t interested in political, social,
or cultural power. The Romantic
protagonist is interested in the skills and abilities that define themselves. Notice from one above, “some power or ability
outside the norm of society that the character develops to resolve the telic
flaw.”
This is the power and
powers I am writing about. These aren’t
political, social, or cultural except in the context of powers or abilities
outside the norm of society. Think very
carefully about these kinds of skills and abilities. They can be normative, but they really
shouldn’t be. The more different they
are from the cultural norm or social norm, the more powerful they can be. For example, magic. Magic and magic realism are wonderful skills
and abilities for a Romantic protagonist.
You do see the problem, however, don’t you?
The worldview of
magic realism makes magic itself normative.
That’s great, but it ruins the power of the Romantic protagonist. The power or ability of the Romantic protagonist
should be outside the norm of society.
This means on one hand, you might have a character whose extraordinary
skills make them unique or outside of the norm.
For example, I was writing about Bookgirl, a potential
novel. This character loves books and
has immersed herself in books all her life.
She is outside the norm because of her memory and knowledge due to her
love for books. This makes her outside
the norm of society and culture. You can
see, this is similar to Hermione from Harry Potty. She is outside the norm of her society
because of her study. This is just one
means of developing unique skills. The
other is a magic user in a non-magical society.
This is perhaps the
best and most powerful means of developing a Romantic protagonist. Give them a skill from the reflected
worldview that is not normal in their culture or society. Whatever you do, you need to make them the
peak of their skill or ability. You do
this through their study and practice.
This is the great American dream after all.
So, what shall I do
with Seoirse? The situation is already
set up for him to be the greatest with the Fae.
His mother is the Keeper of the Book of the Fae. He would like to take this work. Rose is a princess among the Fae. The point would be to move Seoirse up to the
point of having abilities and powers that balance but aren’t necessarily the
same as Rose. Perhaps where Rose is
coercive and powerful, Seoirse could be communicative and convincing. Still a great and powerful skill, but of a
different type. That’s the plan. I need to work out the details.
5. Introspective – This is perhaps the major
characteristic that literaties agree is the main difference between a normal
(Victorian or modern) and a Romantic protagonist. I’m not so sure, but I agree it is a real and
important characteristic of the Romantic protagonist. Perhaps the most important point of this
characteristic is that it is the most dangerous, but still an important
characteristic in all our Romantic protagonists. We might ask, what is the problem with
introspection and what can we do about it?
Here is the problem
with introspection. Introspection leads
to the bad habit in writing of telling and not showing. Introspection can be depicted in two
ways—telling their mind (telling) or showing their mind (dialog). Telling their mind is a bad idea. That is telling and not showing. We want to always show and not tell. What this requires is for your Romantic
protagonist to use their own words to show their mind. Now, how do we do this?
The best way to do
this is with a protagonist’s helper.
This is the reason I love a protagonist’s helper and place them in all
of my novels. I’m not sure why other
modern writers don’t use a protagonist’s helper. The protagonist’s helper allows the Romantic
protagonist to show their mind through dialog.
I use this to great effect in Rose: Enchantment and the Flower. Rose can express her plans to Robyn while she
and Robyn are speaking as they go to sleep.
This allows me to show the introspection of my Romantic protagonist
through dialog. I achieve this with most
of my Romantic protagonists. I allow
them to speak to their protagonist’s helpers and to interact through dialog. This shows introspection.
What about Seoirse? Definitely, I need to show through dialog Seoirse’s
introspection. No brain dives—only
dialog dives with my presetup protagonist’s helper—Rose. I could also interject another potential like
Airgead or other characters that would allow Seoirse to express himself. This is the way we write a great Romantic
protagonist.
6. Travel plot – I guess I could just repeat what I wrote
about the travel plot, but there is more to these characteristics than just
plots or parts of plots. The point here
is that the Romantic protagonist comes with a travel plot. The reason is pretty obvious.
Generally, the
Romantic protagonist comes from a rural background. In fact, they are supposed to be from the
common, but separated from the norm of society and culture. In other words, your usual Romantic
protagonist comes from a background that is in some way isolated from the norms
of society and culture. Their skills,
capabilities, and characteristics come from this type of isolation. I guess you could have a Romantic protagonist
who didn’t come from some kind of isolated situation, but what would then cause
them to be no different than the normal.
In other words, there must be some logical reason for the
characteristics of the Romantic protagonist being different than the norm. Society and culture tell us the reason for
different thinking is different education and training. That’s the reason for a travel plot.
The Romantic
protagonist must move from the place where he or she learns to be a different
type of person to a place where that difference matters. Rose is a prefect example of this. Rose grew up in a totally isolated
environment. She learned life lessons at
the hearth of starvation and abuse. She
also learned by reading everything she could.
When Rose encountered Shiggy, Shiggy knew she had found a treasure and
built Rose into something new and more powerful. She took the skills and abilities of Rose and
made them something very special. In the
end, Rose had to go on assignment to really make her special skills and
abilities shine. That’s what it is all
about.
We raise a Romantic
protagonist into their skills, abilities, and characteristics, then we move
them into a normal sociality and culture where those skills, abilities, and
characteristics make them very special.
This is one of the great powers of the Romantic protagonist, and the
reason readers love them so much.
What about Seoirse? We will take Seoirse out of his normal
environment where he is being trained to his special intelligence operations
into the world of Rose. This will
accentuate his skills and abilities. He
will also be balanced and compared directly to Rose. I already noted that we will start this novel
with a travel plot—well, directly as we move from the initial scene.
7. Melancholy – now, there is a word we don’t use
very much anymore. I certainly don’t
want you to get the wrong idea about a Romantic protagonist, and melancholy is
perhaps one of the most important descriptors of the Romantic protagonist. The question is what does melancholy really
mean, especially in this context?
If you look up
melancholy, the main definitions you will get are sadness and depression. Our Romantic protagonist isn’t necessarily
sad or depressed—Romantic doesn’t mean mentally ill. I think a better definition is archaic with a
literary kick. In the past, many
protagonists were action and life oriented.
They were not necessarily thinkers but rather social and culturally
focused. Think of Pride and Prejudice
or any of the Bronte novels. All of
their protagonist were borderline or full out Romantic protagonists, but were
they really sad and depressed? Not at
all, they were thoughtful. Just like the
Melancholy Dane, the characteristic of melancholy was indeed their frame of
mind and it was thoughtful—gloomily thoughtful, but thoughtful.
The thoughtful
character is the Romantic protagonist.
Where in the past, characters and especially the protagonist made
decisions based on society and culture, the Romantic protagonist makes
decisions based on logic, reasoning, and his or her beliefs. This is the main difference in the Romantic
protagonist and this is what connects him or her into introspection.
Introspection is a
critical aspect of the Romantic protagonist.
It is also a dangerous one that can mislead the author into telling
instead of showing. The melancholy of
the Romantic protagonist comes from his introspection and mental
awareness. The Romantic protagonist
doesn’t usually react, he or she acts with critical thinking that then becomes
controlled and measured action. The
Romantic protagonist is not the character who would take out the enemy with
carpet bombing, but rather the leader who takes a small group in to sabotage
the enemy’s powerplant to reduce casualties to the minimum.
The melancholy of the
Romantic protagonist makes certain they are like this. Every death weighs on the mind of the
Romantic protagonist. Every small
failure is a great failure in their heart and soul. The Romantic protagonist must either think or
speak about this. Let them speak. Give them a protagonist’s helper whom they
can love and cherish. That’s my plan.
So what about in Seoirse? Yes, Seoirse will be melancholic. He will be driven on the outside as an
optimist. A careful and measured
optimist. A happy optimist, but
underneath, a person who questions his every action. One who give introspection to every word and
action. This will attract Rose to him
eventually, because he will need her much more than she needs him. That’s also what makes a great Romantic
protagonist. The Romantic protagonist is
supposed to be a strong character, they are, but inside, they need a constant
reassurance bolstered by the outcomes and actions around them. The protagonist’s helper supplies this
especially in the melancholic times.
8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four
and one
– this is the great drive of the Romantic protagonist. It is what allows him or her to grow as a
person and character and allows them to make inevitable the impossible.
This is the ultimate
power of the Romantic protagonist and their ultimate motivation—the desire to
improve beyond the norm. Here is where
some of our modern literature is significantly lacking. What I mean is the drive to be normal and
part of the crowd and not to be special and stand out. A great example of this is Harry Potty. Is Harry driven to be the best and most
powerful wizard or just to be normal and not special at all? Obviously and terribly, Harry wants to
constantly give up his power and position in the magicing world to be
normal—just like his relatives that abuse him.
Ah, you get the logical fallacy here?
Harry’s desire to be normal is both irrational and unworkable. If he won’t act like the messiah he is
supposed to be, the entire magic world will be destroyed. It’s like Eisenhower refusing to take a class
in warfare and failing to become the five star in charge of World War II.
The Romantic
protagonist might desire less attention, but they must be driven to succeed and
improve. Especially, their special
skills and abilities. Usually, the
Romantic protagonist isn’t as interested in saving the world (so to speak) as
improving his or her skills. (I’m not
advocating an end of the world plot, here, just giving you an example.)
The Romantic
protagonist might not care much about fixing the problems of the world, but he
or she should be fixated on fixing the problems of his or her world. Usually fixing his or her world means
developing his or her skills. That is
the entire reason for the Romantic protagonist to exist.
Now, we can have all
kinds of variations on this model. You
can have a Romantic protagonist who genuinely wants to fix the current problem
related to the telic flaw. You can also
have a Romantic protagonist who only wants to fix his or her part of the
problem. What ever you do, the
motivation of the Romantic protagonist should be to improve his or her
skills—this is always more important than the overall goal. If you want a very clear example, just look
at Sherlock Holmes. He solves mysteries
not just because they are mysteries, but to improve his skills and to show off
his reasoning. The reason or motivation
for his every action is just this. There
is no other.
Now about Seoirse. He has been assigned to Rose. His skills and abilities have to do with
glamour and the Fae. Perhaps we shall
weave some creatures or other beings into the mix. The overall goal is for him to protect
Rose. He will fall in love with her because
of his dedication to her. At the same
time, his skills will force him toward Rose.
I think this is a real win win.
9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the
cultural mold. From the common – The pathos development of the Romantic
protagonist is very different than the pathos development of the usual
Victorian protagonist. We can see this
with Sara Crew from The Little Princess.
The pathos development for Sara Crew comes about because she loses her
wealth, power, and father, yet she still retains her strong moral and ethical
being. Sara Crew was fated and the loss
of her goods and family don’t shake the fundamentals of her bearing and
birth. The Romantic protagonist pathos
comes from a very different place.
Generally, the
Romantic protagonist starts as the common.
That is they are the common person, not wealthy or aristocratic. They are not fated to anything—other than
poverty and misery. The pathos for the
Romantic protagonist begins in the beginning.
They start with nothing other than misery and hunger. Amidst this misery (abuse) and hunger, they
discover their potential power and skills, and they attach their life to
it.
They are granted
continual and perpetual misery and hunger usually through dedicating themselves
to the development of their skills and abilities. For example, a child, born in the tenements
who finds a job in a library or book store and then saves every penny to buy
and read books. They are still hungry
and to some degree miserable, but their skills give them hope and buoy them out
of total despondency. Then they discover
their skills can really put food on the table.
We call this the American dream.
It is an inherent part of the Romantic protagonist. The peasant can become a leader, a
politician, a wealthy person, through hard work and perfection of skills.
We see this used very
well in the turn of the 20th Century novels where the scholarship
students are the hardest working and the most diligent. They work to retain their scholarships so
they can have plenty of food and training.
Now, what about in Seoirse?
I’m still thinking
this through. The basis of the novel
doesn’t provide for him to start as common or low. He is aristocratic by birth and his family is
somewhat wealthy. This is a bad start
for a Romantic protagonist, but not an impossible one. The way many writers deal with this is
through mindset rather than actual birth or wealth. I presented this in some ways in Rose. Rose is the perfect Romantic protagonist and
developed to be a perfect Romantic protagonist.
She started with nothing at all and gained all through hard work and
mentorship. Seoirse, by his mindset,
could be considered common or rather take on a common mindset. I originally had Seoirse’s mother although
she was born to aristocracy and wealth, she lost her wealth through her
father’s criminality. She didn’t come
from the common, but she might as well had.
I’ll think more on Seoirse.
Perhaps the work he is involved in can bring him down into some degree
of poverty, or perhaps to keep up with Rose, he is forced into some degree of
lack. This will work to build Romantic
protagonist pathos—and that’s the point.
We are about developing pathos for the Romantic protagonist. Usually, the best way to do this is through
their situation and misery. We just
haven’t figured out enough situation and misery for Seoirse, yet.
10. Regret when they can’t follow their own moral compass – Regret is usually
one of the powerful plot dynamics and motivators in a Romantic plot and with a
Romantic protagonist.
The Romantic
protagonist has lots of reason for regret and the management of regret is one
of the most important aspects of writing the Romantic protagonist. Usually, courage and balancing fortitude
prevent the author from turning the Romantic protagonist into despair. In other words, the power of the positive
aspects of the Romantic protagonist prevent the negative ones from overcoming
them and the plot.
What negative
aspects? Regret, introspection,
melancholy, pathos, and self-criticism are all negatives that normal or
non-Romantic protagonists don’t usually have.
Now, the great thing about these negatives is that they can move plots
and motivate the Romantic protagonist to plots and action. In general, these negatives give the Romantic
protagonist the reasons to act and act decisively. That’s the main point about the Romantic
protagonist, they shouldn’t dither. Yes,
they might be working out a solution to a problem or discovering how to fix a
situation, but they will act and they should act if only to reduce regret,
melancholy, pathos, and self-criticism.
Their introspection is what drives all of it. So, yes, Seoirse shall have regret. The regret I’m thinking about is driven by
what he has been asked to do as opposed to what he wants to do.
Seoirse has been
asked (ordered) to look after Rose. He
wants to go to Cranwell, and he wants to be the Keeper of the Book of the
Fae. He is supposed to complete his
assignment before Cranwell. I’ll also
need another reason for him not being able to attend. In addition, he isn’t supposed to ever be the
Keeper. His brother and sisters don’t
want it, and he does. We’ll see how that
works out.
11. Self-criticism when they can’t follow their own moral
compass
– self-criticism is one of those negative characteristics of the Romantic
protagonist that both endears us to him or her and makes his or her mind
available to us. With self-criticism we
get a look at the mind of the protagonist—the most important question is how?
I’ve mentioned this
before, and I’ll keep at it. We need to
show and not tell. You can’t just look
into the mind of your Romantic protagonist and tell us about his or her
self-criticism—you need to have the Romantic protagonist either tell of his
self-criticism to someone else or to himself.
This is why I like to
have a protagonist’s helper in my novels.
This allows me to have the protagonist express his or her heart and mind
whenever I, the author, desire. It’s a bit
more complicated than that, but that’s the way it is.
There is more to
this. Notice the reason for the Romantic
protagonist’s self-criticism. It isn’t
adolescence. It isn’t that he or she is
upset with love, the goals, school, work.
It is because they can’t follow their own moral compass. In other words, the Romantic protagonist is
upset and self-critiquing when he or she can’t follow their own moral
compass. This is very different than the
dithering we see in Harry Potty where in an adolescent pique he rejects and
gets mad at all his friends and benefactors.
It isn’t Harry’s inability to uphold his own morals and ideas that makes
him unhappy. He is unhappy with everyone
else, because they are everyone else.
The real Romantic protagonist never or rarely should get mad at others
for their faults. Usually, they are mad
at themselves for not foreseeing and planning for the inevitable. The Romantic protagonist expects others to
fail, but not themselves.
Thus, the
self-critiquing is chastisement against themselves. I have a great example from Aksinya:
Enchantment and the Deamon. In this
novel, Aksinya is about to accept the offer of engagement from her boyfriend
when she finds out that her lady-in-waiting has already seduced and bedded
him. She goes into a rage and beats her
lady-in-waiting. In the end, she
self-critiques her own lack of control and her own actions. She punishes herself about her actions, and
eventually, she is arrested and goes to court for assault. The important point is her own admonishment
for not following her own moral and ethical ideals. This is what drives and can motivate the
Romantic protagonist. This doesn’t have
to be a feature, but it has great power.
How could I use this
in Seoirse? Immediately, I wanted to
have Seoirse as well as Rose fail to achieve his and her goals. Rose was supposed to keep Robyn out of
trouble, but I want a huge fight and fiasco as well as physical results that
Rose prevents. Seoirse’s job was to look
after Rose. In this case, she failed and
he failed. I want them both to be
self-critiquing and commiserating over the circumstances and their
actions. This will drive the rest of the
novel, plus the juicy scenes in between.
They’ll get to self-critique, be critiqued, and speak together to
prevent a reoccurrence of the initial problem.
I can’t imagine a better means to bring out this very fun characteristic
of the Romantic protagonist.
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
– This is an optional characteristic for the Romantic protagonist, but many if
not most Romantic protagonists share these characteristics. The most common means of developing this
pathos is through death.
It is very common for
the Romantic protagonist to have lost his or her parents. This produces the exact pathos we need for
the character. In Rose, this is
exactly what I did. Her mother left, and
is still possible for meeting (not likely reconciliation). Rose’s father died as did her
grandparents. Usually, I don’t kill off
both parents—that’s just a little too difficult logically. In Azure, her mother died, but her father is
in prison. In Lilly, her mother is in
prison but her father was never in the picture—her mother was a prostitute. Death is just one way to get rid of one or
both parents.
As you can see,
prison, running away, or other means can be used to get rid of relatives or
parents. The question you might ask is
why?
The power of the
Romantic protagonist is the discovery of some power or ability they turn into
their unique power. One of the best ways
to achieve this is through isolation, abuse, and intense natural training. For example, Rose is abused by her mother and
father. She learns to fight to protect
herself. She learns to use glamour to
protect herself. She loves to read and
that’s about all she can do during the long winters in the Orkney Islands. In addition, to survive, she must learn to
catch her food and prepare it. The only
problem is what preparation is to survive is different from how to prepare
tasty meals.
Now, what about Seoirse? Seoirse’s parents are very pleasant although
his mother is somewhat self-absorbed and dangerous. Not necessarily to Seoirse or her
children. She’s just dangerous. I’ll not kill off his parents, but I will
isolate him in the circumstance of his assignment and cut him off from their
help. This is the use of self-isolation. I mentioned that I would likely have Seoirse
and Rose steal the Book of the Fae. That
will cause some more isolation between Seoirse and his parents. I intend this to develop his skills and
abilities, with the help of Rose.
13. From the common and potentially the rural – If the Romantic
protagonist doesn’t start as a common person, you need to turn them somehow
into the common. One of the most
important characteristics of the Romantic protagonist is that they come from
the common and not from the wealthy or aristocratic. If for some reason, and there are good ones,
your Romantic protagonist comes from an aristocratic or wealthy background, you
need to turn them somehow into the common.
What exactly does the
common mean. In specifically certain
older cultures and in some Victorian type cultures, a person must be born into
wealth or the aristocracy to be considered part of the proper class (the upper
class). Everything else is common. The lower the common, the better the
common.
If your Romantic
protagonist does not start common, the best thing to do is to turn them into a
common person. Make them lose their
position or wealth. Preferably early.
This is what I’ll do
with Seoirse. I’ll take away his
stature, wealth, and position in his family and in the aristocracy. He’ll become a regular person to surveille
Rose. This will allow him to learn and
develop his special skills and abilities.
I really need to determine and develop this for this character in the
novel. This is an important aspect and a
great entertainment point for it.
14. Love interest – Seoirse will be seeking love with
Rose. He will be pursuing her, and he
will be a Romantic protagonist.
The Romantic
protagonist doesn’t necessarily have to have a love interest, but a love
interest gives the Romantic protagonist a focus for thought, heart, and
soul. If you notice all the major
characteristics of the Romantic protagonist are about mind and thought. You really want to give them something to be
the center of their mind and thoughts.
The best way to approach this is with love. A love interest can go a long way to moving
the Romantic protagonist in the proper mental direction and prevents too much
telling. That’s because love can be
shown as well as thought about. With
proper writing, the author can show the love and love interest of the Romantic
protagonist with communication and action.
This is one of the
reasons I do like to Western approach to love better than the Eastern
approach. In the Asian cultural view of
love, the protagonist doesn’t communicate their love as much as they think about
it. It is a world of thought and not
action. Usually, this is punctuated by
small outbursts of communication. For
example a confession. On the other hand,
in the usually Western approach, the protagonist, and especially the Romantic
protagonist will plan an approach to their love. They will communicate this to others. They will then approach their love interest
and tell them their plans perhaps with a confession. You can build this in a very powerful
way. For example, you can have the
Romantic protagonist approach the love interest in many ways and many times so
that they communicate their love in more than one way and with great
depth. This is the best way to continue
and build the love interest through communication from the Romantic protagonist.
If you notice the
most important point here is communication and communicating ideas. This way we show the mind of the protagonist
and especially with the love interest.
This is also the main purpose of the love interest and the Romantic
protagonist. This is also why I like the
full communication and interaction means of getting the Romantic protagonist to
bring their romantic thoughts directly into the mix.
The love interest
isn’t required, but it certainly can help bring out the mind and heart of the
protagonist. I plan to use it with Seoirse.
The Novel: theme statement.
I’m moving on to the
point where I can start working on this novel.
Unfortunately or fortunately, I will be finishing up my newest novel Cassandra:
Enchantment and the Warriors. I’ll
produce the marketing materials for that novel.
I’ll put them up on the blog.
After that I’ll start writing on this new novel, Seoirse. To get ready for that eventuality, I’m
putting together all the material for the novel. I started with the protagonist development,
then the plotting basics, and finally, the Romantic protagonist
development.
I’ve written before,
I don’t believe in the idea of writing from a theme. I’m not certain anyone can really define a
theme, in the sense of writing a novel. I’ve
written about this before. If you can
figure out how to write a real theme that you can write from, tell me how. In general, the theme that most people think
of with literature is simply proselytizing and not a real theme at all. From my standpoint, just dump the idea of
theme entirely, and let’s define something we can really use to develop a
novel. That’s why I recommend a theme statement.
My mentor in writing,
Ms. Young, insisted on a theme statement.
What she called a theme statement was effectively an overall plot
statement. That’s what they taught back
in the real days of American education.
I’ve developed what I call a theme statement.
With a theme
statement, you define the protagonist, antagonist, and protagonist’s helper,
you define an initial setting, and finally, you define the telic flaw in the
novel. So let’s do that.
1. Protagonist – Seoirse
2. Protagonist’s helper
– Rose
3. Antagonist(s) – the
little goddesses
4. Initial setting –
Monmouth
5. Telic flaw –
protecting Rose
Let’s put this into a
theme statement:
For novel 34: Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector and
helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork;
unfortunately Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
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
