4 April 2023, Writing - part xxx278 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Setting Plots, Travel
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) – I guess I should write a little about the use and power of
setting plots and especially in the context of Seoirse. The setting plots are really great because
they are based specifically on the setting or settings you provide as an
author. My main setting for Seoirse is Monmouth,
but all I have to do to move the setting is to invoke a travel plot and move
the characters to the new setting. I’ve
already mentioned that I was planning on a travel plot based on the initial
scene. I also mentioned about a setting
of the Ilse of Shadows. Let’s write
about this a little.
One of the best ways
to use the setting plot idea is to move to a setting that supports the
plot. We’ll get into this as we look at
the various setting plots, but the travel plot is perhaps the most useful of
all the plots in the setting category.
Not only does it move your characters to a new setting and potentially a
new setting plot (or other plots)—it also allows a plot of its own. Just moving your characters from one place to
another provides an opportunity for a new and especially a travel plot. I’ll discuss this with the travel plot.
In any case, the
setting plots are just fun because they provide plots based on settings, and also
give the writer an opportunity for new ideas and new plots. I can’t emphasize this anymore than I
am. The quality and achievement plots require
some real thought and work based on the protagonist. These plots can be added on, but need deep
development and perhaps changes in the protagonist, but the setting plot just requires
a change of place. Now, some of the
setting plots are very specific, but others are not. We’ll see.
1.
End of the World (s) – 3 – 3% - The End of the World
plot and theme was kinda dead following Noah.
Noah was the first and a real end of the world plot. Guess what? The world hasn’t ended since Noah, but that
hasn’t stopped the end of the world plot at all—it hasn’t even slowed it
down. You think that the fact that the
world hasn’t ended since Noah would at least slow it down, but, no, it’s going strong
and it shouldn’t be.
The reason it shouldn’t be is because
it is unlikely and it’s trite. Okay, the
first to propose the end of the world during the nuclear Soviet era probably
had a good idea, but everyone knew it could happen—that’s why it’s trite in the
first place. The obvious is always
trite. Real authors don’t look for
trite, they look for the unique and the unusual.
Look, the world was going to be
destroyed due to warfare, comets, nukes, now global warming, global cooling,
and so on. Just finding a new way the
world would come to an end is not an excuse to write it into a plot. Plus, there is no low level end of the world
plot. What would you have, the partial
end of the world, or the part way end of the world, or a little bit of the end
of the world?
This
is an all or nothing plot.
Plus, the end of the world plot is a
religious plot. Yes, the end may be
secular, but the point is always preaching and religion. In other words, if you don’t change your
ways, the world will end. This isn’t an
individual redemption, but a world wide redemption—that’s a revival. I’ve never written an end of the world plot,
and I don’t intend to. The purpose of
writing is entertainment, and the end of
the world is not entertaining—unless you are an angel or a demon.
I don’t intend to put any end of the
world plot in Seoirse.
2.
War (s) – 20 – 18% - You gotta have a war
or make up a war to use this setting plot.
Hey, there is a lot of lot here.
You don’t need an official war, and you
don’t need an international war. How
about a drug war or a cold war. That’s
exactly the setting many works from the 1960s to the 1980s used—that is the
cold war. A cold war makes for some of
the very best war setting plots—without a shooting war. Or I should write without a war outside the
shadows. In real life, they shot at me
plenty during the cold war—I should know.
War is a pretty good setting plot. I did use this to some degree in Rose. In Rose, Shiggy’s reason for going to
the Orkney Islands was to investigate illegal international smuggling by
international powers (governments). Rose
and Shiggy got caught up in the warlike actions that shut the smugglers
down. Later, in the novel, the Chinese
attacked, or tried to attack Rose, in retaliation for the incidents at the
Orkneys. These were both war settings
during peacetime. And that’s just one
way to use the war setting plot. In
other words, you don’t have to look for a war or make up a war, you can use an
intelligence or a high level crime situation to inject this type of plot into
your novel.
Now, what about Seoirse? The entire play of ideas in Seoirse already
orbit around intelligence operations and work.
They already include circumstances of potential international
issues—these are all you need for a cold war plot, so to speak. Will I use them? I dunno, but probably. One of the main points I’ve made in the past
about the climax for any modern Romantic novel is action and adventure in the
resolution. I hold to that, and the war
plot makes this easy and powerful.
Perhaps that’s too much equivocation, but I’ll not try to argue that
every action and adventure setting or situation is a war plot, however, when
you make it multinational and international with high stakes, it’s pretty much
a war setting in a war plot.
Whatever we do, as we develop our novel
to the climax, plan for some type of high energy action and adventure. That usually includes some kind of high end
peril. I just like to advocate for a
little crime, spying, and real action.
I’m sure I’ll fit something like this into Seoirse, or I’ll do as I have
in the past with novels and play the Fae courts against the human and god
courts. That’s always a great war
setting that no one else knows about.
3.
Anti-war (s) –2 – 2% - The anti-war plot is
a very modern plot. The reason is easy
to understand. An educated person could
never believe it or subscribe to it. Anyone
who has read about the Roman Empire and especially Carthage knows that anti-war
as a plot or theme ends with massacre and the end of your culture and
society. That’s why the anti-war plot is
modern, so limited, and not believed by any educated person—most readers are
reasonably educated.
You can be certain that the war plot is
both effective and entertaining. The anti-war
plot is just silly and depressing. Its
greatest problem is that it is not entertaining. You might ask how can a war plot with all its
destruction and horror by entertaining and the anti-war plot not be. Well, why do you watch Marvel movies? There are millions of the regular people who
die and all kinds of destruction in the Marvel movies while the gods and
goddesses in funny suits commit most of the destruction while saving the
world. Notice, there are always war
plots in the Marvel movies.
The war plot, for humans, not gods and
goddesses, brings out courage, bravery, tactics, fighting for the rights of
others, fighting for the good of humankind, and all those other great and moral
ideas. On the other hand, the anti-war
plot focuses on the opposite. Yeah, Johnny
Got His Gun, but only a middle schooler could conclude that living in the
Soviet Union or Nazi Germany would be a good end for humankind. And, that particular book is both depressing,
and not read much anymore. Even For
Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms are depressing and not
very interesting especially in the aftermath of the greatest war, World War
Two. Kurt Vonnegut sold a lot of
anti-war novels, but his books aren’t in the list of classics mainly because
they are not entertaining or even interesting.
You can say what you will about the horror of war, but the horror of
living in a fascist or communist state is much worse. The Road to Serfdom is paved with war
and the anti-war faction are more than willing to apply their propaganda to
encourage obedience.
In
any case, I don’t like the anti-war plot, and I don’t intend to use it in Seoirse. If anything, I’ll have a war plot in an
intelligence setting. The positives of
such a plot out way any negatives. In
fact, if you want to promote any anti-war point, you might as well provide it
in a war plot wrapper. I wouldn’t use any
anti-war plot—they are pretty indefensible, but you can make some great
entertainment points in a war plot.
4.
Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56% - Now we are getting
into the real plots that drive literature and especially modern
literature. It should not be a surprise
that the first novel in the English language, Robinson Caruso, was
driven by a travel plot. Robinson was
travelling on a merchant tour when he was shipwrecked. The preintial scene
event was this travel and this was the cause of the entire novel.
In general, the travel plot has been a fixture in all
novels, but it really took off as transportation moved from walking and carts
to more modern means. It was also driven
by population movements, war, and exploration.
In the East, the travel plot has always
been a mainstay in their writing from the very beginning. The idea of the walking tour and the tour for
self-reflection is a huge part of Eastern thought and literature. This continues in near parody into today.
Now, I use the travel plot extensively
in my novels. In most modern novels, the
travel plot almost always furthers the plot and moves the novel along toward
the resolution. Almost no novel begins
and ends in the same place. In fact, one
of my first novels Antebellum, has almost no travel plots, which is
odd. It is set in a single southern
community, and the greatest traveling is to town. There are some travel points, but nothing
outside of the local community. I’d say
that is a great example of a novel with zero to little travel plot.
In most cases, my novels require my
characters to move from place to place both to further the plot and to discover
how to resolve the telic flaw. Now,
movement in itself isn’t the plot in a travel plot. The use of travelling is a critical element,
but the use of the traveling is also an important ingredient in the travel
plot. So, the movement of the characters
may be as important as getting the characters together in a single place while
they are travelling and allowing them to communicate and interact. The communicate and interact is a very
important part of the travel plot.
You already know I am using travel
plots in Seoirse. Seoirse himself goes
to Monmouth to keep an eye on Rose. Rose
runs away when things go south for her at Monmouth. She travels the rails until Seoirse catches
her. This is a main type of travel plot
and I intend to use more than this. The
ability to move characters around to new settings and to move to those new
settings is the real power of the travel plot.
We shall see what we can do in the development of the novel, but I
expect to use Seoirse as the means for Rose to travel, and that will be his
job.
5. Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%
6. Horror (s) – 15 – 13%
7. Children (s) – 24 – 21%
8. Historical (s) – 19 – 17%
9. School (s) – 11 – 10%
10. Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%
11. Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%
12. Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%
13.
Prison (s) – 2 – 2%
Item (i)
Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%
Here is my list for the characteristics of a Romantic
protagonist. I am not very happy with
most of the lists I have found. So, I
will start with a classic list from the literature and then translate them to
what they really mean. This is the
refined list. Take a look.
1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that
the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.
2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different
than normal culture or society’s.
3. Courageous
4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are
outside of the normal society.
5. Introspective
6. Travel plot
7. Melancholy
8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four
and one.
9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the
cultural mold. From the common.
10. Regret when they can’t follow their own moral compass.
11. Self-criticism when they can’t follow their own moral
compass.
12. Pathos bearing because he or she is estranged from
family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or self-isolation
due to three above.
13. From the common and potentially the rural.
14. Love interest
Let’s use this list, again, to design a new
protagonist. That’s exactly what I’m
going to do.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book,
writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
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