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Saturday, April 29, 2023

Writing - part xxx303 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Love

29 April 2023, Writing - part xxx303 Writing a Novel, A New Male Romantic Protagonist, Details, Love  

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%

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.

 

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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