26 May 2023, Writing - part xxx330 Writing a Novel, Cassandra, Building a 1000 word Synopsis
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 31st novel, working title, Cassandra,
potential title Cassandra: Enchantment
and the Warriors. The theme
statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school
where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.
Here is the cover proposal for Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors:
|
|
|
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.
For novel 33, Book girl: Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they
are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything,
her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to
befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family
and existence.
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.
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.
At this point I want to finish editing Casandra:
Enchantment and the Warriors and produce the marketing materials. I intend to show you the marketing materials
before I’m willing to begin writing Seoirse.
I also need to work harder at getting a publisher—basically submitting manuscripts
to potential publishers and agents.
Here is my list of basic marketing materials:
Title of Work:
Cassandra: Enchantment and
the Warriors
Author(s) Name:
L. D. Alford
Type: Either Screenplay or Book
Book
Length: Either # of words for books, or #
of pages for screenplays
110,000 words
Keywords and Market Focus:
Fiction, mystery, intelligence, adventure,
supernatural, Fae, fairy, France, Saint Malo, boarding school, finishing,
secrets, hidden, Dagda, vampire, druid, magic, sorcery, demon; will fascinate
anyone interested in mystery, intelligence operations, and the Fae—will appeal
particularly to those who enjoy mystery and suspense magic realism novels.
Genre:
Magic Realism Mystery
Proposed Cover:
Author
Bio: Approximately 120 words
The finest
entertainment in literature is an escape into a real and inviting world—so
asserts L. D. Alford, a novelist who explores with originality those cultures
and societies we think we already know.
He builds tales that make ancient and modern people real to us. His stories uniquely explore the connections
between present events, history, and the future—he combines them with threads
of reality that bring his fiction alive.
L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he earned a B.S.
in Chemistry, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Aerospace
Engineering, and is a graduate of Air War College, USAF Test Pilot School, and
Air Command and Staff College. He is
widely traveled and has spent long periods in Europe, Asia, and Central
America. L. D. Alford is an author who
combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that
breathe reality.
Synopsis: Approximately 1000 Words
Sorcha and Deirdre were expelled
from Wycombe Abbey, an elite girl’s boarding school. The reasons were shrouded in secret, but it delt
with magic and the fire in Windsor Castle.
Sorcha’s past was revealed, and Deirdre’s pixilated naughty bits
displayed on the nightly news. In any
case, their mother sent them to France for continued training. The plan was that General Bolang would train
them for a year to be aviation cadets then to Cranwell for schooling. Unfortunately, General Bolang was recalled,
and Sorcha and Deirdre received a new assignment—they were directed to the
Ecole privée Notre Dame Auxiliatrice in Saint Malo, to be finished.
Perhaps
the worst assignment possible. Instead
of Cranwell, they were going to a girl’s school. One moment, their lives were perfect, the
next, they were on their way to be finished.
Sorcha
and Deirdre are stuck in a girl’s finishing school with little support and no
real instructions. All they knew is their
cover—orphans under the guardianship of Madam and General Bolang. They are Sorcha and Deirdre Bolang, girls
from Paris who are supposed to be French through and through.
Madam
Vigier, the daughter of Madam and General Bolang is their handler in the ecole,
but she wants nothing to do with them.
Plus, their assignment reverses their normal personalities—Sorcha is
supposed to be forward and a leader, while Deirdre is studious and quiet. It’s
likely a test. In addition, Mother Roux,
the head of the school wants Sorcha and Deirdre to be flawless students and
leaders for her student body.
They
start strong but learn quickly the school is intentionally isolated even from
its sister college, the Lycée Institution.
It’s so isolated that students of the ecole do not interact with the
students of the Lycée, for fencing or other athletics—Mother Roux considers
interaction a compromise of the dignity and training of her students.
What
Sorcha and Deirdre discover in the ecole is a student who wears their uniform,
has a guard of nuns, but never attends classes or meals—she only goes to chapel
and Mass. This younger girl is held
isolated in the cloister of the ecole.
Sorcha
and Deirdre are impressive students and fencers. They make fast friends with Elodie and Laura
the daughters of a Marquis and a Councilor.
Laura tells them the strange student in the cloister never seems to age
and may not speak French. Saint Malo and
Brittany are places of intrigue where captives from the royalty, like Mary
Queen of Scots and others were held in captivity.
Sorcha
and Deirdre realize they were sent to Saint Malo for more than finishing—they
make the investigation of this girl their assignment. That and normal schoolgirl curiosity drives
them to explore the crypts below the Saint Malo Cathedral and the smuggler’s
caves under the Lycée Institution—with Laura and Elodie, they are looking for a
passage into the cloister.
In
addition to their friends in the ecole, Sorcha and Deirdre make contacts
outside the school. They find a note
that points to Nior Angélique, a poor British girl who works in a French
bookstore and hunts witches. Angélique
is a friend of the Fae and always surrounded by flower Fae whom she can’t
see. She can control Glamour and make
potions—she concocts a potion to find hidden places and things.
While
looking for hidden places, Sorcha and Deirdre search the Cimetière de Rocabey
where they meet Giselle who may or may not be a vampire.
Finally,
with Laura and Elodie, Sorcha and Deirdre discover a passage from the ecole to
the cloister. The captive girl expects
them and greets them. She is Cassandra
Lyons, and has been a prisoner since 1536.
Sorcha, Deirdre, Laura, and Elodie are her first friends, and they
suggest Cassandra petition Mother Roux to enter the ecole. Cassandra predicts a momentous change is
about to affect her.
The next
morning, Luna Bolang, Sorcha and Deirdre’s previous handler from Wycombe Abbey
visits the ecole. When Sorcha and
Deirdre are called to Mother Roux’s study, Luna Bolang proposes Cassandra, a
ward of Britain and a long captive, should be moved into the ecole. She assigns Sorcha and Deirdre as her helpers
and mentors.
Cassandra
is changed from captive to member of the ecole, and Sorcha and Deirdre have
their hands full with a lady just learning French and the basics of modern
society. Now, their mystery is who and
what is Cassandra. The real problems
begin when Cassandra meets Sorcha and Deirdre’s other friends. Angélique isn’t a problem. Cassandra knows of the Fae, but when
Cassandra meets Giselle, she attacks.
Giselle defeats Cassandra, but Cassandra is long lived and not easy to
kill. In addition, Giselle shows
Cassandra mercy and compassion, however Cassandra is seriously wounded. Sorcha and Deirdre must call for Madam
Vigier, their handler, and she brings Luna Bolang. Cassandra is down for a while, and Luna wants
to know who or what injured her. The
girls aren’t talking.
Sorcha
and Deirdre work hard to patch up all the difficulties between their unusual
friends, but they face a growing crisis in Saint Malo and Brittany. Luna is assigned to Amsterdam to investigate
criminals sexually exploiting and murdering young women. Giselle knows it’s a demon. Sorcha and Deirdre and their friends must
prepare to fight it. They make all the
preparations, and while collecting holy water meet two ancient goddesses, the
goddesses of gentle love and love’s sharp bite, Saint Amourna and Saint
Arduinna. They contract with these
goddesses, none too late because Giselle warns them the demon and his sorcerer
are in Saint Malo to conduct a witches’ sabbath and they are the only ones who
can stop them.
They
fight a great battle in the unholy ground of Cimetière de Rocabey. Each of the friends bring their power and
skills into an unwinnable battle, and the prayers of Elodie call first the
goddesses of love then an angel. With
the help of the angel, they defeat the demon and save the city.
In the
end, we find Sorcha and Deirdre completed their assignment, and all along it
was the reconciliation of Cassandra and their finishing.
I write the 1000 word synopsis first because this is
the longest and, for me, the easiest to write.
I find that if you write a 1000 word synopsis first, the 500 word and
then the 200 word synopsis can be somewhat easily written based on the long
synopsis.
Here is a little secret, the 1000 word synopsis is a
double spaced 4 page synopsis. The
approximate length in words for a double spaced 12 pitch font is 250 words. Many publishers won’t ask for a 1000 word
synopsis, they will ask for a 3 to 5 page synopsis. The 1000 word synopsis is the perfect size
for this. If they ask for something a little
shorter, the 1000 word synopsis can be tailored to the requirement. I have never been asked for a much longer
synopsis than this.
I start with the 1000 word synopsis because it allows
me to go to town and basically write whatever I want in the first cut. That’s what I do. I’ll give more detailed instructions on how
to write a synopsis but 1000 words just lets you go crazy. That’s not to say you don’t want to fix it,
tone it, and make it really well done, but 1000 words is plenty. It should be easy for you as a writer because
this is about one fifth of a chapter. So,
let’s go for it.
This is what I began with yesterday:
So how do we write a synopsis. Here are my recommendations, and I’ll run
through the development of this synopsis for Cassandra: Enchantment and the
Warriors.
We start with the protagonist. In Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors,
the protagonist is Sorcha and the protagonist’s helper is Deirdre. They are in the first sentence. In some ways, the synopsis is an extension of
the theme statement. Let’s look at the
theme statement from Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.
For novel 31: Deirdre
and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover
difficult mysteries, people, and events.
Not much to it, but we see the beginnings of the novel. In the theme statement, we see the
protagonist and protagonist’s helper.
The telic flaw is very general, and the setting is not fully defined,
just a French finishing school. This was
enough information for me to write an entire novel. The first paragraph describes the initial
scene and presents the basis for the novel:
Sorcha
and Deirdre were expelled from Wycombe Abbey, an elite girl’s boarding
school. The reasons were shrouded in
secret, but it delt with magic and the fire in Windsor Castle. Sorcha’s past was revealed, and Deirdre’s
pixilated naughty bits displayed on the nightly news. In any case, their mother sent them to France
for continued training. The plan was
that General Bolang would train them for a year to be aviation cadets then to
Cranwell for schooling. Unfortunately,
General Bolang was recalled, and Sorcha and Deirdre received a new
assignment—they were directed to the Ecole privée Notre Dame Auxiliatrice in
Saint Malo, to be finished.
I mentioned that this paragraph sets up the novel. It brings in the protagonist, and the protagonist’s
helper. It provides a little information
about these characters. It doesn’t get
into any deep details. This is the
telling and not the showing version of the novel.
Notice that the entire paragraph is about making the
reader get excited about Sorcha and Deirdre.
The big questions should be about why they were expelled, what about
magic, Windsor Castle, a fire, why were they revealed and their naughty bits on
the tele? These all try to excite the
reader. Then we get the big set up or
the setting point of the paragraph. They
were sent to France for training, but that went awry. This is the basis of the novel and initial
scene from the theme statement.
So, they are school girls and they suddenly have to go
to finishing school. Since I have the word
count to tell you—why not get into the nitty-gritty of why this was so bad a
setting and what’s the big deal. I’ll
give you the next few paragraphs that show what the big deal is.
Perhaps
the worst assignment possible. Instead
of Cranwell, they were going to a girl’s school. One moment, their lives were perfect, the
next, they were on their way to be finished.
Sorcha
and Deirdre are stuck in a girl’s finishing school with little support and no
real instructions. All they knew is their
cover—orphans under the guardianship of Madam and General Bolang. They are Sorcha and Deirdre Bolang, girls
from Paris who are supposed to be French through and through.
Madam
Vigier, the daughter of Madam and General Bolang is their handler in the ecole,
but she wants nothing to do with them.
Plus, their assignment reverses their normal personalities—Sorcha is
supposed to be forward and a leader, while Deirdre is studious and quiet. It’s
likely a test. In addition, Mother Roux,
the head of the school wants Sorcha and Deirdre to be flawless students and
leaders for her student body.
They
start strong but learn quickly the school is intentionally isolated even from
its sister college, the Lycée Institution.
It’s so isolated that students of the ecole do not interact with the
students of the Lycée, for fencing or other athletics—Mother Roux considers
interaction a compromise of the dignity and training of her students.
Let’s look at these paragraphs next.
Synopsis: Approximately 500 Words
Synopsis: Approximately 200 Words
Concept
of the Work: Approximately 250 Words
Registration:
WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.
Other
Information: If you have more work, a website,
anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.
Reviewer’s
quotes.
1. No more than 3 sentences about the content of
your manuscript.
2. One sentence about successful works similar
to yours.
3. No more than 2 sentences about yourself. (use
3rd person)
4. No more than 2 sentences that include
“other,” i.e. any reasons, relationships, or other factors that might make your
work more attractive.
The plan is to fill in these marketing materials. I already put in the title, author’s name,
and the type. I’ll opine on these
next.
I put together this list from internet sources, information
sources, publisher requests for information, and other ideas from agents. The point is to fill out this information and
with it, you should be able to produce your submission letters and provide the
information a publisher requires. This
isn’t the end-all, but it does prepare you for most information requests from
your publisher.
In addition, this provides you with all the information you
will likely want to populate a website with.
You can actually take this verbatim and fill a website for your
novel. I’d recommend being a little more
creative in your website development, but with the information above, you can
provide a potential reader or publisher with everything they need to give your
novel a first blush look.
Is a website helpful—who knows. When you have a published work, I think it
can be. In the interim, I’m not
sure. It’s hard today to tell how many
visitors you’ve had and the success of the website in advertising. This is especially true if you don’t have any
works to sell. It’s also true if you
don’t have any sales. If you are
self-published on Amazon or are advertised on Amazon, you can easily see your
sales. That’s not as true with your own
website.
I’m of the opinion that you should own your own website for
every novel. I’ll get into this as we
move along on the marketing materials.
The first point is to have a plan and to develop your
marketing materials. The plan is listed
above. I’ll get to the details next.
I’m still editing Cassandra and I’ll cover some of
this before I get to the marketing materials.
I’ll repeat. I just
finished up Rose, and I want to finish up Cassandra. I’m moving in that direction.
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
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