25 June 2023, Writing - part xxx360 Writing a Novel, Seoirse and Initial Scenes
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:
|
|
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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.
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.
I’m now writing Seoirse, and since I retired from my day job,
I’m back to a chapter a day. I could
likely write two chapters a day, but my brain gets tired. I think it’s important to report again on how
to write a novel. Let’s start at the
beginning.
I already developed the protagonist for this novel: Seoirse Séamas
Wishart. That is his name in Gaelic. His common or English name is George James
Wishart. Why the difference. It all has to do with the worldview of my
novels. The worldview is reflected and
therefore the supernatural exists. We
are mainly writing about the common and mythical supernatural in the
world. I’d like to say that whatever the
basis for the usual supernatural in human thought exists in the reflected worldview
of this and my novels. Thus there are
vampires, werewolves, fairies, the Fae courts, dragons, gods, goddesses, and
other mythical creatures. They aren’t the
world. They world of my novels is the world
you see around you. The supernatural aspects
are generally unseen, unknown, and rare.
They exist like the supernatural exists in the world today: generally
unseen, unknown, and rare. That’s the
basis of the world in my novels.
I wrote initial scenes, but remember, there is only one
initial scene. When I write initial
scenes, I mean the scenes I used at the beginning of the novel to lead into the
crisis. I guess I could outline some of
the development of this novel for you.
It has a little different development outline than many of my
novels. Part of the reason is the
subject matter and the fact that it is a follow-on. Come to think of it, Cassandra had
something similar in its development. I
won’t say this is a common type of outline for the development of a follow-on,
but it does bear some similar characteristics.
Here’s some of it.
1.
Initial
scene – a dialog that introduces the mission the protagonist and the
protagonist’s helper. Seoirse and Rose
don’t hit it off too well. Rose knows
what she is expected to do and she sees Seoirse as an interloper. Seoirse is put in the position as Rose’s
handler and protection. I should mention
that Ms. O’Dwyer (Organization name), Mrs. Marshall (overt name) is their boss
and set them to the assignment. This is
a great dialog scene with all kinds of deep seated issues brought out. Rose does not want supervision or
protection. Ms. O’Dwyer is giving her
protection because of the recall and Chinese problems at the climax of the
first novel.
2. Next scene—travel scene, where Seoirse
and Rose are forced together by Ms. O’Dwyer to make the three hour drive from
London to Monmouth. They also pick up
their Fae helpers. Ms. O’Dwyer does not
allow Fae in her house and usually not in the Organization although the
basement of the Organization has a place where the Fae are allowed and Ms. O’Dwyer’s
secretary is Burgundy Rose, a Fae being.
In this travel scene, Rose and Seoirse get to bring out their little
tiff and personal issues. We see some
plans too for their operations, and Rose declares, to Seoirse’s chagrin and yet
pleasure that George Wishart (Seoirse’s overt name at Monmouth) is her
boyfriend—it’s a cover. In addition, in a
short connection scene, Rose insists that Seoirse take her out to supper where
they are sure to be seen.
3. First Monmouth scenes—this is an
introduction to the girls in Rose’s class, to Robyn, and to the other girls
Rose must look after. This scene and
scenes leads to the fateful crisis tea party scene.
4.
Crisis
(tea party)—Rose’s modus operandi is to gain the trust of others, especially girls
in this age group by inviting them to tea.
Rose’s cover is as an aristocrat being sent to Monmouth for
education. She applies this very
successfully in the first novel, but there is a problem in the second. Rose sets up the tea party for the five
problem children she must take care of.
The problem is that the real problem child, Sveta, knows all about
Rose. The tea party program was successful
because the regular girls did not question Rose or Robyn’s motives. They just were excited to have a personal tea
with a girl who looked, acted, and seemed to be a real member of the peerage
(actually, Rose is). Ms. O’Dwyer
approved the tea party program for these five and she expected it to work too. What no one realized was that Sveta, the young
Goddess of Light, had knowledge of Rose and her operations at Monmouth. In addition, Sveta knew all about Rose’s
background and Rousay.
In
the crises tea party, Sveta reveals what she knows with the intention of
getting the other girls to help her oppose Rose. Sveta even goes to the degree of recording
the entire event. She thinks her
knowledge will not only convince the others, but shock them that their mothers and
the Organization (and Stela) are using Rose to observe and to a degree control
them. The problem for Sveta is that she doesn’t
know about Rose’s power over glamour and people, Robyn’s power and love for Rose,
her own sister (Klava’s) pain over subjugation by Sveta, and finally, that
Phoebe and Sophie are not on her side.
In the end, Sveta blows up and only with Rose’s power are the girls
protected and saved. However, Rose must
knock them all out, her 10,000 pound tea service is destroyed, Rose is injured,
and her clothing is completely burned off her.
The
ultimate end of this is that Rose was supposed to protect Robyn from others and
from Robyn harming herself or others. If
she can achieve this, Rose will get her house and property back. This was all covered in the initial scene. Since Rose’s contract is suddenly void and she
sees no hope for recovery, Rose runs away.
The point in her running away is that she is unclothed, doesn’t really
need clothing at the moment because of the balmy temperatures, and can and does
use glamour to hide and protect herself from others. This is the setup for the rest of the
novel.
This
is also were I wanted to start the novel but that would have provided little
chance for buildup. Seoirse is the protagonist,
and this is all a setup for his action on the stage of the novel.
I guess I should move on from there.
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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