13 July 2023, Writing - part xxx378 Writing a Novel, Seoirse, more Cohesion
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.
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.
This is where I am with Seoirse. I’ve been writing a chapter a day. That means I’ll likely have a completed novel
in less than a month. That’s what I
usually do when I have an idea and a novel to write. I’m also writing pretty exclusively when I
should be working on a publisher or an agent.
In any case, I love writing a new novel. The scene descriptions and insight I gave you
were all telling and not showing. The
novel is all showing and no telling.
This is important to note and understand. Showing an outline of the scenes is just
telling and an author could use this to write a novel. My point to you is that I don’t outline my
scenes. I write notes at the end to
describe where I’m going and what I want in the scene. Then I write and rewrite and write the scene
again until its as perfect as I want it.
About perfection. I’m
not into perfection and I don’t think you can achieve perfection in any
writing. It depends on what you mean by
perfection. I’ve never read a book
without any punctuation, spelling, or grammar errors. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aim to get rid
of all errors, but what ever you do, there will always be some error—and, I’m
the least concerned about these kinds of errors. The most important part of the writing is the
storyline, continuity, and the delight of the reader.
I wrote yesterday about delighting the reader. This is the main and major goal in writing,
but there are other points in delivering this kind of experience for your
readers. This is the goal and there are
literally a million ways to get there. A
wise author looks for and develops these ways.
Most specifically, these are the tension and release in a scene. They are also related to the storyline. I really should write about tension and
release, perhaps I’ll go there soon.
The ultimate point of a novel is the resolution of the telic
flaw. The telic flaw it the reason for
the novel. It is the problem the
protagonist must resolve (not necessarily solve) to complete the novel. The resolution of the telic flaw is supposed
to be resolved in the climax of the novel.
I’m not certain what we call a novel where the telic flaw is not
resolved in the climax. There are such
novels, most of the time they will not be published—unless they are
self-published. Anything can be
self-published.
So, in a normal novel (a sellable novel) with the following
outline:
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 entire novel is about the movement of the storyline from
the initial scene to the climax. The
rest of the novel in the falling action and dénouement are just cleanup. So what do we have?
The storyline is the plot(s) of the novel driven by scenes
in the outline I showed above. Novels
are always and only made up of scenes—these scenes drive the storyline from the
beginning to the end. Each scene drives
toward the telic flaw resolution. That’s
where we are going. This produces
delight. We have to tie the scenes into
the storyline, which is the plot(s).
Here we are. Novels
are a grouping of cohesive scenes that resolve the telic flaw of the protagonist. When I write the telic flaw of the
protagonist, I don’t mean a flawed protagonist or a flaw in the
protagonist. It is possible for a
protagonist to be flawed and to have a flaw.
Many times this is the point or the telic flaw of the novel. The telic flaw is not necessarily a flaw of
the protagonist. The telic flaw is the
flaw in the world that the novel must resolve.
It is the problem that must be resolved and not necessarily solved. As I mentioned yesterday, some problems can’t
be solved. For example, the murder of
the protagonist’s parents. You can never
solve this problem. You can resolve this
problem. For example, you can find the
murderer, but you can’t bring the parents back to life.
So, here we are, we have a protagonist and every good
protagonist comes with their own telic flaw to resolve. We need an initial scene and from this scene,
all the other scenes must support the telic flaw resolution, and there we
are. How we produce delight is in the
way these scenes support each other in the resolution of the telic flaw. In addition, part of the delight of the
reader is the revelation of the protagonist.
And, there we are—the revelation of the protagonist must be a revelation
of the resolution of the telic flaw. Every scene must focus and provide support
for this resolution. Any scene that
doesn’t should be cut from the novel.
If you noted in the outline I gave you for this novel, the
scenes tell the story and also drive toward resolving the problem of the
assignment. The novel is about Seoirse,
but is it also about his assignment to support Rose, and that’s the rub. The telic flaw is that Seoirse must support
Rose’s assignment to train the dangerous girls.
Actually, to integrate the dangerous girls into society and their
schools. Rose actually see this
assignment in a much wider perspective.
At the same time, Seoirse is falling in love with Rose and Rose is
falling in love with Seoirse.
The scenes drive toward all these resolutions and in some
ways they are related. Rose may not have
had in mind falling in love at all, but Seoirse is compelling her toward
love. Her real goal and the telic flaw
is how Seoirse supports Rose, but Rose’s completion of her assignment also
drives Seoirse’s assignment.
I know this is complex, but the entire concept of scenes and
the telic flaw resolution is complex.
Suffice to say, we need to write scenes which always support the telic
flaw resolution. Any scene that doesn’t
must be removed from the novel. The
important point is the revelation of the protagonist along with the resolution
of the telic flaw. So you need to
understand the telic flaw, the protagonist, and to some degree the
resolution. I’ll leave a little wriggle
room for the resolution. The reason is
that the resolution to a very complex telic flaw might not be immediately
obvious. It might require some deep
writing and rewriting. The resolution
doesn’t have to be that great, but in a really great novel, the resolution
should look impossible until it is inevitable, and this kind of writing is not
easy. Who said writing was easy?
This is where we are.
Perhaps you haven’t heard any of this.
None of this is taught by the professors and professorets most of whom
have never had anything published professionally except the textbooks you are
required to buy for their classes. So
this is really important knowledge of you want to write novels.
The novel is the revelation of the protagonist. Every novel is written in scenes. The structure of the scene is:
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
Within the scene is tension and release to delight the
reader. Each scene needs to be written
to continue the storyline. The storyline
develops according to the novel outline:
1. The initial scene
2. The rising action
scenes
3. The climax scene
4. The falling action
scene(s)
5. The dénouement
scene(s)
I’m writing about delighting your readers, and the key is
the scene. We see that tension and
release in the individual scenes is what drives delight. We also saw how the scenes fit together, or
should fit together, to resolve the telic flaw of the novel. This telic flaw is tied directly to the
protagonist. I wrote and write over and
over, the novel is the revelation of the protagonist.
The novel is a storyline based on the revelation of the
protagonist that resolves the telic flaw of the protagonist. The importance of this statement is that the
delight of the reader isn’t necessarily due to the telic flaw or the telic flaw
resolution. The delight of the reader is
found in the tension and release of the scenes and the tension and release of
the scenes is the revelation of the protagonist. In reality, the revelation of the protagonist
is part of the tension and release of the scenes, and that revelation is part
of the storyline in the scenes. The
connection of everything together is the telic flaw resolution which should be completely
tied to the scenes and the storyline.
This is how you write readable and successful novel. The ultimate problem for the writer is how to
make everything fit together in a cohesive manner. Some of this might be obvious to a few
experienced writers. If you note the
great foreshadowing, great cohesion, and great connections in the classics and
even some well written modern novels, these are the types of things that make a
great novel. In fact, many times the
classics and other novels don’t make these connections as well as they should.
Cohesion and writing for cohesion is something an
experienced author needs to be aware of and should always be trying to add to
scenes and to the storyline.
What I want to do is show how these internal references can
make your novel more cohesive and point out how to integrate and look for them.
I’ve never looked at or called cohesive elements internal
references before. I like that label. I also like the label cohesive elements. This is all a new idea for me, not cohesive
elements themselves but the entire idea that there are elements like this we can
identify. That’s the main point—if we
can label and name them, we can identify and use them.
Suffice to say, I use cohesive elements all the time. Like I said, I just didn’t name them
before. So what is a cohesive element?
We have setting elements. When we describe things and place
them on the stage of the novel, that is a setting element. When we have a character and especially the protagonist
interact with a setting element, that setting element becomes a creative
element. When a creative element flows
across scenes, the creative element becomes a plot element. Now, we could just call a cohesive element a
plot element, but as I noted, a cohesive element is an internal reference. I see this as not that distinctly different
than a plot element, but somewhat different than a plot element.
Here's what I think the difference really is. A plot element is somewhat expected by the
reader. We expect the setting elements
to be used by the characters and become creative elements in the
storylines. We then expect the creative elements
to help build the plot—the storylines.
What we usually don’t expect is when an internal reference from a
previous part of the novel suddenly gets appropriately interjected into the
current storyline. That becomes a part
of the plot, but it really delights the reader.
An example:
Remember Sara Crew and the most pathos developing scene in
Victorian Literature. This is the scene
where Sara is hungry and discovers a silver penny in the mud. The silver penny is a setting element that becomes
a creative element when Sara picks it up.
She takes it to a bakery where a starving girl is sitting on the stoop. Sara checks with the shop owner about the
silver penny. She uses the penny to buy
hot cross buns (that’s a fun reference in the novel as well). Sara gives most of the hot buns to the
starving girl and creates an event where the shop owner eventually takes in the
child. This is a single or at most a
double scene cohesive element with the silver penny, but you can see how the
penny is a reference that drives across the scenes. It is an internal reference. The same reference is used again, less
effectively when the little next door neighbor of Sara gives her his Christmas penny
and she puts it on a string around her neck.
The author could have used that internal reference better. There are better cohesive element references
in literature, but these are just a couple from a novel I hope most of you have
read.
In Seoirse, I use clothing as an internal reference in
almost every scene of the novel. This is
a type of internal and cohesive element.
I do this in many ways and tie it form scene to scene. I see this as a joke and irony producer as
well.
Actions can also be cohesive elements. In Seoirse, I use “rolling the eyes” as an
internal reference in becomes a constant idea in the novel to indicate how
characters feel. In addition, the “rolling
the eyes” becomes an indicator to Rose about how Seoirse is measuring up as a boyfriend.
Another cohesive element I’m using in Seoirse is horseback
riding. This plays out in more than one
way, but leads to Rose making friends with a Kelpie (Fae water horse) who helps
her win a challenge. There, of course,
is more.
The point is to bring up a cohesive element and use it
either piecemeal or through the entire novel.
As I noted, the cohesive element might not be critical to the plot, like
the use of clothing or “rolling the eyes” or important to the plot, like the
horseback riding. Some might be critical
to the telic flaw resolution like the Book of the Fae. You want to develop and use these elements
and especially cohesive elements to bring delight to your readers.
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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