19 September 2023, Writing - part xxx446 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, more on Ability
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.
I finished writing my 34th
novel (actually my 32nd completed novel), Seoirse, potential
title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment. The theme statement is: 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 cover
proposal for Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment:
|
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. I finished writing number 31, working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior. I just finished my 32nd novel and
33rd novel: Rose: Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse:
Enchantment and the Assignment.
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 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.
For novel 35: TBD
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.
My main focus, at the moment, is
marketing my novels. That specifically
means submissions. I’m aiming for agents
because if I can get an agent, I think that might give me more contacts with
publishers plus a let up in the business.
I would like to write another novel, but I’m holding off and editing one
of my older novels Shadow of Darkness.
I thought that novel would have fit perfectly with one potential agent
who said they were looking for Jewish based and non-Western mythology in
fantasy. That’s exactly what Shadow
of Darkness is, but they passed on it.
In any case, I’m looking for an agent who will fall in love with my
writing and then promote it to publishers.
That’s the goal.
The dependency I’d like to present in a
new novel is similar to Valeska but one where the protagonist falls
romantically in love with the focus. The
question is the focus.
Now, I’m looking and researching for a being
or character who would fit the needs of the book I’m proposing.
Don’t modify known settings, people, or
history unless you are writing alternate history. Modify, at will, those things that are not
known or recorded in history. That comes
to a very important point about historical fiction, even reflected worldview
historical fiction. That is that history
doesn’t record much of the mundane we wish to include in our novels.
If I’m going to develop a protagonist,
I need to bring out the protagonist outline.
I’ve got it somewhere in my writing—I just have to find it.
I
guess I’ll start with the Romantic part of the protagonist. Then I’ll move to the more specific pieces of
the protagonist. Most precisely, I’m
looking at the list of potential characters from my list of characters in my
other novels.
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.
I have
Áine as the potential focus of the novel.
She’s a Celtic goddess. This
focus isn’t set yet, but I need a protagonist, and I need to develop and design
one. I’m contemplating a son of the Stuarts
and the Calloways. Here’s the
information from my notes.
Elaina actually Evir Elisabeth Stuart, Gaelic:
Eamhair Ealasaid Stiùbhartach – The girl: she was blond with grey-blue
eyes and a very Nordic or Norman look.
Her long hair was tied in a tight French weave. She was tall and looked mature—much more
mature than Sorcha or Deirdre.
Old Raleigh
bike with a basket and a bell - an old Raleigh welded-steel frame girl’s
bicycle
Elaina actually Evir Elisabeth Stuart, Gaelic:
Eamhair Ealasaid Stiùbhartach g. Oxford
b. 1975 late to Wycombe Abbey a special student of Luna’s was being groomed for
work in Stela and the Organization. He specialty
is with the Fae. They are bound to her
because of her nobility and background.
She is not Fae but commands the Fae to some degree.
m.
James (Seumas) Donaidh Calloway b. 1971
c.
c.
I hadn’t
thought about this before, but James (the younger) Calloway would be the
perfect age to marry Elaina. Their
families would fit together well. Here’s
how things stand.
James
Calloway is the eldest son of Kathrin Calloway and James Calloway. I suspect I should call him Seumas after the
Gaelic fashion to prevent too much confusion.
I haven’t written much about him since Children of Light and Darkness
and Warrior of Light. We were
introduced to the very outgoing and interesting child, but we didn’t get much
of him after that. He is mentioned and
his family in Azure Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.
Since
Seumas is the son of Ceridwen the great goddess of the Gaelic and Celtic lands,
he would supposedly be somewhat sensitive to these things. His skills would be more based on knowledge. All the Calloways except Deirdre were graced
with great knowledge of languages. Most
specifically, from the Calloway side, Seumas would be very well educated and very
skilled in languages. He wouldn’t have
any other skills although he was touched and affected by the Unseelie Fae when
he was a child. I should use this as an excuse
or a reason he wasn’t very active and chose a back role in his life. He is the main connection with the government
and the Organization which isn’t as active a role as one you would expect from
his family. It should be a good fit for
his personality. His languages are
Gaelic, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, French, Greek, and we could add a few
others like Latin and perhaps some Asian languages. His father was an expert in Chinese (but not
specified which) and Burmese. The big
point is that Seumas did follow in his mother and father’s footsteps in the
Organization, but not in field work or as an agent. On the other hand, his brother Stewart was
the station chief for the Organization in Poland during Valeska: Enchantment
and the Vampire. We know more about
Stewart than Seumas. That’s probably enough
information.
Likewise,
Elaina is a person who is poor and comes from a prominent family, but that
doesn’t do her any good because she doesn’t take advantage of her powers at all. Elaina is touched. What this means is that she has the power of attraction
and charm based on glamour. She is the
child or nobility and aristocracy, but the Stuarts and her family and
aristocracy are not accepted or as powerful as they were in the past—part of
this is that until Elaina, no one in her family had this power. That is the reason Elaina is attending Wycombe
Abbey and is under the tutelage of Luna Bolang from Stela.
Stela
wants to use Elaina because of her power of charm. This is the power I need her son to have. The power of charm allows her and her son to
have power over the Fae, but the Fae are capricious and Elaina was always
unwilling to use it. Part of the reason
is the nature of her power. The reality
is that Elaina’s power is over humans too.
This is one of the major points from Deirdre: Enchantment and the
School. Elaina was just unwilling to
use her power especially with people, but it’s natural for her.
I’m
not sure how I want to play this.
Certainly, I can’t have a character who gets everything they want without
some restraint. Elaina didn’t want any
extra attention. Perhaps that will be
part of the problem or experience of her son.
That might be the event that drives the initial scene. That’s what I’ll move to eventually.
This
might create the very conflict I want to build on. The protagonist from Eliana’s family wants to
go to the military and into the special training he knows a little about. I should develop his connections to Seoirse
and his brother as well as his sisters.
That would make an even better and stronger potential confrontation and
conflicted characters. I’m still
contemplating. I’ll get to the skills
and character next.
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 want to write another book based on
Rose and Seoirse, and the topic will be the raising of Ceridwen—at least that’s
my plan. Before I get to that, I want to
write another novel about dependency as a theme. We shall see.
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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