Writing - part xxx473 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Sex

 16 October 2023, Writing - part xxx473 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Sex

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 21^st 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 31^st 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 34^th novel (actually my 32^nd 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 30^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29^th novel, working title Detective.  I finished writing number 31, working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior.  I just finished my 32^nd novel and 33^rd 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: Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

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. Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach)

                                                            c. Aife (Eva) Eamhair (Evir) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach)

So, my protagonist Eoghan will have the very special skills of charm and sensitivity to the creatures of the land.  He won’t have any other general powers of glamour. 

2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different than normal culture or society’s.

He knows the Fae, the creatures of the land, angels, the God, and the gods and goddesses of the land.  That gives him a moral basis centered on an orthodox belief.  His family goes to church and practices all the strong tenants of Christianity. 

3. Courageous

Still, Eoghan and his sister gained some degree of training their mother and father never expected.  Eoghan is a park ranger with the Scottish National Park authority.  He was taught at their special training in law enforcement and all its attendant training.  The British military taught many of his courses, especially in hand to hand, weapons, and the wilderness.  He knows more than his mother would like, and he is strongly attracted to this life and this training.  He would like to be part of the military and has had overtures.  He is naturally courageous and naturally good.  Then he finds Aine, and she will give him a purpose for his special skills.

4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are outside of the normal society.

Just be aware, it must have to do with the use of their powers of charm and sensitivity in relation to leadership.  That’s the ticket.   

5. Introspective

Eoghan must be an introspective character.  We have a protagonist’s helper to aid him in expressing his mind, but he won’t let out much or as much as Aine wants and that will help drive the novel.  Remember, in writing a novel, secrets are your best friend.   

6. Travel plot

I don’t expect a really powerful travel plot like I provided in Rose and Seoirse, but we need to get Eoghan and Aine into the regular world and into regular society—that’s where the differences and the interactions with people and each other can really play out.  Plus, there is no way after about 1500 or more years in a crypt that Aine wants to remain holed up in a rural or wilderness area.  She’s for society and culture, plus part of the real fun in the novel is for them both to have new and exciting experiences together.  The travel plot makes all this possible.

7. Melancholy

Eoghan is like his mother Elaina and his sister.  They are all touched by their mother’s and family’s depreciation of their aristocracy.  They lost all in the game of promotion and house.  They lost in the game of thrones, so to speak, but they all have charm and sensitivity to the Fae and beings of the land.  That makes them powerful in their own way, but powerless in society.  This is what we will change in Eoghan.  That’s one aspect of the novel’s telic flaw.      

8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four and one.

This is the desire that will consume and empower Eoghan.  This is what will drive him and Aine forward in the novel.  He will have special skills, but the reader will realize that it isn’t the skill but the dedication and work behind the skill that leads to Eoghan’s success.    

9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the cultural mold.  From the common.

I’m sure there are other ways to develop this pathos in the novel.  For Rose and in Seoirse, I used some other methods and means based on Rose’s qualities and skills to develop pathos.  In general, I used dependency and the military situation in Seoirse to build pathos.  This is easy with females, but a little less easy with males.  With females, the pathos becomes situational.  For men, the pathos is dependency based.  I’m planning and building a male protagonist, so these are important considerations.  With Seoirse, I could play off the female development of pathos and the male pathos.  I think this is a great means of designing pathos.  I might be able to do this for Eoghan with Aine too.              

10. Regret when they can’t follow their own moral compass.

In the end, Eoghan might regret some of his actions and the results of his actions.  This creates a situation that provides tension and release.  It also continues the tension and release in what is called a sequel by some writers. 

11. Self-criticism when they can’t follow their own moral compass.

In any case, self-criticism will be a characteristic of Eoghan, and it will drive Aine crazy.  Aine will be from an era where people made decisions based on life and death.  She isn’t used to second guessing.  I can imagine one of their discussions. 

To solve a problem, she says just kill someone or something.  Eoghan says no, and that astounds her.  Perhaps she will need to learn to be self-critiquing.   

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.

I will point out that with many and normal Romantic protagonists, the exclusion and self-isolation is intentional and permanent.  They desire it.  The exclusion and self-isolation caused by being an orphan or a partial orphan are also permanent and tend to develop automatic pathos in the reader for the Romantic protagonist.  I won’t use this for Eoghan. 

13. From the common and potentially the rural.

In any case, we want our Romantic protagonist to be out of the common.  We can work this in many ways, but the ultimate point is to convince the reader that the Romantic protagonist is just like them and not really special at all.

14. Love interest

So, we’ll have a great setup for this novel, this Romantic protagonist, and this protagonist’s helper.  What will really be fun is seeing Aine totally outside her comfort zone for many reasons trying to win over Eoghan.  I need to think on the details, but that’s what I’m thinking.  She’ll try all the wiles she knows and all the wiles she can figure out.

Meanwhile, Eoghan will want her to be mellow and gentle, but that’s not her way.  Can these lovebirds recover from each other?  Can they find love?  Will Aine have her way with Eoghan, or will she chicken out.  We shall see.  That’s what a love interest is all about. 

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 – I’m developing the initial scene, and I’m building it in my mind.  Here’s what I’m thinking.  Eoghan is a hard-working, isolated, and very skilled man.  His job is taking care of the supernatural issues in the National Parks of Scotland and Britian.  He has been assigned a case from his mother through Stela.  Stela is the group under “the Organization” that handles protecting Britian from the supernatural.  I should note there is a significant system, not large in numbers, but high in power and connections to do just this.  They are under the Crown and by “the Organization.”  Eoghan’s mother, Eliana is a real recluse who works for the Crown and who has aristocratic roots, but from an old line of royalty of the British.  She is touched.  That means she has the power of charm and sensitivity to the supernatural.  That’s why she’s in charge of the part of Stela that handles small issues of supernatural problems.  She works at home and investigates so others can handle the problems in the field.  That’s what Eoghan does.  Eoghan’s sister wants to do work similar to Eoghan.  So far she’s not allowed. 

Now, for the initial scene, Eoghan has been sent to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park near Glasgow and Stirling to handle a supernatural nuisance.  I think I’ll make this a very dangerous kind of Scottish Fae.  Eoghan has to apply some strength and power against this creature.  In the end, he will be injured, but he will discover a hidden old Anglo-Saxon graveyard with an inscription and a crypt.  The creature will lead him there and his injury with the power he has to exert will allow him to find the place.  Perhaps to protect himself he’ll need to escape to this hidden oasis of protection. 

There Eoghan will find the inscription and the crypt.  The injured and escaping Eoghan finds an ancient and secret Anglo-Saxon graveyard in the wilds of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.  There, Eoghan finds the inscription and a crypt.  Of course, since he has nothing better to do—he’s waiting for the dangerous Fae creature or creature of the land to go away.

When he inspects the inscription, he finds he can read it.  He and his family are experts at languages and especially ancient British languages, actually Gaelic and Celtic languages.  This is one of the skills of Stela and a trained skill of Eoghan and his family.  This comes from a deep and long running training and experience of these families. 

Because Eoghan can understand the inscription, and I think I’ll make it an ancient but kind of obvious Anglo-Saxon joke or riddle.  They really liked their jokes and tricks.  The joke will be at Aine’s expense and saying a curse or making fun of her will result in her being released from a spell holding her.  Then Eoghan will have to rescue her from the crypt. 

Aine is an interesting being and focus.  She is an unbound goddess.  This means she has some life and some death.  She is a being with fettered powers who is not fully human but not fully a goddess.  She is a being made to point to the eternal and to the real Dagda.  The Dagda is the Celtic and Gaelic name for God.  Part of Aine’s problem is that she was made and then captured and interned before the revelation of the Son of God.  This is something she will experience and learn in this novel.  This is a recurring theme in my novels of this type.  This fits directly into the mind and knowledge of Eoghan.  If you remember, as a Romantic protagonist, he has a moral compass and a ethos based on Christianity.  This will meet Aine’s needs like nothing else and will endear her to Eoghan.  Also, Eoghan will he a good teacher and helper.

The final part of this initial scene will be Aine and Eoghan’s trek back through the wilderness.  They will have to defeat the creature of the land and make their way back to Eoghan’s home.  There the creature of the land will become an issue, and we shall see other interactions that force Aine and Eoghan to move forward.

2.     At the same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the initial scene.  That means the minimum of:

a.      Telic flaw – I already wrote the theme statement for this novel.  Here it is:

 

Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

To make a theme statement, we need a protagonist—that’s Eoghan.  We also need an antagonist or a protagonist’s helper—that’s Aine.  We have an initial setting—that’s the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.  We also have a telic flaw—that’s Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.  There is the telic flaw. 

 

When I get ready to write this novel, I’ll start with the initial scene, but the entire focus of the novel will be the resolution of the telic flaw.  To achieve this, we need to define Eoghan and Aine in the context of the novel and their world—that’s the novel. 

 

That’s the way a Romantic protagonist works, and the main part of the resolution is the introspection and the mind of the protagonist.  We show this with action and through dialog, and that’s the purpose of the protagonist’s helper. 

 

A theme statement defines the novel and especially the initial scene of the novel.  This also sets up the telic flaw.  I like to write a theme statement before I write a novel. 

 

My writing mentor Roz Young was all into themes and theme statements.  She understood them explicitly from her education and life experience.  She was one of the Greatest Generation, as they have been called.  I think her ideas about a theme and her idea of a theme statement were very different than we use today.  As I’ve written, I’m not certain anyone can really define the theme of a novel.  Novels are filled with different plots and different themes.  Roz’s view of a theme was different than what we might think today.  I wrote a theme statement for Roz when I was working on Aegypt.  I’m not sure that theme statement was very helpful or useful.  Here’s the theme I wrote for Roz for Aegypt:

 

Theme:  How do men react to the spiritual when it is revealed to them plainly, and how do we communicate those thoughts across centuries and drawing rooms? 

She also wanted a plot statement.  Here it is:

 

Plot:  A foreign legion lieutenant discovers the Egyptian goddesses of good and evil in an ancient tomb;  they are brought to life when the tomb is opened, and their 4000 year old conflict begins again.

The problem with both of these is they are really not very helpful.  I don’t have a theme statement in the sense I write now for Aegypt.  The closest is the plot statement above.  That’s actually a theme statement in my books.  As I wrote, I’m not so much into the idea of a singular theme for any novel.  In fact, can you really define or write a simple theme statement, in the sense of above, for any novel you’ve read?  I’d say no you can’t.  You can try to express a statement about a general theme, but it’s really almost impossible to write a unified statement of theme for any novel.  It’s like making a statement that the theme of War and Peace is about war and peace—kind of silly, right?  Or how about this, Pride and Prejudice is about love, or Pride and Prejudice is about pride and prejudice.  The very idea of this kind of characterization is silly.  That’s why I write, the best we can achieve, and the most helpful statement we can have is what I call a theme statement. Like the one I repeat below:

 

Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

You might argue that this is more of a plot statement, but I do think that’s the best we can do for a novel.  I do use this “theme statement” to help me define and write my novels.

 

b.     Approximate age – I already wrote that Eoghan is between 19 and 21.  I think I settled on 20.  Here’s the details:                        

m. 2005 James (Seumas) Donaidh Calloway b. 1971 m. at 34 y.  2028 57 y. 

                                                            c. b. 2008 Jan Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 20 y.

                                                            c. b. 2012 Aife (Eva) Eamhair (Evir) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 16 y.

                                                            Aine appears about 16 y.

c.      Approximate social degree – you might wonder about social degree or social position.  Why would that be important?  When we are developing out protagonist and especially a Romantic protagonist, the social degree is very important and specifically from the standpoint of fitting into the telic flaw, plot, and initial scene.

     

      If you remember, one of the abiding characteristics of a Romantic protagonist is from the common.  They come from a lower social level background.  Now, in the modern world, we can play with this a little bit.  The point of this is two-fold.  The first point is that the Romantic protagonist should start as a common person.  What we historically call the common man.  This provides the shared values and position with most readers.  The author uses this basis to raise the Romantic protagonist to some degree of success.  This is usually part of the climax or results in the climax. 

 

      The second point is the development of pathos through position and setting.  The Romantic protagonist starts in a pathos condition.  They are poor, abused, unaccepted, unknown, unloved, and all.  In the end, they should be the opposite or at least parts of their life should be redeemed and improved.  Here’s what we can do in the modern era.

 

      As you note, my Romantic protagonist, Eoghan is from an aristocratic background, but still middle class or lower.  His family holds no official positions of power or aristocracy.  They are just from an aristocratic background, but one not accepted or acknowledged.  This does appeal to modern readers who see this as them.  They too could be related to aristocrats but with no inheritance or acknowledgement.  I think this works really well in modern writing.  At the same time, Eoghan comes from the middle class in wealth, position, work, and family.  I’m not repeating myself.

 

      I’m noting that Eoghan is just a regular guy.  His family has some doubtful aristocratic connections, but no wealth or position.  This leads to where he is right now.  He does have some skills and powers that came from his background, but this is a classic trope in a Romantic protagonist and Romantic novels.  This also appeals to readers.  You can see how many if not most readers really latched on to Harry Potty even though he was a born messiah with really acknowledged aristocratic parents, and had powers beyond any human imagination.  He started abused, poor, unaccepted, friendless, and unknown.  The reality was very different, and when he entered the world of magic, all that came out in a non-Romantic fashion.  Still readers liked this because it was the basics of the Romantic protagonist.

 

      For Eoghan, he will be from an interesting background that allows him some opportunities, but most of them will be due to himself and not his background.  This is why I’d like to get Rose involved.  Rose has wealth and position, and she will know who should be her friends. 

    

d.     Sex – the sex of a character has a significant affect on the novel and the development of the character.  I’m sure you can see the most obvious results or effects.  In the modern world, these seem to have more to do with sex and sexual attraction than with anything really important.  Yes, romance is important, but it’s really important in a romance novel or a novel with a romance theme and genre, but not necessarily in other novels.  However, the sex of the protagonist and especially the Romantic protagonist has a significant effect on the pathos development and the novel itself.

 

      In terms of pathos development, a female character and especially a female protagonist can produce pathos just by the circumstances of existence.  The classic pre-modern trope is the woman or girl who has been promised in marriage to another.  This immediately produces a pathos situation in the mind of the reader.  On the other hand, a male in the same situation does not create the same pathos response.  The reader expects the woman to be rescued or to gain relief, while the reader expects the man to either face his situation or do something about it.  The same is true of the modern protagonist.

 

      A female protagonist who is hungry, poor, abused, captive, and all is a total pathos developer.  A male is not.  Readers expect males to be able to fight or escape their circumstances while they expect females to not.  This is a cultural and social situation and not really a problem.  It provides a great basis for an author who takes advantage of these circumstances.  I do routinely.  I produce female protagonists whom I know will generate great pathos in the reader just be their circumstances.  I don’t expect male protagonists to do the same.  This comes down to Eoghan.

 

      Eoghan is from the common in terms of wealth, real position, and work.  This is a beginning state.  He doesn’t really lack much, but he desires more.  The pathos generation for a male protagonist is usually his actions in the world.  We expect males to take the world by the tail and try to succeed.  Their dedication to the goals of the circumstances are what generate the pathos in the reader for the male protagonist.  Thus, Eoghan will gain traction by how he treats and interacts with Aine.  It’s his actions especially when put upon by others that develop his pathos in a reader.  I think this is a very important point for the writer to understand about male and female characters.  Pathos is a very important part of writing and especially novels. 

 

      Let’s write a little about pathos.  Pathos is what a reader feels about a character.  It isn’t the emotions of the character but rather the emotions of the reader.  This is the effect we wish to have on out readers.  We want to specifically control the emotive response of those who read our writing.  You can’t do this directly.  In fact, direct manipulation of an audience usually results in bathos rather than pathos.  Bathos is where a reader experiences an incorrect emotion while reading.  You see bathos when the audience laughs during a tense and emotional scene in a movie or a play.  Pathos is the correct response of the reader or audience to a situation, while bathos is the incorrect response. 

 

      As I wrote, pathos can never be directly engaged.  For example, having your characters sit around and cry about something is the surest way to bathos, however, having your protagonist face a trying and important emotional issue without shedding a tear can have your readers reaching for the tissues.  If you remember, pathos is the entire point of tension and release and the novel itself, you are on the right track.  The selection of the sex of your protagonist and especially of a Romantic protagonist can have a great effect on your novel.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing—So You Want to be a Writer, New Novel, My Novels, Refine the Protagonist, Telic Flaw, Plots, Achievement

 

16 October 2023, this blog is about writing in scenes.  I’m focusing on the tools to build scenes.  I’ll leave up the parts of a novel because I think this is an important picture for any novelist.  I’m writing about how to begin and write a novel.

1.      The initial scene

2.     The rising action scenes

3.     The climax scene

4.     The falling action scene(s)

5.     The dénouement scene(s)

Announcement:   I need a new publisher.  Ancient Light has been delayed due to the economy, and it may not be published.  Ancient Light includes Aegypt, Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness.  If you are interested in historical/suspense literature, please give my novels a try.  You can read about them at http://www.ancientlight.com.  I’ll keep you updated.

Today’s Blog: The skill of using language comes from the ability to put together figures of speech that act as symbols in writing.

Short digression:  Back in Wichita 

Here are my rules of writing:

1. Entertain your readers.

2. Don’t confuse 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.

 

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. 

Scene development:

Here is the beginning of the scene development method from the 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

 

First step of writing—enjoy writing.  Writing is a chore—especially if you don’t know what you are doing, and you don’t know where you are going.  Let me help you with that.

 

Today:

 

These are the two novels I’m contemplating writing.  I’m going for Seoirse first, and I developed these protagonists and the protagonist’s helpers for these novels.

 

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: Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

At this point, I am in the process of editing Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  I’d previously given you parts of this novel as examples of how to produce scenes.  I finished the novel, and I’m in the process of editing.

 

What I want to do is finish the editing and then produce the marketing materials.  I did this for Rose, and I think it was a great exercise for me and for the blogs. 

 

Perhaps the best thing for me to do is to write about editing.  At this point, I’m editing for reason.  At the same time, I’m editing for repeated words, ideas, and with cohesive names and places.  These are all important to hold to the suspension of disbelief. 

 

Let’s look at how to make the most of the types of storylines where we continue an idea or a plot.  Just what is this, and how does it work?  It starts with the scenes.

 

A scene always starts with the setting elements.  Look at 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

 

If you notice, the first thing we write is the scene setting.  You can continue setting development through the scene, but every scene should start with the setting.  You must set the stage of the novel with the scene setting. 

 

In the first place, without setting elements, you can’t write anything.  You must introduce setting elements to be able to have action and dialog.  The setting elements usually come out of narration of some type. 

 

Every creative element should also be a plot element.  If they are not, you should not make them a creative element. 

 

This means the plots must further the telic flaw resolution and nothing else.  A plot element can become a telic resolution element.  However, I should write, a plot element should always become a telic resolution element.

 

I’ve never put this completely together before.  Here’s a chronological list of my novels:

 

The Second Mission (399 to 400 BC)

Centurion (6 BC to 33 AD)

Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon 1917 – 1918 (1920)

Aegypt 1926

Sister of Light 1926 – 1934

Sister of Darkness 1939 – 1945

Shadow of Darkness 1945 – 1953

Shadow of Light 1953 – 1956

Antebellum 1965 (1860 to 1865)

Children of Light and Darkness 1970 – 1971

Warrior of Light 1974 – 1976

Warrior of Darkness 1980 – 1981

Deirdre: Enchantment and the School 1992 - 1993

Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors 1993 - 1994

Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth 2000 - 2001

Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si 2002 - 2005

Khione: Enchantment and the Fox 2003 - 2004

Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective 2008 - 2009

Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden 2009 - 2010

Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire 2014 - 2015

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer 2014 - 2015

September 2022 – death of Elizabeth

Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse 2025 - 2026

2026 death of Mrs. Calloway

Rose: Enchantment and the Flower January to April 2028

Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment August to November 2028

science fiction

The End of Honor

The Fox’s Honor

A Season of Honor

Athelstan Cying

Twilight Lamb

Regia Anglorum

Shadowed Vale

Ddraig Goch – not completed

What’s the point?  I just wanted to list all my novels in chronological order.  I’m not sure where I’m going from this, but I thought it was a fun idea.  I didn’t put in the dates of the science fiction because although it is possible to figure them out, they are pretty esoteric.  All the other novels are connected in history and time.

 

On to a protagonist.  I need to pull one from my stack of potential characters.   Here’s some possibilities from my notes:

 

I’ll make some annotations and indicate the novels too.

 

I’m working on my notes.  For now, I’ll pull off the extraneous information that we don’t need and I’ll focus on the protagonist, the focus (protagonist’s helper) and the initial scene.

 

2028

Rosewood House – the family Calloway

Kathrin McClellan Calloway (Goddess Ceridwen) – 1954 – 18 – b. 1940 d. 2026 (Children of Light and Darkness plus numerous)

                        1982 – 42 years – 72 years

                        2002 – 62 years

                        2015 – 75 years

                        2025 – 85 years, died

                        2028 – dead

James Calloway – 1982 – 46 years – 76 years – 79 years – 66 years – 83 years in 2025 he is C, head of MI6 – died 2026

            Assistant in 2025 - Jack

Children

            James (Seumas) Donaidh – b. April 1971 – 1982 – 11 years – 41 years – 54 y – 2028, 57 y – Head of government coordination with the Organization – Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire

            m.

            James’ children have potential, but I haven’t developed a family for him

Rosewood House in 2028

            Stewart (Stiùbhart) Oghma – b. April 1972 – 1982 – 10 years – 40 years – 53 y, (2028) 56 y. – Head of the Organization – he appears in many of the novels, but I haven’t developed his family.

            m.

            Flora (Flòraidh) Claire (Sorcha) Calloway Davis – March 1974 – 1982 – 8 years – 38 years – 51y, 54 y. – Foreign Office

                        Claire (Sorcha) Davis Easom – b. 1995 -- 19 (2014) – 7 years (2002) – 30 years (2025), (2028) 33 years – head of Stela intelligence office – blond haired (must change in Essie—she is said to be a red head.) protagonist’s helper and appears in Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse as well as mentioned in many other novels.  She appears in Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si.

m. 2025 Easom – head of Sorcha’s intelligence travel

            Deirdre Effie (Oighrig) b. May 1977 – 1982 – 5 years 1993 - 16 – 35 years – 48 y, 51 y. Royal Air Force commander (Deirdre: Enchantment and the School and Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors)

            Entered Cranwell 1995 at 18

                        m. 1998 to Christopher MacLeod from Scotland – he attended Cranwell  They are a flying officers in the British Air Force

                                                c. 2000 – b.

                                                c. 2005 – g.

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.  Her 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. at 30 y. 2028 53 y.

                                    m. 2005 James (Seumas) Donaidh Calloway b. 1971 m. at 34 y.  2028 57 y.  

                                                            c. b. 2008 Jan Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 20 y.

                                                            c. b. 2012 Aife (Eva) Eamhair (Evir) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 16 y.

 

Here’s the list for protagonist development:

1.   Define the initial scene – let’s start with the initial scene.  Here’s the scene 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

2.     At the same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the initial scene.  That means the minimum of:  I’ve developed Eoghan to some degree.  I’ll get to the details now.

a.      Telic flaw – fitting in and self-development with late coming of age.

b.     Approximate age – I’ve written 18 to 21.    

c.      Approximate social degree – high, but hidden. 

d.     Sex – male.

3.     Refine the protagonist

a.      Physical description – I haven’t thought much about this, but I guess I need to make a start at it.

 

Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) was a young man of average stature, height, and build.  He was so average you might miss him in the crowd except he was a man no one could miss.  His bearing wasn’t really different from most other men, but you couldn’t miss him in any crowd.  His height was not taller than others, he was average, but for some reason he always stood out.  His face was pleasant and somewhat nondescript, but it wasn’t nondescript at all.  It was striking in the most unstriking fashion.  He just looked regal while seeming completely normal.  Women couldn’t keep from looking at him, and men wanted to all be his friend.  They flocked around him, but never hid him or overwhelmed him.  All the time, he seemed like the calmest and most reasonable person.  He was the person you wanted to invite for any reason, tea, a meal, a game, a walk—just being near him was calming and wonderful.  Even when words didn’t pass from his lips, the time was delightful.  Men wanted to hear his voice and women to touch his hand.  His voice was unimpressive and quiet, but filled with promises and strength.  It was as if every word that came out of his mouth bolstered and strengthened even when he didn’t say something erudite or when he remarked about the weather.  It was uncanny and soothing, never unnerving or worrisome.  Even his name, Eoghan Ragnall Stuart felt noble while sounding so unnormally normal.  If you called him by his Anglicized name Owen Ragnall Calloway, it still sounded noble but normal.  And then his smile was always encompassing, but unassuming.  It had a slightly gloomy bent as if he took even happiness and jovialness in a sober and thoughtful way so even the most lame jokes became important and intelligent even when they weren’t.  Eoghan was always the life of the party, but unfortunately, he didn’t attend many parties at all.  He was too busy as a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger handling small difficulties for the Crown and Stela.

 

I’ll stick with this description for now and look at it again tomorrow.

 

b.     Background – history of the protagonist

                                                  i.     Birth – Jan 2008 at 2028 is 20 y.

                                                ii.     Setting – Scotland near Stirling and between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  Somewhat isolated.

                                              iii.     Life – born and raised in that area.  Graduated from British grammar school but has not attended any university.  Desires to go into the military as an officer.  Currently working for the Scottish National Park Authority as a Ranger.  Does special work with the Fae.  The only one.

                                               iv.     Education – Stated above

                                                v.     Work – Stated above.  Point is that is one of one in Scotland who handles the Fae in and around the National Parks.

                                               vi.     Profession – At this moment a Park Ranger

                                             vii.     Family - 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.  Her 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. at 30 y. 2028 53 y.  She appears in Dierdre: Enchantment and the School and Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  

                                    m. 2005 James (Seumas) Donaidh Calloway b. 1971 m. at 34 y.  2028 57 y.  He appears first in Children of Light and Darkness but is barely mentioned in any other work.

                                                            c. b. 2008 Jan Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 20 y.

                                                            c. b. 2012 Aife (Eva) Eamhair (Evir) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 16 y.

 

c.      Setting – current

      At the risk of too much repetition, I’ll continue with this.  We know Eoghan’s current situation and circumstance.  I’ll describe it again and perhaps get more out of it.

                                                  i.     Life – Eoghan’s current life is as a Scottish Park Authority Ranger who accomplishes special work that most aren’t familiar with.  Britain has a little problem with the supernatural, but most people have no idea there is any problem or any supernatural.  This is the reflected worldview I use in my novels.  The Stela branch under the Organization in British intelligence is the organization that handles any problems with the supernatural.  Usually, they try to maintain an even strain.  The Crown pays for this work and is aware of it.  They get reports from the Chancellor of the Book of the Fae about normal issues that are handled judicially, and they get reports from Stela for issues that are handled legally.  When I write legally, I mean by the agents of Stela.  Eoghan’s mother happens to be an operative for Stela.  She would have made a fantastic agent, but she just can’t handle confrontation or her own charm skills.  Her son, Eoghan is not used to confrontations, but isn’t adverse to them.  Her daughter, isn’t either.  Both son and daughter want to work as agents for Stela and the Organization.  Eoghan is, but he doesn’t fully understand his situation or what his mother does.  This is a little of a secret to him.  Aine will eventually lead him it understand all this. 

                                                ii.     Setting – the setting is the Scottish national park just north of Glasgow and west of Stirling.  The Fae like closed, uninhabited, and quiet areas.  That’s why there are more problems with them in and around these places.  That’s why Eoghan is on the job.  He doesn’t understand everything about his work or why he is the only person keeping track of the Fae and working to prevent any issues, but there you are.

                                              iii.     Work – Eoghan’s work is as a park ranger, but he is a special park ranger.  He handles the Fae and problems with the Fae.  That doesn’t mean he doesn’t help with human problems.  We shall see how this works out too.  In fact, a great scene for tension and release might be that Eoghan needs to fix some human problem in the park on his way back.  That might really show off his and Aine’s skills.

d.     Name - b. 2008 Jan Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach) – 2028, 20 y.

4.     Refine the details of the protagonist – We can already see that Eoghan is a very complex character.  He is, like all characters, a product of his environment and background.  We see that Eoghan has skills and abilities that potentially surpass the norm.  These are the basis for his power as a Romantic protagonist, but they are undeveloped.  Part of the power and the basis for the development of the plot is the training of Eoghan in his skills.  Here is how we design a character in the Romantic sense.  They are filled or have some potential latent skill or ability.  The point of the novel is to present the training and self-fulfillment of this skill or ability.  If you remember, the Romantic protagonist must develop their specific skill or ability through hard work to make them capable beyond normal human expectations and to use that skill or ability to resolve the telic flaw.  That’s the power of the Romantic protagonist, and that’s how we design and develop a Romantic protagonist.  Notice how many if not most Romantic protagonists develop in a novel.  I the case of Harry Potty (who isn’t that great of a Romantic protagonist), he discovers his skills and abilities (magic) and then he develops them.  In the main, Harry is not a great Romantic protagonist because his skills develop without much work on his part.  We see many other characters working much harder than he does, so we wonder how he really achieves anything.  Generally, the power of the Romantic protagonist comes from how hard we see him or her work to develop his or her skills and abilities, or how much effort we realize he or she expended to arrive at his or her current level of skill.  That’s exactly what we want to show in Eoghan.  We know he has the latent skill of charm and of sensitivity to the Fae.  Aine, as a queen of the Fae and an expert in sovereignty, should be able to pull out and help Eoghan develop these skills.  The point in the novel is then to show the development of these skills.  I’m not certain where or how this novel will go, but the main point of it is Aine and her effect on Eoghan.  That’s the point of a focus and a protagonist’s helper on any novel.

a.      Emotional description (never to be shared directly) – this is somewhat difficult to describe because I haven’t designed or written much about him.  I gave a description of him, but that’s a physical description.  We never share any of this information with our readers.  The physical description is showing, but any emotional description is telling.  Therefore, we will never give any kind of emotional description of Eoghan.  That doesn’t mean we might not allow others to talk about him and describe how he seems, but that’s not an emotional description but rather an opinion from some character.  We could have Eoghan’s mother, sister, father, or Aine describe how he seems.  That might be fun.  Now, what is Eoghan’s mental makeup or rather his emotional makeup?

 

      Eoghan has very powerful desires but all of them are carefully controlled and subjugated.  This is like his mother, who controls and subjugates her power and desires.  Perhaps her desires were met with her current job and her mate.  Likewise Seamus Calloway finds all he needs in Elaina and his work, but although Eoghan was born and raised in this environment, he wasn’t set himself to it.  Likewise, his sister isn’t resolved to the life of her family and parents.  Eoghan is not a simmering volcano, Eoghan is a completely controlled person.  We won’t see him lose control, but he’ll let out his emotions and his desires in small batches as appropriate.  That’s Eoghan tightly wound and completely in control.  When he lets it out, he’ll have great success, and will help others.

b.     Mental description (never to be shared directly) – many inexperienced authors seem to miss the point about what information we share about a character and what information we next share about a character.  The mental and emotional makeup of the character are definitely never shared, ever.  You may show all of this through their actions, but you never tell the reader about the character.  In some cases, you might share information in dialog.  For example, one character might tell another about a character.  Or a protagonist might tell what they think to another character.  Showing through dialog or actions are the answer to showing the protagonist.  We don’t ever tell the mental state or the reasons for a protagonist’s actions.  We might let the protagonist tell another character why they acted in some way, but only if that forwards the plot and the novel—specifically the telic flaw development and resolution. 

 

      Now to Eoghan.  I think you can see what Eoghan is like—the strong silent type who is always questioning himself.  I could say much more about this, but I’ll likely get to that later.

c.      Likes and dislikes (never to be shared directly)

      What does your protagonist like and dislike?  This is a key question, but we can never ever tell our readers this.  We can show them through dialog and through actions.  For example, what does Eoghan like? 

Eoghan loves books and study.  He also loves action and activity.  He loves discipline and the idea of the military.  He loves his family and he is interested in fully living his life.  How does this contrast with Aine. 

 

Aine is the protagonist’s helper, but she is also the focus of the novel.  She will be a very unusual character for me.  I haven’t had an illiterate character in my writing in a while.  She won’t be totally illiterate, but functionally illiterate and she will wonder all the time what Eoghan sees in books.  Then she will want to learn a little about writing and reading.  This will be grand comedy and very entertaining.  Aine also loves action but not necessarily activity.  She’s somewhat lazy.  She is completely undisciplined.  I want to play this out to the max.  Aine will be coming into a group of the totally disciplined.  She will be teaching Eoghan new things, and he will be teaching her new things.

5.     Telic flaw resolution – I must define and write about the telic flaw again.  The reasons should be obvious.  The telic flaw is the most important point or part of the novel.  Without a telic flaw, there is no novel and no protagonist or antagonist.  First, what is a or the telic flaw.

The telic flaw is the problem that must be resolved by the protagonist in the novel.  It is not the problem or a problem of the protagonist, but it can be.  I use the detective novel as an example of the telic flaw.  In a detective novel, the telic flaw is the crime.  The detective (protagonist) must resolve the crime.  We usually say solve the crime, and for a detective or mystery novel, solve is a reasonable description, but many times, the telic flaw is not solved, it is always resolved.  For example, if the telic flaw of the novel is the death of a parent, child, or spouse, the problem can’t be solved, you can’t bring back the dead, in a real worldview, but you can resolve the problem of death in some fashion.

In any case, every novel must have a telic flaw.  You might ask, as do I, what is the telic flaw of this novel Aine?  This is a deeper question and one that can only be answered with the protagonist and the focus.  If you note or know, the protagonist always comes with a telic flaw.  In a simple detective novel, the detective is the one who desires to solve the mystery or the crime.  That connects them directly to the telic flaw.  In the case of more complex or more arduous types of plots or telic flaws, they aren’t so simple and they have much deeper connections to the protagonist, protagonist’s helper, and the focus of the novel.

We need to first look at Eoghan to see what qualities her brings that need to be resolved.  The Romantic protagonist has some real internal issues that usually define the telic flaw.  In the first case, you can just look at the list of Romantic protagonist qualities.  The first is “some power or ability outside the norm of society that the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.”  Usually, the development of this power or ability is part of the telic flaw resolution and development.  As a general guide, I listed as the telic flaw “fitting in and self-development with late coming of age.”  This is a good beginning, but the actual telic flaw should and will have deeper connections in the novel and the world of the protagonist.  At his point, I think I can write a theme statement for the novel, and I will:

Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

a.      Changes required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw – sometimes this is referred to the protagonist’s development or the change in the protagonist.  I do want to warn you, the protagonist does indeed change, but this change is driven by the writer and is structurally part of the novel.  This change is not to the character but is a function of the qualities of the Romantic protagonist.  It is not willy-nilly and it is completely planned before the author begins to write.  Of all parts of the novel, this is one of the most important and delicate and perhaps the least understood by many authors. 

 

The reason this is so important to me is because I’ve seen it misused and abused way too often.  Most readers would be interested in a Romantic protagonist who changes based on discovering and acquiring a skill to the appropriate level required to resolve the telic flaw.  This is the main power of the Romantic protagonist.  You can also have a Romantic protagonist, like Flavia de Luca who already has her skills and applies them to resolve the telic flaw, or not.  Here’s one of the real problems I have with Flavia—Flavia rarely uses her magnificent skills to resolve the telic flaw.  Her skills are in chemistry, and the author wisely uses an action based climax, which is a great idea but not at all a great Romantic type plot.  Harry Potty has similar issues.  His telic flaw resolutions are usually based in action and not really magic as the full on resolution.  In the first novel, magic saves the day, but it almost seems like an accident.  In any case, the telic flaw resolution should be the result of the Romantic protagonist’s skills and the best change ever is the development of these skills to reach the correct level of power or ability.  As a reminder, the level for the Romantic protagonist should be higher than anyone else in that area or that skill.  This is a key factor in any Romantic protagonist.  Their skills are developed to the degree that only they can resolve the telic flaw, and for a Romantic plot, the resolution looks impossible until it is inevitable.  That’s an entirely new discussion.   

                                                  i.     Physical changes – I want to be very cautious about the idea of changes in the protagonist and especially the Romantic protagonist for the resolution of the telic flaw.  We must always keep in mind that the power in any Romantic type novel is the buildup of the plot and climax resolution such that the resolution appears impossible until it is inevitable.  Usually, the way this is achieved is by the development (changes in) of the Romantic protagonist so that they can achieve (resolve the telic flaw).  Usually the Romantic protagonist has some kind of direct stake in the telic flaw.  It belongs to them in some fashion that makes it impossible to separate and results in the liberation of the Romantic protagonist as well as the conclusion of the problem.  I point to my novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Deamon as a direct example of this.  Aksinya called a demon and wants to be rid of him.  That’s the telic flaw.  She is held captive physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally by the demon.  To free herself, she must get rid of the demon.  This resolution frees her.  Now, about physical changes.  In reality, Aksinya didn’t need to make any physical changes to resolve her telic flaw.  Everything was in her mind, emotion, and spiritual, not physical.  You can have physical changes, but use these with caution.  You can have a Romantic protagonist who needs to change physically: get stronger, learn to become beautiful, learn a physical skill, or other.  In my novel Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse, Shiggy must learn all kinds of physical skills like shooting, fighting, and physically improve herself, she must also learn to take responsibility, and learn about the real world.  This physical usually is not the centerpiece of the change required to resolve a complex telic flaw—it’s possible but usually not probable.  Any physical changes are usually brought about by mental or emotional ones.  In my novel Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer, Lilly changes physically and radically because of her mental and emotional changes.  She stops living on the street, starts washing, starts combing her hair, takes interest in clothing, and all.  The physical change is a result of the mental and emotional.  I’ll get to the physical changes I’d like to make in Eoghan next.

                                                ii.     Emotional changes – I’m not much into emotional changes either.  This presumes the Romantic protagonist has emotional issues or problems to begin with.  That kind of protagonist doesn’t resonate with readers well.  Let’s write about readers a little. 

                                   

                                    Part of the power of the Romantic protagonist is that he or she looks and feels like the reader.  We call this idea coming from the common.  Almost all your readers think they are normal and that they don’t have mental issues.  In fact, even those who really do have mental issues believe they have no problems at all.  This is the problem with presenting any protagonist who has real problems.  Then what can and should you do?

 

                                    We all know that part of the development of the protagonist should include emotional changes.  We usually categorize these as mental changes or physical changes—mostly mental changes.  They are changes in the ways the protagonist thinks.  If we present a Romantic protagonist, that protagonist must have an unchanging moral compass—that’s one of the most important aspects of the Romantic protagonist as opposed to other protagonists. 

                                   

Look, don’t you hate people who are unpredictable in negative ways?  I mean those who you can never understand and who don’t act the same way twice.  The person who never can be reliable, trustworthy, or committed.  These are people we can’t stand because we find their behavior to make us unhappy.  The same is true for any protagonist and especially a Romantic protagonist.  I’ve written with qualifications, most readers want to love the protagonist.  The Romantic protagonist gives them that opportunity.  They are trustworthy, predictable, and reasonable.  That’s why we like and love them.  They are emotionally stable.

 

That’s why many readers were up in arms about Harry Potty and his teenaged angst.  Adult readers don’t read to relive their own teenaged angst.  They can’t stand that kind of stuff.  What about Eoghan?

 

Yes, I want Eoghan to be somewhat immature about life and especially women.  He’s used to his controlling mother and his controlling sister (that’s unfair to his sister, but true).  Aife will be a real woman, from the past, who expects to be treated like her culture treated woman—that’s not necessarily a total negative.  She doesn’t understand the niceties of modern human relationships either.  Eoghan will have to learn how to make her happy and he stands in the middle not on either end.  He must change in some ways to confront Aife’s needs and his own—between the ancient and the modern and he needs to change in the way he thinks.  This is akin to emotional changes, but really is more like a mental change.  That’s what I’m getting to.

                                              iii.     Mental changes – mental changes to resolve the telic flaw are usually the basic fare of the Romantic protagonist and a Romantic plot.  The reason is that most of a Romantic novel is happening in the mind of the protagonist.  Whoa, this is a major problem for show and don’t tell.  Our Romantic protagonist must be introspective and thinking, but we must show this through dialog and action.  We show the mind of the Romantic protagonist through the dialog and action.  This allows us to show the mental changes that result in the resolution of the telic flaw.  What kind of mental changes are we talking about?

 

                                    Usually, the Romantic protagonist discovers or perfects their craft, skill, or ability.  One of the most exciting and entertaining motifs for this is the self-discover of a skill or ability.  Think of the Romantic protagonist person who discovers they can accomplish magic.  Or, how about the Romantic protagonist who discovers they have some physical or mental skill that they love and can perfect.  For example, martial arts, shooting, fencing, logic, thinking, math, finance, piloting, flying, music, voice, anything like that.  Almost any skill or ability is the way to go.  In self-discovery, coming of age, and development novels, much of the novel will be centered on finding and then perfecting or using the skill.  Usually and regularly, the Romantic protagonist must develop the skill or ability to the level above normal human capability.  This is a quality of the Romantic protagonist that really appeals to readers.

 

                                    The main point of this is the discover and desire to perfect and work in the skill or ability is part of this mental change I’m writing about.  The Romantic protagonist makes a choice to follow their skills and abilities.  Many times we call this to follow their heart, but for the Romantic protagonist, the outcome may not be determined, but it is the skill or ability that makes the character.  These special skills and abilities must be outside the normal level and development of the normal human, but the reader must always realize, the Romantic protagonist has and develops their skill though hard work.  That’s one of the major points about the Romantic protagonist.  Hard work is the reason for their capability.  The impression the reader should get is that the Romantic protagonist gets a skill that anyone in their position of birth or background might have, but that skill is developed through hard work and fortitude it’s not just inherited or bequeathed by fate.

 

                                    Harry Potty is the opposite of this.  He is barn to be a Messiah and born with great magical power.  He really isn’t a Romantic protagonist or not a good Romantic protagonist.  If he were just born of Muggles and discovered his magic, like Hermione, that would make him a Romantic protagonist.  In addition, if he had to work very hard to develop and discover his powers, that would make him more of a Romantic protagonist, but that wasn’t to be.  Still, people love Harry Potty because he's close to a Romantic protagonist.  What will I do with Eoghan. 

 

                                    Eoghan has some important life decisions to make.  His life has been on automatic.  He might like what he’s doing, but he wants much much more.  He doesn’t fully understand how his mother has been controlling him and his life.  This is what Aine will help him find.  Plus, there will be some realization through his sister.  Her desires and lack of fulfillment will drive Eoghan to understand what he’s lacking in himself. 

 

                                    At this point, I’m trying to figure out how to integrate all these through the idea of the telic flaw and mental changes.  These changes must be subtle and build.  I can see the interaction of Eoghan, his sister, and Aine.  Together, these will be a fun group.  Eoghan will be figuring out what he wants in his life.  His sister will be suddenly freed from her life at home by Eoghan and Aine.  She will suddenly be able to stretch her legs.  I want to bring in Rose and Seoirse.  This will be both positive and negative. 

 

                                    Eoghan will represent the life decisions of many young men today.  The decisions he will have to make will invigorate him and make him prime material for Aine.  I said I’d like to build romance between them.  I wint tension too.

                                   

                                    What will Eoghan have to change in his mind to resolve the telic flaw?  That’s next.  

b.     Alliances required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw – I haven’t thought much about how we are moving to alliances.  I think the best and most obvious alliances are between Aine and Eoghan.  In addition, I think I’ll make the creature of the land they must defeat to be another alliance.  I’ve already written that I’ll have Eoghan’s sister, Aife (Eva) Eamhair (Evir) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach), become an important alliance for the resolution of the novel.  I’m also thinking of bring Seoirse and Rose into the story.  Of course, many other characters will be important in the resolution of the novel.  These are the leaders of Stela and the Organization.  I’ll likely bring in some other players, but this will be determined by the novel and the storyline I develop for the characters and specifically the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.   

c.      Enemies required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw – usually when we think of this, we should think of the antagonist, but there should and might be more than the antagonist opposing the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.  You really need an antagonist either a direct or indirect one, but especially with an indirect antagonist, you’ll need enemies small and large to oppose your characters.  In this novel, the major and main enemies to the resolution of the telic flaw are: Eoghan’s mother and father, Stela, and the organization.  This is how this works. 

 

      If I haven’t written about this yet, but there will be a lot of opposition to Aine and her resurrection or return to the real world.  The god and goddesses of the Celtic and Gaelic lands banished Aine for a good reason, or at least, they thought so at the time.  Now, they aren’t sure why they did, but the problems of Aine and the ascendance of kings will be a problem.  For this reason Aine must lay low especially until she can figure out about the world and she can resolve herself to the times.

      The indirect enemies of Aine and Eoghan will be, as I noted, Stela and therefore the Organization, at the same time Eoghan will want to make inroads into the times and the official stratus of the system.  These are the indirect antagonists or antagonist.  The direct antagonist is yet to be defined or determined, but we can write a novel without a completely clear knowledge of the direct antagonists, but the ideas of initial enemies and those in opposition are important.  This defines how we will create the tension and release in the novel.  I haven’t fully defined this, but this is how we write.  The initial enemy is obviously the creature of the land that Eoghan is fighting or working against.  

d.     Plots required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw – This is where I look at the plots we find in the classics and apply them to the novel at hand.  Here’s the list of basic plots:

I evaluated the plots from the list of 112 classics and categorized them according to the following scale:

Overall (o) – These are the three overall plots we defined above: redemption, achievement, and revelation.

Achievement (a) – There are plots that fall under the idea of the achievement plot. 

Quality(q) – These are plots based on a personal or character quality.

Setting(s) – These are plots based on a setting.

Item(i) – These are plots based on an item.

I looked at each novel and pulled out the plot types, the telic flaw, plotline, and the theme of the novel.  I didn’t make a list of the themes, but we identified the telic flaw as internal and external and by plot type.  This generally gives the plotline. 

Overall (o)

1.     Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49% - the redemption plot may be the most important type of plot in all literature.  The reason is because people must change in it.  I didn’t make a study of the history of the redemption plot, but I’ll bet that we would find most early plots are achievement or revelation.  In fact, I’d bet we would see achievement plots in the beginning followed by revelation plots, and, finally, redemption plots.  The reason is that Robinson Caruso was really, overall, an achievement plot.  There are redemption elements, but not so much as a modern plot.  The achievement plots gave way to the Victorian revelation plots, like Pride and Prejudice, and then as we moved into the modern (I call it the real Romantic era) era, we get many many redemption plots. 

Redemption isn’t necessarily about salvation or religion.  Redemption is really about finding yourself.  A character (protagonist) can be redeemed from sin, from their past, from poverty, from abuse, from hunger, from themselves—just take your pick or use all of them.  I will advise you, use the redemption plot.  This is the type of plot that really appeals to modern readers.  This is the change in the protagonist that teachers of the writing arts like to talk about.  They don’t usually call it a redemption plot, but they should.  Now, what about Aine and Eoghan?

Aine obviously needs to be redeemed from the past.  Her problem has always been men and her reputation.  This has dragged her down from the beginning.  This is a problem I will really play on.  As the protagonist’s helper and the focus of the novel, Aine will have all kind of revelations and things to fix in her own life. 

Eoghan, on the other hand, has some real things he wants to fix in his life.  He is somewhat aware of his powers and his potential, but he is not using them.  He loves what he is doing, but his mother and father (to some degree) has placed him where he is.  He really doesn’t resent it, yet, but he will.  This will be the basis for the redemption of Eoghan, but there is more. 

I write and wrote many times that a novel is not just a single plot.  We like to imagine they are, but if you evaluate any novel, you will find multiple plots.  There might be a singular overall plot, but even that is a bit dicey.  In other words, you will find many plots fitting together to define the novel.  Usually, a scene will encapsulate a singular or a major plot, but that plot will usually be resolved in the tension and release of that scene.  It might crop up further on in the novel, but the scene is the stage for most of the plots.  Let me give you an example.  Let’s take the sickness plot.

You can have a sickness plot roll through an entire novel, but usually, the sickness lasts one scene or maybe two.  The character recovers and the sickness might be refereed to further in the novel, or maybe not.  The sickness plot was used by the author to further a specific scene.  There is much more to write about this type of use of plots, but we’ll get to that. 

In the sense of overall plots, the overall plot moves through the novel and creates tension and release through it all.  It is also the basis for the telic flaw resolution.  In other words, I expect the telic flaw resolution of Aine (the novel) to be resolved through the redemption of both Aine and Eoghan.  This is a broad point and not a singular or simple transition.  The entire novel might portray the redemption of Aine and Eoghan, but in the resolution of the telic flaw, we should see the results of this redemption—Aine and Eoghan have changed and that’s what made the resolution possible.

2.     Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60% - The revelation plot is a very powerful plot.  I used this type of plot to great success in Dana-ana: Enchantment of the Maiden.  In Dana-ana no one had any idea who or what Dana-ana was.  The entire novel was about that revelation.  This is a wonderful approach and one that few novels can really take advantage of, but if you can do it. 

Most revelation novels aren’t as deeply seated or powerful as Dana-ana.  They deal with revelation, but usually with the revelation of the life, mystery, or love (romance). 

I do intend to have Aine about revelation and to include a very powerful revelation.  The revelation in Aine will be about who exactly is Aine and her attachment to Eoghan.  The novel will be about romance and a mystery—that’s the most common types of revelation.  On the way along, I’ll throw in some revelation about Eoghan and his life and vocation.  Eoghan wants more for his life and I intend to focus the novel on that and his interaction with Aine.  The revelation will be mostly about that.  In addition, we’ll see how Aine finds the modern world and how she interacts in the modern world—all this will be revelation and very entertaining.

3.     Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73% - the achievement plot was really the first direct plot in any novel, that is as an overall plot.  Most, even early novels, have some degree of revelation or redemption plot as well, but the achievement plot is the basis, and the obvious basis for most writing.  If you look at early novels like Robinson Caruso and almost all the others—the overall plot is the achievement of some goal.  In Robinson Caruso, the achievement goal is to be rescued from his island.  He achieves this in the end.  Likewise, most novels even those with a revelation or redemption plot have elements of achievement in them.

This is something I’ve tried to make very clear in my writing to you.  Novels are not a single plot, but rather an amalgamation of plots.  We have this funny idea that a novel has a single plot, but it doesn’t—not at all.  Every novel has multiple plots many of them defined by the scenes but all leading to the climax and the telic flaw resolution.  All novels are characterized by certain plots.  As I wrote, the overall plot is the defining plot of the novel.  Almost all modern adult novels are characterized by some type of redemption plot.  Undergirding this plot is usually an achievement plot and potentially a revelation plot.  Usually, the revelation plot is found in detective or mystery novels, but you can see it in other types of novels.  The redemption plot is the major plot, but the other support it.  That’s not to say you can’t have a modern novel with a revelation or achievement plot as the major plot.  It’s just less common in the modern era.  The reason is the Romantic protagonist. 

Romantic protagonists are just the redemptive types.  They achieve and they reveal, but their real power comes from the change in their life that allows them to achieve and reveal.  That change and that growth is what our readers are looking for.  This is what drives modern and especially romantic writing. 

Now, what about Eoghan and Aine?  The achievement in their lives will be something more that leads to the revelation and to their redemption.  I’ve already mentioned the redemption ideas and plot, but achievement is directly connected to that redemption.  To be redeemed, they will have to achieve.  I see achievement in understanding the world, for both.  I see achievement in romance and understanding for Aine.  I see achievement in Eoghan’s goals as another.  These do have yet to be defined in the novel.  Mostly, I need to begin writing them, that is the novel to define these goals directly.  For now, going through the different plots will give a basis for the development of these ideas and goals.  

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)

1.     Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%

Tomorrow, I’ll start with these plots and evaluate how and which I’ll use in this new novel Aine.

e.      Obstacles that must be overcome for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

 

I’m not sure where I want them to go or how I want them to move forward.  I’m still working this out, but I have a potential protagonist.

 

Perhaps next, I’ll write about future writing plans and then move to the next project from the beginning.

 

I really want to write a follow-on to Seoirse, but I want to write bookgirl too. 

 

Perhaps I’ll move over to my science fiction novels.  I need to write a new one of them.

 

The most important thing for the scene is developing the entertainment in the scene.

 

I’ll write more tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:

http://www.ancientlight.com

www.aegyptnovel.com

http://www.sisteroflight.com

http://www.sisterofdarkness.com

www.centurionnovel.com

www.thesecondmission.com

www.theendofhonor.com

www.thefoxshonor.com

www.aseasonofhonor.com

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