17 November 2023, Writing - part xxx505 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Refining the Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Enemies
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: 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)
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
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.
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
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 -
male
3. Refine the protagonist
a.
Physical description
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 group. His height wasn’t 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 all wanted to 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 Ronald 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.
b. Background
– history of the protagonist
i. Birth
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.
ii. Setting
iii. Life
iv. Education
v. Work
vi. Profession
vii. Family
b. Setting
i. Life
ii. Setting
iii. Work
c. Name - Eoghan (Owen) Ragnall
(Ronald) Calloway/Stuart (Stiùbhartach)
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 – here’s the theme statement again:
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.
The
theme statement includes the telic flaw, and this theme statemen is very
blatant. The telic flaw is this: Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine
desires a new life and perhaps love.
Now,
you might say this is pretty amorphous, but it does tell us a lot about Eoghan
and Aine. This drives the novel—the telic
flaw is all about Eoghan determining what he wants as well as accommodating Aine
in some fashion. We can immediately see
how these two ideas could fit together, and that’s what I want to do with the
novel. I want to use about 100,000 words
to have Eoghan discover himself and discover his relationship with Aine. Sounds simple, doesn’t it. The main point in any novel is to put
together a set of plots that give us a resolution of the telic flaw. Note, there is a single telic flaw, and it
belongs to the protagonist. The rest is
simply a connection to the protagonist.
I
already wrote that I am making Aine the protagonist’s helper. This is how I love to write novels. The protagonist’s helper is one of the most
important characters in a modern Romantic novel. That’s because the protagonist must share
their inner thoughts, most specifically to be introspective. You can’t have introspection without either
telling or a sounding board. The
protagonist’s helper is a sounding board.
This character allows the Romantic protagonist to have dialog about
themselves, and Aine will be the perfect protagonist’s helper.
That’s
not to say, Aine won’t cut off information from Eoghan she doesn’t want to
hear. This is a real problem for and
with Aine, she is a very direct, honest, and selfish person, but she really
wants to please Eoghan. She will realize
her own deficiencies from the beginning, and although she will have constant
lapses, she will know when she has stepped on Eoghan’s toes too much. These events and incidents will drive the
plots and the resolution of the telic flaw, Eoghan’s telic flaw.
a. Changes required for the protagonist to resolve the telic
flaw – this is what the protagonist and especially the Romantic protagonist is
all about—the change. This isn’t what you
might think it is. In some overall plots
or themes this is obvious. For example,
the kid who wants to be a football player but is a 90 pound weakling. You know what must happen. I’ll state it, the kid must change physically
and potentially mentally to achieve the goal of becoming a football
player. How about the kid who wants to
become a rockstar? They must learn to be
a musician (maybe) first—that’s a change.
Most protagonist changes are much more subtle,
and they all are redemption plots. This
is basically the definition of the redemption plot. Even when you throw in the self-discovery or
the skills plot, change insinuates some type of redemption in the change. In fact, change itself defines redemption, and
in the most beloved novels, the protagonist is all about self-discovery and
change. That’s the entire point of zero
to hero and all.
Just look at Harry Potty. Harry must discover his magic and then refine
it to be able to be the messiah for his friends and world. This is a total redemption plot with a
messiah none the less. Other adult
novels are much more subtle. In Jack
Vance novels, the protagonist must understand the rules of the culture and
apply them. That’s his entire Romantic
protagonist development. In other
novels, the sparkly vampires, for example, the protagonist must become a
vampire, but again that’s a young adult novel and not very subtle.
In real past Romantic favorites, like
Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe must change his society
to achieve his desired goals. He still
gets a Saxon princess. In Robert Louis
Stevenson’s classic Romantic style novels, the protagonist must make incredible
discoveries, mostly about mysteries and secrets to eventually achieve the
redemption telic flaw resolution. Think Treasure
Island where the protagonist must deal with pirates and others but the
ultimate point is about friendships and betrayal. The Black Arrow gives us a protagonist
who must discover just who he is escorting to safety and why he (who is really
a she) is so weak and unmanly. He still
falls in love.
Even our favorite, non-Romantic, protagonists
make changes, but usually not in the same way.
For example, Sara Crew in A Little Princess, doesn’t change so
much as she comes to a realization of the life of the lowly and poor, and she
wants to do anything to get out of it.
Again a type of physical redemption, but Victorian protagonists don’t
change emotionally or mentally as much as physically. Sometimes, they have to just apologize. In any case, the protagonist and the Romantic
protagonist must change in some way to achieve the telic flaw resolution. In adult type and sophisticated novels this
change is subtle. In youth based novels,
this isn’t usually very subtle at all.
We’ll look at some potential redemptive changes for Eoghan.
i.
Physical changes – I could easily state there
are no physical changes necessary for Eoghan to resolve the telic flaw, but
that would be wrong. It isn’t just
internal changes or physical personal changes, but rather movement, wealth,
position, and etc. when we write about physical changes. Let me repeat the theme statement again:
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 achieve this resolution, Eoghan
must get more from the world. We’ve
defined this as achieving his goals in life, to some degree. We know that Eoghan has latent charm powers
which he has been trained to use, mostly through not interacting with
people. He lives his ranger existence
mainly away from others. He is self-isolated
mainly because his mother see this as the best way to keep his skills in
check. However, Eoghan will soon be
convinced to use his skills. We’ll get
to that, that is mental and emotional changes, but the physical changes are
still very important.
Physical
changes are what you do with your body and placement once the emotional and
mental decisions are made. The questions
we might have are: where will Eoghan and
Aine go? What will they do? How will Aine integrate into the world? What will the result of their romance
be? Is there any hope for their romance? What will Eoghan achieve? Where will they live, train, and exist? What will his work be? Who will he work for? All these questions are physically
based. They have to do with what happens
in the novel and the realizations the characters make.
At
this point, I can’t answer all these questions.
I have my own ideas, and I’m formulating them, but from my experience,
it does no good to fully outline and answer every single question, because part
of the power in creative writing is to figure out ideas on the wing. Especially the detailed ones. It’s enough to know they exist and they are
not direct physical changes. For example,
if Eoghan wanted to become a football (soccer) star in Britain, he might need
to make some real physical changes. That’s
something entirely different.
ii. Emotional
changes – the emotional changes or mental changes are the ones we mainly expect
from modern protagonists and especially Romantic protagonists. What’s the difference? Emotional are usually based on feelings while
mental are based on reason. Changes in
the emotional outlook, thoughts, beliefs, and perhaps feelings, as well as, the
interpretation of those things are mainly what we are writing about. There are very complex issues and points.
I’m mainly
writing about human interpretation of ideas and not the ideas themselves. Those ideas are the mental part while
emotions are about how the characters see those ideas. For example, an idea or a fact is a fact no
matter what anyone thinks about it. Let’s
use for example, Eoghan and his mother. How
does he view his mother’s interference in his life? Before Aine, I’d say he accepts it without much
thought. That’s just what his life and
life is all about for him. After Aine,
Eoghan begins to see his mother’s interference and actions as not positive at
all. His reaction will be driven by his
mother’s response and actions. With
reflection, we should see Eoghan begin to change and moderate his emotions and
thoughts about his mother, or specifically, how he reacts to his mother’s
actions.
So, what I expect
is that Eoghan begins to resent his mother’s actions and interference that will
lead to tension and release in the novel followed by a resolute focus where
Eoghan will begin to ignore and accept his mother’s negative views. We’ll see where this all goes. This is just one example of the many complex
situations about emotions I plan for the novel.
Another is
about Aine and her feelings about Eoghan.
There is much much more.
Aine
is the protagonist’s helper and not the protagonist, but I intend to develop her
in a very romance based manner. The problem
with Aine is her culture and her past.
She is used to aggressive men who deand what they want even to the point
of rape against women they desire. In
fact, this rape concept is also called ancient marriage and was and is practiced
by less civilized cultures. The idea in
ancient cultures is marriage is sex and sex is marriage. When a man had sex with a woman, he took the responsibility
for the progeny from that relationship. He
also was responsible for the woman. This
is very patriarchal, but in might makes right, you do have some choices. Death and slavery is a couple of them. Most of the time, slavery or concubinage
marriage is better than death. The rape
concept of what is considered captive marriage is and was common. That’s just how the American Indian culture
worked. In any case, that is the type of
culture Aine is used to. She’s in for a
great surprise.
Eoghan
is nothing like the men she is used to.
Eoghan is a man of honor and integrity.
That means in the sense of the modern culture and society. He rescues Aine because he would rescue anyone,
and Aine is unbelievably grateful. The
reason is that she thought all hope was lost.
I want to paint this very strong scene in a very poignant way. Aine is completely willing to give up
everything to Eoghan because he saved her from the crypt. She would give up her virginity, her freedom,
her everything, and from her cultural world, she expects Eoghan to take
all. Only Eoghan would never think of
acting in that way to any woman. Aine is
horrified that Eoghan doesn’t want her right then and right in the open. She’s a little insulted by it. Already affected deeply and emotionally by
his rescue, Aine has a lot to process and think about. I’m deciding just how deeply I want the
conversation to delve about this great problem for Aine. In fact, this problem that starts as Aine’s
will very quickly become Eoghan’s. That’s
one of the very entertaining and fun parts of this novel I’m developing.
Aine
is going to have to figure out how to capture not just the mind, but the heart
and soul of Eoghan. Once she learns what
in the world this silly love thing is all about. She will pursue Eoghan with a great fervor,
but she has to figure out just what love is all about, in this modern age, and
how to make Eoghan love her. This causes
mental changes for Eoghan.
iii. Mental
changes – now we are moving into the norm for the modern novel. I also want to remind you that the
information here are sketches while the novel is the painting. The point of this information is to define
the protagonist and potentially other important characters while defining the scope
and movement of the novel. Mental
changes are just he types of changes we in the Twenty-First Century are used to
in our thinking about the protagonist.
In fact, physical changes, although the norm for most earlier literature,
isn’t really what we think of in most modern literature.
For example,
in Robinson Caruso, the major point of the novel is a survival and escape plot. There are mental changes involved, but the
main point of the novel is physical and not mental. If we look at much of Charle Dickens’ novels,
we see something similar. The overall
plots are not mental, but physical. The
escape from poverty or from the current circumstances. Even George Eliot has a similar touch in her
novels. What we can gain from this is a
couple of important points. The first is
that physical change in the protagonist can move mountains. It can really produce a powerful novel and plot. On the other hand, the Romantic protagonist
gives us a type of filter into the mind of the protagonist. With that filter, we can see the motivations
and the reasons for the need of the protagonist to change. We can’t tell this, we must show it. The showing it part is always physical. This leads to the mental.
In the
case of the novel Aine, I want to show how Eoghan changes mentally by the
influence of Aine and the circumstances around their lives. The great hook in this novel is the emotional
and physical disturbance that Aine causes in the world and specifically, in
Eoghan’s world. What changes does Eoghan
need to make to achieve?
In the
first place, Eoghan needs to learn to love Aine. That means he must learn about loving a
woman. This isn’t as easy or flippant as
it might sound. Yes, we hope love comes
naturally to people, but what does that love look like and how does it manifest
itself. We know, based on his character
that Eoghan is a solid and decent young man, but he is young and inexperienced. He just has no idea how to handle Aine and
her personality. I guess I’ll get more
into this, next.
Aine
is the problem. She isn’t the telic
flaw, but she is the focus of this novel.
In other words, she is the focal point that makes everything
happen. This is typical in almost every
novel, but I’m not certain there is a name for this focus. It could be considered the subject of the novel,
and I’ve heard this referred to as the cause—that’s where we get the telic flaw
concept from.
A
telic flaw is by definition (in the Greek sense), the cause and the resolution
of the novel. Telic, in Greek means the
intersection of the horizon with a vanishing point. This is both the beginning (cause) and the end
(conclusion), although the Greeks wouldn’t put it exactly that way. So, Aine is the cause of all that will happen
to Eoghan, therefore, she could be called the telic flaw. However, she isn’t the real problem. Eoghan’s problems are extra Aine. In other words, Eoghan has problems outside
of Aine, but Aine is the thing, the cause, that will get Eoghan thinking and
changing.
For
this reason, I’m calling Aine, and this concept in writing, the focus. She is the reason everything happens, but not
the telic flaw that needs resolution.
Now,
what does this have to do with mental changes?
Aine is and will be a very peculiar person. She is a being out of time, which is exactly what
I aim for in my novels. Almost all my novels
are about ancient people and beings caught up in modern times. This allows me to compare and expand for my
readers the events of the past as well as the people from the past. I want to do this intentionally as opposed to
placing modern people in the past or writing a historical fiction novel. The point is to enable a comparison between
the times, the thoughts, and the people.
That’s what is so delectable about Aine.
Aine
is no girl from the present. I’m sure
there are girls (women) like Aine in the modern world, but what is so powerful
is that Aine represents a culture, the ancient Celtic and Gaelic culture. This provides me a circumstance of writing
about that culture and the ancient times.
Every reference Aine has is a reference from the past. She has no idea or concept of the present or
modern times. Eoghan will be an enigma
for her. I’ve mentioned this before, and
I’ll get into it next. That is Eoghan as
seen by Aine and the changes he must make mentally to resolve the telic flaw.
Perhaps
the first major or main change in Eoghan is to accept Aine. Eoghan has never met a girl let alone a person
like her. In his worldview, she is
crass, crude, dangerous, violent, emotional, somewhat underhanded, driven to
excess, uneducated, unrefined, uninformed, among other negatives. Some of these just aren’t her fault. She can’t really help being uneducated by the
times—they passed her by. The problem is
to get Eoghan to see the world from her standpoint, and also to see success using
her methods and her approaches.
I’m
not saying that Aine has better ideas or ways of living, but she does have many
positives. Let’s look at them. Aine is a survivor. She is educated in living in the wild and
with nothing. She’s used to having
nothing and most of her life has been a real fight for survival and just to
eat. She is a deity, but what does that
mean? She doesn’t need food or
sustenance to exist, but she desires it to live and for life. As a Celtic deity, her desire is to provide
and to receive adulation. She is the sun
goddess and represents the growth of the crops.
Most specifically she is “the Celtic sun goddess and goddess of wealth,
sovereignty, and summer. In Irish mythology, she is also a fairy queen and
goddess of the moon, earth, and nature, and could shapeshift into a red horse.” These abilities don’t necessarily make her
invincible. They imply and give her
powers and responsibilities that she then gives to the Celtic people. These are also the things she knows and has
power over.
In the
reflected worldviews I use, the gods and goddesses have great powers, but their
powers are significantly limited by the constraints of their environment as
well as the limits of myth. Aine can
bring wealth, sovereignty, and provide summer, but she can’t make the world
perpetual summer, that would destroy nature.
The longer and more power she applies to hold the world in summer, the
weaker she gets. Likewise, she can
bestow wealth, but that requires actions to produce wealth. The more she has to do to bring it about, the
more power of the land it takes from her.
She is very like the Fae—they also use the power of nature to use
glamour. Aine controls glamour but also
direct miracles.
The
main point of this is that Aine must convince Eoghan of her value and Eoghan
must come to terms with Aine’s personality and abilities or lack thereof. Aine must change and Eoghan must change. That may be enough said.
b. Alliances required for the protagonist to resolve the
telic flaw – remember, none of this information is ever shared with the
reader. This information might and may
be revealed, but only through actions and dialog. We show alliances, we don’t declare
alliances.
Now, you might reach some point in a novel
where the characters come to some agreement to work together. Yes, that is an alliance, they can even call
it an alliance, but that should never be declared in the narration or by some
omniscient voice of the narrator, or any other such means. If the author feels like a declaration of alliance
needs to be made, then that is expressed in dialog—that’s showing.
I’ve done this in many of my novels. I really haven’t called it an alliance perse,
but my characters have made agreements and contracts with each other to support
their goals, some mutual and some not so mutual. Now, back to Aine.
The most obvious alliance is between Aine and
Eoghan. This will be carefully and
deeply manufactured based on their personalities and likes and dislikes. The point is to get the very strong willed Aine
to agree that she must depend on Eoghan.
I think this will be easy to show and to work since Aine starts entirely
and completely dependent on Eoghan. She has nothing in this world, no friends,
no acquaintances, no support, no money, nothing. She starts emotionally and physically
dependent on Eoghan. He’s just a nice
guy. He would never hold anything back
from her. Part of the fun of this novel
will be the clash between these two with Aine constantly reminding herself of
her own dependency and lack of everything.
Then there are the other characters who will bring great fun into the
novel because of their closeness and alliances with Eoghan and then Aine.
This is the point, Eoghan naturally brings
people into his camp—Aine does not. I’ll
get to those alliances, next.
What I want to do is to expand Aine’s world
in the novel while bringing Eoghan into the fold of the world and others in the
Organization and Stela. At the beginning
of the novel, Eoghan’s only connectiona to the Organization, which I’ve explained,
and Stela, which I’ve explained, are his mother and his father. He is an isolated person. I’m not sure how I’ll play his earlier friends
and acquaintances or if he has any. What
I really want to build up is the relationships with the characters I’ve
developed and made in my other latest novels.
These are specifically: Rose (Lady Tash, Princess of the Fae), Seoirse
(Lieutenant Wishart), Shiggy (Major Cross), Major Cross (Shiggy’s husband), Luna
Bolang (Colonel Bolang), Sorcha (Lieutenant Colonel), Ms. O’Dwyer (Mrs.
Marshall), and all. There are many many
more. The point is to introduce Eoghan
and then Aine to these people and bring him out of his shell and into the
community of his work and those who work for these groups.
The primary people I’d like Eoghan to meet
are Rose and Seiorse, but I’m not sure how I’ll play this out. The other person I’d like Aine to become acquainted
with and friends with is Eoghan’s sister Aife (Eva). That’s a start. Eva has desires for much more than she
currently has. She wants more from the
world and is something of a mirror to Eoghan.
Aine and Eva will collude together to use Eoghan to get what they
want. Perhaps the best first contact is
with, Stela in the Organization. That
would be Mrs. Marshall (Ms. O’Dwyer).
Ms. O’Dwyer is the head of Stela. She is the main connection to all the
others. There may also be some means of
connecting Eoghan to the others through the Black Branch and the Red
Branch. The Red Branch is the Celtic
training island for men analogous to the Black Branch which is the Celtic
training island for men. The Celts had
strange ideas about warrior training.
They believed women warriors should train men and women warriors should
train women. Women were the trainers. That’s odd in cultures. What’s fun about this is that Aine is not a warrior
of any kind. Eoghan isn’t a warrior
either. On the other hand, Rose and
Seoirse are warriors. I want to contrast
these two couples. That’s part of the
point of the Eoghan and Aine pairing. These
are the alliances I’d like to develop.
They will build on these to eventually resolve the telic flaw. Then there are enemies, like the antagonist.
c. Enemies required for the protagonist to resolve the telic
flaw – yes, there should and must be an antagonist. In modern writing and literature, an indirect
antagonist is becoming more and more common.
I’m not sure if this is good or bad.
An indirect antagonist is like a nation, a government, nature, a company,
a religion, an idea, a concept, a force of nature, or an organization. Authors can make these direct antagonist by
turning them into a leader, a person in the government, a god, the CEO, a
priest or religious leader, a guru (one who sells and leads the idea), a
professor (one who sells and leads the concept), a spirit, or a leader. Notice each of these are personifications of
the broader organizations or concepts they represent. What shall we do with Aine?
The problems in Aine relates to Stela and the
Organization and their connections to the British government. These are really the indirect antagonists in
the novel. To personify these
antagonists, I should use the leaders and specifically Mrs. Marshall (Ms. O’Dwyer). Now, Mrs. Marshall isn’t really opposed
exactly to Aine or to Eoghan or to their desires and wants. Eoghan’s mother and father are a bit. Basically, the system and structure of the
organizations in authority here are somewhat opposed to the interests of Eoghan
and Aine only because of lack of knowledge and because of fear.
Mrs. Marshall wants to protect Britain from
the supernatural. She will view Aine as
a potential threat and Eoghan with Aine as a real threat. Eoghan has much much more power than Aine in
many ways. This will become clear in the
novel.
Eoghan’s mother and father want what’s best
for Eoghan and his sister Eva. Aine will
be offering something new and different to them both. The excitement and new worlds Aine offers are
really not from Aine herself only her rogue and uncontrolled nature. Aine offers freedom and excitement and new
ideas. These will be promoted by Rose
and Seoirse and others.
By the way, I also want to show Rose and Lady
Wishart’s reconciliation in this novel.
I’d like to have Eoghan and Aine bring them together. Lady Wishart is a wild child and a wild
heart. She is independent. Rose is very similar. In my previous novel, they had a huge falling
out, caused by Rose to achieve her goals.
I want to show how Rose was thwarted and how she gained back some of
Lady Wishart’s trust. That same change
will show trust to Eoghan and Aine.
There is another point about antagonists I’d
like to make and express. It’s the Christmas
Carol conundrum. I’ll get to that, next.
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
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story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel,
book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea,
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