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Saturday, November 18, 2023

Writing - part xxx506 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Refining the Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, more Enemies

18 November 2023, Writing - part xxx506 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Refining the Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, more 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)

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

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.

 

A Christmas Carol is an interesting novel.  I’m not sure if it is the first novel that has a positive antagonist, but it’s one of the first.  Just what is a positive antagonist?  In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, the protagonist is not a nice person.  He requires redemption.  The antagonists (enemies) are the spirits of Christmas past present and future with the overall antagonist being good will, but really God Himself.  It’s a type of allegory.  Now, the point is that the antagonists in A Christmas Carol are all good and not bad at all.  They have no negatives and no ill will about Scrooge—they are all about helping Scrooge reach and resolve the telic flaw.  This is a new idea in literature.

 

In almost all literature prior to this novel, the antagonist, by definition, attempted to prevent the protagonist from achieving the resolution of the telic flaw.  In A Christmas Carol, this is turned on its head.  Yet, everyone knows this is a very effective and entertaining novel.  For this reason alone, I think it might be one of Dickens best novels.  He set the standard.

 

That means you can have an antagonist who is or is not actively opposing the resolution of the telic flaw, but who isn’t really an enemy or directly opposed to the protagonist.  It give the writer a sliding scale of the antagonist.  This also means you can have an antagonist who means well and hopes for the best for the protagonist, but at the same time opposes the resolution of the telic flaw.  This is what I’m likely going to put in Aine.

 

The antagonist(s) are likely the Organization and Stela along with others who believe they are helping Aine and Eoghan.  The end result will be something different than any of them can imagine, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t friends or working together.  The point, for the writer, is the telic flaw resolution.  The antagonist causes opposition or as we see can actually aid in the telic flaw resolution (A Christmas Carol) the point is to develop the storyline and the characters in an entertaining fashion.  That leads us to how we achieve this.  That’s through the tension and release in the scenes and directly through the plots.       

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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