Writing - part xxx610 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Refining the Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Plots, Conclusion

01 March 2024, Writing - part xxx610 Writing a Novel, Building a Protagonist, Fitting, Refining the Protagonist, Details, Telic Flaw Resolution, Plots, Conclusion

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t succeed in the past business and publishing environment.  I’ll keep you informed, but I need a new publisher.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels—I think you’ll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21^st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I’m using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I’ll keep you informed along the way.

Today’s Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don’t confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the writing.

4. Don’t show (or tell) everything.

     4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

6. The initial scene is the most important scene.

 

These are the steps I use to write a novel including the five discrete parts of a novel:

 

1.     Design the initial scene

2.     Develop a theme statement (initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)

a.      Research as required

b.     Develop the initial setting

c.      Develop the characters

d.     Identify the telic flaw (internal and external)

3.     Write the initial scene (identify the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)

4.     Write the next scene(s) to the climax (rising action)

5.     Write the climax scene

6.     Write the falling action scene(s)

7.     Write the dénouement scene

I finished writing my 31^st novel, working title, Cassandra, potential title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  The theme statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.

 

I finished writing my 34^th novel (actually my 32^nd completed novel), Seoirse, potential title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment.  The theme statement is: Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.     

Here is the cover proposal for Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment: 

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29^th novel, working title Detective.  I finished writing number 31, working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior.  I just finished my 32^nd novel and 33^rd novel: Rose: Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment.

How to begin a novel.  Number one thought, we need an entertaining idea.  I usually encapsulate such an idea with a theme statement.  Since I’m writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement.  Here is an initial cut.

 

For novel 30:  Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns about freedom, and is redeemed.

 

For Novel 32:  Shiggy Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization gives her for her latest assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.

 

For novel 33, Book girl:  Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything, her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family and existence.

 

For novel 34:  Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.

 

For novel 35: Eoghan, a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.

 

Here is the scene development outline:

 

1. Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)

2. Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)

3. Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and develop the tension and release.

4. Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.

5. Write the release

6. Write the kicker

          

Today:  Let me tell you a little about writing.  Writing isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime.  Writing is a habit and an obsession.  We who love to write love to write. 

 

If you love to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well.  We want to write well enough to have others enjoy our writing.  This is important.  No one writes just for themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly.  I can prove why.

 

In the first place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only purpose.  Writing is the abstract communication of the mind through symbols.  As time goes by, we as writers gain more and better tools and our readers gain more and better appreciation for those tools and skills—even if they have no idea what they are. 

 

We are in the modern era.  In this time, the action and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into the form of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the future.  This is the modern style of the novel.  I also showed how the end of literature created the reflected worldview.  We have three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected, and the created.  I choose to work in the reflected worldview.

 

Why don’t we go back to the basics and just writing a novel?  I can tell you what I do, and show you how I go about putting a novel together.  We can start with developing an idea then move into the details of the writing. 

 

Ideas.  We need ideas.  Ideas allow us to figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.  Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus.  We need to cultivate ideas. 

 

1.     Read novels. 

2.     Fill your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about. 

3.     Figure out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.

4.     Study.

5.     Teach. 

6.     Make the catharsis. 

7.     Write.

 

The development of ideas is based on study and research, but it is also based on creativity.  Creativity is the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.

 

If we have filled our mind with all kinds of information and ideas, we are ready to become creative.  Creativity means the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  Literally, we are seeing the world in a new way, or actually, we are seeing some part of the world in a new way. 

 

The beginning of creativity is study and effort.  We can use this to extrapolate to creativity.  In addition, we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.

 

With that said, where should we go?  Should I delve into ideas and creativity again, or should we just move into the novel again?  Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we know, will result in a new novel.  I’ve got an idea, but it went stale.  Let’s look at the outline for a novel again:

 

1.      The initial scene

2.     The rising action scenes

3.     The climax scene

4.     The falling action scene(s)

5.     The dénouement scene(s)

   

The initial scene is the most important scene and part of any novel.  To get to the initial scene, you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.

 

My main focus, at the moment, is marketing my novels.  That specifically means submissions.  I’m aiming for agents because if I can get an agent, I think that might give me more contacts with publishers plus a let up in the business.  I would like to write another novel, but I’m holding off and editing one of my older novels Shadow of Darkness.  I thought that novel would have fit perfectly with one potential agent who said they were looking for Jewish based and non-Western mythology in fantasy.  That’s exactly what Shadow of Darkness is, but they passed on it.  In any case, I’m looking for an agent who will fall in love with my writing and then promote it to publishers.  That’s the goal.

 

The dependency I’d like to present in a new novel is similar to Valeska but one where the protagonist falls romantically in love with the focus.  The question is the focus. 

 

Now, I’m looking and researching for a being or character who would fit the needs of the book I’m proposing.

 

Don’t modify known settings, people, or history unless you are writing alternate history.  Modify, at will, those things that are not known or recorded in history.  That comes to a very important point about historical fiction, even reflected worldview historical fiction.  That is that history doesn’t record much of the mundane we wish to include in our novels. 

 

If I’m going to develop a protagonist, I need to bring out the protagonist outline.  I’ve got it somewhere in my writing—I just have to find it.

 

I guess I’ll start with the Romantic part of the protagonist.  Then I’ll move to the more specific pieces of the protagonist.  Most precisely, I’m looking at the list of potential characters from my list of characters in my other novels.

Here is my list for the characteristics of a Romantic protagonist.  I am not very happy with most of the lists I have found.  So, I will start with a classic list from the literature and then translate them to what they really mean.  This is the refined list.  Take a look.

1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.

I have Áine as the potential focus of the novel.  She’s a Celtic goddess.  This focus isn’t set yet, but I need a protagonist, and I need to develop and design one.  I’m contemplating a son of the Stuarts and the Calloways.  Here’s the information from my notes.

 

Elaina actually Evir Elisabeth Stuart,  Gaelic:  Eamhair Ealasaid Stiùbhartach – The girl: she was blond with grey-blue eyes and a very Nordic or Norman look.  Her long hair was tied in a tight French weave.  She was tall and looked mature—much more mature than Sorcha or Deirdre.

            Old Raleigh bike with a basket and a bell - an old Raleigh welded-steel frame girl’s bicycle

Elaina actually Evir Elisabeth Stuart,  Gaelic:  Eamhair Ealasaid Stiùbhartach  g. Oxford b. 1975 late to Wycombe Abbey a special student of Luna’s was being groomed for work in Stela and the Organization.  He specialty is with the Fae.  They are bound to her because of her nobility and background.  She is not Fae but commands the Fae to some degree. 

                                    m. James (Seumas) Donaidh Calloway b. 1971 

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

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

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

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

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

3. Courageous

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

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

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

5. Introspective

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

6. Travel plot

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

7. Melancholy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. Pathos bearing because he or she is estranged from family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or self-isolation due to three above.

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

13. From the common and potentially the rural.

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

14. Love interest

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

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

Here is the protagonist development list.  We are going to use this list to develop a Romantic protagonist.  With the following outline in mind, we will build a Romantic protagonist. 

1.     Define the initial scene

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 – this is where it gets easy and complicated.  First, let me tell you about plots. 

 

We generally think of plots in novels as singular, as in, Harry Potty’s first novel has a plot, but that’s not true at all.  To be able to actually define the singular or overall plot of any novel is nearly impossible.  I write nearly impossible, because I’m sure many have tried and think they achieved some success, but if you look at any novel in all of history, you will find many plots at least as many plots as scenes in the novel. 

 

Now, the idea of scenes isn’t a new one, but it’s one most people and many writers don’t fully comprehend.  Novels are made up of scenes.  Basically, scenes are the final building block of the novel.  A scene incorporates a plot that leads to tension and release within the scene (or it should).  A novel is usually of this form (99% of them):

1.     Initial scene

2.     Rising action

3.     Climax scene

4.     Falling action

5.     Dénouement

 

The novel has many plots involved in the development and expression of the novel.  One means of novel development is to pick plots to put into the novel.  I wrote that a scene has at least one plot, but it can have many plots.  You can stack plots on plots.  In fact, that’s what most really great and classic novels do.  They are plots on top of plots.  There might be an overall plot, like the resolution of a mystery or a crime, but that’s just part of the many plots in the novel.

 

I mentioned mystery or crime specifically because this is one of the easiest telic flaws to understand and describe.  The telic flaw of a mystery or crime novel is the resolution of the mystery or the crime.  How the mystery or crime gets resolved incorporates the many different plots in scenes that all move toward the resolution.

 

For example, the detective (crime) or mystery plot is based on the resolution of the telic flaw or a mystery or a crime.  One of the other plots you will certainly see in such a novel is one or most discovery plots.  Each scene might have a discovery plot that drives it.  The protagonist discovers some clue or clues that help lead to the resolution of the overall plot. 

 

In detective and mystery novels, the reason plot is almost always a part of the scenes.  The protagonist discovers something and makes inductive or deductive conclusions or at least reasons about the discovery.  Reason is a type of plot.  A scene with reason incorporated includes a reason plot.  I think you can see a single scene could easily incorporate both these plots.  In fact, some writers call this scenes and sequels although I just call them all scenes.  A scene, in this view, incorporates a plot that leads to a clue (discovery is just one type), while a sequel is where the protagonist thinks and perhaps makes a new discovery through reason, a mental expression. 

 

I don’t see scenes this way at all.  I write scenes that include the discovery as well as the reasoning al the time.  They aren’t separate events or pieces in my novel.  I do think the scenes and sequels concept is a good way of thinking about writing novels.  It gets the writer into the idea of scenes.  Scenes are where it is.  Next, I’ll list the potential plots form the list of classics, and discuss them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s write about the overall plots a little.  In the first place, a novel is never a single plot, and not even a single overall plot.  You can find some plots sticking out further and stronger than others, but except for the three great overall plots of redemption, revelation, and achievement, you can’t really get any more detailed.  Well, with simple novels, perhaps you can, but most novels are not simple, let’s hope, and few of the classics could be considered simple.  I’ll look at the overall and the other plots in detail, but the critical point for a writer to understand is the scene.

Plots take place in scenes and scenes define the novel.  With about two to three scenes per chapter and about twenty chapters in a full length novel, we can expect about forty to sixty scenes with, let’s say an average of fifty in a novel.  Each scene is defined by a plot with tension and release.  I should go back to the overall makeup of the novel to compare, and to make this relationship of plot to the novel very clear.  Here’s the outline for most classics and about 99% of all novels:

1.      The initial scene

2.     The rising action scenes

3.     The climax scene

4.     The falling action scene(s)

5.     The dénouement scene(s)

This is how we write novels, and it’s all about scenes.  No single plot covers the entire novel.  In other words, there might be an overall plot, for example redemption, revelation, and or achievement, but there is usually no singular plot that defines the entire novel, other than these overall plots.  What you find is that in each scene, there is some plot.  That plot leads to tension and release in the scene and that scene forwards the overall telic flaw resolution in the novel.  Let me take a step back and define the novel itself.

To write a novel, we require a protagonist with a telic flaw, an antagonist, and a setting (at least initial).  The telic flaw is the telic flaw of the novel, it is not necessarily a flaw in the protagonist, but rather the flaw in the world the protagonist must resolve, not solve, but resolve.  Let me give my favorite and the easiest telic flaw to understand—the mystery telic flaw.

We have a mystery that needs to be solved.  In a Romantic novel, the only person in the world who can solve this mystery is the Romantic protagonist.  In the classics or a non-Romantic novel, the protagonist is usually one of the few in the world who might have a chance at resolving the telic flaw.  Usually, the telic flaw is exclusive to the novel and to the protagonist.  There is some connection between the two, but that’s getting into the complexities of the novel itself. 

The reason we say to resolve and not solve is that, for example, the mystery might be a murder.  It is usually impossible to bring back the dead, so the resolution will usually be determining the mystery, catching the criminal (murderer), and resolving the issues around the crime.

Now, if you look through the type of plots, there is no murder plot.  Murder isn’t a plot as much as it’s a crime, immorality, or betrayal.  It can fit into all or any of these, plus others.  The reason for the murder can also be fit into many plots: money, miscommunication, love triangle, vengeance, escape, rejection, and all.  There are many many basic plots that can be the cause the and result of murder. 

So, we expect our protagonist to determine the criminal, bring them in to justice, and resolve the telic flaw.  The question then is how and why.  There must be a how, to the murder and the resolution as well as a why.  The murder could be justified or it could be accidental.  The resolution could be very positive or very negative.  When the protagonist resolves the telic flaw, that is a comedy and when the telic flaw overcomes the protagonist, that is a tragedy. 

In any case, we stack plots in scenes to resolve the ultimate telic flaw of the novel.  In most cases, we only want and allow a single telic flaw in a novel, but many of the short story type novels, like Game of Thrones and The Martian Chronicles have made multiple telic flaws with multiple protagonists popular.  Usually there should be only one telic flaw per protagonist per novel.  That’s not a hard a fast rule, but a good one.  Messing with one telic flaw effectively is enough for most writers, and to tell the truth, short story type novels with more than one protagonist and potentially more than one telic flaw is exhausting to the reader as well as to the writer.  I find Game of Thrones to be unreadable although it fits for a motion picture or television series.  Go figure.

Now, let’s start with the basics: a single protagonist with a telic flaw, an antagonist, and a setting.  The telic flaw is a mystery.  We start with an initial scene, and I guess, I’ll continue from there, next. 

The initial scene introduces the protagonist, the telic flaw, the initial scene, and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper.  I like to use a protagonist’s helper in my novels because I write Romantic novels with a Romantic protagonist.  Usually, the initial scene is the meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper.  Notice that in Aine, this is the exact initial scene I’m developing.  There are other ways to develop the initial scene, but none quite as effective. 

If you notice, most initial scenes will have a plot entirely different than the overall plot of the novel.  For example, in a mystery novel, the characters can’t just start looking for the resolution of the mystery, well I guess they can, but usually, you need to introduce the mystery—the telic flaw.  Depending on the type and storyline of the novel, the introduction of the mystery might be through a discovery plot, a travel plot, a money plot, a legal plot, or a mix of any of the plots.  For example, the impoverished protagonist might inherit a house, travel to the house, and discover there is some mystery in the house.  That’s a money, legal, travel, and discovery plot all in the initial scene and we are only introducing and unveiling the mystery. 

Once the protagonist, the antagonist (or the protagonist’s helper), the telic flaw, and the initial setting are introduced, the novel can move apace into the next scene.  These scenes form the rising action.  In the rising action, the expectation is that every scene will support the movement toward the climax and the resolution of the telic flaw, but many of these scenes incorporate different plots in themselves.  I’d say that most of these scenes will incorporate multiple plots to move the novel to the resolution.  For example, the next scene might include travel to the city to research in the library and the protagonist might meet his or her girlfriend or boyfriend.  The plots for the scene are then travel, discovery, and romance.  There might be more.  Then the author might just pick some plots to increase the excitement in the novel.  The librarian might be secretly trying to solve the mystery too.  That gives a potential betrayal plot as will as a possible vengeance plot.  In one scene the protagonist might be injured or get sick—that gives an illness plot in a scene or more than one scene.  The librarian might break into the house to find more clues—that’s a crime plot.

Here's the point, every scene includes a plot, many times multiple plots, all of these plots combining to move the rising action to the climax and the telic flaw (mystery, in this case) resolution. 

Novels are not about a single plot or even a single overall plot—they are a bundle of plots held together by scenes—the scenes incorporating plot(s) that all lead to the climax and resolution of the telic flaw.  For this reason alone, we can look at the list of plots and choose them to incorporate, or not, into the novel we intend to write.  That’s just what I want to do with Aine.

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

Overall (o) – as I wrote, when we converse about plots in a novel, we generally mean an overall plot, but in reality, novels usually don’t have an overall plot, not in the sense we usually mean.  We want to find some physical plot that defines the novel, but I really challenge you to do that.  In reviewing the classics, I found no such singular overall plot, but rather many plots in every novel.  I did find three general overall plots in every novel with subplots of these that then form the novel itself. 

These overall plots are very interesting.  They do define the novel, and they are historically defined and show an evolution with novel design.  That is, we find early novels with the overall achievement plot followed by the revelation plot and finally most modern novels with some degree of a redemption plot.  That’s not to say there are no early examples of a redemption plot, but the history of novels and of writing fiction, in general, follows an evolution of ideas and writing skills and styles.  It shouldn’t be surprising that Robinson Caruso is all about achievement (escape from an island) while Harry Potty is all about redemption (from the evil Voldermort and his evil wizards)--and Harry Potty is just one hack example.

Now, about overall plots.  These are definitely something we should evaluate and choose for our novel.  Many times the specifics of the telic flaw and it’s resolution will define the overall plot.  For example, stuck on an island or solve a crime or solve a mystery.  These types of novels almost always devolve into achievement plots, although they can rise to a more details and internal plot. 

When I write detailed and internal, I don’t mean that as a pejorative.  You find great novels that are all about achievement, but the really great and indeed the modern classics are all about redemption as well as achievement.  Whoops, I wrote it.  Almost all novels start with an achievement premise and telic flaw, but the overall telic flaw usually becomes one of redemption.  I’ll get into the idea of redemption when we address it next.  It may not be exactly what you are thinking.   

1.     Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49% - I should start with achievement as a plot, but I’ll go for the best, but latest first—redemption.  Redemption means to be redeemed from something—this might sound overly simple and repetitive, but the point is that many might imagine redemption is about the soul or spirit, in the sense of being religiously redeemed.  Religious redemption isn’t necessarily what redemption means—that is only one type of redemption.  A person can be redeemed from their abusive lifestyle or from sickness or from poverty.  The most important part of redemption, however, is that the person, the protagonist changes mentally.  That’s the point of redemption of any type.

You can have a redemption plot where the protagonist finds his or her place with God in a spiritual sense, but usually, and in most literature, that’s not what we are writing about.  We are writing about the change of heart and mind of the protagonist that propels them out of whatever bad place they happen to be.  This is why redemption is such a powerful and popular plot type, and especially an overall plot type.  The redemption plot is really the bread and butter of overall plots.  In fact, we pretty much expect these types of plots. 

It isn’t enough that Harry Potty overcome his enemies in whatever version of the seven novels about him, what really matters is how he has changed inside that allows him to overcome his doubts, fears, and problems so he can be redeemed by the end.  Now, Harry Potty is obviously an overall redemption plot, especially the first novel.  The others are all redemption to some degree or other.  They just aren’t as powerful as they should be, even as redemption plots.  What we really want in a novel is an full on redemption of the protagonist.  That’s what I plan in Aine.

Eoghan needs to find himself.  He really isn’t from an abusive background.  His parents are kind but controlling—that’s still not enough reason for redemption.  What Eoghan needs is to find what he really wants and to achieve it.  What I’m going to build is that Eoghan needs Aine and Aine needs Eoghan.  I want to put them together in a romance and helping relationship where they are both changed for the better.  Aine integrates into the modern world and Eoghan finds his place.  He will have to change mentally, emotionally, and intellectually to be achieve this—that’s a type of redemption.

2.     Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60% - the revelation plot broadly precedes the redemption plot in history.  In this type of plot, the novel reveals usually a character but many times some other aspect in the world.  Because the protagonist is the focus of the novel, the revelation must be part of the protagonist and the telic flaw, but you can see the revelation can be a mystery or a crime the protagonist must solve. 

Revelation plots are still very popular and successful, but the revelation plot turns easily into a redemption plot.  Revelation very quickly turns to a need to be redeemed plot or the redemption premise becomes part of the redemption.  I’ll point out A Christmas Carol as an example  That’s a revelation plot with a redemption premise.  Another example is the Harry Potty books.  They are all redemption plots wrapped around revelation plots.

This is perhaps the best modern type of novel—it keeps the level of excitement high through revelations and the overall plot balanced with the redemption plot and the end or telic flaw.

That’s not to say you won’t find many purely revelation novels or redemption novels without a high degree of revelation, but revelation is a very powerful type of plot and overall plot.

What we can see already is that the overall plots are mixed up with each other in the same way the other plots are all mixed up with each other.

I intend the revelation plot to be a very large part of Aine.  From the first moment of the novel, the world of the supernatural and of the Scottish National Park system as well as certain aspects of British intelligence system.  That’s what my novels are all about.  Did I have to mention Eoghan’s and Eva’s family.  All these and more are revelation targets in the novel.     

3.     Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73% - notice all the classic with an achievement plot.  That’s because achievement was one of the first overall plots.  It fits very well into the scheme of the novel, but it was pretty quickly eclipsed by the revelation and the redemption plots because those are much more important once people get out of a starvation culture.  The achievement of certain overall goals still make a great overall plot, but once people have food in their bellies, a job, and purpose or at least entertainment, they become more interested in the whys rather than the whats.  When they have achieved, they are more interested in the reveling and the redeeming. 

This is also why young adult and children’s novels are usually about achievement rather than revelation and redemption.  Perhaps we should explain about achievement. 

Achievement, as a plot, is about achieving some goal.  Robinson Caruso is considered the first novel in the English language—it’s overall plot is all about rescue and survival.  Rescue and survival are obviously achievements.  There are some touches of revelation in the novel, but not many any there is no redemption.  Robinson Caruso didn’t need to change at all to achieve his goals—he needed to survive.

Then we get into the true Romantic Era with Sir Walter Scott.  One of his greatest works is Ivanhoe.  Ivanhoe is about achievement—the achievement of peace and success for the Saxons in Norman French England.  There are also touches of revelation, but achievement is the goal and the main point of the novel. 

That brings us into the Victorian Era and let’s pick one of those dead male writers academia shears to hate like Jane Austin, George Elliot, or maybe the Bronte sisters.  Oh, they are female authors in their own right and the crowns of the Victorian Era.  We should pick at least a male, like Dickens.  Look at Oliver Twist, for example, there is a novel about achievement with a huge touch of revelation.  The Moonstone is the first detective novel, and all about revelation.  Don’t forget Dracula, also all about revelation.  Then back to Jane and Pride and Prejudice, that is a novel almost entirely taken up with revelation with the final act the revelation of the affections of the antagonist for the protagonist.  The end is an achievement, matrimony, but everything else is all about revelation.  That then brings us up to the modern Romantic Era—the Modern Era for writing.  That’s the Era of redemption.  I won’t go over it again.

Back to achievement.  The achievement plot is the basis for all other plots.  Readers expect some achievement basis that then has a revelation and redemption component. So, what will be the achievement basis for Aine?

I think I’ll start with the idea of Eoghan becoming integrated into the Organization and the Stela part of the intelligence structure.  He has skills they could use as well as leadership skills from his mother.  Eva can also tag along with this basic achievement.  Aine herself wants to integrate and she wants the love of Eoghan.  That’s a great achievement. 

Achievement (a)

1.     Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e – 51%

2.     Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46%

3.     Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%

4.     Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%

5.     Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%

6.     Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%

7.     Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%

8.     Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25%

9.     Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%

10.  Legal (a) – 5 – 4%

11.  Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%

12.  Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%

13.  Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%

14.  Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4%

15.  Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%

16.  Escape (a)  – 1ie, 23 – 21%

17.  Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%

18.  Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%     

Quality (q)   

1.     Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%

2.     Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%

3.     Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei, 21 – 20%

4.                     Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%

5.                     Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%

6.                     Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%

7.     Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e, 26 – 25%

8.     Psychological (q) –1i, 45 – 41%

9.     Magic (q) – 8 – 7%

 

10.  Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%

11.  Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%

12.  Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%

13.  Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%

14.  Satire (q) – 10 – 9%

15.  Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%

16.  Curse (q) – 4 – 4%

17.  Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%

18.  Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%       

Setting (s)

1.     End of the World (s) – 3 – 3%

2.     War (s) – 20 – 18%

3.     Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%

4.     Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%

5.     Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%

6.     Horror (s) – 15 – 13%

7.     Children (s) – 24 – 21%

8.     Historical (s) – 19 – 17%

9.     School (s) – 11 – 10%

10.  Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%

11.  Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%

12.  Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%

13.  Prison (s) – 2 – 2%

Item (i)

1.     Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42% - I’ll move to the item plot.  This is a great plot and very easy to appropriately introduce to any novel.  You can just throw it in at will for a single scene, or build it carefully through scenes to act as a telic element.  I always say go big. 

I think I already wrote about the ring in Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  The ring moves on the down low through the entire novel slowly gathering more and more mojo until it becomes a telic element near the end.  That’s the best way to work an item in a plot.

With items, you have McGuffins as well as real items.  A McGuffin is an item that exists solely to move a plot.  It has no real value, worth, or maybe existence.  McGuffins are common in some modern novels, but I like items of real value and worth.  I like my magic items to be magical, and my other items to be used and usable.  For example, if you introduce a gun…  Now a gun can be used in many ways.  You can shoot it, the target is important.  You can also use it other ways.  The same is true of the knife or any other weapon.  It’s true, if you introduce a weapon, you should use it, but use means a lot of different things.  I’m going to stop here and move forward next about the different types of items and how you can use them in a plot.

So, there are McGuffins and real items.  A McGuffin could be an actual and real item, or it could be something just made up of even false or non-existent like the Maltese Falcon in the novel of the same name.  I’m not a fan of the McGuffin, but I do see their use.  A McGuffin can be very worthwhile in a real worldview novel.  It could also be used in a reflected worldview novel, but the question is why not give a real power or ability to an item?  I’m into that.  Perhaps the most interesting use of an item is the secret or secret capability of the item that the protagonist or other character discovers in the revelation of the novel.  This is just the case with Angelica’s ring from my novel Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  We have items of power whose capability or abilities are hidden or secret.

Then, there are items whose capabilities are obvious like a gun or a knife.  These have obvious capabilities, but potentially many abilities.  For example, you can shoot a gun.  That means a lot of things.  The gun can be shot at someone or just in the air.  It can be used to hunt or fired at a target.  These are the points that are most obvious about a gun, but a gun can be used in many other ways.

You can use a gun as a tool, in the sense of striking a person or a thing.  A gun can be mishandled—resulting in firing or misfiring.  It can be cleaned.  It can be used to threaten.  It can be a paperweight.  It can be an item that causes fear or that reduces fear.  In all, the gun is a very useful tool in every potential use from shooting to just an item to a threat or a positive.  Guns are highly versatile.  Knives are too.

Knives are very useful tools like guns, but their use and potential use is even more varied.  Plus a knife can’t usually go off unexpectedly although there can be accidents.  I’ll look at these items and their potential, next.

We don’t need to just write about potentially dangerous items, because most items are dangerous depending on their use.  A book, for example, could be used as a bludgeon, but you can also read it, tear it up, use parts for scrap, burn it, use it as a door stop, and all.  The point is that there are nefarious uses for any item, and items can be used in all kinds of ways.

I proposed a novel I call bookgirl where the main item is a book.  The point of the book was to include a clue in the margins or on a title page that led the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper to a mystery.  This is a normal use for such an item.  In this case, the book isn’t a McGuffin and it isn’t supernatural.  The book is an item with a real use to forward the plot through not just its existence but, rather, its contents.  Now, on to knives.

A knife is a very common item.  You could have an inscription on it.  You could use it to harm or just to cut your meat.  You could threaten or make.  The knife is an innocuous item until it isn’t.  Chekov could not have written, if you introduce a knife in the first Act someone must be stabbed with it in the second.  That’s because the knife has many more uses.  I guess you could write, if you introduce the knife in act one, someone needs to open a letter with it in act two.  Ha ha.  That’s the entire point.  For an author, the use of the gun might not be for it to fire.  Likewise, the use of the knife might not be to cause harm or to threaten.  The knife could include an inscription that moves the plot.  The other use of a knife could be supernatural.  It could have great real power like a spell or a capability or it could lend a capability to the user.  I’ve done this before too. 

I don’t just make stuff up about items.  I research items from myth and history to provide a basis for the item.  For example, I used Arthur’s dagger from history and myth in one of my novels. 

The point about items is that they have many uses in plots.  I’ll look at how I might use the item plot in Aine.

I’m not sure I’ll add a supernatural item into Aine, but I’m not sure.  I haven’t researched this enough, but there are four great items of the Celtic and Gaelic Seelie.  These would rightly be part of the supernatural items Aine might use and control, but the Gaelic Seelie, the Irish Aes Sídhe (singular Aes Sídh) Tuatha Dé Danann guard these as great treasures.  There would be little opportunity and little reason for Aine and Eoghan to seek them in Ireland or use them.  There are always possibilities.

I was mainly thinking about normal items that might really get Aine a go’n.  For example, some personal item that belonged to Eoghan that he gifted her.  The Gaelic aren’t as nutso about gifts and gift giving as the Anglo-Saxons, but they do have their craziness as a culture about gifts and welcoming.  If Eoghan were to gift her something, he would have a very difficult time getting it back.  Perhaps parts of his clothing which he gives to Aine when he finds her in the state of nature.  There are many more possibilities. 

Another fun one might be a gun or a knife.  A gun would be interesting because Aine would have to use it and learn about it.  That could provide great entertainment.  There are a host of items that could attract Aine.  Plus there is this thing about people who come from item poor cultures.  They tend to want to hord and get stuff.  You can see this in the World War Two generation. They had nothing, so as they gained wealth, they gained stuff.  People who have all the stuff they every wanted like some later USA generations tend to not see much value in stuff.  Some cultures, like the Japanese, want stuff, but have little room for that stuff.  All these are cultural, and Aine is one of those little stuff kinds of people.  She will want to have and own things.  Then there are other things Aine might acquire and desire.

Desire and acquire, this is a very interesting plot type in the item plots.  She wants things and things in the Gaelic culture mean wealth and power.  This includes stuff we usually don’t think much about like animals, land, titles, responsibility—all these are things, items, a person like Aine could and would want.  She would equally want this for Eoghan because she will assume Eoghan is hers.  Yes, this is a cultural thing mixed with an Aine thing.  Cultural because, Aine will want and desire him.  She will assume that he is hers and that he rescued her for himself. 

Yes, in the ancient world people did rescue others without much or any reluctance, but you have to realize the mind of the ancient world and the Gaelic people.  If I rescue a person of equal rank to me, that person owe me a wearguild.  Rescue places a burden of repayment on the rescued.  This is true of any rank.  If a person of greater rank rescues one of lower rank, the one of lower rank can be required to become a servant of a slave of the other.  This is called a thane in Anglo-Saxon society.  This is especially true if the rescuer is of noble rank and the other is common.  They might be a free thane or a slave. 

Aine is of a noble rank.  I’ll discuss her place in this rescue que with Eoghan next.

Yes, rank is an item.  It is a thing to be achieved as well as a possession.  It is a fantastic type of item to use in rank based cultures.  This is one of the reasons I like to write in British and French settings—rank. 

Aine has rank.  She is a Fae Queen—that’s important, but not in the human courts.  In fact, the human courts don’t have any authority in the Fae courts and vice versa.  Aine has no rank in the human courts based on her Fae rank.  Now, Aine is also a goddess.  The gods and the goddesses have authority, but not over general humans or their courts.  They do have authority over their worshipers, but that’s about it.  They can kill, attack, and bully humans, but that is considered a high crime.  Aine is too refined to act that way, plus, she has no followers anymore—not in the modern world.  She might try to get some.

What about noble rank.  It depends on which tale you accept and which ones you don’t.  I’m going to ignore all the late tales and focus on the early ones.  Aine was so beautiful and desirable that an Irish king tried to rape her.  This usually means that Aine was outside of the king’s rank.  Aine was a Fae Queen and a goddess.  She was desired because of her power, skills, and her beauty not her rank.  If Aine were of a princess or even the daughter of another high noble, the king would simply ask for her hand in marriage.  He tried to rape her—he had no legitimate claim on her.  And, she wasn’t so stupid to allow him to take her that way.  This means that Aine’s rank wasn’t noble or at least not high enough to marry a king.  This will be a problem for her in the modern world.

Aine will assume she is taken as a free thane by Eoghan.  She has status, but not rank.  When she learns his true rank, it will be even worse for her.  She will know, by his name, that he is from high nobility.  She will not know, he comes from the lineage of kings.  This will provide some great entertainment.  I’ll get into that, next.

Yes, Aine has a problem.  This was a problem created by her captors and those who entombed her.  They knew that if she was ever rescued, she would fall as a captive to whoever let her go.  The king she dethroned and who tried to rape her, wanted to punish her as much as he could.  He couldn’t kill her, so he thought of the next best thing.  To be entombed and not able to escape, but then in escape to be made a captive and a slave.  Her only hope was to be freed by a woman of high rank—then Aine could at least become a lady-in-waiting—that has rank and hope.  If Aine was released by a slave or a thane, she would owe them money or work.  A drudge for a slave.

Eoghan might be the worst to rescue her.  With Eoghan, he can claim her as a free thane or as a slave.  She has no nobility, and he is the nobility of a king.  This is similar to the situation that led to her entombment as well as the dethronement of the original king.

However, Eoghan is a modern man with modern sensibilities.  He will treat her like a princess, but expect nothing else from her.  This will throw her off her culture and her knowledge.  I’m not sure how I want to play this, but I want to make it very powerful in the novel.  I want Aine to be consumed with it while she wants to give herself to Eoghan, and he won’t have her.  Yes, eventually, but he isn’t easily won or wooed.  My prepublication reader might not like that, but perhaps, I’ll build the modern chasing from the standpoint of Eoghan. 

Rank is the thing that will be the most powerful item in this novel.  It will be the problem and the plot that builds great fun in the novel—plus it will show the main point of the ancient cultures and societies I’m writing about and revealing.

I’ve gone over the major plots from the classics and how they might fit into Aine.  I also showed which plots I like to use and which I’m not very excited about.  Yes, some of this is personal preference, but some of it is what I think will sell and will interest most readers.  Of course, you will always find some market for some types of plots.  I hate to say it but most religious type writing is proselytizing.  I did have a publisher, until they went out of business, who encouraged and accepted novels that contained religion, but not proselytizing, in the sense of hitting people over the head with religion.  I wish this were true of normal publishers who seem to accept those who proselytize in every other subject than in religion.  Or who proselytize in every other religion except Christianity.  It seems one is acceptable and the other is not. 

The same it true of the end of the world plots.  These are plots based on proselytizing an idea or a religious concept like global flooding or ecological destruction or an ice age or a nuclear disaster or a world wide war or over population.  Yes, most of these are religious in nature and require either a very great writer or the acquiescence of the reader to an ideology.  I’m not into either.

The other real problem for many plots is what I call the god or messiah concept that comes from developing a god or messiah-like protagonist.  You can see this in Harry Potty novels and the Marvel and the DC movies.  It is evident in many other novels and series.  I’ll say from the beginning that I’m into novels and writing that deals with real people and real problems.  The problems and the people might be special, but they are in the realm of the real and the normal—that’s what most of the plots are about anyway. 

The most terrible plots are those based on a god or a messiah that starts with a god-like individual or an individual who eventually develops god-like skills.  This can also be like the Jame Patterson young adult novels where the plots keep getting larger and larger until they encompass the world or the universe.  You see this perfectly in cheap but popular anime and the Marvel and DC universes.  First, it’s about the destruction of a city or a town.  Then it’s about the destruction of a nation.  Then it’s about the destruction of a continent, then the world, then the solar system, then the universe, then the entire universes, then the dimension, then other dimensions, and so on.  It becomes a growing list of destruction which the gold-like messiahs resolve in varying ways.  Then it really gets crazy, because you can only do so much with gods and goddesses who have real god-like powers.  To be clear, I write about gods and goddesses, but their powers are limited to myth and the expectation of gods and goddesses in the world.  Superheroes and messiahs like Harry Potty are gods and goddesses with unlimited powers.  That’s mainly why I don’t like the messiah plot, and why I hate superheroes.

Perhaps I’ll get more into plots overall, next.

Then what plots do I like to use?  That’s what I’ve tried to express in detail for the last month or so.  Most plots can be used in varying degrees to bring great entertainment into your novels.  The problem for most writers seems to be the idea that a novel is just a singular or perhaps an overall plot.  Yes, there is an overall plot, but a novel is a set of plots defined by the scenes.  These plots develop the novel and reveal the protagonist as well as the storyline.  Yes, there is a storyline that can be somewhat separate from the plots.  The plots all feed into the storyline.  The storyline drives the telic flaw resolution, but the many plots just tie into the storyline.  You can consider the storyline to be the overall plot, but there is much more complexity here than meets the eye. 

When I was a new and inexperienced writers, I thought for a novel, you determined an overall plot and wrote to that plot.  I had not clue for a long time about how to write a novel in terms of the scenes.  The scenes are basically plots in themselves.  A novel isn’t about a single plot that confines the novel.  The novel is about a handful of plots defined by the scenes that create the overall novel.  I wish I’d know this when I first started writing.  I had no idea, and all the so-called teachers and professors of writing at my university had no idea at all how to write anything marketable.  If you notice, most of these people produce writing that only the university will publish.  If they met any other criteria, like salability, instead of junk, no one would publish them.  This is usually true of writing published for the students of the university.  Great writing is first, entertaining, and second marketable.  People are willing to pay to read it.  So, how do we write this way?

It's the scenes and the plots.  We do have an overall plot, but in sequence, the scenes develop in various plots to build into the overall plot and the telic flaw resolution.  That’s why we can pick different plots to build entertainment into our scenes and novel.  For example, we might pick an illness plot for a scene to accentuate the degree of the problems for the protagonist.  I did this in Aegypt and in Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness.  The protagonist, Leora, was deeply affected by lack of light and could not live in certain climates.  This was a reoccurring illness that peppered the novel and the scenes.  It also fed into the telic flaw resolution.  I could have built the novels without this little illness, but it propelled much of the plots and scenes.  Was it an overall plot, nope.  Did it directly affect or resolve the telic flaw, nope.  It did play a part in it.  It was a side development to add entertainment to the scene. 

I guess I’ll give you a conclusion to this discussion of plots, next.

The big question I had when I started evaluating the plots in the classics was if we as authors could use plots the way we use settings or characters and just apply them as we desire.  Before I answer that, let me wrote to you the first thing I discovered. 

First, as I noted before, there are overall plots, but no novel has a singular plot.  All novels are comprised of multiple plots.  There might possibly be an overall plot, but even that is questionable.  Novels are collections of plot most of which are bound to the scenes.  That is we find the plots in and across scenes.  Perhaps the most important point is that the plots all support the telic flaw resolution, and that might be an overall plot, or not.

Second, with the information above, the answer is obvious.  You should be able to select plots from the list of plots and apply them as necessary and as you desire in your novel.  The types of plots are these:

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

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

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

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

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

All of these can be applied in various degrees, and that’s really important.  The point of degree is critical.  Now, I will note—there are some types of plots that don’t lend themselves to certain levels of degree, but you might be able to work them in.  For example, an end of the world plot might not be very usable in most novel, except those with an end of the world setting, but you might be able to work a limited end of the world plot into a novel—the end of a business, of a family, of a way of life, and etc.  Harry Potty is kind of like that.  It’s an end of the world mixed with a messiah plot.  The end of the world is really the end of the “free” wizarding world, but not really the end of the world.  The messiah plot is full on with good old Harry Potty, as the messiah. 

So, yes, you can look at the list of plots, apply them as necessary, and use them in your novel to drive the entertainment and the excitement.  I can’t really tell you how best to use these plots, and I wouldn’t apply them willy-nilly.  The point is to realize they are available and usable.  They can be integrated into your novel, and that should be your plan.  You shouldn’t just pick a plot for a single scene, but integrate the plot across all your scenes.  The best example I can give is the one I mentioned before about Angelica’s ring in Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  I integrated the ring across almost all the scenes from the introduction of Angelica in the novel to the end of the novel.  That’s the point, and yes, the ring did play some role in the resolution of the telic flaw. 

You can choose plots and integrate them into your novel.  This is a great means of writing a great novel.

I’ll move on to obstacles, next.      

e.      Obstacles that must be overcome 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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