09 July 2024, Writing - part xxx740 Researching the Reflective Worldview
Announcement: I still need a new publisher. However, I’ve taken the step to
republish my previously published novels.
I’m starting with Centurion, and we’ll see from there. Since previously published novels have little
chance of publication in the market (unless they are huge best sellers), I
might as well get those older novels back out.
I’m going through Amazon Publishing, and I’ll pass the information on to
you.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya:
Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through
this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary
on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on
writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols
in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the
scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning
with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I’m using this novel
as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel
published. I’ll keep you informed along the way.
Today’s Blog: To see the steps in the publication process,
visit my writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus two
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 31st
novel, working title, Cassandra, potential title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors. The theme statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha
are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult
mysteries, people, and events.
I finished writing my 34th
novel (actually my 32nd completed novel), Seoirse, potential
title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment. The theme statement is: Seoirse is assigned
to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five
goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
Here is the cover
proposal for Centurion:
|
Cover
Proposal |
The most important
scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to
the rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel,
working title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel, working
title Detective. I finished writing number 31, working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior. I just finished my 32nd novel and
33rd novel: Rose: Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse:
Enchantment and the Assignment.
How to begin a novel. Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement. Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the
X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns
about freedom, and is redeemed.
For Novel 32: Shiggy Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated
Scottish safe house her organization gives her for her latest assignment: Rose
Craigie has nothing, is alone, and needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge
her as a human being.
For novel 33, Book girl: Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they
are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything,
her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to
befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family
and existence.
For novel 34: Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector
and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork;
unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
For novel 35: Eoghan,
a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem
in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and
accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and
Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.
Here
is the scene development outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
Today:
Let me tell you a little about writing.
Writing isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime. Writing is a habit and an obsession. We who love to write love to write.
If
you love to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well. We want to write well enough to have others
enjoy our writing. This is
important. No one writes just for
themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly. I can prove why.
In
the first place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only
purpose. Writing is the abstract
communication of the mind through symbols.
As time goes by, we as writers gain more and better tools and our
readers gain more and better appreciation for those tools and skills—even if
they have no idea what they are.
We
are in the modern era. In this time, the
action and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into
the form of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the
future. This is the modern style of the
novel. I also showed how the end of
literature created the reflected worldview.
We have three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected,
and the created. I choose to work in the
reflected worldview.
Why
don’t we go back to the basics and just writing a novel? I can tell you what I do, and show you how I
go about putting a novel together. We
can start with developing an idea then move into the details of the
writing.
Ideas.
We need ideas. Ideas allow us to
figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.
Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus. We need to cultivate ideas.
1. Read novels.
2.
Fill
your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about.
3.
Figure
out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.
4.
Study.
5.
Teach.
6.
Make
the catharsis.
7. Write.
The development of ideas is based on
study and research, but it is also based on creativity. Creativity is the extrapolation of older
ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form. It is a reflection of something new created
with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect). Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and
producing.
If we have filled our mind with all
kinds of information and ideas, we are ready to become creative. Creativity means the extrapolation of older
ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form. Literally, we are seeing the world in a new
way, or actually, we are seeing some part of the world in a new way.
The beginning of creativity is study
and effort. We can use this to
extrapolate to creativity. In addition,
we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.
With that said, where should we
go? Should I delve into ideas and
creativity again, or should we just move into the novel again? Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we
know, will result in a new novel. I’ve
got an idea, but it went stale. Let’s
look at the outline for a novel again:
1.
The initial scene
2.
The rising action
scenes
3.
The climax scene
4.
The falling action
scene(s)
5.
The dénouement scene(s)
The initial scene is the most important
scene and part of any novel. To get to
the initial scene, you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.
My main focus, at the moment, is
marketing my novels. That specifically
means submissions. I’m aiming for agents
because if I can get an agent, I think that might give me more contacts with
publishers plus a let up in the business.
I would like to write another novel, but I’m holding off and editing one
of my older novels Shadow of Darkness.
I thought that novel would have fit perfectly with one potential agent
who said they were looking for Jewish based and non-Western mythology in
fantasy. That’s exactly what Shadow
of Darkness is, but they passed on it.
In any case, I’m looking for an agent who will fall in love with my
writing and then promote it to publishers.
That’s the goal.
Most of my writing has a very strongly
historical basis in a reflected worldview.
This short statement needs some definition and description. In writing, there are three overall
worldviews. The first is a real
worldview. I consider Centurion to
have been written in a real worldview. A
pure historical worldview is a real worldview.
The real worldview is the worldview accepted by most as the world as it
is. Knowing the world as it is, perhaps
real is the wrong word, but this will stand.
Real is the basic and non-fantastic world we experience every day. I’m not certain there is a better or more expressive
way to define the real worldview. As a
contrast let’s look at the created worldview.
The created worldview is mostly defined as
fantasy and science fiction; however, it’s a bit more complex than that. A created worldview is a worldview that was
created by the author for a novel or a series of novels. The created worldview is related to a real
worldview, but not in its details only in its reflection of usually humanity or
even nonhumanity. In general, a created
worldview is based in a world completely unrelated to the real. What does that mean? As I mentioned, the most common understanding
of a created worldview is science fiction or fantasy world, but this doesn’t
completely define the created worldview.
In a created worldview, the writer usually creates the history, the
basis, the features, and the settings of the worldview to fit the fantasy or
the science fiction plot and point. For
example, in a created science fiction worldview, the author might describe a
colony on Mars or on some other planet.
Since there has never been a human colony on any planet, this must be a
created worldview. Likewise, in a
fantasy setting, a fantasy world unrelated to anything defined by history or in
myth would also be a created worldview.
I consider Harry Potty a created worldview. The reason is because many of the creatures
and the magic in the Harry Potty novels as well as the settings and the history
are unrelated to myth or history. Jack
Vance’s Green Pearl novels are also a created worldview. The magic, settings, and history are
completely unrelated to anything in the real world. They are a created worldview and a fantasy
genre and world. Likewise, the Sparkly
Vampire novels are a created worldview.
The reason is that the vampires don’t resemble classic historical
vampires much at all. It’s okay for
mythic characters to vary in some degree from their classic characteristics,
they are mythic after all, but not so much that they can’t be recognized or
they don’t follow the basis for their historical understanding or basis. Bram Stoker defined the classic vampire. You can vary your vampires to some degree
from this classic basis, but if you go too far, you have created a
worldview. That brings us to the
reflected worldview. That worldview
based on the real but not created.
I’ll get to the reflected worldview, next.
This gets a little complex, but in our world
there are many things that we consider not real although there is plenty of
history as well as stories to support them.
For example, vampires. I’m not
sure anyone really believes in vampires, but vampires are a part of human
history and myth. If you look up
vampire, you will find a host of information.
Much of is, or maybe most of it is all fiction, or is it? The vampire is a part of human lore and human
culture than is well accepted and to some degree believed, but is it real? The same is true of all kinds of mythic
creatures as well as the supernatural and the gods and goddesses. There is much much more to these creatures,
beings, and places (like Atlantis) but we don’t consider them to be part of the
real world. I call this the reflected
world. The reason is that the reflected
world reflects what people believe and not what they think is real.
You might say, this is a kind of schizophrenic
view of the world, part real and part reflected. I say it is just normal human
understanding. When my grandchildren or
children ask if dragons are real? My
answer is I hope so. A real worldview
novel can’t include dragons, but a reflected worldview novel can. This is the worldview I write in. I write in the reflected worldview.
I’ll give you more information about this
kind of writing and worldview.
Personally, I consider the reflected
worldview a more real worldview and way or writing than the real
worldview. The reason is that what
people imagine and what they think about the world is sometimes more important than
what we see in the real world. We see
this all the time. For example, in
religion, the expression of belief is part of the reflected worldview. Religion is by nature supernatural. It depends on the idea of a God or of gods as
well as a supernatural understanding of the world. Is this real?
In the sense of a worldview it is a reflected worldview, but it is still
accepted as part of the real. Unfortunately,
the idea of the real and the reflected overlap one another, and we see some of
this in real worldview writing. For
example, an author writing about a military action or campaign might wax
eloquent about the spiritual ideas of the people or about the spiritual past
that formatted the nation as a whole.
Now, about the reflected worldview. I want to write in an obvious reflected worldview
because I want to show not just the real world but rather the spiritual and
supernatural depths of the world. To me,
putting words into the mouth of dragons, or into the mouths of the Fae, or into
the demigods and gods and goddesses of myth is really fun and exciting. More than that, the interaction of humans in
the world with these supernatural beings is even more exciting. This builds in the entertainment of the novel
and the world of the novel.
I’ll expand more on the writing and writing
in the reflected worldview.
The reflected worldview is different than the
created worldview and perhaps most similar to the real worldview. In fact, the reflected worldview is the
actual worldview most people live in. When
I study to write in a reflected worldview, I research the subject matter extensively. For example, when I wrote Valeska:
Enchantment and the Vampire, I studied and researched vampires for
months. I gathered all the data I could
on them, their history, and their settings.
I didn’t use all the information I discovered, and I used some
information selectively, but if you look up my vampires, they will fit with
history and myth. That is all you have
to do to figure out my vampires is to look them up in books or on the
internet. My view of vampires is the
classic worldview myth of vampires. The
point is what you know about vampires is what you will find in my novels, and
specifically in that novel. This is true
of all reflected worldview subjects, but not true of created worldview subjects.
One of the main ways you can check if a novel
or an idea is created versus reflected worldview is just make an internet
search. For example, if you did a search
about Harry Potty, today, you will find an enormous amount of information about
Harry Potty—those novels and creations are a bestseller phenomena. You won’t find anything about the world of
Hogwarts or Harry Potty prior to the publication of the first novel. This is a created worldview. You won’t find anything about the magic
system and magic theory of Harry Potty until the novel. The magic and magic theory isn’t based on any
system from myth or the past, and many of the creatures in the novel came from
the mind of the author. They are created
worldview. This isn’t bad, it’s just not
the reflected worldview.
What makes the reflected worldview so great? That’s next.
The main point of the reflected worldview is
to present your readers not what is real in the world, but what could be or
what they can imagine as real. This is
pushing deeply into the suspension of disbelief.
If you notice, to develop a great created
worldview, the author must design an entire world, or at least parts of it,
that will suspend the disbelief of the reader.
In the real worldview, the author just has to take the elements of the
normal world and present them—the plot and characters then are what must suspend
the disbelief of the readers. In the
reflected worldview, it is the same. The
reflected worldview is similar to the real worldview, but with all the elements
of the real or rather reflected worldview that people know of, but don’t necessarily
believe in. How difficult is it to get a
reader to accept a classic vampire—not very, based on all the vampires in
novels. On the other hand, the
non-classic vampire is a bit more difficult to believe in. It takes a well and carefully written novel
to build the trust and belief of the reader for that. On the other hand, if the vampire is the kind
of vampire the readers are expecting, or close enough to the standard model,
they will readily accept them as a character or a trope. That’s the main point. The suspension of disbelief is already accomplished
as long as the author doesn’t screw it up too much.
On the other hand, the Harry Potty novels
invented all kinds of creatures, beings, and spirits, like for instance, Thestrals. Thestrals are not creatures of myth or any
human culture. They are one of the many
created creatures of the wizarding world that Rowling beneficently gifted us. Thestrals, like many other inventions of
Rowling are potentially on their way to becoming mythic creatures, or maybe
not. Jack Vance created many more and
many better developed creatures in his novels, both fantasy and science
fiction, but they haven’t crept into the cultures. On the other hand, many of Rowling’s
inventions might. Or they might
not.
A real problem with Rowling’s creatures is
that many are just silly. The novels are
all for Young Adults—they aren’t to be taken too seriously. They are missing one of the most important ideas
from a magic standpoint. An idea that a
thinking adult or young adult can’t miss if they have any degree of education
and reason—where does the magic come from?
Ancillary to that question is the great rational of C.S. Lewis. Magic must come from inside of creation while
miracles come from outside of creation.
This always points to God and the supernatural. In fact, the supernatural always points to
God. God is supernatural. This is the real power of the reflected
worldview. Perhaps we can look at this
and look at the power of the reflected worldview to the author, next.
The strength of the reflected worldview is
that it is already created for the author.
It’s similar to the real worldview in that regard. Haven’t you noticed that the made up Harry
Potty creatures are kind of stupid? This
is true of many authors in fantasy and science fiction. A real mater like Jack Vance creates
marvelous creatures and beings without any seeming effort, but let me tell you
about it.
As a science fiction author myself, I approach
the creation of the science fiction worldview in the same way I would the
fantasy worldview, but not the reflected worldview. How’s that?
If you are going to write about aeronautical
science and how aircraft fly, you better do some intense study on the
subject. The same is true is you intend
to invent science fiction with extrapolated technology on, let’s say,
aircraft. Space craft are the same. Biological creatures are even more
complex. Science is science, but biomes
are not just biomes. When I created the
shinobi fly for my novel Regia Anglorum I had to create an entire biome
to support it. I didn’t detail the
entire world or the world of the biome, I just introduced two creatures I
thought might integrate into the world of El Rashad. They were the scarcats and the shinobi
fly. As I noted, I didn’t relate the
entire biome in my novel—I did in my notes.
Both creatures are very dangerous to humans. The shinobi fly larva ire poisonous as are
the shinobi flies to humans. In
addition, the scarcats look like kittens, but are very well armed. In any case, my point is this, I developed
entire creatures with a lifecycle and an existence in a biome as side creatures
in my novel. I spent at least a month on
the design of the world and the biome I was describing including drawings and
maps. Now, compare that to some of the
fantasy world creatures that just exist.
They are all based on an illogical magic system that allows such things
to just exist. My point is that in a
created worldview, you better really do your research and develop your creatures,
world, and science. The science should
be based on the science we know at this moment, and not wild magical conjecture. The reflected worldview requires significant research,
but you don’t have to make anything up.
What do I mean? If you need a vampire or any other creature
for a reflected worldview novels, all you need to do is research the literature
and myth. You don’t need to make
anything up. I would recommend not borrowing anything from modern or fictional
sources. Use real sources and historical
sources. Don’t just make something up—if
you do, you are in a created worldview.
Plus, the advantage of the reflected worldview is that with the very
well educated, they will immediately know your reference. For example, almost every educated reader
will know about a dragon or a vampire or a zombie. A very astute reader who is familiar with
Gaelic or Celtic myth will know who Aine is or other mythic gods and goddesses. In your novel, you will need to illustrate and
explain—that’s your job, but the very astute reader might already know some of
the story, while others will run across the information in other literature or
perhaps in their studies. The reflected
worldview simply reflects the world as it exists, but in myth and historical
information. I hate to write historical
fiction—we aren’t writing about fiction except in the result. The point of the reflected worldview is that
it exists in human knowledge lying on the edge of the real or actual and the
not as real or measurable. More on this
and more on research, next.
As I wrote, the writer needs to use care in
researching the reflected. The reason is
that all kinds of fiction has cropped up across the internet and in popular
literature that can counterfeit as reflected.
If after about 250 years the information comes into the popular knowledge
of the culture, perhaps we can call something the reflected worldview. However, I can assure you, if real historical
people like actors, actresses, singers, and dancers are forgotten by the reflected
culture, most of Harry Potty will too.
I’m a connoisseur of Victorian Era, especially,
late Victorian Era novels. These were
the best sellers of their time and popular all over the English-speaking
world. These novels literally created a
genre and brought thousands if not millions of young people into the modern and
educated world. Today, these novels and their
authors and characters are all but forgotten.
You can find them in the Guttenberg Project books, but almost nowhere
else. My point is that these great
novels, supper popular and best sellers for their time never made it into the
reflected worldview. They are part of
history, so in a modern novel, you can use them and address them in
context. Just like, in the future, you’ll
be able to address the Harry Potty novels in context or the Beetles in
context. The main point however, is this:
unless a creature or an idea in a Harry Potty novel has some kind of context
beyond a Harry Potty novel, it will not be able to be used in a reflected
worldview.
There is the possibility that the Thestrals
become a creature of modern myth. There
is equally a much larger chance they will not make it past Harry Potty or the Twenty-first
century. Such is the problem of the created
worldview. This is the main problem with
researching the reflected.
In researching the reflected world, you need
to ensure the validity and the worth of the information and the source. For example, in researching Aine, Aine is a
very undocumented goddess. A lot of
information is sparse, but little has been written about her. Almost all the information about Aine is very
old and very tenuous. This is actually great. Anyone searching for Aine will find something
similar. The power of this is that with multiple
stories and information on Aine, as the author, I can pick and choose what I
want to represent as real. I can make
and write the life and character of Aine as I desire as long as I keep to the
basics and explain the rest away. This is
what writers do, both the real and the reflective.
I’ll write about this next—that is how an
author takes an historical or a reflective person, creature, or being and makes
them their own yet holds true to the historical and mythical facts.
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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