22 July 2024, Writing - part xxx753 Forms of Novels, Short Story
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 the third edition of Centurion:
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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.
So, perhaps I should look at the form of the
novel and the reflected worldview. I’ll
start simply with some advice. Here is
the form of the standard novel:
1.
The initial scene
2.
The rising action
scenes
3.
The climax scene
4.
The falling action
scene(s)
5.
The dénouement scene(s)
This
could also be call the style of the standard novel. Now, you might ask, are there other forms or
styles for novels? The answer is yes,
yes there is, but you won’t like the second part of this answer. The second part is that except for a couple
of rude exceptions, there are zero best sellers and almost no authors who write
in other forms and styles. Let me give
you the short list of the forms or styles of a novel:
1.
The standard form—that’s outlined above
2.
The short story form—actually somewhat successful with a few
best sellers and classics
3.
The Roman Fluve form
4.
The Cubist form
I’m
almost certain there are a couple of other forms. I think I had six when I wrote about this
subject before. My recommendation is
this: unless you are a short story novelist, don’t use any other than the
standard form, and even short story novelists tend to gravitate to the standard
form because it sells more copy. So,
what is the short story form.
I
guess I can let that wait until the next installment.
A
few authors write in the short story form of the novel. This is actually a modern form with very few
examples in the past. One of the first using
this form was Ray Bradbury and his novel, The Martian Chronicles one of
the earliest examples. There might be
some others in the past, but they don’t come to mind or they don’t exist. The Martian Chronicles is a collection
of loosely connected shorts with no strong telic flaw, other than the
exploration of Mars, no single protagonist, and no real climax. Now, some might think or write that they can
find some discernable telic flaw, protagonist, and climax in the novel, but I’ve
also read arguments that the protagonist was Mars, the planet, and the climax
was the human exploration, or lack thereof, of the planet. Look, it’s a collection of short stories with
some loose cohesion. Bradbury did a much
better job with his very important Dandelion Wine, which is also a
collection of short stories tightly connected to the protagonist with a discernable
climax although a weak one. Dandelion
Wine is the greatest novel written in the Twentieth Century and about the
coming of age of the Twentieth Century as well as the coming of age of the
protagonist.
Now,
another famous author who writes in the short story form of the novel is George
R. R. Martin. He can write in the
standard form, for example, The Dying of the Light, but his early great
novel Tuff Voyaging is a wonderful example of a true short story novel
connected well through the protagonist and his voyaging although the telic flaw
and the climax is weak. His most famous
short story novels are the Game of Thrones novels. Readers love and hate them. They love the writing and the shorts, they hate
the way the novels are put together. The
telic flaw is loosely the fight for the throne, while the climax is never very
clear. This is why the author and the producers
had such a problem working out how they would present a television series. In any case, do you see the problems and
difficulties of writing in the short story form?
If
you write in this form, you will have difficulties unless you have established
yourself as a great short story author, like Bradbury or Martin. Even Martin didn’t really separate himself
from the pack as a short story novelist.
He really started with a couple of popular novels and moved along from
there. I’d say your chances in a market
with about a million books coming out every year and two known successes with
the short story novel form, in writing in the short story form is about a few
million to one.
My
conclusion is that you should stick to short stories and move to the novella if
you are a great short writer. It is much
easier to write a good short that can become a novella and then a regular
novel. I’ve found to my dismay that I
write in the 100,000 word range all the time now. The problem with that is that many publishers
are looking for shorter novels in their new writers. My early novels were in the 65,000 to 85,000
word range and that was the center of the field for many publishers, especially
for a new writer. There are lots of
reasons for this, and I’ll eventually discuss the length of a novel. In any case, I suggest writing a standard
novel. If you write in a short story
form, make your shorts fit together like Bradbury did in Dandelion Wine and
a couple of other novels. The short
story form can be used well if it can be shoehorned into the standard form. The Roman Fluve can’t. I’ll look at that form, next.
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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