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Monday, July 29, 2024

Writing - part xxx760 Forms of Novels, Standard, Building the Initial Scene

 29 July 2024, Writing - part xxx760 Forms of Novels, Standard, Building the Initial Scene

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:




 

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.

The Roman Fluve form is similar to the short story form except there is never a single telic flaw nor a singular climax.  The Roman Fluve is very similar to The Martian Chronicles.  The classic novel in the Roman Fluve form is USA by John dos Pasos.  USA has no specific telic flaw and no climax.  It is very similar to just a series of unconnected short stories.  Why it is considered a novel instead of a short story collection is that a Roman Fluve novel is connected with a theme.  The theme for USA is the United States of America.

I should mention that Roman Fluve means a river.  The idea is basically a stream of consciousness—that’s the fluve part.  The Roman part means that the theme of the Roman Fluve novel is supposed to be classical or imperial.  You might ask, what is the problem with the Roman Fluve novel?

Did I mention there is no singular protagonist in the Roman Fluve novel.  No singular protagonist, no telic flaw, and not climax (telic flaw resolution).  Since, in my definition, the greatest novel is a revelation of the protagonist, the Roman Fluve can’t provide this little bit of greatness.  I should write a little about this.

The novel as a revelation of the protagonist is the highest form of the novel.  The wonderful part of this is both the problem the protagonist must resolve as well as the resolution (climax).  This isn’t just an add—although the novel is the revelation of the protagonist, the author needs something to hang his or her hat on, as well as something to write toward and to complete the novel.  That thing to write toward and to complete the novel is the telic flaw and the telic flaw resolution.

A protagonist without some problem to resolve and with no resolution is like a terrible series novel without a conclusion.  I hate those.  You know, the kind you buy as part of the series and you expect some wonderful resolution at the end and you get nothing.  I really hate that.  That’s why I write complete novels even in my series novels.  In any case, this is the problem with the Roman Fluve novel.  Imagine a collection of short stories with no real connection other than the theme and no telic flaw or conclusion.  You might get really frustrated after the first few stories.  In fact, without a cohesive protagonist, you will get really bored with the novel.  If a novel is the revelation of the protagonist, then switching and dumping protagonists will get old very fast—and that’s the problem with the short story form novel as well.  If you look at the short story form novel as a collection of shorts, you don’t have many problems, but if you are looking for a cohesive revelation of a protagonist you will be disappointed.  In fact, a Roman Fluve novel like USA and a short story novel like The Martian Chronicles are both driven by theme—one is the USA and the other is Mars.  Go figure.  If the novel is the revelation of the protagonist, both of these fail.  Both are classics, but they are unusual classics.  You can also see where George R. R. Martin and The Game of Thrones fits into this picture.  The Game of Thrones is a collection of shorts as individual chapters that create connected novellas with a single theme—the throne or the control of the kingdoms.  Well that’s a great modern theme—ha ha.

I’m not a fan of the short story or the Roman Fluve form.  I’ll give you more about the Cubist form, next.

Even more than the Roman Fluve form of the novel, the Cubist form is both stream of consciousness and stream of unconsciousness.  The Cubist form is literally as elegant and inspiring and understandable as a Cubist painting.  If you can fully comprehend and enjoy a Cubist painting, perhaps the Cubist novel is for you.  Let me give you some examples.

James Joyce may be the only successful author to trick people, especially the illuminati, into purchasing and not reading his Cubist novels.  Ulyssis and A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man ­are just two of his incomprehensible and unreadable novelsHow do I know?  I, unlike most people in the world, have read all of his novels.  They are not worth reading.

When I was a young and foolish young man, I trusted and believed my teachers and professors were truly educated and wise.  They were neither educated, wise, well read, nor published.  The main point is they were not published because they were crappy writers, and they thought James Joyce was a legitimate writer.  I can tell you, because I’ve read the novels, all these novels by James Joyce are unreadable, unpalatable, not entertaining, and not understandable.  If you want to read them yourself, you may, but don’t be surprised if you find them worthless for human consumption.

As I wrote, I imagined, when I was young and foolish, that my professors and professorettes were knowledgeable about such things.  Alas, they were themselves deluded and unpublished.  The reason they were unpublished is they could not write a sentence of entertaining prose or identify a sentence of entertaining prose if it bit them in the butt.  They were ignorant and illeducated, and they tried to pass their idiocy on to their students.  They never imagined anyone would ever read the crap they thought was so good. 

I actually read Ulysses twice just to make certain I hadn’t missed anything, and I wrote a couple of papers about the novel because I actually, at one time, thought the novel could actually be important.  The best thing you can do with Ulysses is to use it for tinder.  It is indeed an example of a cubist novel and a worthless piece of human excrement.  By the way, KMRIA.  That’s a great synopsis of Ulysses.

So, if you think you need to write a Cubist novel, don’t.  It will be unsellable and unreadable.  If your professors and professorettes tell you it is a great novel worth reading, you will know they are idiots.  This is the great test of the unpublished and uneducated.  I am published and very well educated and much better read than most of those preaching illuminate BS in the Universities.  Just a warning to the wise. 

Oh, when the professors and professorettes tell you how great Ulysses is, ask them for a reading.  It’s as nutty and unreadable a Gertrude Stein, another Cubist writer.  Let’s actually go to the actual successful novel form, the standard form.

The standard form of the novel is also known as the classical form.  If you actually had a great education or at least a good one, you know about the standard form because before the crazies took over the educational system, this was how you evaluated a novel. 

In classic analysis or criticism of a novel, you evaluate the protagonist, the problem (telic flaw), the plot, the theme, and the climax.  A really good teacher or professor will note and evaluate the initial scene, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the dénouement.  These and this outline are the main elements of a classical novel. 

Now, I’ve been over these before, but we should go over it again, and I’ll point out the stuff they never told you, that they should have.

In the first place, the theme is almost worthless, especially from an author’s standpoint.  I have a great writer friend who just put out a book on theme.  It’s a great and very helpful book for ideas about writing and especially about the theme from the standpoint of the writer.  His book is titled How to Write a Novel that Matters by Mike Klaassen.  I recommend his book and his writing. 

Now, Mike takes a little stronger and much more educated view of theme than I do.  He quotes Nancy Kress from Character Dynamics on theme, and I’ll just pass on a small part of it, “Theme. The most fraught word in literature.”  She and he goes on to spotlight theme in sense of the classic direction of an English teacher to identify the theme of a novel, essay, or other writing and then write an essay about it.  I recommend Mike’s book on theme and writing.  It’s a very good read and very helpful, but from my standpoint as well as Nancy’s and Mike’s, the problem with our general view of theme is itself problematic.  Mike covers the idea of theme in a wonderful and powerful way in his book.  What I want to convey to you in my idea of the theme of a novel is more akin to the plot statement.  I call it the theme statement or just the theme because I was asked by my mentor to write out a cohesive theme statement for my novels. 

My mentor Roz Young thought that a theme statement was the most important part for the author to direct their novel—I’m not so sure.  Her idea to theme was as amorphous as Nancy, Mike, and my idea of the theme statement.  Almost impossible to compose and almost impossible to understand as a simple idea.  So, let me write a little about the theme as the theme statement because this has been helpful to me in many ways.

In fact, I have opened this blog with the theme statements from my most recent and potential novels for a while.  I’ll repeat the latest here:

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.

 

My ideas on theme aren’t as well developed as Mike’s, and I recommend his book for many reasons, but I think I can give you some ideas on writing a theme statement that will make this idea valuable to you, next.

 

Starting with the idea of the theme statement might be the wrong place to start about the standard novel.  The reason is because you need all the basic elements of your novel to write a theme statement. 

 

Let me backup and remind you about the theme statement.  My mentor Roz Young insisted that I have a theme statement for my novels.  Her idea of a theme statement was couched in the ideas of the typical theme essay of the past.  What she really meant by a theme statement, I really had no idea and still have no idea about, but I wrote her a theme statement.  In fact, let me show you the plot and theme statements I wrote for the novel:

 

Plot: 

A foreign legion lieutenant discovers the Egyptian goddesses of good and evil in an ancient tomb;  they are brought to life when the tomb is opened, and their 4000 year old conflict begins again.

Theme: 

How do men react to the spiritual when it is revealed to them plainly, and how do we communicate those thoughts across centuries and drawing rooms? 

You can fins these on the secret pages for the novel.  This is not really what I would call either a theme or plot statement today—my ideas and knowledge of both have increased and improved.  In general, I’ve tried to define exactly what these mean.  Let’s go to the theme statement first—perhaps I should write one for Aegypt.

 

In the first place, we need to start with the protagonist.  The protagonist of Aegypt is Lieutenant Paul Bolang of the French Foreign Legion.  If you look at my pages on Aegypt you can find some descriptions and information about him, but he is a veteran of World War One and an officer in the French Foreign Legion assigned to Fort Saint in Tunisia.  That’s a second piece of information for the theme statement, the initial setting of the novel.  Fort Saint is the initial setting and the primary setting for Aegypt. 

 

Next, we need the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper.  In Aegypt, Leora, the Goddess of Light is the protagonist’s helper and Leila, the Goddess of Darkness is the antagonist.  These are mysteries slowly revealed in the novel, but the theme statement is for the author.

 

Next, and finally, we need the telic flaw for the novel.  This is pretty simple and direct too.  The telic flaw is the mystery of the temple and tombs of the Goddess of Light and Darkness, including the mystery of the odd hieroglyphics in the site.  I’ll try to put together a theme statement based on these.  Here we go.  The theme statement for my third published and fifth written novel:

 

For novel 5:  French Foreign Legion Lieutenant Paul Bolang discovers an ancient Egyptian temple containing unusual hieroglyphics near Fort Saint in Tunisia.  An excavation finds two tombs, the tombs of the Goddess of Darkness and the Goddess of Light.  When opened, these tombs cause death begin a cabalistic incantation—could this bring back the inhabitants of the tombs?

 

Okay, that’s a bit long, but still pretty good for a theme statement.  I’ll go with it—the novel is complete anyway.  This theme statement covers about everything important in my list of the theme statement contents.

 

We have the protagonist, the initial setting, the antagonist and the protagonist’s helper and the telic flaw.  Note, the telic flaw is the mystery of the tombs.  In every case, you don’t need an essay for the theme statement.  You can write an essay based on the the theme statement.  I’m not into outlines, but you can also write an outline based on the theme statement.  There is much more we can do with a theme statement, but I’ll move on to that, next.

 

I found the plot and theme statements I wrote for my mentor to be useless, except as pieces for my secret pages.  I have discovered, however, that the theme statement I defined and demonstrated for you is very useful. 

 

In the first place, it is useful to characterize the novel I intend to write.  I’m not a fan of outlines, but I think you could write an outline starting with the theme statement.  I know you could write or at least imagine an initial scene from the theme statement.  You really couldn’t define or describe the climax from it.  What you do get is the necessary basics of the novel. 

 

A novel must have a protagonist, an antagonist, and a telic flaw.  These are the minimum.  The freebees are a protagonist’s helper and an initial setting.  All of these help generate your novel.  How’s that?

 

I’ve written before, the development of the initial scene is the most important scene in any novel, and the theme statement allows you to conceive the initial scene.  You literally have all the elements necessary to write the most important scene in the novel.  I’ll get to that next, the initial scene.

 

Okay, I must write about the initial scene again.  The initial scene sells your novel—to the public and to a publisher.  Here’s why.  In the first place, if your novel is in a bookstore, the potential reader will be looking at covers and titles in a section of genre they like.  This is part of the problem of mis-genreing your novel.  If you wrote a science fiction novel and it’s in the historical fiction section, you might have some issues.  This really affected a romance publisher and a romance genre novel.  The reading audience perceived that the novel wasn’t really romance, in the sense they understood it, and the publisher sold it as romance.  The backlash was horrific for the author and the publisher.  Weird and wild, isn’t it?

 

I don’t expect other genre readers to be so rabid about what they imagine is their genre, but still, the author and the publisher need to be cautious.

 

Apart from the section and genre, the reader’s eye is attracted to the cover and the title.  The cover has a much lessor effect on the web because the title is the main focus.  This implies a lot about the title reflecting the novel and the subject of the book.  I’m not getting into titles at the moment, but it’s an important subject. 

 

Presume the reader finds your novel in a bookstore or on the web and picks up the novel.  The first place they go is the first chapter.  If you have some kind of prologue, they will skip it.  In fact, I’m completely against prologues.  They are worthless for almost any novel. 

 

The reader will skip any prologue and go for the first chapter.  If they can’t find the first chapter, they will dump the book.  They look for the first chapter to see what the writing is like.  They read the first sentence, the first paragraph, the first section, and decide if they want to put down the bucks for the book.  I’ll give you more, next.

 

That first sentence, first paragraph, and first section sells your novel.  Admittedly, you must get them to pick up your novel or hear about your novel, or find your novel—that’s sometimes very difficult, but your greatest hope is that if they read the first scene and like it, they will buy your novel.  Then the rest doesn’t matter.  Ha ha.  The rest really does matter, but that’s another subject entirely. 

 

I’m of the opinion that any writer who can put together a great initial scene can write the rest creatively.  I’ll help you with that, but as to the initial scene—if I have the protagonist, antagonist, telic flaw, initial setting, and potentially, the protagonist’s helper, I can start to write the initial scene.  How’s that work?

 

There are basically four ways to write an initial scene.  I suggest writing the initial meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper.  The reason is that this is always filled with excitement and entertainment.  It can’t be otherwise.  The initial meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist for obvious reasons, and the initial meeting of the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper for similar reasons.  I prefer the meeting of the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.  I’ve used that in most of my later novels.  In the beginning, I had no idea the best way to start a novel.  I’ve refined my knowledge and ideas and found it very easy to write novels using the ideas and techniques I’ve found to apply to all novel writing.  These ideas aren’t exclusive to my writing, but rather observations and concepts applicable to all fiction writing.

 

Just as I recommend using the initial meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist or protagonist’s helper, and notice, with the theme statement, you have those characters, the theme statement will give you the rest of the information your need.

 

Note, the theme statement gives you the initial setting and the telic flaw.  Look at the scene 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

 

For the initial scene, I have no input.  The input is presumed, but there is no input to this scene.  The input is the implied or unknown past.  So, let’s move along to step two.  Write the scene setting.  I have an initial setting.  All you have to do is write the initial setting.  We might have to work on this a little to improve the initial scene, but that’s where we start.  I’ll give you more, 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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic

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