03 August 2024, Writing - part xxx765 Forms of Novels, Standard, Initial Scene, Writing
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
novels. How 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.
You can see that with an initial
setting, the main characters, and the telic flaw, we can write the initial scene. I’ve written before that the best ever way to
visualize and write the initial scene is the initial meeting between the
protagonist and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper. It really doesn’t need to be the initial
meeting. It really just needs to be an important
meeting. The initial meeting just fits
well and places the scene on an important and entertaining footing. In my most recent books, the meeting between
the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper is my initial scene, and boy are
they wonderful scenes. I’ve listed
before the other three ways to write the initial scene, and I’ve done all four
in my writing, but I wish I knew then what I know now.
It's not to say those other novels didn’t
do well—they were published, but their initial scenes might have been more
powerful and better if I knew about writing what I know now. I’m contemplating republishing my old novels
just to get them back out into the market.
I didn’t make an extensive rewrite of Centurion, but I’m
contemplating a complete rewrite of my other novels. We shall see.
In any case, let me try to remember the other three ways to write an
initial scene.
If you don’t use the initial meeting of
the protagonist and the antagonist or protagonist’s helper, you should choose
some point of excitement, a scene, that defines an initial action or point of
the telic flaw expression. In a novel
about the life of a person, you can also choose a scene that defines the birth
or beginning of the life of the person.
I’m perhaps being too specific here.
In any case, the initial scene must introduce the telic flaw, the initial
setting, and the protagonist at a minimum.
I consider Centurion to be a very successful novel. It is any example of the last type of initial
scene.
Centurion introduces Abenadar as a babe in his
mother’s womb. This isn’t the best
initial scene, but it works for this novel.
As I wrote, if I knew what I do now about writing, I might not have
written some of my novels the way I did.
For Centurion the means works, but it is a historical novel about
the life of Abenadar. It starts a little
different than I would recommend.
Back to the idea of the protagonist’s
helper. I should define this idea for
you, and show you just how enriching and worthwhile this character is. That’s next.
The protagonist’s helper is one of the
most important modern characters. The
idea was invented at least in the Victorian Era or earlier, but it fit
perfectly into the Modern Era and what I call the Modern Romantic Era. The importance of modern writing is “show and
don’t tell.” The protagonist’s helper
makes it possible for the writer to show the mind of the protagonist without telling. This is very important in today’s
writing.
Many modern authors have gone back to
the first person for their writing which really screws up the style of the
writing. In first person, you can’t help
but tell. Show and don’t tell is the most
basic rule in modern writing. I
recommend not writing in first person. I
use third person past tense with an assumption of the future. This is the modern style and the modern form
of the novel. It should sell novels and
appeal to the readers. I won’t go
through all the history of how we got here—I’ve done that before. What I will emphasize is that without a
protagonist’s helper, the author is pretty much compelled to either tell in his
or her writing or use dialog with strangers or others to show the mind of the
protagonist.
With Romantic protagonists, the author
really doesn’t have the option not to show the mind of the protagonist. This is what the reader expects. They want to know what is going on behind the
scenes, and I don’t mean the hidden stuff in the background—it’s the hidden
stuff of the motivations and thoughts of the protagonist. These are critical in Romantic writing and
for the Romantic protagonist. About the
why of the Romantic protagonist—this is a difficult question because other
older styles of the protagonist mixed with the Romantic are becoming popular. Suffice to say, the Romantic protagonist is
the most beloved and admired protagonist.
The chances of your readers loving your protagonist are higher with a
Romantic protagonist, and that is reason enough for me.
I guess I need to explain more about
the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.
That’s next.
The protagonist’s helper is the classic
sidekick. Think Watson to Sherlock
Holmes or Marshall Dillon and his one-eyed deputy—was it Festus? In any case, the idea of the sidekick is something
more than the classic. We generally
think of the sidekick in simplistic terms, but in Harry Potty, Hermione and Ron
are protagonist’s helpers. Ron the
primary in the first novels and Hermione in the later novels. Notice, although I’m not a real fan of the
Harry Potty novels, they are written in a great third person form with a nearly
Romantic protagonist. There is not
enough use of the protagonist’s helpers in the novels as protagonist’s helpers. The power of the protagonist’s helper is the
ability to be a communication and sounding board for the protagonist.
The greatest power for the protagonist’s
helper is as the communication where the protagonist can speak openly and
freely with the protagonist’s helper. In
my novels, my protagonist’s helper many times is the romantic interest for the
protagonist. I can provide
examples. For example, in Rose, the
protagoinst’s helper is Shiggy , the intelligence agent who discovers
Rose. This changes to Robyn, the goddess
whom Rose is introduced to and who becomes her assignment. In Seoirse, Rose is the protagonist’s helper
to Seorise and the love interest. She is
also the focus. I plan to play Aine this
way too. Aine will be the focus and the
protagonist’s helper while Eoghan will be the protagonist.
In Essie, Essie is the protagonist
and Mrs. Lyons the protagonist’s helper.
They are more symbiotic relationships and supporting relationships that
allow the protagonist to tell their minds and share their thoughts and
ideas. This is the real power of the
protagonist’s helper. Now, let’s apply
this to the initial scene. That’s next.
As I wrote, the most exciting initial
scene and perhaps the easiest to write is the initial meeting of the
protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.
This is why I went through the description of the protagonist’s helper
for you. Let’s pick a protagonist’s helper.
In general, a great protagonist’s
helper is the focus of the novel. The
third person lends itself well to the idea of the protagonist separate from the
focus of the novel. What does that
mean? The focus of the novel is the
person or the idea that the novel is centered on. For example, in a crime or mystery novel, the
focus is the crime or mystery.
Conversely, the fucus could be the detective. Personally, I’ve written these types of
novels both ways. I’ve made the focus
the mystery and I’ve made the focus the detective. I’ve also had a protagonist the same as the
focus and I’ve had a protagonist’s helper as the romance interest of the
protagonist.
You can actually write this in many ways. In other words, you can make the romance interest
the focus or the protagonist and the detective the protagonist’s helper. Each type of setup will produce a different
type of novel.
For example, in my latest novel, Seoirse,
I made Seoirse the protagonist instead of Rose.
I made Rose the focus and the protagonist’s helper. This produced a really fantastic and fun
novel. I did this intentionally to set
up certain scenes. The point of view
(PoV) moved from Rose to Seoirse through the novel although it was mostly set
on Seoirse. The initial scene of this
novel was not a fully action packed scene—it was a dialog scene with lots of
fireworks.
I choose to write this scene as a
dialog with the initial meeting of Seoirse and Rose to introduce them in the
setting and to set up the novel. This
was a very complex novel and a spy type with a very pronounced mystery. Rose was the focus of the mystery and of the
novel. Seoirse was keeping up with her
and trying to make everything work out right.
It was also a kind of coming of age or discovery novel.
It's better if you can build the initial
scene as an action based scene in the meeting of the protagonist and the protagonist’s
helper (or the antagonist); however, a dialog scene will work especially if you
can write the dialog well and get some real excitement into it. This is possible if your protagonist and
protagonist’s helper ar at odds with each other at the beginning. With Rose and Seoirse this is a real problem
they have to work out at the beginning.
It’s Rose’s problem so that’s where the excitement comes from. What’s even more interesting is the big scene
I set up in the novel that sets everything into motion, not for the novel, but
for the depths of the story. This is
indeed a great action scene and what I wanted for the initial scene, but it
just wouldn’t work out. The novel needed
some introduction and setup for Rose and Seoirse.
There is much more to writing the
initial scene. We can look at that,
next.
Don’t get me wrong, writing an or the initial
scene is difficult. I’m trying to give
you details to make it as easy as possible and as straight forward as possible. Now, to the writing of the initial scene itself,
just like for Aine, I think about the scene a lot. I’m still intent on writing Aine, but I’ve
intentionally put it to the side for some other writing work. Still, I’m thinking about Aine and how the
scene should move. I’m never completely certain
about the scene until I actually write it, but for any scene, even the initial scene,
the setting and the setting elements are the most important parts of the
scene. We always start with those. We always start every scene with the setting
and setting elements. You can’t even
have an empty stage novel. Whatever your
setting or characters, you must provide the setting and the setting elements to
your readers—otherwise you don’t have anything.
Plus, if you don’t start with the setting and the setting elements, you
will break my rules one, two, and three.
Most importantly, don’t confuse your readers. This is one of the easiest rules to break if
you don’t set the scene or the setting elements.
How to start the scene. I already showed you a theme statement. Take the theme statement and set the
scene. The theme statement includes the
initial setting. Let’s look at the theme
statement for Aine:
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.
Notice the setting is defined for the
initial scene. We have a distinct area
in Scotland. Now, I didn’t state the
time of year, but I was thinking summer or spring—that’s easy. The real trick, and this is what I’ve been
doing is to research the place—that is the setting. The research gives me the mental image of the
places I want to use that are real and the places I want to build as
fiction. I’m certain the crypt and the
cemetery where Aine will be found is all fiction. This will be a great place of the unknown
within the National Park. It will be a
great forgotten place that Eoghan discovers while chasing his supernatural
prey. There is all of this setting and
some background concerning Eoghan and his work.
These will fit nicely in the setting elements. In addition, there are the setting elements
of the characters and stuff, that’s 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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