17 August 2024, Writing - part xxx779 Forms of Novels, Standard, Initial Scene, more on Setting
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)
I went through the steps in writing the initial
scene, and along with that some of the development of the scene. What I didn’t go through is how we imagine
the initial scene.
This is really the key to the novel and the
initial scene itself. This basically
creates the novel. There are a few ways
we can approach the full on development of the initial scene. Let’s look at these and see if we can
generate some ideas and perhaps an initial scene.
I led you through the concept of the initial
scene as the initial meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist or the
protagonist’s helper. I already wrote
this, but to be clear, this implies you have developed an protagonist, an
antagonist, and/or a protagonist’s helper.
I have literally written novels from a
protagonist. The development of a
protagonist lends itself to the development of an initial scene. Perhaps I should run through this exercise
again, but before we go there, let’s look at the other means to create ideas
for the initial scene.
I’ve never tried to develop an initial scene or a
novel based on an antagonist, but I suspect that might be possible too. The problem is that a good antagonist has a
great potential to become a redeemable or redeemed protagonist. The same is true of the protagonist’s helper
although the focus of a novel is a great means of developing an initial scene
and a novel.
I suspect the development of an antagonist is
similar to the development of a protagonist.
I’d go through the same steps, but as I noted, the chance that the
antagonist would become a great protagonist is high. I might try to develop an antagonist as an
exercise. The development of the focus who
turns into a protagonist or a protagonist’s helper is also a very good way to
develop a novel. This is basically what
I did with Aine.
With Aine, I did start with the protagonist
Eoghan, but I could have started with Aine.
In general, this is how I wrote Hestia. The focus of the novel is Hestia, a Greek
goddess. With her as the focus, the
initial scene became the incarnation or invocation of Hestia. I should have brought in the protagonist as
the main part of the initial scene, but having one of the less trained and less
knowledgeable member of the crew as the invoker was just too delicious. That’s the way the scene came about.
I had one of the four members of my archeological
dig just translate and recite an invocation to Hestia at an important
hearth-site. This was fun and funny
because the character had no idea his invocation would work and the
results. He didn’t believe in God or the
gods or the supernatural. The fact he brought
a goddess back into the world from her place in eternity is kind of funny. The result was even funnier. I’ll continue about the initial scene and
ideas for the initial scene, next.
So, here is a short list of ways to develop the
idea for an initial scene:
1. Protagonist
2. Focus
3. Event
4. Setting
5. Other
character (antagonist or protagonist’s helper)
All of these are legitimate ideas for designing
and writing an initial scene. As I wrote
and showed in more than one of these entries, I’ve developed a protagonist to
fit them into an initial scene. This is
perhaps the most common way I currently write a novel. I start with the protagonist and move to the
initial scene.
A good protagonist always comes with a telic flaw
and a revelation. What does that
mean? When I design a protagonist, I go
through certain steps in the design. I
usually start with developing a Romantic protagonist. The Romantic protagonist gives me a character
that is worth writing about, who has a great revelation, and who has a great
telic flaw. I’ll use Rose as an example.
Rose, the protagonist of Rose: Enchantment and
the Flower, is a real flower of a person.
She was thought to be birthed by a semi-Seelie Fae, Desert Rose, with a
moral, a citizen of the Orkney Island, Rousay.
In actuality, her mother was Titania, and her father is unknown. Titania gave Rose to Desert Rose for safe
keeping and, as usual, Desert Rose didn’t follow through. So is the way of the Fae.
Rose ended up on Rousay Island. Her abusive father died, as did her
grandmother and grandfather, so she was left alone in Viera Lodge on
Rousay. Rousay Island isn’t a very
enticing environment. It is one of the
Orkney Islands at the top of Scotland. A
cold, wet, and uninviting place, but a great place to hide. Rose has everything she needs in Viera
Lodge. The attic is filled with books,
and she can grub enough food to survive.
The big deal about Rose is her skill with glamour which allows her to
call and kill animals. She has very
great powers with glamour and survival skills because of where she is living
and hiding. All of this information
makes Rose a wonderful potential character and protagonist in a novel. I actually designed Rose for this blog, and I
designed the initial scene in this blog.
Can you see Rose’s telic flaw?
Rose is a wonderful and powerful being who has no
idea her powers or capabilities. She is
alone and has no idea how lonely and isolated she is. This is basically her telic flaw. I’ll give more, next.
That’s the main point about starting with a
protagonist—your protagonist must have a great telic flaw. Now, I can say this with authority. I’ve never ever developed a protagonist who didn’t
have a great telic flaw. I do use my own
checklist for the development of the protagonist, and telic flaw is not really
one of the questions. I do ask myself
questions like what problems the protagonist must encounter and such.
Look at Rose.
Rose starts with such a great telic flaw. She is an isolated and unconnected
child. She has nothing at all. She does have powers outside of the normal
human sphere, but that’s just because she is a Romantic protagonist. She could just as easily have the power of
knowledge, which is one of the basic skills I grant her—it’s based on her
reading and the books available to her.
An isolated child who love to read could do
nothing else other than learn to read all.
Rose has special skills, like all Romantic protagonists. The skill of reading and learning is a
typical Romantic protagonist skill. This
empowers her as a person, plus endears all readers to her. Readers love characters who love to
read.
My point in looking at Rose is to show you how
she starts with a telic flaw. That telic
flaw is innate to her. It is a problem
that must be resolved. Actually, here’s
the fun part about writing and about novels.
I can imagine a world where Rose just doesn’t change or do anything at
all. In that world, Shiggy never comes
to Viera Lodge or Rousay and never interacts with Rose. The initial scene causes the start of the
great change in Rose’s life.
Rose really has nothing to do with the initial
part of the change. That’s one of the
reasons I love this character so much.
Rose has been raised and abused to be a perfect and consummate lady—even
though she doesn’t know it. She has her
faults, but those are small exterior faults that make the inhuman girl
human. The real beginning of the change
in Rose’s life is when Shiggy comes and uproots the lonely life Rose has been
living.
What’s funny is that Rose still longs for this
life of isolation and solitude. She
doesn’t seek to change. She wants her
house and her life back, but the events of Shiggy and those of the Organization
and Stela prevent that—the Organization needs Rose more than Rose needs her
desires. The change and the resolution
of the telic flaw is what drives this novel and drives Rose’s life. Rose happens to be the focus of the novel as
well, well the initial focus. I’ll look
at that, next.
I’ve never heard or read anything about the focus
of a novel except in my writing about writing.
That doesn’t mean no one else is looking at it, but I think it’s
rare. It may be a result of magical
realism or modern styles of writing and especially a development or evolution
of the Romantic protagonist.
I’ve noticed that many of my novels have a focus
as well as a protagonist. Sometimes the
protagonist is the focus (or initial focus) as in Rose. Sometimes the focus is the protagonist’s
helper as in Seoirse and in my planned Aine. In Essie, Essie is the focus and the
protagonist. This brings up the
question: just what is a focus for a novel.
I’d say a focus is an event, a person or being,
or an idea that the novel is built around.
For example, the novel When Harlie was One has a computer that
develops Artificial Intelligence as a focus.
The focus of Starship Troopers is the Bug Wars. The focus of Oliver Twist is
Oliver. The focus of my published novel Aegypt
is the Goddess of Light and the Goddess of Darkness. The focus of my published novel Centurion
is the Centurion Abenadar’s life—he is also the protagonist. In my published novel The Second Mission,
the focus is Socrates. In my
published novel, The End of Honor, the focus is Lyral Neuterra and the
war caused by her death. In The Fox’s
Honor, the focus is the Fox, Devon Rathenburg, and his love for Tamar. In A Season of Honor, the focus is the
journey of Shaun du Locke and Elina Acier to the Imperial Capital Arienth. I’d say every novel has a focus, but we don’t
write or speak much about a focus. We
perhaps call the focus the subject, but subject isn’t really the correct term in
the sense of a novel. The subject is
definitely not the same as the protagonist, in many cases. This is why I use the term focus. The focus might be the protagonist, the
protagonist’s helper, the subject of the novel, the idea or time of the novel,
something else entirely, or even the antagonist.
Now, when I write about the idea of the focus, I
see it as a great means of approaching a novel and the initial scene of a
novel. Let’s look at finding or
developing a focus and then about writing an initial scene based on the focus. I think I’ll use Essie: Enchantment and
the Aos Si as an example, next.
Essie is both the protagonist and the focus of my
novel Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si.
Aos Si is Galic and sounds very much like Essie—thus the Aos Si was
named Essie by Mrs. Lyons. Mrs. Lyons is
the protagonist’s helper in this novel.
The idea and initial scene for this novel came to
me in a very integrated way. In general,
I took an idea for an event or initial scene and expanded it to create
Essie. However, Essie is a focus, an
idea, and a protagonist. We can look at
her simply as a focus. This is my main
point in looking at how to approach an initial scene (and a novel).
Essie, the entire idea of Essie, is a focus and
the focus for my novel. The initial
scene just happens to take the focus and give her life and existence. Now, about the idea of a focus.
In general, because I write in a reflected
worldview, I take the focus for a novel from the catalog of reflected
supernatural ideas in human culture. I
like to write about Western reflected worldview, but I have ventured into the
East and Africa, most specifically, Egypt for my focus. I mean specifically my novel Aegypt
and the Ancient Light novels. For
the Enchantment novels, I’ve stuck mostly to Celtic and Gaelic
sources. This is true with Essie.
The Aos Si is a person or being who changes from
a human-like creature to a great black cat.
The source for this creature and the myths behind it are unknown, but it
may be in opposition to Ceridwen who in myth is supposed to have two white
cats. The animus to black cats might
even come from the idea of the Aos Si.
In any case, I make and made the Aos Si the ruler of the Fae. This was a calculated development for my
novels and as an extrapolation of the idea of the Aos Si. It also fit well with the ideas of the
Fae.
The point is using this for a novel is the idea
of a focus for a novel. You can develop
an entire novel from such an idea or more exactly, from a person or being. Not all novels have such a delineated person
as their focus, but that doesn’t mean much.
Look at the examples of novels with a strong focus that I
mentioned. Some, like Oliver Twist are
obvious. He is just a powerful protagonist—well,
perhaps not as much a strong protagonist as the idea of a different type of
poor person, most specifically, a poor person born from aristocracy or
wealth. It’s a pure blood will out plot
and theme. On the other hand, Essie
takes a supernatural being and wraps a novel around her and her
revelation. I like this approach very
much.
On the other hand, When Harlie was One,
wraps a novel around a computer that develops intelligence. It isn’t a pretty picture. 2001 a Space Odyssey the book and not
the movie likewise centers itself around an expedition into the solar system as
a focus. The computer is just another
character.
As I wrote before, the focus can be an idea or a plot
or theme as much as a being, person, or event (like a space mission). Do all novels then have a focus—you betcha,
but we usually don’t think of novels in those terms. The reason I’m mentioning it to you is
because I see this as a means to develop a great novel. You can write a novel based on a focus, and
you can base an initial scene on a focus.
Just because we don’t hear much about this kind of writing idea, doesn’t
mean it can’t work for novel development. We can expand the idea of the focus to an
event as well, that’s next.
When we think about writing an initial scene, we
usually think about writing about an event.
That event has a protagonist and focus, but the event is usually what we
conceive and remember about the initial scene.
For example, the process of placing the baby Harry Potty on the doorstep,
the funeral of Melony’s mentor, the leaving of Sara Crew at her school, or the
discovery of Essie in Mrs. Lyon’s pantry. These are all events some of greater import
than others.
If you are familiar with older literature and
more modern literature, I think you will see a great difference in the expression
of the initial scene. In early writing,
the initial scene is just a way to get the story started—a marker in time and
place to jump into the writing. In a
modern novel, the writers have learned the lesson of the past and craft their
initial scene into something that launches the novel like a rocket. No more of the George Eliot style of a
chapter of description before we even get to the protagonist, but more of the
Dickins’ style where Scrooge is making his way home and begins to encounter ghostly
events. Yet, even more like Essie where
Mrs. Lyons investigates a noise in her kitchen and discovers a naked feral girl
in her pantry.
You can imagine even more such events and initial
scenes. We are looking for an exciting
moment in time that launches the story.
I can give great examples from my own novels. In Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse,
Shiggy wakes up in an isolation room strapped to a medical table and examines
the events that led to the event. In Rose:
Enchantment and the Flower, Shiggy while inspecting the safe house she was
assigned on Rousay Island, accidentally discovers Rose in the house cooking her
dinner over a fire. The discovery of
Rose is the event. On a less exciting
note, in Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment, Seoirse meets Rose in
Mrs. O’Dwyer’s house and receives his assignment—an event, but not as exciting
an event as I would like. The fireworks
between them is fun. In Centurion,
Naomi meets Myriam at the well both disgraced women with child. Again a launch event, but not as exciting as
I would wish. In Aegypt, Paul
Bolang leads his troop of legionnaires back to Fort Saint and finds the archeologists
there. Again not as exciting as I would
wish, but Centurion and Aegypt were two of my earliest published
novels. I’ve learned a lot since I write
them. On the other hand, in The
Second Mission, Alan Fisher is thrown back in time in the initial
scene. He’s as confused as the reader,
at first.
The point here is to show that no matter where we
start, we eventually get to an event.
The best ever event is the meeting of the protagonist and the antagonist
or the protagonist’s helper. In The
Second Mission, the first person Alan encounters is the time traveler,
Sophia, who is the protagonist’s helper.
In Rose, Rose, the protagonist, meets Shiggy, the protagonist’s
helper. In Seoirse, Seoirse, the
protagonist meets Rose, the protagonist’s helper. In Aegypt, Paul Bolang, the
protagonist, meets the archeologists. They
are neither the protagonist’s helper nor the antagonist. That’s one of my early novels. In Centurion, Naomi, Abenadar’s mother
meets Myriam, Yeshua’s mother. Okay, I
think you get the point. No matter how
you get to the event of the initial scene, the event is what drives the
scene. You can’t get there without the
protagonist or the focus. In fact, I
didn’t write about the focus in the events of the novels I mentioned, I think
they are pretty obvious, but perhaps I should relate them specifically. My big take away is this—the initial scene
must be an event. I recommend the meeting between the protagonist and the
antagonist or the protagonist’s helper.
However, you can get to this event in many ways. You might just pull it out of your
imagination, like I did with Essie.
A little inspiration is great.
You might develop it from the protagonist as I did in Rose. You might find it from the focus as I did in The
Second Mission and in Centurion and Aegypt. Those novels came about the idea of the focus
before I even conceived of it for my writing.
I think the best way to get to an initial scene
event is from the protagonist, but just pulling it out of your imagination is
okay. I wouldn’t even worry about the
rest of the novel. If you can put a
great initial scene on paper (aether) you can write a novel. Usually, people have problems figuring out
the details like the event, focus, or protagonist. That’s what I’m all about helping you and me
to find.
I’m not what else I should write about the event,
but perhaps there is more, next.
What else can I write about events and developing
events to write an initial scene?
Perhaps this. I’m not a fan of
starting with the event. I tried this
and found it can work, but produces less effective and entertaining initial
scenes. I point to my own early
novels. They are great novels, but when
I wrote them, I didn’t know how important the initial scene was to the
novel. My publisher still published the
novels and loved them, but I learned both the importance of the initial scene
and better how to choose and write them.
In contemplating my early novels, I’m not sure
how I would write them differently—in fact, I have thought very deeply about if
I would write them differently today. I
came to the conclusion that I would not.
They are cohesive wholes that fit together well. Now, I am contemplating republishing all my
previous novels and rewriting them a bit to improve them, but I’ll not change
the initial scenes. As I wrote, these
novels are cohesive wholes. Some of the
initial scenes are better than others, but the overall novels are great reads
and complete. The initial scenes fit
them. If I were to write the same novel
today, I would probably start them a little differently—not to change them
significantly, but to make the initial scene stronger and more cohesive.
Let me remind you, the initial scene event is
best when it is the meeting of the protagonist with the antagonist or the
protagonist’s helper. I figured this out
for initial scenes and most all of my initial scenes today follow this basic
advice. Notice however, to present this
meeting presumes you have already developed the protagonist, antagonist, and/or
protagonist’s helper. In addition,
although not stated, this also presumes you have developed the focus of the
novel.
In this blog, I’ve not just suggested, I’ve given
examples of how to design the protagonist and protagonist’s helper as well as
finding a focus. From this, I contend
the event flows. However, you can start
with an event and then build up the other elements of the novel and initial
scene. In fact, if you do get an idea
for an event that launches a novel, I suggest writing it or outlining it on
paper and then building the important pieces afterward. The problem with this is that, as I’ve
discovered, many times when I’ve written a scene before I understood it
properly, it changed radically when I wrote the novel. I will confess that hasn’t happened with most
of the initial scenes I’ve penned. In
other words, once the event of the initial scene gets to paper, but other
elements flow very nicely into it.
So, at the moment, we have three very effective
ways to launch an initial scene: protagonist, focus, and event. The setting can also provide a basis for the
initial scene. We’ll look at that, next.
I’m an advocate of developing a protagonist or
focus to get to an event, but as I noted, you can start with an event or with
the protagonist or the focus. You can
also start with the setting.
The initial setting is a very important basis for
a scene and especially the initial scene.
I should go back through my novels and describe the basis of the initial
scene as well as how it was developed.
This might help categorize and explain my evolution in the development
of the initial scene.
Now, I’m trying to remember if I developed one of
my novel’s initial scene from the setting.
I’ll reinforce that the setting is built and designed into the focus and
the protagonist.
The protagonist has a basis that is a
setting. This is very important. As I’ve written, the protagonist comes from
someplace and time—this is the setting. This
might be a direct or an indirect setting.
What I mean by this is the actual physical background of protagonist—the
where and when they came from. For
example, a village, a town, a city, a country, and all. On the other hand, the protagonist also comes
from a potential place and time in their current life. A protagonist might have spent their entire
life in a specific place or they might come from a place that is new to them or
newer to them. What I mean is that a protagonist
has a background and that background always includes some setting.
The focus is similar. If the focus is a person or a being, then they
have a background in place and time. A
focus that is a place is a setting. A
focus that is an idea might or might not have a place and time. In any case, when we begin a novel, we must have
a setting. That setting, no matter the
source, can also become the basis for an initial scene.
I think Centurion’s initial scene was
based on the setting. The place for the
novel was Judea and the protagonist is still in the womb in this initial scene. The focus is in the womb as well—the setting
is the only main connection between the events and characters. I’ll get more into this, next.
As I wrote, the setting can come from the
protagonist, the protagonist’s helper, the antagonist, the event, or the
focus. If you notice, the best initial
scene includes the protagonist, the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper,
then you should automatically have a setting.
Almost any setting can be turned into an initial scene, but I do have my
own recommendations.
I’d start with the protagonist. The protagonist gives you a setting, a character,
a telic flaw, and with than a potential event.
If you can’t think of an event or other idea for the initial scene, just
have the protagonist meet with the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper. Bingo bango bongo, you have a great event and
a great initial scene. I really like
initial scenes where the protagonist meets the protagonist’s helper. However, if you have an event in mind for the
initial scene, that can make a great initial scene.
In my published novel, The End of Honor,
the event is the execution of Lyral Neuterra.
The protagonist, John-Mark isn’t present, and there is no protagonist’s
helper. The antagonist is present. This is one way to write an initial scene. I don’t recommend this, but it can work and
it worked.
I always recommend including the protagonist in
the initial scene if at all possible, but as I’ve written, it can be done
without the protagonist. As my novel Centurion
shows, you can write the initial scene just with a setting.
I will state—you will have some setting for your
initial scene, even if the setting is not clear. I’m completely an advocate of not confusing
your readers, but in my novel, Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse, the
initial scene is set with the protagonist in an enclosed cell-like room with
nothing other than an examination table.
My protagonist is strapped to the table and has no idea how she arrived
there or why she is there. The point isn’t
intentional confusion but rather to reflect what the protagonist feels and
experiences. There is confusion as the
scene is set and the protagonist’s helper arrives. This is a fun kind of beginning. I do recommend it, if it fits the novel.
All in all, the setting must come for the initial
scene. It can generate the event and
scene as in my novel, Centurion or it can come with the event,
protagonist, focus, or other character.
The point is you will have one. I
think I let it slip already, but another character can inspire your initial
scene. We’ll look at that, 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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