28 September 2024, Writing - part xxx821 Scene Outline, Input to Output
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)
Why not look at the most important building block
for a novel—the scene. When I first
started writing I had no idea about scenes.
The concept only struck me after writing about fifteen or so
novels. This is one of the very
important concepts that most writing and English teachers and professors don’t
know and can’t teach. As I’ve written
before, if you want an educated and trained teacher about novels, ask how many
they have had traditionally published—that’s the measure of success and, to a
degree, of knowledge. The knowledge
comes with the experience of writing and proven success.
Now, back to the idea of the scene. We all know that writing is based on words,
then sentences, then paragraphs, but the final and the major building block of
the novel is the scene. As I wrote, I
had no idea about this when I began to write.
It came to me slowly as I learned more and more about the craft and as I
gained experience in writing novels. I
also have a friend who wrote a couple of books about writing scenes, Mike
Klaassen. His works are worth reading
and do reflect much of the current novel writing ideas on scenes. I agree generally with the main points they
and he present, but I have a little less focused approach as a writer.
What I mean is this. Many writers who are really into scenes
classify them in terms of the scene, the sequel, the transition, and perhaps a
few other types. I’m not into type of
scenes as much as the scene itself. I
want every scene to connect to the scenes before and after it and to contain
tension and a release. Tension and
release are just names for the rising action to the climax of the scene, but we
usually don’t write, think, or speak about rising action and climax in a
scene. To prevent confusion and to make
clear exactly what we are looking for in the action, adventure, and excitement
of the scene, I call it tension and release.
This just means the scene must have some focus, a plot that is somewhat
resolved in the scene itself. Let’s look
at this in more detail, next.
Let’s get into plots a little. When I was an inexperienced writer, I was
taught, and I presumed that every novel had a plot. This meant, in the mind of most students,
teachers, and writers that every novel had a singular plot. This is crazy talk. You will find, and we did find that novels
are filled with plots. I’d say that
every novel has multiple plots and every scene in every novel has at least it’s
own plot. I’ve been through the list of
plots before and looked at the plots in the classics as well as my own
writing. If you aren’t convinced yet,
I’m not sure what I can do to help you—just look at any novel and try to find
the plot. You will find many plots. There should be a major plotline running
through the novel, but with many plots in the novel itself. As I wrote, most of these other plots are part
and partial to the scenes.
Here's an example: a detective novel might have a crime as the
main plot. The detective protagonist is
solving the crime—that’s the major plot.
In a scene, the detective gets sick and has to spend his or her time in
bed contemplating the evidence. That’s
an illness plot with a crime plot. The
illness plot might run through a few scenes.
In one, the protagonist starts to get sick, then they are full blown
sick, then they are sniffling while on the beat. The illness plot gives us a tension and
release for at least one and possibly three scenes. Also, there are other plots in the scenes as
well.
In the example, the obvious plot is the crime
plot that the detective is investigating.
This continues through the scenes, every scene. Meanwhile, we see the illness plot moving
through the scenes. Now, the point is to
build tension and release in each scene.
The crime plot is usually not enough to develop a proper tension and
release and even if it were, that’s just boring. For example, in some scenes, you have the
detective seeking information. There
might be a library scene, an interview scene, an interrogation scene, a
laboratory scene. In each of these scenes,
there must be a tension and release. The
tension and release is what makes each scene entertaining, exciting, and holds
the attention of the reader. That is the
most important part of the scenes, the plots, and the novel. Well look at that, next—entertainment in the
scenes.
As inexperienced writers, we just think,
write. Unfortunately, just thinking to
write is not a good way to write. I know
this because that’s what I thought when I started writing novels too. The keyword for writing isn’t just write—it is
entertainment. This is especially true
of scenes. Each scene must connect into
the overall plot and telic flaw of the novel.
Each scene must help drive the novel to the climax and telic flaw resolution,
but each scene must be filled to the brim with entertainment.
Now, in the natural and creative execution of the
scene, the entertainment should just naturally come out, right? Not at all.
I’ve read many manuscripts as well as the self-published writing of many
inexperienced authors, and I can tell you, entertainment is the last state of
much of the writing. If this is true,
then a great question is how do we get entertainment into each scene. The answer is plots.
Just like the example of the illness plot in the
detective novel, you can design plots within and through scenes to
entertain. This is exactly what I
do. I craft each scene with the point of
entertainment. The scenes connect into
the novel structure via the overall plot and telic flaw. I’ll give you an example, but I should really
get to the scene outline soon. Let’s
start with the example, and I’ll move to the scene outline.
The example I’ll use is from Cassadra:
Enchantment and the Warriors. In the
initial scene, Sorcha and Deirdre have been assigned for finishing to Saint
Malo and the Catholic girl’s school there.
They really resent it, and they have no idea why they are being sent to
Saint Malo, except for finishing—a terrible prospect, in their minds.
The end of the initial scene ha them slated to
travel to Saint Malo and enter the school.
The initial scene is filled with tension and release as General Bolang tells
them the bad news, and they prepare with Madam Bolang for the trip and the
school. The next scene is their entrance
to Saint Malo and their room assignment.
How do you make this scene entertaining?
I added some real spice to the scene.
In the first place, they meet two of the class bullies and bad girls—they
aren’t really bad girls, just stuck up and mean. If that isn’t enough, I send them out to
explore the area around their school.
Finally, I have the mean girls inform our heroines the wrong dress for supper.
Each of these little plots is exciting and
interesting on their own, added to the mystery plot of why they are in a
finishing school at Saint Malo just adds to the entertainment. The end result of this scene, that is the
output of this second scene is that Sorcha and Deirdre will be going to sleep
and their first day of class. There is
much more to this, but I wanted to introduce the idea of scene input and scene
output. The scene outline is next.
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
That’s all you need to write a great scene. I’ll get into the details, but notice: you
have a scene input and a scene output.
The output always becomes the input for the next scene. This means you can never have writer’s block,
and you always know where you’re novel is going. Actually, that’s not entirely true, but it’s
very helpful for scene development and for writing a cohesive novel. I’ll get into this in some depth.
The main point is that with a scene output, you
know exactly where the next scene is going.
The scene output is directly connected to the release of the scene—this allows
you to write in a very strong and connected way. I recommend this method of writing. You will likely find reasons for a
disconnected scene in some novels, but this should be a rare occurrence. Unless you are a short story type writer,
your novels should be cohesive, logical, and chronological. This not only helps with scene development
and entertainment, but reduces confusion for the reader. I’m not sure you remember or know of all the
terrible novels of the sixties to the nineties in the Twentieth Century that
were forever marred by being nonchronological and irrationally written. For some reason, the literary illuminate of
the time though these were great novels to foist on the people. Most readers hated them. They were horrible to read because they were
confusing and most of them were irrational.
The use of the scene input to a scene output for
the next scene ensures your scenes are connected chronologically and
logically. I’ll not even begin to
explain just how much easier that makes writing. This doesn’t mean that scenes are just
continuance of a previous scene. It
means the scenes follow cohesively and logically. Until and unless you have read a novel with
noncohesive and nonchronological scenes like Game of Thrones, you may
not realize how confusing and disorganized this is. I know some people love Game of Thrones,
but the novels are as bad as the Marvel Universe movies for confusion and lack
of cohesiveness. That’s because Martin
is a short story author who never learned the lesson of how to write a novel
properly—or I should write, he did know, but neglected what he learned and, yes,
produced a great bestseller. But no one
else is going there for another generation.
He’s like e.e. cummings—no one will be able to write poetry like he did
for about a hundred years, and even then, it’s been done before.
Martin produced a work that died on the cutting
table, made him millions, and showed a generation how not to write a
novel. Just read a little of the very
long and boring (to me) books and you will see just how confusing and difficult
to understand his writing is. Not as bad
as James Joyce, but cubistic in a chronological and short story sort of fashion. If you want to write like Martin, just write
a couple or more series novels that run at the same time and shuffle the chapters
and scenes together. That will do
it. I wonder if Martin writes
chronologically and in order and then does just that because that’s exactly how
it looks to me. In any case, scene output
to input allows you to build cohesive scenes in a chronological fashion that are
not confusing to your readers (or to you as a writer). We’ll look more at scene development, next.
I want to focus on scene input and scene
output. For the initial scene, there is
no input, or to be more clear, there is an assumed input the reader doesn’t
have any idea about. When we write the
initial scene, we are taking information about the protagonist, the antagonist and/or
the protagonist’s helper and projecting it into the scene. In addition, we are usually providing enough
information in the scene that the reader begins to understand the telic flaw, the
protagonist, and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper. Usually, the initial scene provides or allows
the writer to provide some of this backstory.
However, we must always remember: show and don’t tell.
Perhaps the most powerful way to give some of the
backstory of the protagonist and their issues is through dialog, but remember, the
initial scene should be all about action and entertainment.
I went through my initial scenes for you and
perhaps the most effective was for my yet unpublished novel Antebellum. This novel starts with Heather making a
shortcut that ends with her experience in a plantation house that has been lost
since the Civil War. The scene shows
everything and casts the novel in it’s time, place, as well as the protagonist
and the antagonist. It is a highly
entertaining and action packed scene. It
also provides significant information for the reader about Heather and the
circumstances of the house and the Civil War—which is on the cusp of
history.
My main point is this, and I’m really not writing
about defining the initial scene here—I’m moving toward scene input and scene
output. I just want you to know how the initial
scene is supposed to go. It shows and doesn’t
tell while still providing backstory and introducing the protagonist,
antagonist, and/or the protagonist’s helper.
This leads us to an output for the scene. I’ll get to that, next.
Let’s assume that we have an initial scene, and
let’s write generally about scenes. In
the first place, I hope you know where your initial scene is going. If you don’t, I still can help you, but if
you have no idea where the scene is taking you, you will never be able to write
it. Let me go back to my novel Cassandra:
Enchantment and the Warriors. In
this novel, Sorcha and Deirdre are sent to a boarding school in Saint Malo for
finishing. They know there is much more
to this, but the initial scene is when General Bolang gives them the bad news
and they prepare to travel. That’s the initial
scene—General Bolang tells them and Madam Bolang helps them pack. At the end they destroy their packets that tell
them who they are at the school, and they go to their last dinner with the Bolangs. That’s a great setup, but also an
output. The output of the scene is that
they are ready to travel, and they are going to Saint Malo, France.
So, the output of the initial scene becomes the
input of the next scene. If necessary
for the novel, I could have described their travel from Paris to Saint Malo,
but I didn’t need a full on travel scene.
You can see the output of the initial scene, ‘they are going to travel,’
becomes the input for the next scene, they are traveling to Saint Malo. Specifically, they are traveling to the boarding
school in Saint Malo. I picked up the
story when they were met by the van that takes them to the school. Output is travel—the input is the result of
the travel. This is the way output of a
scene and input for a scene work.
Now, the first step in writing the scene is, you
got it, the input and then the scene setting.
Let me move to this, next.
As I wrote, the input to the initial scene is assumed
and then explained in the rest of the novel.
There is no need to go open kimono in the initial scene—that’s for
action, adventure, and entertainment, not for a deep dive in this scene.
Now, I’ll mention that I have written some of my
initial scenes with dialog as the action and the scene was a discussion about
current and past work that was accomplished in a previous novel but set the
scene for the current novel and provided necessary information the reader and
the characters needed to know. This is
one way to use an initial scene, but you better make it exciting.
The big deal is that we write scenes to an output
and use that output for the input to the next scene. This concept of writing from input to output
is the basis for writing a scene and a novel.
This means, we know the scene input, but we need to develop or figure
out the scene output. We do that as part
of the scene development when we begin to write the scene.
I’ll tell you, it’s okay to not know exactly
where a scene should end, but you must have some idea where the scene is going
when you begin to write—this is what tension and release is all about. Let me give you an example.
In the novel I previously mentioned, Cassandra,
Sorcha and Deirdre have come to Saint Malo, that’s the input to the scene—what should
be the output? Well this is a pretty
simple initial scene and the output for this type of discovery novel should be
pretty simple—the characters should just end this scene by making a reconnoiter
of the area around the school. This is
exactly what I do. I have them, like
normal school girls exploring the area around the school and noting some very
interesting places near it—like the Satin Malo Cathedral. In addition, for the input to output of the
scene, we need tension and release.
Part of the tension and release in this scene was
meeting with the snotty girls. This was
a setup for the kicker at the end of the scene and provided tension and release
in the scene. In addition, there were
other tension and release incidents.
Before meeting the snotty girls, they were shown their rooms, read the
riot act, and got permission to go out to see the city. Then at the end, they saw some of the sights especially
the stores and places around their school as well as the cloister and the
girl. The girl is the main focus of the
novel.
So, for the development of a scene, we need an
input, tension and release, and then an output.
Each tension and release introduces a new plot into the scene. The overall plot of the novel shows itself in
the scene as well. For a discovery novel
like Cassandra, the overall plot may or may not be as obvious to the
reader. This is the output the writer is
writing to in the scene. In the case of
this scene, it is the girl and the cloister.
That’s the focus and plot of the novel.
More and perhaps another example, next.
We begin a scene with the output from the
previous scene. That becomes the input
for this scene. Then we figure out the
output for this scene and develop tension and release plots to bring the scene
to the output. This is all planning
because at some point, we write the scene to the output and then repeat this to
the next scene in progression. I wrote
that I would provide another example. I’ll
take it from my novel, Rose: Enchantment and the Flower.
In the initial scene Shiggy Tash is coming to and
investigating the safe-house she has been given by the Organization and Stela
for her assignment to Rousay and the Orkney Islands in the northern part of
Scotland. This is a mystery and
discovery novel as well as a coming of age and self-discovery novel with Rose
as the protagonist. The overall plot is
self-discovery, but we haven’t met the protagonist, yet.
The initial scene starts with Shiggy exploring
and searching through the safe-house, which is a real place, by the way—it’s Viera
Lodge on Rousay. The input is pretty
straightforward, but, of course, there is much more to this. During her exploration, Shiggy finds Rose
cooking her dinner in the hearth of one of the bedrooms. Shiggy knocks Rose out and ties her up. She then looks through the rest of the
house. You can see one of the tension
and release plots is the exploration of the house. The others are not mentioned, but obvious:
why is Shiggy there? What is the purpose
of her mission? Why a safe-house? And so on.
These are all unmentioned mystery plots that I’ll use in the rest of the
novel. When Shiggy goes back to check on
her captive, Rose has escaped and runs—that’s an escape plot, by the way. Shiggy stops her cold and realizes that Rose isn’t
a normal human being. That’s another
mystery plot for tension and release.
Just what is Rose?
Then we get to the real point of the initial
scene—what will Shiggy do about Rose?
Shiggy is obviously on a secret mission for the British government. She has an unexpected problem with Rose. Rose is underfed, basically uneducated, and
completely isolated. This is another
plot and more mystery. We get some of
this resolved with Shiggy’s questioning and confrontation with Rose.
Shiggy researches Rose’s story and history and
finds she doesn’t exist in any Scottish or British records. This is another mystery plot.
I’ll tell you the output of the scene before I go
any further. The output is that Shiggy
decides to keep Rose in the house and use her as a maid to keep the house and
make food. That’s the output which leads
to many other problems for Rose and for Shiggy.
The input for the next scene is the beginning of this output to a new
scene input. You might want to know how
Shiggy decided on such an odd course, that is to keep Rose in the house. This is another mystery plot, but the scene
basically explains it in the dialog.
Rose has Fae power and is a half-Fae being—she’s half fairy. Shiggy figures this out early. She realizes that Rose has great potential,
and that’s the simple reason she keeps Rose.
Rose is indeed a flower that needs to bloom.
So much for another example. I’ll expand on this and scene development,
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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