02 December 2024, Writing - part xxx885 Scene Outline, Novel Outline, The Second Mission
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)
I went through the scene outline to show you how
to approach writing a scene. I think it
is relatively simple—that doesn’t mean it is easy, but once you know the basics
of writing a scene, with the right elements, you can write a great scene. If you can write a great scene, you can
potentially write an initial scene, the rising action scenes, the climax scene,
a falling action scene, and a dénouement. That
means, if you can write a scene, you can write a novel.
Now, to get to a novel, and to a great scene,
you need a great protagonist. I
recommended a Romantic protagonist. The
reason is the Romantic protagonist is my favorite type and generally, the
favorite of most readers. In fact, I
don’t know of a single reader who doesn’t love a great Romantic protagonist, or
even a close to Romantic protagonist. I
point out Harry Potty who has become one of the most popular protagonists in history
and is very close to a Romantic protagonist.
I think he’d even be more popular if he was a full on Romantic
protagonist. Just a thought.
With a fully developed Romantic protagonist,
writing a scene is pretty easy and writing a novel is relatively easy. In my short form blog, I’m going over the telic
flaw from the protagonist and how it pertains to the novel and how it comes
from the development of the protagonist.
Perhaps this idea of the telic flaw belonging to the protagonist is the
most important factor in novel development.
This is why I write that the first step in writing a novel is the
Romantic protagonist development. I’ll
consider if I should give you the basics and telic flaw from the design of the
protagonist, like I’m doing in my short form blog. I’ll try to expand this idea to help bring
out the concept of the initial scene.
I’ve done this before, but I’ll try to give you something new out of
this, next.
As I wrote before, the telic flaw for the novel
comes from the protagonist. In addition,
the protagonist defines all kinds of things issues and in time, the setting,
the place, and all. As I wrote, the
protagonist defines all these things in the novel. The novel and the telic flaw of the novel
comes directly from the protagonist.
I could go through all my protagonists and
define the telic flaw from that protagonist for you. I think I did this before. Perhaps I should do it again. That might be a very worthwhile set of
examples. I’ll think about it. You see the list of novels above. I think I’ll use my list of novels from the
first to the last I’ve finished. That’s
next.
A Season of Honor: This was the first novel I wrote. The very Romantic protagonist is Baron Shaun
du Locke. Shaun has a lengthy history
that I developed for the novel and actually that I used to write the two other
novels in the series, The End of Honor and The Fox’s Honor. Shaun du Locke was a prince who was deposed
because he fell in love with the wrong woman—a power his brother could not
allow, and she was executed. It’s not
incorrect to say that Shaun was haunted by this action and the loss of the Lady
Lyral Neuterra. The problem is that
Shaun was contracted to take Lyral’s cousin and near twin, Elaina Acier to her
arranged marriage on the Imperial Capital planet Arienth.
There is the telic flaw of the novel. Shaun must deliver Elina to Arienth, but the
woman in question looks like his lost love, and of course, he is falling in
love again. It’s not just how Eliana
looks but it is her personality and skill as a noblewoman.
If you notice, the telic flaw for the novel
comes directly out of the protagonist.
It isn’t really a flaw in the protagonist, but rather a flaw in the
world of the protagonist, and a flaw he must rectify (resolve). This is exactly what I mean by the
protagonist beings the telic flaw of the novel with them. I’ll look at The Fox’s Honor, next.
The Fox’s Honor stars Devon Rathenberg
as its Romantic protagonist. Devon is in
the succession but from another branch of the imperial family so considered
outside it. He is the Emperor’s chief of
intelligence, the Fox. In this capacity,
Devon has devised a plan to save the Emperor, the Human Galactic Empire, and
the people of the empire. He must die to
reveal the Emperor’s enemies and the nobles who have been conspiring against
the power of the Emperor.
However, Devon has fallen in love with a lady,
the Lady Tamar Falkeep. Tamar happens to
be on the planet where Devon must cause his own death through losing a duel,
thus, Devon will state his love to the Lady and carry out his mission. You see the telic flaw that comes with this
character, right?
Devon’s telic flaw (the novel’s telic flaw) is
that Devon must die to revel the Empire’s enemies and yet he is compelled to
confess his love to Lady Tamar. Tamar is
enraged and follows the knight when he fights and loses the duel on purpose,
but she can’t let him die. She saves his
life and forces him to live. As you can
see, the telic flaw for the novel, the loss of Devon’s honor comes directly out
of the protagonist. Tamar is the
protagonist’s helper. The end result is
a massive clandestine operation and then a military operation for Devon and
Tamar to get back their honor and their lands.
I’ll move on to The End of Honor, next.
The End of Honor is an unusual
novel. It starts with the death of the
protagonist’s helper and the protagonist is nowhere to be seen. The protagonist is Prince John-Mark who is
Baron Shaun du Locke in A Season of Honor. Prince John-Mark is the second son of the
Emperor and falls in love with the Lady Lyral Neuterra. He works long and hard to be able to win the
hand of the lady, but the alliances and the match is seen as a threat to the
power of the Emperor’s first son. Do you
see the telic flaw here?
The telic flaw that John-Mark brings to the table
is that he is really in love with Lyral, but the entire Human Galactic Empire
thinks John-Mark is seeking Imperial power.
In any case, his actions and love sparks a civil war in the Human
Galactic Empire. It’s a war his brother
begins with the assassination of the Emperor and the execution of Lyral
Neuterra. There you go, the protagonist,
John-Mark comes with his own telic flaw and that’s the telic flaw of the
novel. The telic flaw is a civil war in
the Empire—the resolution is the end of this war. I’ll move on to Antebellum, next.
Antebellum is about the south in
1965 and the 1860s. The protagonist is
Heather Roberts. She is a hard-working
and industrious girl who wants to go to college, but whose family is dirt poor
and not interested in educating girls.
Heather is deeply involved and has many friends in her community. The greatest mystery of that community is
about the Robert’s plantation house, Belle Fleur. The house disappeared near the end of the
civil war and hasn’t been seen since. In
addition, Heather’s namesake Syble Heather Roberts disappeared with the house
at the same time. Then, in the initial
scene, Heather finds and enters the house, but the house suddenly disappears
and can’t be found.
You can see the telic flaw for Heather and the
novel is this house, Belle Fleur and the mystery of the house and Syble Heather
Roberts. This is indeed the problem
Heather must resolve in the novel.
Pretty simple. The protagonist
defines the telic flaw, and comes with a telic flaw—that’s what makes the
novel. I should mention that this novel shows
the plantation house bit by bit as Heather investigate the mystery. I’ll look at Aegypt, next.
Aegypt is the first novel in my Ancient Light
novel series. That was the name the
publisher and I came up with for the series.
The first novel was published, Aegypt, and the next two Sister
of Light and Sister of Darkness were on contract with a trilogy of
these three novels planned. You can
still see this information on the internet, but alas, my publisher went out of
business, and I was left high and dry.
In Aegypt, the protagonist is Paul
Bolang. Paul is a lieutenant in the
French Foreign Legion and a man who loves warfare. He was university trained in Egyptian
Archeology and is a language expert and expert in Egyptian hieroglyphics. You can see that Paul is a Romantic
protagonist. Paul discovers the
foundation of an Egyptian temple in front of Fort Saint, a Foreign Legion outpost
in Tunesia. Paul calls for an
archeological expedition, and one comes from England and Oxford. The temple foundation hides a tomb and a
great mystery and ancient secret.
Do you see the telic flaw that Paul owns in the
novel? The telic flaw of Aegypt
is the mystery of the tomb below the foundation. The archologists explore the tomb and cause a
host of problems and more mysteries as well as unusual deaths.
The very Romantic protagonist, Paul Bolang comes
along with a telic flaw, or you might write that he finds the telic flaw of the
novel as part of his life and history.
That’s exactly how this works.
Even if the telic flaw doesn’t just tag along with the protagonist, it
is discovered, found, or presented to the protagonist. For example, in a detective or mystery novel,
many times the protagonist is presented a problem to resolve: a crime, a
mystery, a secret, and all. This is
another way the telic flaw tags along with the protagonist. Next is Centurion.
Centurion is a regularly published
novel, but my publisher went out of business.
In fact, all the novels I’ve written about in the list about the telic
flaw have been regularly published. I’m
looking for a new publisher, but as my author friend pointed out to me—no one
is looking to republish anything that isn’t already a bestseller. Therefore, I’m having Centurion
republished by Amazon. That’s an
entirely different problem and account.
I will share in the future. Let’s
get back to Centurion.
The protagonist and a Romantic protagonist in Centurion
is Abenadar. Abenadar is a half-Roman,
half-Jew whose mother was the concubine of the Roman ambassador to King Herod
Agrippa. This is important because the
moment Abenadar is acknowledged as a Roman citizen, he joins the legion and
begins his training as a legionnaire.
The entire novel is about Abenadar’s life as a legionnaire and his
advancement to Centurion. Along the way,
we do get to see the historical Jesus because Abenadar is the Centurion assigned
the crucifixion of Jesus.
The telic flaw of the novel is relatively
simple—it is the advancement of Abenadar as a legionnaire and his life as a
Centurion. The main problem is that he
is a half-Roman which is a real problem because Abenadar is a great leader and politician.
In some ways this novel is just a classic
revelation of the protagonist. The
climax just happens to reflect an important historical event. This is a very common historical novel
setup. This is also my bestselling
novel. I hope people can continue to
enjoy reading it in the third edition.
I’ll move to Athelstan Cying, next.
Athelstan Cying is another of my science
fiction novels. In this novel, we start
with the spirit of a powerful psionic master who is miraculously still around
after a millennia. He is trapped on the
ship, Athelstan Cying which was used by the rogue psionics to escape their
prison by the Reps on the Imperial Capital of Arienth. The Family Trader ship, Twilight Lamb
discovers the Athelstan Cying and goes to explore and salvage it. On the Twilight Lamb, we are introduced to
Den Protania. Den is a failure on the
Twilight Lamb and in the Family Traders.
He is studying in Shuttle, but failed already in Astrogation and
Command. Den is the Captain’s son, but
he is headed toward being left planet side.
When the Twilight Lamb’s salvage crew boards the Athelstan
Cying, Den is part of the crew. He
disregards his orders and causes an accident where he is impaled on ship
structure. The spirit tries to save Den,
but ends up stuck in Den’s body. We now
have the very Romantic protagonist—a new soul inside the body of a failing
Family Trader. You should be able to
spot the telic flaw just from this short explanation. I’ll make it clearer.
Den, as a member of the Twilight Lamb needs to
change and change radically. Bring into
this the capitalistic nature of the Family Traders who expect their crew
members to pay back to the ship their costs of life and training. Den is in a deep hole made deeper by his
rescue and fault during the salvage operation of the Athelstan Cying. The goal of the new soul in Den is to succeed
and become an active and prosperous member of the crew. At the same time, he must keep his soul and
new attributes as well as his new mind secret from the rest of the crew. Who could imagine such a thing?
Unfortunately, or fortunately, Natana Kern who was
Den’s chief rival on the Twilight Lamb is also a trained Journeyman in psionics
and psychiatry. She is assigned to
“help” Den after the disaster and to recommend to the Ship’s Council what to do
about Den. She discovers his strange new
soul and identity. Instead of turning
him in, she decides to help him because of the psionic information she can get
from him as well as the fact Den has become a new man, and the type of man
Natana always wanted him to be.
The telic flaw of the novel, and the telic flaw
brought by the protagonist is this resolve to succeed on the Twilight Lamb as
well as to make things right for all the suffering and problems Den has caused
in the Trader Family.
Yes, this is a complex problem and a complex
science fiction novel. It ends up being
a fun novel full of entertainment, excitement, and a little romance. As I wrote, the protagonist defines the telic
flaw just by existing. I’ll move on to
the next Ghostship Chronicles novel, Twilight Lamb.
I’m not finished with Den and Natana. This novel, Twilight Lamb takes the
next step in their lives—together. We
still have Den with the soul of an ancient psionic master and Natana, a super
genius astrogator, but by this time, Den has become a Journeyman in Command,
Astrogation, and Shuttle. Those were the
three areas he studied before and three journeyman ranks is unheard of in the
Trader Families. Because of Den’s
success, the ship grants him some boons.
He still has his debt, but they allow him and Natana to wed.
At the end of the previous novel, Athelstan
Cying, Den and Natana were attacked and imprisoned by the group called the
Athenian Charter. This is a political
and criminal group using psionics for crime and to influence planetary
governments. Den and Natana want to
investigate and identify this group. Twilight
Lamb is all about the intrigue and investigation that Den and Natana are
accomplishing. Do you see the telic
flaw?
The telic flaw for Twilight Lamb is the
investigation of the Athenian Charter as well as Den and Natana’s continued
revealed life on the Family Trader ship.
You can see exactly how the telic flaw comes out of the protagonist and
in this case, the protagonist’s helper.
They are both psionic experts who use their skills to work against the
Athenian Charter. I’ll look at Regia
Anglorum, next.
At the end of Twilight Lamb, Den and
Natana save the ship (Twilight Lamb) from a hijacking from a civilian liner,
the Regia Anglorum. In the end, Den and
Natana are allowed to take over the command of the Regia Anglorum. In the novel, Regia Anglorum, Den and
Natana are no longer the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper—I introduce a
new character, Nikita. Nikita is the
child of a performer and a Family Trader member. She was left by her father, and her mother dies—so
Nikita was left alone on the streets of Carnival on the planet El Reshad.
The first voyage of the Regia Anglorum includes
El Reshad as a trading point. Nikita is
a psionic genius and has been using psionic powers since she was a child, for
survival. When Natana goes planetside to
El Reshad, she notes Nikita and her power.
She is able to contact the child and eventually convinces her to join
the Family Traders. Sounds like the end
of things—a happy solution. Actually,
this is a protagonist revelation novel.
We get acquainted with Nikita, but we know nothing about her. She knows little about herself. She has wonderful skills (Romantic
protagonist) and especially psionic skills, but she is still a child who looks
about eight but is really over eleven.
The novel is all about how Nikita integrates into the Family Traders and
into the ship. So, you can see exactly
how the telic flaw follows the protagonist.
Let me give you an aside. This novel allows me to show my readers the
world of The Ghostship Chronicles in a way the other novels couldn’t that
is through the integration of Nikita, I show their education system, their
finance system, their apprenticeship system, and their ship, especially the
inside. Plus, Nikita is a great
character. This is a great example of a revelation
type novel and a self-discovery as well as a coming of age type novel. It really isn’t a young adult novel, but
that’s okay, I think adults and young adults will love it. The point is that this is the type of novel
where the mystery of the protagonist drives the telic flaw of the novel. Unusual, not that unusual in science fiction,
but not super common in the modern world of literature. I’ll move on to The Second Mission,
next.
The Second Mission is a partner published
novel and still available for purchase. The
protagonist is a scientist for the United State’s Nuclear Studies, Alan Fisher. Alan happens to be standing at the wrong
place when future people are sending an agent back into time on the second time
travel mission. Alan happens to be
standing at exactly the same location the future time travel is occurring, but
in the past, and that means Alan is pulled back into time with the legitimate time
traveler, Sophia.
Sophia’s job is to live in Athens 400 to 399 BC
and record the words and world of Socrates to allow the future to evaluate how
closely his words are to Plato’s recordings (writing) of them in the Socratic
Dialogs. The telic flaw should be obvious,
and it comes directly from Alan. Alan
must first work to survive in the world of Athens Greece during 400 to 399
BC. He must be an asset for Sophia. Plus, he needs to figure out some way to
return to his time.
You can see how the telic flaw comes directly
with and from Alan. Sophia is the
protagonist’s helper, and this isn’t the first novel I wrote with a protagonist’s
helper from the beginning of the novel. As
an add, this novel includes my modern translations of the last five Socratic
dialogs put into more modern speech and for more modern understanding—context to
the dialog. I also put the entire Greek
culture and the death of Socrates into a context the reader can
understand. It’s a fun book. I’ll move on to, Sister of Light.
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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