15 April 2025, Writing - part xxxx019 Bookgirl, Telic Flaw
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)
Right now, I want to
write bookgirl. That’s the working title
of my novel with the following theme statement:
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.
I’ve already developed the protagonist and
the protagonist’s helper for this novel.
I’ll remind you with their descriptions:
Siobhàn Shaw was a very tall and slender
girl. She didn’t sit or stand, she
folded and unfolded. Normal chairs and
furniture didn’t seem to fit her properly, but no onlooker could really tell
why—she wasn’t basketball tall, and she never sat in an unladylike or informal
way. Perhaps it was her approach to
sitting and standing. It made her
standout in ways she never wanted to stand out.
Her dark brown hair was long and always looked a little stringy. She pulled it up into a highly unpopular and
old-fashioned bun, that frizzed at every side.
She didn’t know any other way to put up her hair. Her face was a classic oval, but that did her
no good. It wasn’t long, just slightly
short and she had a high, broad forehead with a widow’s peak that was a little
lopsided to the left. Her eyes were
large but slopped a little down at the outside corners so she always looked a
little sad even when she smiled. Her
smile was made her cheeks go up without any nice dimples, and her chin was
round. Well that’s what oval means. She was lucky her brows weren’t like her
father’s. They were evident but not connected and well shaped
except they followed the sad droop of her eyes.
That only made her look a little sadder all the time. The only problem was that she was never
really very sad at all. Her lips and her
nose were nicely formed. The nose small
and a little blunt, and her lips wide and pink.
Her complexion was light like a peach and the real redeeming feature was
the constant blush on her cheeks. That
also made her stand out in ways she didn’t wish. Her clothing was always a little frumpy. It was hard to fit a girl as tall as she
was--too tall, but not tall enough, and there never was enough money to have
anything that was new. The used clothing
and charity shops were all she could afford.
Even her school uniform was used, and didn’t fit her well. The ones for tall girls were too big to fit
her slender frame and the ones that fit her size were all too short. Her skirt looked strange and too large, and
her blouse a little too short. At least
her skirt, a kilt, was the Shaw tartan, mostly blue and green with a think red
line, it matched the coat and her sweater.
Still, the sleeves on her dark blue coat were always too short and the
coat too large. She disappeared in it,
and it bulged in all the wrong places.
Only her emerald green sweater fit her properly. That’s because she has an extra large one
that had been through the wash one too many times—the wool had shrunk. She didn’t have many sewing skills, so she
couldn’t do much to fix her clothing.
Her shoes always looked a little off because she had to repair them with
book glue and polish them with ink. Then
there was the thing that made her always stand out. Siobhàn Shaw always carried a book in her
hand. A book in one hand and her
official bookbag in the other. The book
is what set her apart. That’s why they
never called her Siobhàn, just book girl.
Always book girl.
Morven McLean was elegant looking. Everything about her was elegant
looking. She was perfectly formed—not
too tall, not too short, not too thin, and not too curvy. She was the perfect physical balance that
girl’s desired and boys followed greedily with their eyes. Her face was oval, but with that little
well-formed chin that made her look, yes, elegant. Her cheeks rose sweet and gently high, not
too plump, and not too thin with a natural shadow of pink. Her lips were nicely molded around perfectly
white and straight teeth. They were
exactly the correct balance to her nose and her large upward inclined eyes and
delicate brow. Her Scottish hair was the
exact shade of red with brown that made her standout in the way she usually
wanted to stand out. Her brow was not
too large and not too broad. Her hair
was controlled exactly where she placed it and how she placed it. She kept it long and free and brushed into
perfection. Not a lock was out of place
and not a single strand of her hair dared disobey where she put it. Her clothing was what you expected from a
model. Always the haute couture and
always fit to her form so it revealed her to perfection and not to distraction. Even her uniform looked good on her from the
top of her head to the tip of her toes.
She was always happy that her McLean tartan was mostly red, and made her
standout like almost none of the other girls.
These two young ladies are already
connected. They will soon be embroiled
in even more connections. I’ll get to
that, next.
Setting:
Kilgraston School in Scotland. This is a Scottish boarding school near Perth
and Bridge of Earn. The school is one of
the best in Scotland. It has closed down
since I researched it—so sad, but I think I’ll still use it.
I chose and researched this school for a
couple of reasons. First, I wanted a
woman’s boarding school. My protagonist
is a girl of limited means who is very bright and hard working. She lives and came from Bridge of Earn where
her father owns a bookstore. She has a
problem with books, she can’t stop reading them. This is the source of her knowledge, skills,
and intelligence.
Second, I wanted to set my novel in
Scotland because of cultural and social reasons. I was looking for a little exotic yet
familiar for my English readers and my American readers.
Third, a girl’s boarding school provides
many positives and many negatives. The
negatives are those cultural and social issues that affect all schools and
especially boarding schools. These are
exacerbated in a girl’s school, plus the pathos creation is very powerful. You can have a bullied boy in the boy’s
school or boarding school, but that doesn’t generate the same pathos in your
readers. I’m sure boys can be as cruel
as girls in any environment, but we expect boys to defend themselves and we
culturally consider them wimps if they don’t.
Girls on the other hand are culturally
different. They are not necessarily
expected to fight physically to defend themselves and we tend to see them as
victims. This builds pathos. When a girl responds and gets back at her
bullies, we also see that as a powerful statement of action. We expect this from boys, we don’t
necessarily expect it from girls. In
fact, a girl responding physically to bullying, can be expelled. We do that with boys today too, but that’s
another problem.
Suffice to say, I an researching
Kilgraston as the setting for my novel.
This is the initial setting and will be unless I discover something that
would greatly affect its usefulness as a setting—even then I might just fake
the rest. It’s fiction, after all. We want to use real settings, but they can be
fictionalized for entertainment and use.
Telic Flaw:
The telic flaw comes with the protagonist,
but what if it doesn’t. I’d argue that
the telic flaw must always reside with the protagonist, but I am proposing a
novel where the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper strongly
interact. The telic flaw is theirs
together. Just what is this telic flaw?
I’m proposing a telic flaw concerning the
family and library of the protagonist’s helper.
Morven McLean has a problem. She isn’t the protagonist, but she has lost
everything. That is her family has lost
everything. She never really had
anything except what her family did, but now she has nothing. Ultimately, one of the books from her library
includes a cryptic message. The message
will lead the protagonist and her to the resolution of the novel, but we have
to get there.
This will be a mystery novel, and the
mystery will be about Morven McLean and her family. Siobhàn Shaw, the protagonist will eventually
resolve and solve the mystery using her skill as the book girl, but the telic flaw
comes from the protagonist’s helper and not the protagonist.
This is an interestingly set up
novel. So, the telic flaw is the mystery
regarding Morven McLean and her family.
I also am contemplating another telic flaw
and piece to this novel. I’m debating
how I will make these work together or which I will make the main telic flaw. I’m contemplating that Siobhàn has every
possibility of being a model. Morven
realizes this and also realizes that she has been jealous of Siobhàn from the
beginning because she is really so elegant.
Siobhàn still has real issues that she must personally contend with
because of her personality and her life.
I’d like to have Morven realize her own negative affect on Siobhàn and desire
to make up for it. Basically, Siobhàn
and her father will take Morven into their circle and family because Morven’s
family has abandoned her. The changes in
Morvan will cascade to Siobhàn and the actions of Siobhàn will cascade to
Morvan. We’ll see how this works when I
finally get around to writing the novel.
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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