29 November 2025, Writing - part xxxx247 The Novel, Idea, The Fox’s Honor
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.
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)
There are some other ways of writing a
novel, but I don’t recommend them. The
main reason is that the other methods have not in the past been bestsellers. You do get a few for example in the Roman Fleuve
style or the stream of consciousness style, but those are considered outliers. If you have even encountered a novel in a
different style than the common outline, you are either a book freak like me or
a literati. I’d rather you be a book
freak, the literati think both these experimental styles make a great
novel. I’ll have to say John dos Passos’
USA is a great trilogy about the USA, but it’s not really that well read of a
classic and not a modern bestseller.
James Joyce is a bestseller because the literati keep making his
terrible stream of unconsciousness novels required reading. If anyone other than a book freak reads them,
I’m not sure who it is. I’m certain none
of the literati read James Joyce. In
fact, more people have read Tolkien the most unread read writer in history than
any literati who read Joyce. I’ve read
them all. Tolkien is the best of the
bunch, but Tolkien has his issues. I’ve
written about that, and I’ll likely get into it again. For now, take my advice. If you want to write a novel that people and
you will want to read, follow the outline above. Let’s go over it a little, or a lot.
First let me tell you why I write. I love to read. I’m constantly reading two or more novels and
a stack of nonfiction. The reason is
that I love to read. I’ve been rereading
some novels lately just to recalibrate.
I think I’ll move to Jack Vance for fun and remembering. I’m also reading Guttenberg project
books. I advertise that I read all the
old bestsellers that no one reads anymore.
This is true.
I write to make novels that I want to read
and reread. That’s my only purpose. I’m self-entertaining, although I write for
others to read, my purpose and goal is to write novels that I love to
read. Why is that? I figure that if I love to read the novels,
others will love to read the novels. In
fact, I know I’m succeeding because although I still love my earlier novels and
I reread them, I’ve become a better author over time. My first novel isn’t as well written as my 32nd
novel, and my 33rd novel will be better than that. I must say, some of my middle novels might be
better than some of my later novels, but it may be by degree rather than much
or little. In other words, the
qualification of better is really hard to categorize when the plots, ideas, and
worldviews are different. We become
better writers as we write more and more novels. Everything becomes better because we are
improving our skillset and our skills.
So, this leads directly to the question
why write novels? The reason is always
(or should always be) to entertain. I
can assure you, unless you do entertain and intend to entertain your readers,
you will not sell any of the novels you write.
Novel writing is all about entertainment no matter what the literati
have told you. Writing is just like song
writing, art, or music. Ultimately, if
the viewer or hearer isn’t entertained, they will not buy or look at your art
or music. Yes, I know there are the rare
or not so rare cases of the very terrible art and music that is foisted on the
masses as great, but look at what happens to the art and music sales. I mean specifically, The Painted Word by
Tom Wolf where Wolf describes that abstract pieces did not sell well even when
they were accepted wholesale by the art literati as the modern genre. It was only when pop art made its break into
the art market that sales began to grow again.
He wasn’t criticizing abstract art as a media as much as he was noting
that people want art they can understand and that is entertaining to them. Much of the abstract art doesn’t do
either. If you try to write an abstract
novel, as James Joyce did, your chance of entertaining your audience is very
poor.
I want to start with these definitions as
a premise for writing.
1. Write to entertain
2. Write using the
common outline for a novel
With both of these as a premise, I can
easily help you to begin to write a novel.
Let’s move to the basis for the novel, an idea.
This is my approach. It isn’t everyone’s approach, but it has
worked for me about 25 of the 33 or so novels I’ve written. In my earlier novels, I started with an
idea. A specific telic flaw that I could
develop into a full length novel. I’ve
written in the past about these ideas and where these novels started. These are my earlier novels and mostly my
published novels. I’ll repeat again, my
publisher went out of business and I’m looking for a new publisher. That said, I should define a few terms and describe
how I developed ideas for my earlier novels.
The first thing to define is the telic
flaw. The telic flaw is a Greek and
classical term for the problem that causes and must be resolved in the novel
(writing). For the Greeks, the writing
was mainly plays, but they also had epic poetry. The telic flaw is the problem that causes the
novel (play) to happen. In a comedy, the
telic flaw is resolved by the protagonist.
In a tragedy, the protagonist is overcome by the telic flaw.
Usually, the telic flaw is relatively
simple in ancient writing (plays and epic poetry) this doesn’t mean the stories
or the plots are simple. In the Odyssey,
Odysseus is trying to get home from the Trojan War. In the Illiad, the Greeks are trying
to return Helen to Greece. In the Greek
worldview, the basic plot is fate.
Pathos is the fate of man, and chronos is the fate of the gods. All Greek writing orbits around this plot and
theme, however the telic flaw for the writing is usually simple and unique.
Most writing after the Greeks took on the
Greek form even to a large degree with the ideas of fate. This turned into the plot and theme of blood
will out in Victorian literature. This
is important for the understanding of writing and novels in the past, but not
so important to the idea of writing a modern novel.
For the modern novel just realize
this. First, you need a telic flaw. Second, you need a protagonist. Third, you need an antagonist. Fourth, you need to have the protagonist
resolve the telic flaw (comedy) or you need to have the telic flaw overcome the
protagonist (tragedy). We can write this
as an idea like this:
3. Develop a telic flaw,
a protagonist, an antagonist, and plan to resolve the telic flaw.
I write generally to plan to resolve the
telic flaw because whether you are writing a comedy or a tragedy, the telic
flaw gets resolved (so to speak), and I like comedies. I don’t usually write tragedies. Tragedies are not as entertaining to me as
comedies. I might write one, but I
haven’t planned to.
In the past, although I didn’t fully
realize this, I started with a telic flaw, a problem in the world of my
potential novel. I accomplished this
with a what if question, or just a general question. For example, with my published novel Centurion,
the question was: what led the Centurion before the cross of Christ to state,
“Surely this man was a son of God.” That
was the basis for the novel Centurion, and Centurion is all about
that person who is the protagonist. The
telic flaw was encapsulated in the concept of the statement. In other words, the Centurion at the cross had
to recognize Christ as a son of God. The
resolution was that statement and the background for it. It took about 400 pages or over 100,000 words
to get to that point—that’s a reasonable novel.
I should explain about how I got to the
ideas for my other novels as a part of this novel and novel idea development
leading up to writing a novel. I guess
I’ll do that, and then I’ll move on to how I develop an idea for a novel today
and compare it to how I did it in the past.
I’ll also explain why I like my current method best. I’ll put up the basic “rules” for novel
writing in compilation:
I want to start with these definitions as
a premise for writing.
1. Write to entertain
2. Write using the
common outline for a novel
3. Develop a telic flaw,
a protagonist, an antagonist, and plan to resolve the telic flaw.
Let me move through my early novels and
the basis for their development. As I
wrote, I got the idea for each novel by asking a question. I wrote about Centurion, but I should
go back to my first novels and give you some background on their
development. Let’s start with the first
one I wrote and competed, A Season of Honor.
A Season of Honor asks a unique question: what
would motivate a man of honor to compromise everything?
That’s it.
That’s the question. I was contemplating
writing a really exciting and fun science fiction novel about a prince who had lost
everything due to his honorable actions in a rebellion against the Imperial
House and family. He had
accidently caused the entire rebellion but his brother, the current Emperor had
taken advantage of the situation, excetured his brother’s fiancée, and murdered
the Emperor. A Season of Honor,
takes place ten years after the rebellion when certain nobles are trying to fix
certain problems and make nice with the current Emperor. Here’s the blurb for the novel:
Baron Shawn du Locke must choose between
honor and desire...with the fragile peace of the Human Galactic Empire hanging
in the balance.
Shorn of his lands, regency, title,
father, lady, and name, the only thing left to the Baron Shawn du Locke is his
honor. Nothing in the past had shaken it
and nothing would cause him to compromise it—until he met the Lady Elina
Acier.
Elina Acier is the last hope of both the
family Acier and the Noble Houses of the Human Galactic Empire. If Acier falls into the hands of the Emperor,
few will be safe in the ensuing cataclysm, and to protect the planet Acier from
the Emperor, the Lady must marry a Duke’s son.
Baron Shawn du Locke vows to convey Elina
to the Imperial Capital to marry Duke Nior’s son. But that is before Shawn meets the Lady
Elina. Elina Acier is the cousin of
Shawn’s long dead love the Lady Lyral Neuterra, and Elina could be Lyral’s
twin.
Shawn once loved Lyral enough to grant her
his House and to fight a war in her name—now he is honor bound to deliver Elina
Acier, Lyral’s twin, to marry another man.
So begins a breakneck race across space—a
race against time, intrigue, death, and love.
Every time Shawn looks at Elina, he sees Lyral. Every time she speaks, it is as if he hears a
voice from the grave. And every time he
thinks about Elina, he remembers how his own actions led to Lyral’s death.
Shawn must safely deliver Elina to the
Imperial capital. He must do so before
the Emperor discovers and kills Elina, and before her presence drives him
insane… or he falls in love.
What of Elina? Can she respect a disgraced noble? Can she love a man undone by her appearance
and the sound of her voice? Can she
accept a man in love with a ghost out of the past?
This time, Shawn promises himself over and
over, this time he will succeed—this time.
This novel was published back in 2008 in
November by Oaktara. It’s the third
novel in a trilogy. As I wrote, the point
of the novel was to ask this question: what
would motivate a man of honor to compromise everything?
You can see from the blurb that Shaun du
Locke will end up potentially compromising his honor for the love and
protection of Lady Elina Acier. I was
writing novels, at the time, that I thought would motivate my children about
love and honor. I wanted them to see a
complex picture of a man and a woman who would love in spite of the world or
the threats around them. People who
would find a way to not compromise their honor even if they thought they had a
compelling reason to do it.
That’s ultimately the basis and idea
behind this novel. I think it’s a great,
fun, entertaining, and complex novel. It’s
full of cloak and dagger stuff in the far future.
This is an example of how I used a question
to develop the idea for a novel. This
worked. I produced a great novel that
was published. I really need to
republish it, but I think I might be looking at the Ancient Light novels
first. In any case, let me explain about
the idea for the next novel, that’s next.
The Fox's Honor asks a unique question: if
a man of honor is required to die for what he believes; what happens if he is
given back his life?
Here is the blurb about the novel. This novel was also published in 2008.
It was a season of treachery and
vengeance...
of nobility and redemption...
all because of love.
Prince Devon Rathenberg, the Emperor’s Fox
and chief of intelligence, fell in love with the Lady Tamar Falkeep. This would be a simple lover’s tale except he
would never be allowed to marry the third daughter of the least Duke in the
Human Galactic Empire. Devon could never
legitimately declare his love—the lady would reject any overture as
seduction.
Then the unthinkable became reality. In the insurrection that threatened to tear
apart the Human Galactic Empire, Devon designed a plan to reveal the Empire’s
internal enemies and force them to act.
It was a plan of desperation, and a plan that by design would result in
Devon Rathenberg’s death.
Before he died Devon had but one goal: he
wished to win the heart of Tamar Falkeep and declare his love.
With the Emperor’s reluctant approval,
Devon put his plans into motion. The
place: Duke Falkeep’s annual Ball. The target:
Count Domanic Yedric. The
plan: a duel that would force an
uprising before Yedric and his allies were ready to strike, and to be successful,
Devon must die.
Devon won the Lady Tamar’s heart, but he
didn’t count on her resourcefulness.
Lady Tamar was no feeble maiden.
He succeeded in his intrigue, but she brought him back to life and would
not let go.
Now Devon faced a triple problem—first, he
gave his love to a woman he could not legitimately marry, second, he lost his
honor to Count Yedric, and third, the insurrection he caused spread to the
House Imperial.
Now, at all costs, Devon, the Emperor’s
Fox, must fight the rebellion, gain back his honor, and hold onto the love of
Tamar Falkeep.
Okay, I wrote A Season of Honor first. I had this idea, you know (joke from the
Hitchhiker’s Guide). In any case, I
liked the ideas and idea in A Season of Honor so I had to explain how
the characters got to where they were in the novel. This required two other books. Two other books because I had to explain how
Shaun du Locke got to where he was and what happened to his first love, and
second, I had to provide a background for succession of who Shaun du Locke lost
his place to and why. The result was the
second novel The Fox’s Honor.
I was working on the idea of the myth or
stories of the Dragon and the Fox. This
is why my publisher, with my help, named the series, the Chronicles of the
Dragon and the Fox. The Dragon was Shaun
du Locke (previously Prince John-Mark in succession) and the Fox was Prince
Devon Rathenberg, the chief of the Emperor’s intelligence system and not
originally in the succession.
In The Fox’s Honor, I give the main
reasons for the rebellion and the actions of Devon Rathenberg that accidentally
and intentionally caused some of the problems.
Devon Rathenberg wasn’t suicidal, but he
was willing to give his life for the Emperor and the Empire. He thought that by allowing himself to die in
a duel with one of the rebellious leaders, he would cause the rebellion to collapse. His only problem was his regret. He had fallen in love with Tamar Falkeep and
wanted to pronounce his love before he died.
Tamar had other ideas.
Tamar Falkeep was no weakling. When Devon said he loved her, she couldn’t
believe it, but she would not let it or him go.
She revives the dying prince and saves him for herself. That’s the ultimate really fun part of the
idea for the novel that I wanted to convey.
I was already into the development of the initial scene at that point in
my writing, and I couldn’t imagine a better initial scene than a duel with a
lady who saved the loser—especially since he lost on purpose. That’s what begins and drives the novel. Just keep in mind, the initial scene and the
question that promoted the novel. That’s
what I’d like you to keep in mind. I’ll
move on to the first novel in the series, written last, The End of Honor.
There’s more.
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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