Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 572, more Complexity Q and A

3 November 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 572, more Complexity Q and A

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy.  I'll keep you informed.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one 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.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1.  The initial scene (the beginning)

2.  The rising action

3.  The climax

4.  The falling action

5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Escape from Freedom.  Escape is my 25th novel.

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action.  I'm on my first editing run-through of Shape.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any novel. 

Scene development:

1.  Scene input (easy)

2.  Scene output (a little harder)

3.  Scene setting (basic stuff)

4.  Creativity (creative elements of the scene)

5.  Tension (development of creative elements to build excitement)

6.  Release (climax of creative elements)

I can immediately discern three ways to invoke creativity:

1.  History extrapolation

2.  Technological extrapolation

3.  Intellectual extrapolation

Creativity is like an extrapolation of what has been.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing. 

One of my blog readers posed these questions.  I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.

1.  Conflict/tension between characters

2.  Character presentation (appearance, speech, behavior, gestures, actions)

3.  Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme

4.  Evolving vs static character

5.  Language and style

6.  Verbal, gesture, action

7.  Words employed

8.  Sentence length

9.  Complexity

10.  Type of grammar

11.  Diction

12.  Field of reference or allusion

13.  Tone - how tone is created through diction, rhythm, sentence construction, sound effects, images created by similes, syntax/re-arrangement of words in sentence, the inflections of the silent or spoken voice, etc.

14.  Mannerism suggest by speech

15.  Style

16.  Distinct manner of writing or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences, non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent' inconclusiveness).

Moving on to 9. 9.  Complexity

Complexity is related to the value of the unstated or the intentionally understated.  Complexity comes out of tension and release.

Number one, no matter what you intend to write, the work must be entertaining.  Let’s say it again—if you are writing for yourself, stop.  There is no purpose in writing for yourself.  Writing is an act of communication.  The purpose for writing is communication, and the only purpose for fiction is entertainment.  This is easily proven.  If someone doesn’t read the fiction because it is not entertaining, they will never get anything out of it.  No matter what you wish to do with your fictional writing, give up ideas of influencing the world.  Give up ideas of motivating or manipulating thought.  Give up any ideas of producing great intellectual literature.  If no one reads it, you have nothing.  Therefore, all fiction writing is about entertainment.  About communication—look at the purpose of writing.  Writing is about one human recording ideas and providing them to another human.  If this were not true, you could write in your own magic script and special language that no one else understood, and who cares.  So, first entertainment—as long as this is well understood, we can move to complexity.

The only purpose in complexity is entertainment.  If someone in the audience who reads your novel can understand some idea you placed in it, you have succeeded, but if it is a major plot point, you might only have one book fan.  Bad job.  Let me give you a limited definition of complexity.   

Modern complexity provides figures of speech, great word paintings, and jokes without drowning the reader in difficult words or ideas that require the author to explain—or that the author can explain within the context of the writing without damaging the plot or theme.  This is true and modern complexity in a novel—unstated, intentionally understated, and driven by tension and release. 

There is nothing wrong with including very complex ideas (and words) beyond or outside the sphere of your readers, but you must explain them.  If you must bend the plot or theme to explain a word or idea, you need to simplify.  Don’t worry, most writing is already too simple.  Most authors shouldn’t even consider making their writing simpler.  I’ll try to make this clear as possible.

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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic

Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 571, Complexity Q and A

2 November 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 571, Complexity Q and A

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy.  I'll keep you informed.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one 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.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1.  The initial scene (the beginning)

2.  The rising action

3.  The climax

4.  The falling action

5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Escape from Freedom.  Escape is my 25th novel.

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action.  I'm on my first editing run-through of Shape.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any novel. 

Scene development:

1.  Scene input (easy)

2.  Scene output (a little harder)

3.  Scene setting (basic stuff)

4.  Creativity (creative elements of the scene)

5.  Tension (development of creative elements to build excitement)

6.  Release (climax of creative elements)

I can immediately discern three ways to invoke creativity:

1.  History extrapolation

2.  Technological extrapolation

3.  Intellectual extrapolation

Creativity is like an extrapolation of what has been.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing. 

One of my blog readers posed these questions.  I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.

1.  Conflict/tension between characters

2.  Character presentation (appearance, speech, behavior, gestures, actions)

3.  Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme

4.  Evolving vs static character

5.  Language and style

6.  Verbal, gesture, action

7.  Words employed

8.  Sentence length

9.  Complexity

10.  Type of grammar

11.  Diction

12.  Field of reference or allusion

13.  Tone - how tone is created through diction, rhythm, sentence construction, sound effects, images created by similes, syntax/re-arrangement of words in sentence, the inflections of the silent or spoken voice, etc.

14.  Mannerism suggest by speech

15.  Style

16.  Distinct manner of writing or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences, non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent' inconclusiveness).

Moving on to 9. 9.  Complexity

Complexity is related to the value of the unstated or the intentionally understated.  Complexity comes out of tension and release.

Let’s look at complexity.  Some might value a novel such as James Joyce’s Ulysses as a complex novel.  Ulysses is impossible to understand, impossible to read, boring, stupid, venial, crass, repugnant, and unentertaining.  I don’t think Ulysses has any redeeming complexity or characteristics, but it sure looks complex.   The most damning feature is it is unentertaining.  On the other hand look at a truly complex piece of literature—pick any of Shakespeare’s plays or poems.  They are first entertaining.  They appeal to the unintellectual and the intellectual.  Their plots are fun and usually straightforward, but with wonderful simple quirks that draw out the final release until the climax.  The word choice and the word play is beautiful and powerful.  The writing is filled with figures of speech, word pictures, and jokes.  This is complexity in English at its best.

How about a more modern version of complexity.  Let me point out Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.  Dandelion Wine is a short story format novel—that means it is built with scenes that are each their own tension and release and the build to a singular climax tension and release.  The writing, plot, and theme is entertaining.  The novel is written with enough directness and simplicity, it is usually assigned to high school students.  But Dandelion Wine is a novel of explicit and yet indirect complexity.  The themes are both unstated and intentionally understated.  The ideas all drive to a single powerful climax and theme.  The author deftly places the more powerful and complex human ideas into a very entertaining wrapper that defies the reader to ignore them.  The reader finds in Dandelion Wine, Shakespearian word use and wordplay without the obvious attempts to dazzle with that wordplay.  Instead of obvious complexity (like Shakespeare), Ray Bradbury provides figures of speech, great word paintings, and jokes without drowning the reader in difficult words that require a play and the players actions to explain.  This is true and modern complexity in a novel—unstated, intentionally understated, and driven by tension and release.  We will look at all of these.        

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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic

Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 570, Conclusions Sentence Length Q and A

1 November 2015, Writing Ideas - New Novel, part 570, Conclusions Sentence Length Q and A

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy.  I'll keep you informed.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one 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.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1.  The initial scene (the beginning)

2.  The rising action

3.  The climax

4.  The falling action

5.  The dénouement

The theme statement of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Escape from Freedom.  Escape is my 25th novel.

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action.  I'm on my first editing run-through of Shape.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any novel. 

Scene development:

1.  Scene input (easy)

2.  Scene output (a little harder)

3.  Scene setting (basic stuff)

4.  Creativity (creative elements of the scene)

5.  Tension (development of creative elements to build excitement)

6.  Release (climax of creative elements)

I can immediately discern three ways to invoke creativity:

1.  History extrapolation

2.  Technological extrapolation

3.  Intellectual extrapolation

Creativity is like an extrapolation of what has been.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing. 

One of my blog readers posed these questions.  I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.

1.  Conflict/tension between characters

2.  Character presentation (appearance, speech, behavior, gestures, actions)

3.  Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme

4.  Evolving vs static character

5.  Language and style

6.  Verbal, gesture, action

7.  Words employed

8.  Sentence length

9.  Complexity

10.  Type of grammar

11.  Diction

12.  Field of reference or allusion

13.  Tone - how tone is created through diction, rhythm, sentence construction, sound effects, images created by similes, syntax/re-arrangement of words in sentence, the inflections of the silent or spoken voice, etc.

14.  Mannerism suggest by speech

15.  Style

16.  Distinct manner of writing or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences, non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent' inconclusiveness).

Moving on to 8. 8.  Sentence length

What have we seen with sentence length in writing fiction?  The most important point of all writing is entertainment.  Entertainment means the author writes using tension and release cycles to make entertaining scenes.  The writer conveys tension and release using pacing.  Pacing can be expressed through sentence length.  Pacing is the expression of time in writing; therefore, sentence length can also be used to convey time.

In a nutshell, this is the use of sentence length in fiction writing.  Put on your thinking cap and imagine the punchline and pacing of a joke.  Pacing in fiction is exactly the same thing.  The author should build tension to an appropriate release and pacing is one of those very important tools. 

There is no rule that action requires short sentences and lack of action requires long sentences.  The rule is that pacing for tension and release requires the correct sentence length to convey the correct pacing to lead to the most powerful release.  I’ll provide a simple example of pacing for tension and release and try to connect that to pacing and sentence length.

If you will remember, a famous and simplistic writing dictum in tension and release is the try three times concept.  In this dictum, the character when facing a difficult trial makes two unsuccessful attempts and a final successful attempt.  I don’t use this in my writing, but I do keep it in mind.  The idea is that the tension of the building attempts then is balanced with the final success which is a release.  This is a very simple and classic explanation of tension and release in fiction writing.  Pacing, in this case, is both the three attempts as well as in the writing of the three attempts.  The pacing is then directly tied to the tension and release cycle.  In sentence length, the pacing of the events and the events themselves will relate to the event and not necessarily the fact there are three attempts.  In other words, the pacing will relate more to the type of event.  If the event is a chess match, the pacing will relate and reflect the tension of playing chess (perhaps long sentences and long phrasing punctuated by short action when a piece is finally moved).  If the event is a physical trial, the pacing will likely be thoughtful periods of preparation (represented by long phrasing and pacing) punctuated by short periods of action (short phrasing and sentences).  Does anyone else see a pattern here. 

To conclude: in the case of almost all pacing, tension will dictate a portion of time for reflection and thinking followed by action.  The pacing will relate to this and the sentence and phrasing length should follow in some degree.  Just remember, pacing is what matters and tension and release is the goal (entertainment).   

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  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic