17 January 2025, Writing - part xxx931 Scene Outline, Novel Outline, Initial Scene Design, Protagonist’s Helper, Designing the Scene
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’ll go back to the idea of the initial
scene. This is the most important and
pivotal scene in any novel. This is the
scene that sells your novel. This is the
scene that sets your novel. No novel can
exist or even be written without a tight and well developed initial scene. Much of the reason for this are the elements
of the scene which encapsulate the entertainment and scope of the novel. Most specifically, the protagonist is the
main element of the novel and of this scene.
That is not to say you can’t have an initial
scene that doesn’t include the protagonist.
However, it may be impossible to have such a scene. In my published novels, I have had two novels
where the protagonist did not show in the initial scene: Centurion and The
End of Honor. In Centurion,
the protagonist was in his mother’s womb.
This was a critical place to begin the novel, and I’ll not apologize for
it, but this was a very special and different beginning to this and this type
of novel. It’s an historical novel with
a direct connection from the protagonist’s mother to the mother of a historical
focus of the novel.
The End of Honor begins with the
execution of Lyral Neuterra which starts the great civil war in the Human
Galactic Empire. If the protagonist were
there, the execution could have never taken place—he was intentionally and
conveniently out of the way when the Prince Regent struck his father and the
Princess Lyral down. This was also a
proper initial scene for this novel.
Again, I’ll not apologize for it—it fit the novel.
However, I will conclude that I likely wouldn’t
write these types of novels in the future—not because they aren’t great novels,
but because my writing has evolved and improved. I find myself with more intimate and closer
held subjects. When I was a younger
writer, my writing was broader with themes of a more grander nature. With time, the themes because more intimate
and closer. I could achieve a similar
feel and a greater entertainment with tighter ideas and stories. That’s what I think anyway.
The protagonist is necessary to begin a
novel—that’s the ultimate point here.
The question is this—should I evaluate the protagonist again, or move
toward the initial scene directly?
That’s next.
Perhaps I should look at the qualities that make
a great protagonist’s helper instead of the qualities of the protagonist, for a
change. I’ve never really gone here
before.
The main point is that we develop the
protagonist’s helper with the same or perhaps a little less degree of the
protagonist. I can give you the basic
list, and we can look at it. Here it is:
1. Define
the initial scene
2. At the
same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the initial
scene. That means the minimum of:
a. Telic
flaw
b. Approximate
age
c. Approximate
social degree
d. Sex
3. Refine
the protagonist
a. Physical
description
b. Background
– history of the protagonist
i. Birth
ii. Setting
iii. Life
iv. Education
v. Work
vi. Profession
vii. Family
c. Setting
– current
i. Life
ii. Setting
iii. Work
d. Name
4. Refine
the details of the protagonist
a. Emotional
description (never to be shared directly)
b. Mental
description (never to be shared directly)
c. Likes
and dislikes (never to be shared directly)
5. Telic
flaw resolution
a. Changes
required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
i. Physical
changes
ii. Emotional
changes
iii. Mental
changes
b. Alliances
required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
c. Enemies
required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
d. Plots
required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
e. Obstacles
that must be overcome for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw
This is a critical list for
developing a great protagonist. We might
be able to modify it to design a great protagonist’s helper. Let’s look at the list and see what we can
get from it.
To write a novel, at least
a novel that has some chance of publication and that people want to read, you
must have a protagonist, a telic flaw, an antagonist, and an initial
setting. I also recommend, for modern
novels and especially Romantic protagonists, that you have a protagonist’s
helper. The problem with the
protagonist’s helper is that this type of character isn’t as well known or well
used as, for example, the protagonist or the antagonist. You can find all kinds of protagonist’s
helpers in writing, especially more modern writing, but this isn’t as Greek as
the antagonist, and it isn’t as used or taught as well as other
characters. However, I argue that this
may be the most important character after to the protagonist in modern
literature. That’s because this is the
character that allows the protagonist to show their thoughts, heart, and mind
without telling.
The antagonist opposes the
protagonist’s attempts to resolve the telic flaw, while the protagonist’s
helper both aids in the resolution of the telic flaw, but also lets the
protagonist express their mind without telling.
This is very important in modern writing.
If you remember the adage,
show and don’t tell, then wondered how do we then express the mind of the
protagonist, the protagonist’s helper is for you. If you never thought about this at all, I
worry about your writing. You can’t just
vomit out the thoughts, mind, and heart of the protagonist. Do you have them in therapy or speaking to a
barber or bartender about their thoughts—yuck.
On the other hand, if you realize just how important a Hermione or Dr.
Watson character is, you might be on the trail to the proper showing and
expression of your protagonist(s). Let’s
look in more detail at the protagonist’s helper, and I’ll try to encapsulate
this very diverse and powerful character at least as well as a protagonist (tongue
in cheek). That’s next.
The very first step is to
define the initial scene. This is the
best part. I always like to develop the
initial scene first and build the details later. You can work this more than one way, but I
think this is the best. If you do
develop the protagonist and antagonist or protagonist’s helper first, that can
be a great method, or if you design the initial scene without regard to the
characters, that works too. Either way
is great, but you get to some point where you must develop the protagonist, and
you must design the initial scene.
I’ll give you this. If you design or develop a protagonist and
then build an initial scene—that will work too.
In any case, you better have some idea for your initial scene before you
begin. Otherwise, you don’t have much to
go on.
Now, I will say this—it is
possible for you to have an idea for a novel and no real idea of how to build
or design the initial scene. I can
really help you with that. That’s
literally where I was with some of my early novels. This is why I write all the time, the best way
to develop the initial scene is:
1. The
meeting of the protagonist with the antagonist
2. The
meeting of the protagonist with the protagonist’s helper
3. An
action oriented scene where the protagonist is enveloped by the telic flaw
4. An action
oriented scene that defines the telic flaw or the protagonist
Go for number one or number
two. I’ve written novels that really
required three and four. They are
possible, they are sellable, but they are somewhat special. If you have an idea for a novel, you better
have an idea for the protagonist, can figure out the antagonist, and you should
consider a protagonist’s helper. In any
case, the initial scene where the protagonist meets the antagonist is the best
way to start almost any novel.
I will help you with
this. The initial scene should start
with the protagonist. If must include
the telic flaw. It must have the initial
setting, how could it not? Okay, to
really help you with this scene. The
protagonist defines the telic flaw and the initial setting. Where is the protagonist at the beginning of
the novel? This is an important
question. If you remember some of the
classics:
1. Kidnapped started with the
protagonist on his way to discover his origins
2. The
Little Princess stated with the protagonist on her way to her new school
3. Heidi began with the protagonist
on her way to her grandfather’s
4. Dragonsong
began
with the protagonist mourning the death of her mentor
5. Dragonsinger
began
with the protagonist arriving at the Harper Hall
6. That
Printer of Udall’s began with the protagonist’s father killing his mother
7. Building
Bombs for Hitler began with the protagonist being placed on a Nazi train
I didn’t include a novel
with a protagonist’s helper. The reason
isn’t that there are so few, but rather, the idea of the protagonist’s helper
is relatively new in the world of writing.
My novels:
1. Rose:
Enchantment and the Flower begins with Shiggy, the protagonist’s helper discovering
Rose, the protagonist, in her safe house.
2. Seoirse:
Enchantment and the Assignment begins with Seoirse, protagonist, meeting the
very volatile Rose, protagonist’s helper, at their bosses house.
3. Sorcha:
Enchantment and the Curse begins with Shiggy, the protagonist, meeting Sorcha, the
protagonist’s helper
4. Deirdre:
Enchantment and the School begins with Deirdre, the protagonist, meeting Sorcha,
the protagonist’s helper
I could go on and on. The point is that the best beginning for any
novel is the initial meeting of the protagonist with either the antagonist or
the protagonist’s helper. That’s what I
recommend. It’s worked great for
me. We’ll look at the protagonist’s
helper in more depth, next.
I’m into designing and
developing the initial scene first, but you can start with the
protagonist. Usually, if you start with
the protagonist, you have some idea for the initial scene. I started in the middle. I find that usually I start with an initial
scene in my mind. I develop a
protagonist along side the initial scene—in the end I have both.
Who are those characters in
the initial scene. Well, you have many
choices, but ultimately, the characters will usually be the protagonist and take
your pick: the antagonist, the protagonist’s helper, the focus, a mentor, a
lover, a parent, a friend, an enemy, a rival, or someone else?
Actually, who else could it
be? The antagonist should be obvious in
an initial scene, but let’s just set that aside for the moment. Why can’t a focus, a mentor, a lover, a parent,
a friend, or a rival be a potential protagonist’s helper? An enemy or a rival can be a potential antagonist. I really like novels with a focus who isn’t
the protagonist. Why can’t the focus be
a protagonist’s helper. I can imagine this
kind of characters who isn’t, but I can imagine many more situations where the focus
is and can be the protagonist’s helper.
In other words, if your initial scene has another character, and it isn’t
the antagonist, why not produce a protagonist’s helper? You do know that it is possible to have more
than one protagonist’s helper. I have
occasionally written novels like this.
The main point of the protagonist’s
helper is to communicate the mind of the protagonist. That means to continue to share the mind of
the protagonist, we need a nearly continuous protagonist’s helper. I’m all for that. In my novel, Rose: Enchantment and the
Flower, Shiggy starts as Rose’s protagonist’s helper, but later Robyn
becomes a lower level type of protagonist’s helper as Rose finds her own way in
the world. In the end, Airgead, a house
fairy becomes Rose’s protagonist’s helper when she must escape the school. The purpose of these protagonist’s helper is
to allow Rose to share her mind with the readers. This works well in this novel. As I noted, if we have another character in
the initial scene who isn’t the antagonist, why not make them a protagonist’s
helper? The protagonist’s helper is
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
fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development,
scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study,
marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
