22 March 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x75, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Red Herring
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.
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.
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
I
finished writing my 27th novel, working title, Claire, potential
title Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse. This might need some tweaking. The theme statement is: Claire (Sorcha) Davis
accepts Shiggy, a dangerous screw-up, into her Stela branch of the organization
and rehabilitates her.
Here is the cover proposal for Sorcha:
Enchantment and the Curse.
 |
Cover
Proposal
|
The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja. I’m also working on my 29th novel,
working title School.
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: transition from input to output focused on the telic
flaw resolution)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
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 28: 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 29: Sorcha, the abandoned child of an Unseelie
and a human, secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school where she meets the
problem child Deirdre and is redeemed.
These are the steps I use to write 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
Here is the beginning of the scene
development method from the 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
Below is a list of plot
devices. I’m less interested in a plot
device than I am in a creative element that drives a plot device. In fact, some of these plot devices are not
good for anyone’s writing. If we
remember, the purpose of fiction writing is entertainment, we will perhaps
begin to see how we can use these plot devices to entertain. If we focus on creative elements that drive
plot devices, we can begin to see how to make our writing truly
entertaining. I’ll leave up the list and
we’ll contemplate creative elements to produce these plot devices.
Deus ex machina (a machination, or act of
god; lit. “god out of the machine”)
Flashback (or analeptic reference)
Red herring – Current discussion.
Story within a story (Hypodiegesis)
Third attempt
Secrets
Judicial Setting
Red herring: Here is a definition of a red herring
from the link-- A red
herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or
important issue.[1] It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary
device that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. A red
herring might be intentionally used, such as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g. in politics), or
it could be inadvertently used during argumentation.
Everyone
should like red herrings as a plot device.
These can be simple or very complex.
The example of the red herring also from the link: for example,
in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly
suspicious through emphasis or descriptive techniques to divert attention from
the true guilty party.
By
the way, the word argumentation is stupid, but that’s okay, you get the point. The definition is reasonable and not too
bad. A red herring is best used when it
leads your readers to the wrong conclusion.
This is the mark of a properly used red herring. A poor red herring is one that doesn’t lead
your readers to the wrong conclusion.
You
can obviously tie red herrings directly to creative elements. The creative elements for red herrings are
usually reflective or mirror elements.
For example, in a mystery, the real murderer is described or recognized
by certain creative elements—a red herring creative element might look like the
real murderer’s creative elements, but different in some way.
I like
to use red herrings as a plot device and not as “the” plot device. For example, in Warrior of Darkness, one of my Ancient
Light novels, the protagonist gives the impression of a “bad girl.” Klava smokes, drinks, dresses in old black
clothing without underwear, lives in a tenement flat, and works at night. The appearance of her life and activities is
meant to mislead the readers about her personality and virtue. She isn’t at all the person she appears to
be. The reasons for her activities and life
have more to do with her goals and her being.
I’ll give you an example from the revelation scene. This isn’t the climax. It is simply the revelation of her “red herrings.”
Niul was very agitated when he picked up
Klava at the Lyon ’s house the next
Sunday. Instead of heading directly for Westminster
Klava’s voice trembled, “What’s wrong
Niul?”
“You and I need to speak about something.”
Klava covered her face with her hands,
“What other sins have caught up with me?”
Niul stepped out of the car and went to
her side. He opened the door and put out
his hand, “No sins just something I need to know.”
Scáth scowled as she slid out of the car,
“What else do you need to know about her, Mr. O’Dwyer? You’ve already taken an unfair share.”
Niul clasped Klava’s hand. She did not stop trembling. Niul led her down the walk. The day was dreary with early fog and cloudy
skies. Scáth trailed them at a pace
behind. Niul took Klava’s hand in both
of his. He caressed it and took a deep
breath, “Klava are you blind?”
Scáth’s voice was tense, “Does she act
blind?”
“Yes, in many ways, she does.”
Scáth nearly spat, “Mistress, you don’t
have to tell him.”
Klava smiled. She still trembled, “No, Scáth, I must tell
him. He has a right to ask. It is one of my defects that is not readily
apparent.” Klava pulled up short. She turned Niul to face her. Her deep emerald eyes sought his and were
slightly off queue. They stared
obviously unfocused at his cheek.”
“You are blind.”
“Who told you?”
“The Dean of the department mentioned that
you were the most accomplished student he ever taught, and related his
astonishment that you couldn’t see. You
are blind.”
“Yes I am.
I have been blind since I was a child.
Is this a defect that makes me unacceptable to you?”
“No it doesn’t at all. It just makes me more ashamed, and me, more
unacceptable.”
“More ashamed, Niul O’Dwyer. How could that make you more ashamed?”
“I took advantage of a blind girl. A person who was handicapped. What kind of monster does that make me?”
Scáth laughed, “One much worse than I.”
Klava put her arms around him, “I don’t
think it makes much difference. We all
are handicapped in some way. Most of us
just don’t acknowledge our deficiencies, or we exaggerate things that are not
deficiencies to hide our true faults—like sin.”
“But you are blind.”
Klava sighed, “And that makes you want to
turn away from me?”
“No it makes me want to protect you even
more.”
“You pity me?”
“Yes.
I do pity you.”
“That is not a foundation on which to
build affection.”
“Nah, there you are very wrong,
Klava. If love is a commitment, then a
person who loves must commit to everything for the one he loves. Pity is a feeling that makes me want to never
let you be away from me—I’d gladly be your eyes. As it is, I’m not sure how you manage as well
as you do.”
“I manage because I see through the black
tablet.”
“A black tablet, what is that?”
“The black tablet. My black tablet.”
“Still, what is that, Lamb?”
Klava opened her purse and took out the
tablet. Niul reached for it. Klava jerked it away from him, “Don’t touch
it.”
“Why’s that?”
“If you touch it, it will take your
ka. It will pull your ka into the
tablet.”
“Why can you touch it?”
Scáth sneered, “Duh! She’s the goddess who controls it.”
Niul moved his head to get a better look
at the tablet, “It bears your face. What
can it do? Is it the source of your
power?”
Klava held the tablet close to her, “The
Dagda is the source of my power. The
tablet allows me to manipulate the forces of the world and the kas of men. With it, I can control darkness and use
darkness.”
“And it allows you to see?”
“I can’t see real colors. Everything is like black and gold to me. They are all shades of black and gold. It is very lovely to my sight, but there is
no color.”
“Is that why you only wear black?”
“Is that why you only wear black?”
She blushed, “Yes, every other color makes
me appear underclothed. The tablet
allows me to see in a region that is near infrared. My body shows through anything but black. Grays, in my sight, are scandalous, but
usually not too overexposed.” Klava
tossed her head, “I also dress this way to irritate my mothers—both of
them. I like to remind them that I am
not my sister, and I am not like them. I
am who I am, and who the Dagda has made me to be.”
“And what you eat?”
“Dark foods appear unappealing to me. White ones are like gold. They are radiant.”
“What you drink?”
“I can’t see light liquids very well in a
glass or cup. I make a mess. I can manage drinks that are black—I have
come to enjoy them very much.”
“You usually wear dark glasses during the
day. What about liking the night and
darkness?”
“In daylight everything appears too bright
to me. I can’t see details. At night and in darkness everything is
clear.” She shrugged, “I can see much
better.”
Niul laughed, “Here, they all think you
have a character flaw, and you simply are trying to live life on your own
terms.”
“Niul this is a secret. It is my secret. Scáth knows it, but few others. I told you because you guessed and you
asked. No one else has ever cared enough
to ask.”
“The smoking?”
Klava laughed, “That is just a bad
habit. I am not pure as you think.”
Niul clasped her to his chest. He put his face in her thick hair, “Please,
Klava, it is justice when you remind me of what I did to you, but it only makes
me sad. If there is any lack of purity
in you, that was my doing. You are
perfect. You are precious…”
“I am neither, and I didn’t mean to remind
you.”
“But you should, all the time.”
He reluctantly released
her. Klava didn’t step back. She reached up to his eyes and wiped them
with her fingertips. “If we hurry, Niul,
we can make Communion.”
In
this scene, Klava reveals to Niul about herself. These traits were really red herrings that
hid her actual issues. She used her
habits to hide them.
I
recommend using red herrings all the time.
They are a wonderful plot device.
They use creative elements, many times creative elements based on
mirroring and reflection.
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
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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