3 May 2017, Writing Ideas - New
Novel, part x117, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Search
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
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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)
Story within a story (Hypodiegesis)
Third attempt
Secrets
Judicial Setting
Legal argument
Prophecy
Two way love
Three way love (love rival)
Rival
Celebrity (Rise to fame)
Rise to riches
Military (Device or Organization manipulation)
School (Training) (Skill Development)
Supernatural
Comeback
Retrieval
Taboo
Impossible Crime
Human god
Revolution
Games
Silent witness
Secret king
Messiah
Hidden skills
Fantasy Land (Time Travel, Space Travel)
End of the --- (World, Culture, Society)
Resistance (Nonresistance)
Utopia (anti-utopia)
Fashion
Augmented Human (Robot) (Society)
Mind Switching (Soul Switching)
Unreliable character
Incarceration (imprisonment)
Valuable item
Identification
Contest
Search – Current discussion.
War
Brotherhood (sisterhood) (camaraderie)
Crime
Theater
One way love
Search: here is my definition – Search is the use of a quest to further a plot.
Search
isn’t exactly the same as retrieval or a MacGuffin. In some cases, the protagonist may know what
the item or person of the quest is, but in the case of retrieval or MacGuffin,
the protagonist always knows what the item or person is. A search is less determined. It isn’t a MacGuffin. It is a thing or a someone. Examples of search plot devices are Treasure Island, Moby Dick, and Huckleberry Finn.
A search plot device can also be more amorphous, for example, the search
for peace or contentment. I’m sure you
can remember novels that used this plot device in this way.
I’ve
used the search plot device quite a few times in my writing. I find it a very useful plot device. It has so many variations, it is very
utilitarian. You can and will find many
circumstances where search can be used to greater or lesser effect in your
novels.
Here
is an example from Shadowed Vale:
Natana
pushed a button on her computer and the door slid open to near absolute
darkness. Ultraviolet lights came on
from the hoods of their CES, and they could see through the darkness. It was a colorless and strangely blue
landscape. Den touched a stud on his
suit and brought up normal illumination.
The darkness pealed back, but the view didn’t improve much. They were looking into an enormous
space. It was completely open. In the space hung seemingly randomly placed
three meter square vaults. The vaults
could be reached by thin plasteel walkways that crept across the underground
structure. The space reached out further
than they could see in every direction.
Natana
declared, ‘This is the level recorded for the vault.’
‘Where
is it?’
Natana
tilted her head and set off. They
followed. First, Den near Natana’s side,
and then a little ways back Nikita.
Nikita sent, ‘What does it mean the data wasn’t transcribed?’
Natana
answered, ‘The Galactic Library’s original means of data storage was on large
platters in radioactive digital coding.
The half-life of the radioactive material is such that the data was safe
for billions of years. The material is
written and was originally rewritten at set intervals to ensure there was never
any data loss. After the defeat of the
Reps, the Confederation decided to use a more cost effective and denser data
storage method. The original dedicated
data vaults, all these cubes you see, were built in the opulent and elegant
style of the Empire. They were designed
to last forever and to record human information for millennia. Technology quickly overcame them, but the
need to change was never pressing until about five hundred years ago. At that time, the data in these cubes was
transcribed onto the current system. It
is much smaller, simpler, cheaper, and provides much greater data storage. Some of the data wasn’t transcribed. What we seek is one of those.’
‘And
it wasn’t transcribed, because…?’
‘Because
it was considered too dangerous for unrestricted use. We don’t hide information that is common to
all—that is the credo of the Confederation.
But we did choose to exclude some information that was very
dangerous. Contemplate, Kita, building a
nuclear device or highly poisonous substance like a nerve gas is available as
unrestricted information. That was not
considered as dangerous as the information on psy control and psy devices from
the Empire and the Reps.’
‘Then
I hope we are better guardians than the Reps or Empire turned out to be.’
Natana’s
thoughts took on an edge, ‘They both tortured me with such tools—be assured
little sister, I will not allow them to be used that way on anyone else.’
‘Hi,
Mara,’ quipped Nikita.
Natana
let out a tense chuckle, ‘Sorry.’
They
both followed Natana down the plasteel pathways. She led them directly, but it still took a
while. Eventually, they reached one of
the cubes. In the fancy ancient script
of the Empire the number one hundred thousand eleven six hundred sixty six
crawled across each of its six faces.
Natana
stood in front of it, ‘There is also a backup cube, but it is harder to
reach.’ She plugged her computer into
the cube. After a while, she cried out
aloud, “Eh.” Then mentally, ‘Sorry about that.
There’s nothing.’
‘Nothing,’
sent Dena and Nikita together.
‘The
power is completely out and the cube will not run without power. It is based on special motor drives and high
power systems and not just simple electron transfer. I’m not sure what to do.’
‘Can
you turn on the power?’ asked Den.
‘The
power for this entire part of the facility is off. It has been physically redirected to the new
data systems. The control nodes are also
depowered and have been removed.’
‘Can
you get a schematic,’ Nikita asked.
‘I’m
bringing it up now. Take a look.’
Nikita
shot, ‘Can I come forward, Den?’
‘Come
on. I’ll go on defense.’
Den
and Nikita exchanged positions. She and
Natana studied the schematics for a long time.
Den saw a lot of pointing and shrugging.
Nikita and Natana spoke mentally in partial thoughts and technical
jargon. Den could barely understand
their basic private communication—it was all woman speak, almost a different
mental language. When they moved into an
advanced level of mathematical theory, probability mechanics, and chaos math,
Den was immediately and totally lost—and he was a Master Astrogator.
Finally,
Natana sent him a directed thought he could understand, ‘Den we can’t do
it. It’s not possible with what we
know. The systems are not just complex,
they are ancient and unique. We can’t
figure it out.’
Den
launched a tight thought, ‘Then who can get the data for us?’
Nikita
made a face, ‘Alex could do it.’
‘Alex,
you say?’
‘Yeah,
Alex.’
Natana
frowned, ‘Are you sure, Kita?’
‘If
Alex can’t make it work directly, he can invent something to get the data for
us.’
Den
sat on the walkway and let his legs dangle over the edge. He waved Nikita and Natana over to him. They sat down one on either side. Den looked out into the immense open space,
‘Kita, it could be really dangerous to bring a non-psy into this.’
She
kicked her legs out in the space, ‘Yah think?
We don’t have time to read him in during this visit. That gives us a year to figure out how to
approach and use him.’
Natana
stared at her, ‘Have you been thinking about this before?’
Nikita
shrugged, ‘Nah, it just came to me when we were digging in the design of the
data cube. He has a brain that lets him
look at any logical schematic and immediately understand what’s going on. He’s just like that. It’s like the one handed input device he made
for me. He had no clue how to do it; he
just could visualize it and build toward it.
It’s pretty amazing actually.’
Natana
touched her lips, ‘Okay, we give up for now.
We read Alex in and bring him here to dig out the data.’
‘Yeah,’
Den nodded.
‘Yeah,’
Nikita agreed.
This
is a really fun novel. Alex has no idea
what he will be getting into. Nikita and
her parents are searching for information on psionic devices. They find the location, but they can’t get
the data. They need Alex. This is just a small part of this novel, but
a very fun part.
Here’s
more. From Sister of Darkness:
The evening was especially dark. Clouds covered the skies and the moon. A wind blew in from the coast that reminded
them that winter was not long past. An
anguished cry awakened Leora and Paul.
It was a single sound of childish loss.
A howl of fear and grief, “No…”
Paul leapt out of bed and pulled on his
robe. Leora was only steps behind
him. When he opened the door, Marie
stood there already. Two fingers
threatened to slip into her mouth and her threadbare rabbit was clutched by an
ear in her fist. She stared wide-eyed,
“Lumière is gone.”
Without a word, Paul ran to Lumière’s
room. The windows were all opened and
the door was gaping. The raw night blew
through the openings and chilled Paul to the bone. He pulled up Lumière’s bed clothes and
searched her room. Leora stood in the
doorway. She held a rosary in her hand
and mouthed a prayer, “Paul, she is not here.
She is gone.”
“Gone where?”
Leora buried her face in her hands, “I
don’t know. I can’t see her. She is not in the house. There are things in the night that block my sight.”
Paul leapt back through the door. The scream was loud enough, it had already
awakened the house. Major Lyons stood in
the hall followed closely by his driver, Lord Hastings, Goodberry, and a group
of servants.
“What is wrong, Paul?” Lyons
“Lumière is gone. She has been taken—abducted. Leora says she is not in the house.”
Lord Hastings stepped forward, “Do you
need weapons?”
“We are armed already.”
“Then go to it man. Just watch out in the darkness that you don’t
shoot each other.”
“And don’t go alone,” Leora stood in the
doorway and clutched a piece of Lumière’s clothing.
“Quickly, men, go!” Lord Hastings pushed
them toward the outside.
In groups of two, the men ran into the
night and scoured the area around the house.
They found nothing and no one. As
soon as Lord Hastings could make a call on the telephone, they were joined by
the constabulary of the closest village.
In the morning, Major Lyons made a call and a company of soldiers showed
up and began cordoning the fields.
Paul entered into his and Leora’s room
tired and discouraged. When he came in,
Tilly rose from her knees beside Leora and left. She gave him a piteous and, for Tilly, an
attempted cheering look, as she passed.
Leora was on her knees before the
window. Her face rested on the lounge
and her hair stretched across and over the side. Trembling sobs shook her.
Paul went to his knees and lifted her
up. She came into his arms. Her face was wet, her lashes strung with
tears like dew. Paul held her
close. She held him for a minute then a
moan escaped her lips, “Paul, she is gone.”
She shook her head violently, “I searched and searched for her. With the scepter and golden tablet, I touched
her ka once or twice, but each time, it was masked from me.” Her voice rose in fear, “I traced her out of Britain
“If Lumière is alive, we must get her
back again. We know who has taken her,
and we know where they are taking her.”
“And we know why,” Leora moaned, “She is
a hostage to keep us from retrieving the Osiris Offering Formula. Paul, you understand, as well as I, we might
be required to trade our daughter’s life for that cursed thing.”
“God forbid.”
“I should have destroyed it when I had
the chance.”
“The question is what will we do now?”
Abruptly sober and tearless, Leora
turned up her face, “We go to Windsor England Windsor
Paul and Leora departed with Major Lyons
the next day headed for Windsor
Castle
Paul
and Leora will search for their missing daughter. She was kidnapped and taken to Germany during
the height of World War Two. I hope you
will soon be able to read this novel. It
is on contract.
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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