Writing - part x230, Novel Form, Untold Tension and Release

24 August 2017, Writing - part x230, Novel Form, Untold Tension and Release

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 c9n 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.

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 28^th novel, working title, School, potential title Deirdre: Enchantment and the School.  The theme statement is: 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.  

Here is the cover proposal for Deirdre: Enchantment and the School. 

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action. I continued writing my 29^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 28^th novel, working title School.  If you noticed, I started on number 28, but finished number 29 (in the starting sequence—it’s actually higher than that).  I adjusted the numbering.  I do keep everything clear in my records. 

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 29:  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.

 

This is the classical form for writing a successful 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 (protagonist, antagonist, and optionally the protagonist’s helper)

d.      Identify the telic flaw of the protagonist (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

              

The protagonist and the telic flaw are tied permanently together.  The novel plot is completely dependent on the protagonist and the protagonist’s telic flaw.  They are inseparable.  This is likely the most critical concept about any normal (classical) form novel. 

 

Here are the parts of a normal (classical) novel:

 

1.      The Initial scene (identify the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)

2.      The Rising action scenes

3.      The Climax scene

4.      The Falling action scene(s)

5.      The Dénouement scene

             

So, how do you write a rich and powerful initial scene?  Let’s start from a theme statement.  Here is an example from my latest novel:

 

The theme statement for Deirdre: Enchantment and the School is: 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.

 

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

          

If you have the characters (protagonist, protagonist’s helper, and antagonist), the initial setting, the telic flaw (from the protagonist), a plot idea, the theme action, then you are ready to write the initial scene.  I would state that since you have a protagonist, the telic flaw, a plot idea, and the theme action, you have about everything—what you might be lacking is the tension and release cycle in your scenes.

 

Here is an example of developing or building emotional tension and release in a scene.  This example is from Shadow of Darkness an Ancient Light novel.  During Sveta’s first night at the convent, she has one of her terrible dreams and wakes in Mother Marya’s arms.        

 

I wanted to show you a scene where something was not said and that made it a more powerful scene.  I think this one will work, but it isn’t as obvious as I’d like.  I’ll point on the untold to you. 

 

I was especially thinking about this concept because one of the latest novels I was reading.  I won’t mention the name of the novel or the author because I’m going to give a spoiler.  The author sets up through the entire novel the possibility of the death of a relation to the protagonist.  At the end of the novel, the protagonist goes to visit this person.  By the time they arrive, the relation has died.  In the novel, the author says nothing about the person dying—not even an offhand comment.  The means of showing is to show the reactions of a person close to the relation.  The words and actions show (and not tell) us the relation is dead.  This, in my book, is excellent scene writing.  This is how we write powerful novels.  Show and don’t tell.

 

In today’s example, Sveta and Marya do not mention anything about their experiences.  We do know about Sveta’s because I relate in flashbacks her abuse and captivity in Germany.  I don’t tell you about Marya’s abuse or experiences during captivity.  I don’t for three reasons.  First, it is not material to the plot or movement toward the climax resolution.  Second, it would detract from the writing.  Third, the untold is many times worse and better than the told. 

 

The great example of this is from Hemmingway.  In the short story The Great White Hunter, the wife accidentally shoots the hunter in the back of the head.  Hemmingway doesn’t describe his injuries, he only describes the reactions of the guide and the wife.  This is considered a classic example of how to show and not tell.  The untold is many times better than what is told or even shown.

 

Here is the scene:        

 

                Sveta awoke in Mother Marya’s arms.  The nun held her close and recited the rosary.  The words were immediately calming to Sveta.  Sveta’s throat was so tight, she couldn’t make any more sounds.  Marya noticed that more than Sveta’s waking.  Marya smoothed the girl’s long dark hair, “Sweet Svetlana, the dream is over.  Here is the real world.  God watches over you, and I watch over you.”  Mother Marya kissed her forehead, “Would you like water?  Do you need to go down the hall?”

        Sveta shook her tousled head.  Great fear must have been evident in her features.

        “I see the terror in your eyes.  It is terrible, I know it is.  I wake myself to dreams of my thirty years in prison.  They fill me with so much fear.  Come help me, we must change your nightgown and your sheets.”

        Sveta blushed.  She had not soiled the bed at the Grossman’s.

        “There is no need for embarrassment, Svetlana.  I understand you can’t control these things.”

        Sveta helped Mother Marya get the new linens from storage and strip the bed.  She dressed in a clean nightgown.

        When Mother Marya was about to leave, Sveta clung to her without making a sound.  Mother Marya sat on the side of Sveta’s bed, “I will wait with you a while longer.”  She took a hairbrush from the desk drawer and began to brush Sveta’s hair.  Then she began to braid Sveta’s long locks.  Slowly Sveta’s face began to calm.  Her hands loosened their death grip on Mother Marya’s hand.  Her young face became almost serene, and she began to nod.  Mother Marya sang and prayed until Sveta fell back to sleep.  Sveta did not dream again that night. 

The untold or perhaps better said the undescribed.  The three large pieces not described in this short scene are first, the soiled bed and nightgown.  They are mentioned in conversation and in the reflection—that Sveta had not soiled the bed at the Grossman’s.  I likely don’t need that statement, but I did leave it in to remind the reader.  It’s a contrast and perhaps unnecessary. 

 

The second I mentioned before—the abuse and horror Marya experienced in Stalin’s prisons.  Just the mention of it is enough.

 

The third is Sveta before she woke.  There is no need to describe what has already been described—especially if nothing changes.  I would gladly repeat it if I thought it would give anything more to the reader.

 

The entire point in the “untold” is to let the reader’s mind and imagination create the scene and events.  All you need to do as an author is to provide a rich framework onto which the reader builds your world in his or her imagination.  The framework must be strong and rich, but it should be a framework.  Some things need not be said at all.  Some things need to be expressed to make them clear.  Many things can be foreshadowed or build up to.  The point is always entertainment.  What is the most entertaining way to present something? 

 

I’ll give you a real writing secret.  My favorite method of teaching a class is to build up to an ah ha moment in my students.  My favorite method of writing a scene (or scenes) is to build up to an unspoken ah ha moment for my readers.  I want them to come to the proper conclusion without me having to tell them anything.  This is how we show and don’t tell.            

 

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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