18 May 2018, Writing - part x497,
Developing Skills, Build a Protagonist, Elegant Creative Elements, Example
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.
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 28th 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.
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 29th novel, working title Red Sonja. I finished my 28th 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. I’m just finishing number 30, working title Detective.
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.
For novel 30: Lady Azure Rose Wishart, the Chancellor of
the Fae, supernatural detective, and all around dangerous girl, finds love,
solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.
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: Many people would
like to write, but writing is hard work.
I’ll express again, if you want to be a skilled and potentially a
published author, you need to write about one million words. That equates to about ten 100,000 word
novels. When you look at it this way, it
is a daunting goal especially if you haven’t written a single novel.
To
become a good writer, you need two specific skill sets first reading and then
writing. Without these skill sets, I
really can’t help you much. I provide
advanced help and information on how to write great fiction.
Characters
are the key to great writing.
Entertainment is the purpose of fiction writing. The key to entertainment is character
revelation, and specifically revelation of the plot and protagonist telic flaw
(the same thing). If we want to be a
successful writer, we must aim for great protagonists, and a great protagonist
means a great or compelling telic flaw.
In
moving to mechanics, you have to start with something. The something I recommend is the protagonist. As I noted for you, the protagonist owns the
telic flaw and the telic flaw is the catalyst for the plot. The resolution of the telic flaw is the plot
of the novel, so obviously, the best place to start any novel is with the
protagonist. I hate to do this because I
usually end up writing a new novel—let’s develop a character.
I
happen to have a list of great protagonist characteristics.
1.
Skilled or becoming skilled—they are
competent.
2.
Even though these characters are
unique and uniquely different, they feel like real people.
3.
Intellectual.
4.
Pathos building.
5.
Action oriented.
Here
is a list of updated ideas from yesterday.
1.
Isolated and protected
2.
Were-creature
3.
Mystical
4.
School girl
5.
Arts
6.
France or Britain
7.
Deirdre and Sorcha
Here is my initial description:
The girl stared intently at them
both. Her large eyes glared with
intensity and some agitation. She looked
like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. Her face simply announced her severe
displeasure and reproach. She looked
young with gently pale cheeks only tinged slightly with rose, and the slight
swell of youth in her face, but that was her only manifestation of lack of
adulthood.
She was not very tall, but somehow,
she looked imposing. Her face was thin
like the rest of her, but her appearance wasn’t emaciated—it looked restrained and
strong. In contrast to her black dress
and black bonnet, her hair swept long pale and straight from the crown of her
head to a single thick braid at her back.
Her eyes were a piercing light blue that glanced haughtily under thin
nearly invisible brows. Her nose was
likewise striking and straight, but not so large to mar her features. It pointed to her lips and chin—the lips
being a thin pale pink and her chin oddly pointed. All in all, her face was beautiful, but
unforgettable—a face that was in no way plain, but left an impression of
tightly controlled energy and chilly restraint.
Her name was Cassandra Lyons, but
the nuns and teachers all called her Lady Glamis. She was some relation of the House and clan
of Glamis a Scottish noble family.
In the list above, I noted
characteristics that help build an entertaining character. What I’ll do is look at these characteristics
in Cassandra Lyons. The fifth is action
oriented.
Here is part of a scene. This scene is filled with Chekov’s guns—literally,
but none are fired in the novel—at least, none of these guns. The point is the weapons as a creative
element. They are used as a tie to the
plot and theme, but they are also simple creative elements for entertainment
purposes in the scene. Here we see a
partial scene from my yet unpublished novel, Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire. In this scene, George Marding and Leila O'Dwyer
are having a discussion about family and love.
Leila laughed, “That’s
another question. I get to ask one
first.” They arrived at the end of the
portrait hallway and a large double door.
Leila grasped the handle and opened the door. They entered into an enormous room filled
with armor and weapons. It looked like a
museum. Leila gestured at the room,
“This is the Hastings collection of arms and armor. It goes back to the battle…”
“Of Hastings?”
Leila smiled, “Of
course. I knew you would like this. All the boys and I were completely
entranced. The girls, not so much. Here, little Leila learned how different she
was from the other girls. I love this
place. I love to study and draw these
pieces. My family thought I would be an
artist—I didn’t want to draw firearms, I wanted to design and make firearms. If we get the time, I’ll show you where I
shot my first pistol, and where I made my first pistol. If they didn’t isolate me because of my
mother and father, they did because I wasn’t a little girl like I was supposed
to be. I wanted to create things, and
they all tried to keep me from it.”
“Why keep you from it?”
“That is another
question. I still haven’t asked my first
one. Look around all you like. I could spend the entire holiday in this
room.” Leila released George’s hand. She pulled herself up on an armor rack and
sat on top. She slouched slightly and
kicked out her legs, “Here is my question.”
George started to examine
the weapons in the room, “Go ahead.”
“How do you know my
Grandfather, Aleksandr Diakonov?”
George carefully studied a
flintlock, “I really can’t tell you.”
Leila pouted, “You can’t
ruin the game so soon.”
“It isn’t a game if it
includes my work.”
“Yeah, I guessed that it
was the work…the only other questions I have are ones I know you won’t
answer. Plus, I get the feeling that you
really don’t want to play my game.”
George moved on to another
ancient weapon, “I’ll ask you another question while you think of one.”
Leila squinted her eyes
and moved her head to one side then the other, “I guess...if it continues the
game.”
George didn’t look at her,
“What’s with you and Lindy Long.”
Leila hissed.
George glanced at her.
Leila kicked her feet
harder, “Lindy runs the armory—you know that.”
“Didn’t, but I
should. Wait, let me guess—she noticed
you modified your firearms…”
“Yessss…” Leila strung out
the word. She sniffed, “It really wasn’t
her fault. I should have known she would
report it. The moment Sveta heard, she
told Daniel. Daniel dropped the boom.”
“Why do you continue to
work for them—it doesn’t sound like you like it.”
“I don’t, but I’m really
good at it.”
George made a sound. He didn’t dare turn around.
Leila kicked off her shoes,
“I know you’re laughing at me. That’s
okay. Everyone laughs at me. I am very good at what I do—I’m perhaps the
only person in the world who can do it.”
“What is that?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
“It’s part of work?”
“Of course it is part of
the work—it is my work. I don’t work
with others—except Scáth, and she isn’t really that helpful.” Leila gave a deep sigh, “I know you don’t
like me. I think you like me even less
now.”
“Why? Because of what you told me about yourself?”
“Yes—I realize I’m a strange
person. You are a normal one and a
gentleman. I’ll tell you something else
about me—it’s about my name.”
“Your name?”
“My namesake was a
horrible and evil goddess—a true Goddess of Darkness. She likely started the Second World War. She became the impetus for Stalin’s murder of
millions. She influenced Mao in
China. She tried to pervert my
Grandmother. She tried to kill my
Great-Grandmother and my Great-Grandfather.
My Grandmother finally defeated her, but she bears many scars, internal
and external, from her fight. I think my
Grandmother hates me because of my name.
I think they all hate me because of my name.”
George turned around.
Leila still sat on the
rack. She kicked out her feet, “I know
my family hates my name. That’s another
reason my sister could stand the taunts, and I could not. They didn’t taunt her because of her
name. She was named after my most famous
Great-Grandmother, Leora Bolang. My
sister was Miss Perfect, the new Goddess of Light. I am the Goddess of Darkness. They don’t just hate my name, they hate me
because they know what I can do.”
George turned back to the
cases, but he kept Leila in sight, “What can you do?”
“Can’t say.”
“Thought so.”
Leila took out a pad and
pencil. George didn’t realize she
carried anything. She began to
draw. George made a long investigation
of the contents of the room. When George
finished looking, Leila jumped down from her perch. Her pad and pencil had disappeared. She held on to George as she pulled back on
her shoes. She grasped George’s hand and
led him through the other rooms in the lower part of the house. By the time they returned to the front of the
building, the sun already dropped below the horizon. Leila let go of his hand, “You should get
Heidi. The festivities will start
soon. I wouldn’t want her to miss them.”
The
point I want to make about this little partial scene is the creative elements
and their use in the scene and the novel.
Guns are one of the larger themes in this novel—not the firing of them
but the making of them. Leila wants to
make guns. She is good at it. This is a plot and theme idea carried by the
ideas in this armory scene.
There
are a few other creative elements as well.
Notice how the armory is a setting element that is turned into a
creative element in the scene. The point
is always to entertain. The smaller
creative elements drive the scene. For
example, the shoes and Leila’s sketching.
The game they are playing—the question game. Each of these smaller creative elements lend
reality and entertainment to the scene.
Real people are the same. Things
are going on in the real world—the author simply takes these real world
realities and put them into the story.
This makes the scenes seem real and, of course, adds to the entertainment. Entertainment is the point and the key.
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
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
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