Writing - part x897, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Weapons

22 June 2019, Writing - part x897, Writing a Novel, Changing World and Weapons

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t succeed in the past business and publishing environment.  I'll keep you informed, but I need a new publisher.  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 s 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 29^th novel, working title, Detective, potential title Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.  The theme statement is: 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 cover proposal for Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective. 

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 30^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29^th novel, working title Detective.  I’m planning to start on number 31, working title Shifter. 

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 31:  Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events. 

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:  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. 

To start a novel, I picture an initial scene.  I may start from a protagonist or just launch into mental development of an initial scene.  I get the idea for an initial scene from all kinds of sources.  To help get the creative juices flowing, let’s look at the initial scene. 

1.     Meeting between the protagonist and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper

2.     Action point in the plot

3.     Buildup to an exciting scene

4.     Indirect introduction of the protagonist

The protagonist is the novel and the initial scene.  If you look at the four basic types of initial scenes, you see the reflection of the protagonist in each one.  If you noticed my examples yesterday, I expressed the scene idea, but none were completely independent of the protagonist.  Indeed, in most cases, I get an idea with a protagonist.  The protagonist is incomplete, but a sketch to begin with.  You can start with a protagonist, but in my opinion, as we see above, the protagonist is never completely independent from the initial scene.  As the ideas above imply, we can start with the characters, specifically the protagonist, antagonist or protagonist’s helper, and develop an initial scene. 

Let’s look at a subject that is really ignored in the modern era.  I’m not certain how much this can help your current writing.  I would argue that theoretically, this subject can really help those who write historical and futuristic fiction.  It depends on how your write your historical and futuristic fiction.  There are two ways to write historical fiction—let’s look at this.

The first and most common way to write historical fiction is to write a novel that projects modern ideas and history as historical ideas and history.  In other words to present modern ideas and historical ideas as the same.  I think this is perhaps the most egregious and perverse means of presenting a false view of history.  The author is either completely ignorant of the past, is intentionally attempting to education people in a false view of history, or both.  The real historical world is very different both culturally and socially from our current world.  The true author attempts to convey this in historical writing.

The second and less common means of historical writing is to actually incorporate the past into a novel to convey the actual way people thought and acted in the past.  This approach actually goes back into time to give a complete view of the way the people thought and acted.  To this end, let’s look at how the world changed and how people thought in the past.  This is more of a historical look at the world for the purpose of understanding how the world worked in the past and how people thought and acted.  We’ll use historical information to see what concerned affected their lives. Here is a list of potential issues.  We’ll look at them in detail:

1.   Vocabulary

2.   Ideas

3.   Social construction

4.   Culture

5.   Politics

6.   History

7.   Language

8.   Common knowledge

9.   Common sense

10. Reflected culture

11. Reflected history

12. Reflected society

13. Truth

14. Food

15. Money

16. Weapons and warfare

17. Transportation

18. Communication

19. Writing

20. Education

Something happened on the way to buy your iPhone.  Corporations don’t have the power to kill you, lock you up, or take your property.  Only governments have the legal and approved ability to put you to death, imprison you, and take your property in taxes or eminent domain.  These aren’t just options of government, these are features of government.  Unless you are in a cartel, which is illegal anyway, your company can’t even begin to think about killing you, taking your property, or locking you in jail.  So, why are people so worried about companies and corporations?  The Enlightenment Era and Enlightenment founders of the USA and the Constitution didn’t worry about companies and corporations at all, they worried about the power of government.  To that end, they wrote the constitution to protect the people from the government and not the other way around.  The only amendment to the constitution that gives government power is the sixteenth—this was the amendment that gave the federal government the power to tax income—that was a terrible mistake.

In any case, the constitution was written to protect the people (and corporations and companies) against form the government.  This was the case until the 1930s, but that’s an entirely different fact.  Let’s start with the concept that people need to be protected against any government.  You know this if you know history.  The first step in conquering any nation is to disarm the people.  This was how every conqueror in the history of the world.  First, you take over the nation, and second, you disarm the people.  This is also the first step when a dictatorship, socialist, or fascist government takes over a government.  Look at Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and all the nations in Europe, except Switzerland. 

The founding fathers of the USA realized this historical truth and wrote the second amendment to prevent the fledgling government from taking away the weapons of the people.  Here is where change begins.

The purpose of the second amendment according to the Federalist Papers was to allow the people to have the same power as the federal government.  This is also the reason why the constitution restricts Army money to two years to prevent a standing army.  It didn’t help much, and judicial perversion of the second amendment has resulted in the erosion of that amendment.

It might be reasonable for the average person not to own Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), but the purpose of the second amendment is so the average person can oppose and protect themselves and their family from an oppressive government.  Why shouldn’t a person be able to own and keep military weapons such as machineguns, mortars, artillery, tanks, and all—the Swiss do.  The Swiss are required by law to keep military weapons, and no one worries because criminals will use any weapon they can get (which is any weapon they want).  Good citizens will only use weapons when necessary to defend and protect.  If you realize that criminals are criminals because they break the law, you will quickly realize the risk of weapon’s ownership far outweighs any risk.  Plus, you can see the result of lack of gun ownership in the 200 million humans murdered by national and international socialists last century. 

This is the point after all.  According to the Black Book of Communism, national and international socialists and socialism murdered more people during the 20^th Century than any act of man, gods, or God during any other time in history.  No other wars, religion, genocides, murder, or other actions from the beginning of time murdered more people than national and international socialism—and this is the reason all free people should be armed, to the teeth. 

This is the basic reason for weapons and warfare in the world—protection.  What is most interesting to us is the change in both through time.         

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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