Writing - part xx007 Writing a Novel, Rising Action

10 October 2019, Writing - part xx007 Writing a Novel, Rising Action

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 websites 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

Perhaps I should go back and look again at the initial scene—maybe, I’ll cover that again as part of looking at the rising action.  The reason is that I’m writing a rising action in a novel right now.

I could say that I’m struggling with the rising action of a novel at the moment, but that really isn’t true.  My problem is that I’m busy with other required projects as well as trying to tempt a new publisher with my writing.  I don’t have the time, except on the weekends to spend writing on my latest novel.

My latest novel goes by the working title Shifter.  I’m considering a title something like Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors, but I’m a long way from the title.  I finished the initial scene—it’s a good one, and I’ve been writing the rising action for a while.  As I mentioned, most of my problem is time.  I’ll admit that another part of the problem is time.  The reason is that for me, the rising action flows best when I don’t have to go back and review my previous writing again and again.  I keep copious notes in a note file and within the document, but many times these aren’t enough to keep the writing going without review.  As I get deeper into the rising action, the review becomes more and more difficult.  I’m at chapter nine in the novel, and that’s almost half a novel—so around 50,000 words.  Time is the problem.

The best stepping off point about writing the rising action might be to describe how I document and make notes to support it.  The first and most important point is that I write in scenes.  I think this is the best and easiest way to write a novel, that likely needs a review too.  Since I write in scenes, I don’t see a need to outline except generally.  If you want to outline, you should look at the scene outline and develop your outline based on the scene outline.  Let’s take a look.

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

Coherent scenes are always written from input to output with a tension and release.  The more powerful the tension and release the more potent the scene.  With this in mind, you can write an outline based on the input and the output.  If you are really into outlines, you should take this to the next step.

The next step is to fill out the elements of the scene outline as part of your general outline.  You should move from input and output to the scene setting and write the tension and release for the scene as a statement.  Finally, you should write a concept of the kicker for the end of the scene.

If you follow this idea for scene outlining, you will have a form and a means of outlining a novel.  If you are an outliner, I recommend using this means of outlining.  To wind back to what I should have used to introduce this subject—many writers, and ineffective writers recommend outlining your fiction and your novels, but no one ever explains how you should do it.  They make a gross assumption that outlining a piece of fiction is like outlining a technical paper—it isn’t, and they aren’t.  Fiction can’t really be outlined like a technical paper because it is scene based and depends on tension and release.  Technical papers are not scene based at all, and if you have tension and release in a technical paper, you aren’t writing it correctly.  Nothing should be a surprise in a technical paper.  On the other hand, all fiction is a revelation of the protagonist.  All fiction is about the unveiling of secrets at all kinds of levels.

I don’t write outlines.  I do write scene notes at the bottom of my text.  The reason I don’t outline is the topic of another discussion.  

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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