Writing - part xx143 Writing a Novel, Mass Appeal

23 February 2020, Writing - part xx143 Writing a Novel, Mass Appeal

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

Ideas.  We need ideas.  Ideas allow us to figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.  Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus.  We need to cultivate ideas. 

1.     Read novels. 

2.     Fill your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about. 

3.     Figure out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.

4.     Study.

5.     Teach. 

6.     Make the catharsis. 

7.     Write.

The development of ideas is based on study and research, but it is also based on creativity.  Creativity is the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, schience, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.

If we have filled our mind with all kinds of information and ideas, we are ready to become creative.  Creativity means the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  Literally, we are seeing the world in a new way, or actually, we are seeing some part of the world in a new way.  Let’s look at an example.

The writer must create like an artist with the manipulation of writing (language) in the world through hard work to present something that is not natural, common, or previously existing in the world, and adds beauty to the world and humanity.

Art must add beauty (entertainment) to the world and humanity.  It must be entertaining or it isn’t fiction.  There are characteristics that make writing entertaining.  Here’s a list from Jeff Lyons at https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/write-better-the-7-qualities-of-high-concept-stories

1. High level of entertainment value

2. High degree of originality

3. Born from a “what if” question

4. Highly visual

5. Clear emotional focus

6. Inclusion of some truly unique element

7. Mass audience appeal (to a broad general audience, or a large niche market).

I have no idea what a high concept story is.  I’m not into high concept stories, I’m into fiction that is entertaining—and sellable.  So let’s redefine “high concept” as sellable, to readers and to publishers.  I’ll go for that.  With apologies to Jeff, let me look at this list because I agree with his list.  Let’s see how this looks.

Number seven, mass audience appeal (to a broad general audience, or a large niche market).  Here’s what Jeff writes:

High-concept stories, even if easily categorized by a certain genre (romance, science fiction, horror, etc.), appeal to an audience beyond the narrow confines of that genre’s readers or fans. The target market is broad, diverse and large. High-concept stories are often those that become popular, even trendy, because they possess the potential for crossover appeal, or even for being dually categorized on mainstream/popular shelves in bookstores. For example, high-concept mysteries might appeal to people who don’t typically think of themselves as mystery buffs. High-concept memoirs might appeal to readers who don’t typically enjoy personal accounts.

I’m not sure I’ve written much about this.  I have written about genres and crossover appeal.  Generally, I was writing recently about making pathos appeals to a greater audience.  I mentioned how an author can hurt their appeal, especially in pathos, by restricting their characters.

I don’t personally write to trendy ideas or trendy plots.  As I’ve written, I didn’t consider writing about vampires at all, until I had a unique and exciting idea about vampires.  Since then, I’ve included a couple of vampires in my novels—not because they are trendy but because vampires moved logically into my reflected worldview. 

I write for entertainment—the entertainment of my audience.  I presume what I enjoy reading, my readers will also enjoy reading.  I write what I like, and I write what I enjoy.  As I noted in these blogs, I encourage you to open up your writing such that your novels are entertaining and enjoyable to a broader audience.  You should recognize it is very possible to contract as well as expand. 

Appeal to the educated and readers is usually always expanding.  You can get away with a lot as long as your characters love to read and to learn.  This is your core audience by the way.  The uneducated and people who hate books don’t read books.  One of the great mysteries of life is how novels about people who are notoriously ambivalent to education and books actually have any audience at all.  For example, Harry Potty.

Harry Potty is very popular, but only Hermione loves education and books.  Harry doesn’t care, and we wonder how he even succeeds as a wizard.  An easy expansion of this novel’s audience would be by making Harry more of a bookworm.  There is another appeal in Harry, really an expansion of the audience appeal—sports.

Readers, especially young ones, presume they can do anything, all they need is an education and experience.  The problem is that although this is a presumption, it is rarely the truth.  Readers as readers and educated appreciate art, sports, music, singing, finances, and all.  They presume that all they need to achieve in art, sports, music, singing, finances, and all is education and books.  This is absolutely not true—it’s partially true, but not really true.

If you can project the reader into this worldview, for example in Harry Potty, the impossible sport of Quidich.  Every reader knows they too could be an expert in Quidich if they were just given the opportunity.  They will never be given the opportunity, but if you can appeal to them with this idea—that they too could be like Harry, an amazing Quidich player, then your audience appeal expands to the athletic and not so athletic pretenders. 

I use art and music as a mass appealer.  Most readers presume they too could be musicians and artists all they need to do is do it.  The chances are usually nil that they will, but most want to believe they could.  Present your protagonist as a musician or an artist and that will indeed appeal to an expanded audience—those who think they are potential artists. 

There are ways you can really decrease your audience.  Write to exclusive or controversial ideas is one.  Write to an exclusive group that readers and the educated presume they can’t ever achieve.  For example, a real sport or a type of success that isn’t usually asserted in education.  Football might appeal to a certain group of nonreaders and a few nonreaders.  Definitely audience decreasing.  Nonacademic appeals like manual labor (not for the purpose of education or learning), practical science applications, actual writing or reporting, paperwork in general, don’t really do much for your audience.  Perhaps that is the appeal of Harry—he doesn’t do anything, but he achieves without any real work.

In any case, I recommend expanding your audience through an appeal to education and reading.       

Let’s look at the other suggestions and see how we can use them to develop entertaining writing.

The beginning of creativity is study and effort.  We can use this to extrapolate to creativity.  In addition, we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.    

    

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