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Sunday, May 31, 2020

Writing - part xx241 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Nikita Protania

31 May 2020, Writing - part xx241 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Nikita Protania

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 29th 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 30th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29th 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, science, 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. 

So, modern characters must look like the reader’s impression of the protagonist.  This is an interesting problem as culture and society change as does the impression of the readers.         

Here is the list of characteristics for great protagonists (this is based on the concept of a Romantic protagonist):

1.     Hero, independent, and individualistic – characters who truly risk their lives for others.
2.     From the common ilk – as opposed to the nobility and wealth.
3.     Educated – both seeking education and study and loving to read and learn.
4.     Focus on the inner world of the protagonist – the mind and motivation of the protagonist.
5.     Celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination – the expression of the mind of the protagonist.
6.     Rejection of industrialization and social convention – from urban to rural.
7.     Idealization of woman, children, and rural life.
8.     Inclusion of supernatural or mythological elements.
9.     Inclusion of historical elements.
10.  Frequent use of personification.
11.  Emphasis on individual experience of the sublime.
12.  Discovery and skills—the protagonist finds his or her special skills and abilities and uses them to resolve the telic flaw.
13.  The readers agree with the mind (thoughts and decisions) of the protagonist

I added the last statement, but really this last statement is a direct reflection of 4, 11, and 12. 

My ultimate point is that first I develop a great protagonist and the plot and theme of the novel I want to write comes directly out of that protagonist.  Every great protagonist comes with his or her own telic flaw.

Yesterday, I gave you an example of Azure Rose from my novel, Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.  I showed how she was a Romantic protagonist and how she herself resulted in a plot and theme for the novel.  In other words, I didn’t develop a plot or a theme first, I developed a great protagonist and found the telic flaw, plot, and theme from her revelation.  Azure Rose came with a plot and a theme.  I’ve done this before and at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll do this a couple of more times or more.  Here is a list of my completed novels and protagonists:

A Season of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox III), published, Shawn du Locke
The Fox’s Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox II), published, Devon Rathenberg
The End of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox I), published, John-Mark
Antebellum, not published, Heather Sybil Roberts
Aegypt, published, Paul Bolong
Centurion, published, Centurion Abenadar
Athelstan Cying, not published, Den Protania
Twilight Lamb, not published, Den Protania
Regia Anglorum, not published, Nikita Protania
The Second Mission, published, Alan Fisher
Sister of Light, not published, Leora Bolang
Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth, not published, Angela Matheson
Sister of Darkness, not published, Leora Bolang
Shadow of Darkness, not published, Lumière Bolang
Shadow of Light, not published, Lumière Bolang
Children of Light and Darkness, not published, Kathrin McClellan
Warrior of Light, not published, Daniel Long
Shadowed Vale, not published, Nikita Protania
Warrior of Darkness, not published, Klava Calloway
Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden, not published, Byron Macintyre
Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon, not published, Aksinya
Khione: Enchantment and the Fox, not published, Khione
Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire, not published, George Mardling
Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer, not published, Lilly
Escape from Freedom, not published, Scott Phillips
Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si, not published, Essie
Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse, not published, Shiggy
Deirdre: Enchantment and the School, not published, Deirdre Calloway
Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective, not published, Azure Rose

Regia Anglorum, is currently not published.  The protagonist of this novel is Nikita Protania.  Nikita Protania is an excellent an example of how a protagonist defines the telic flaw, plot, and theme.  Although Nikita Protania is one of my early protagonists, she was crafted before the novel. 

Nikita Protania was developed from the protagonist of a peer also published by my regular publisher—the one who went out of business.  I can’t remember the title of the novel, but it featured an abused ten year old girl who had to take care of herself and her elderly neighbor.  What was intriguing to me was the idea of a girl on the streets who was forced to take care of herself—so I developed the character of Nikita Protania.

Nikita Protania is a science fiction protagonist.  She is a highly sensitive psyonic who is very intellectual.  She seeks anything she can to read and lives on the streets of El Rashad.  Nikita’s mother was a dancer in the carnival on El Rashad, and her father was a Free Trader from the trading spaceships.  Nikita Protania has learned the work of flying a space shuttle by psionically listening to the conversations and minds of the shuttle pilots who fly into the space port on El Rashad.  She is a castoff child who uses her skills to stay away from creepers and nappers who take the street children to use in carnival.  I took a protagonist idea and turned it into an entirely different science fiction protagonist.  My character is very different from my writer friend, but the basis came from another character and novel.  This is the use of creativity to extrapolate the new.  My character isn’t a copy, but an enhancement—a character developed for a different environment, time, and experience.  Let’s look at Nikita Protania as a Romantic protagonist.

Nikita Protania is a born hero.  She would love to be a real hero, but life has made that nearly impossible.  She lives in an environment that squashes heroes, but still she could be one in the right circumstances.  She is highly independent and individualistic.  She is born into psyonics and born of a Free Trader background, so in the Human Universe, this isn’t common, but she is zero at the beginning and eventually, she returns to the Free Trader environment where she is considered a “dirt eater” since she came from a planet.  Nikita Protania is educated, but not educated sufficiency for what she needs to do as a Free Trader.  The best education on a planet can’t teach astrogation and running a spaceship—although I did write that Nikita Protania did learn how to run a shuttle.  Education is a major focus of the novel, as Nikita Protania goes to school on the Free Trader ship that takes her in.

The inner world of the protagonist, the mind and motivation of the protagonist, is the main part of this story about Nikita Protania.  I didn’t mention the abuse, isolation, and neglect she faced.  The novel is about her recovery and redemption from all of this.  You see a celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination in the Free Trader ships and the worlds of the novel.  There isn’t a rejection of industrialization and the urban as much as an assimilation of the rural into the urban and industrialized.  The idealization of woman, children, and rural life comes out of the Free Traders, the protagonist, and the subject matter. 

This is a science fiction novel.  There are no supernatural or mythological elements, and there are no historical elements unless you count the history from my other science fiction novels.  The individual experience of the sublime for Nikita Protania is mental and physical redemption.  This is the classic science fiction theme mode.

The telic flaw of the novel is the physical redemption of Nikita Protania.  She needs to be accepted and successful in a Free Trader spaceship.  The plot comes out of this telic flaw.  In the novel, she is discovered by Free Traders and convinced to join their ship.  The theme, I already mentioned, Nikita Protania seeks physical and mental redemption—the classic science fiction theme. 

I hope you can see that the entire plot, telic flaw, and theme came out of the development of this character.  This is exactly what I mean when I write that the plot, theme, and telic flaw comes directly out of the protagonist.

Ultimately, the point is that we need to keep our readers content and pleased with our characters while presenting the revelation of the protagonist and the plot.    

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:

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Writing - part xx240 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Alan Fisher

30 May 2020, Writing - part xx240 Writing a Novel, Protagonists Plots and Theme Alan Fisher

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 29th 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 30th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29th 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, science, 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. 

So, modern characters must look like the reader’s impression of the protagonist.  This is an interesting problem as culture and society change as does the impression of the readers.         

Here is the list of characteristics for great protagonists (this is based on the concept of a Romantic protagonist):

1.     Hero, independent, and individualistic – characters who truly risk their lives for others.
2.     From the common ilk – as opposed to the nobility and wealth.
3.     Educated – both seeking education and study and loving to read and learn.
4.     Focus on the inner world of the protagonist – the mind and motivation of the protagonist.
5.     Celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination – the expression of the mind of the protagonist.
6.     Rejection of industrialization and social convention – from urban to rural.
7.     Idealization of woman, children, and rural life.
8.     Inclusion of supernatural or mythological elements.
9.     Inclusion of historical elements.
10.  Frequent use of personification.
11.  Emphasis on individual experience of the sublime.
12.  Discovery and skills—the protagonist finds his or her special skills and abilities and uses them to resolve the telic flaw.
13.  The readers agree with the mind (thoughts and decisions) of the protagonist

I added the last statement, but really this last statement is a direct reflection of 4, 11, and 12. 

My ultimate point is that first I develop a great protagonist and the plot and theme of the novel I want to write comes directly out of that protagonist.  Every great protagonist comes with his or her own telic flaw.

Yesterday, I gave you an example of Azure Rose from my novel, Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.  I showed how she was a Romantic protagonist and how she herself resulted in a plot and theme for the novel.  In other words, I didn’t develop a plot or a theme first, I developed a great protagonist and found the telic flaw, plot, and theme from her revelation.  Azure Rose came with a plot and a theme.  I’ve done this before and at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll do this a couple of more times or more.  Here is a list of my completed novels and protagonists:

A Season of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox III), published, Shawn du Locke
The Fox’s Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox II), published, Devon Rathenberg
The End of Honor (Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox I), published, John-Mark
Antebellum, not published, Heather Sybil Roberts
Aegypt, published, Paul Bolong
Centurion, published, Centurion Abenadar
Athelstan Cying, not published, Den Protania
Twilight Lamb, not published, Den Protania
Regia Anglorum, not published, Nikita Protania
The Second Mission, published, Alan Fisher
Sister of Light, not published, Leora Bolang
Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth, not published, Angela Matheson
Sister of Darkness, not published, Leora Bolang
Shadow of Darkness, not published, Lumière Bolang
Shadow of Light, not published, Lumière Bolang
Children of Light and Darkness, not published, Kathrin McClellan
Warrior of Light, not published, Daniel Long
Shadowed Vale, not published, Nikita Protania
Warrior of Darkness, not published, Klava Calloway
Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden, not published, Byron Macintyre
Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon, not published, Aksinya
Khione: Enchantment and the Fox, not published, Khione
Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire, not published, George Mardling
Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer, not published, Lilly
Escape from Freedom, not published, Scott Phillips
Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si, not published, Essie
Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse, not published, Shiggy
Deirdre: Enchantment and the School, not published, Deirdre Calloway
Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective, not published, Azure Rose

The Second Mission, is currently published by Xulon.  Since my regular publisher went out of business, this may be the only one of my published novels that is still available.  The protagonist of this novel is Alan Fisher.  Alan Fisher is not as excellent an example of how a protagonist defines the telic flaw, plot, and theme.  The reason is because this was one of my earlier novels.  I think it is still a great novel—entertaining.  The problem with the protagonist is that he was developed for the telic flaw, the plot, and the theme.  From Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth on, I really discovered a different and more effective way to write. 

In any case, just who is Alan Fisher?  Alan Fisher is a scientist.  I don’t really define what kind of scientist, but at the beginning of the novel, he is working at White Sands range in a safety tower very close to the site of the first atomic bomb detonation.  Although Alan Fisher is the protagonist, the protagonist’s helper, Sophia is the real driver of the action and entertainment in the novel.  This makes this novel more in line with many novels where the protagonist is in the action, but the focus of the novel isn’t on the protagonist as much as another character.

Still, Alan Fisher is the protagonist and the most important character in the novel.  The reason Sophia is so important is that she is the time traveler and Alan Fisher is the accidental time traveler.

Yes, Alan Fisher gets accidentally pulled back into the second human interaction in time.  Sophia has trained for ten years to become a woman who actually lived in the time of Socrates (around 399 BC).  The purpose of this one year mission is to observe the final dialogs and record the death of Socrates.  The reason for this mission and its importance is to see how accurate ancient accounts were as records.  Plato recorded Socrates dialogs—the question is their accuracy.  By the way, the first mission in time was to observe the last year of Christ’s ministry and His death and potential resurrection. 

Alan Fisher gets pulled back into time to experience the world of the ancient Greeks and the last year of Socrates life.  In the novel, it’s a science fiction novel, I give you multiple modern translations of ancient Greek documents including most of the last five Socratic dialogs in context to the life and death of Socrates.  I think this is a bargain.  You also get to experience the ancient Greek world through the eyes of a modern person.  I think that is wonderful as well.  Let’s look at Alan Fisher as a Romantic protagonist.  

Alan Fisher is not a hero, but he learns to become one.  His time in the ancient world and his survival as well as the survival of Sophia and her mission.  He isn’t as independent or individualistic as a normal Romantic protagonist.  He is pretty much a normal protagonist.  He is from the common.  His life and background aren’t that important in the context of the novel.  He is educated and so is Sophia.  The concept of informal education is very important in the novel. The focus is definitely on the inner world of the protagonist.  In some ways, the inner world is all Alan Fisher has until he really learns the language and the times.  The celebration of nature, beauty, and imagination are locked and loaded into the view of the world from the modern to the ancient.  Although the ancient world has cities and Athens is the focus of The Second Mission, the rural is a large part of even the urban.  The idealization of woman, not so much children, and rural life is consistent in the novel.  Unlike most of my novels, there are no supernatural or mythological elements—there are historical and history based elements.  The translations are very worthwhile to the modern scholar.  The emphasis on individual experience of the sublime is consistent in this novel based on the first mission.  I’ll leave it at that.  The novel isn’t so much involved with the discovery of skills as the learning of skills to survive. 

Let’s look at the telic flaw, plot, and theme.  In the first case, Alan Fisher does define the telic flaw. It is how to get back to his time.  Sophia tells Alan Fisher repeatedly, the mission is for a year, she can’t go back, and he can’t either.  She isn’t sure he can be sent back to his time at all. 

The plot isn’t as connected to the telic flaw as most of my novels.  The telic flaw is the hinge pin of the novel, but the plot is about living and surviving in ancient Greece 399 BC.  The theme is about loyalty and responsibility.  Alan Fisher does indeed define the telic flaw, the plot, and the theme, but can’t you feel the very different vibe from this novel description and protagonist?  I like the novel, but it is one of my early novels—and it’s published.

I hope you can see that the entire plot, telic flaw, and theme came out of the development of this character.  This is exactly what I mean when I write that the plot, theme, and telic flaw comes directly out of the protagonist.

Ultimately, the point is that we need to keep our readers content and pleased with our characters while presenting the revelation of the protagonist and the plot.    

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:

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic