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Friday, July 24, 2020

Writing - part xx295 Writing a Novel, Types of Plots

24 July 2020, Writing - part xx295 Writing a Novel, Types of Plots

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. 

I’ve worked through creativity and the protagonist.  The ultimate point is that if you properly develop your protagonist, you have created your novel.  This moves us on to plots and initial scenes.  As I noted, if you have a protagonist, you have a novel.  The reason is that a protagonist comes with a telic flaw, and a telic flaw provides a plot and theme.  If you have a protagonist, that gives you a telic flaw, a plot, and a theme.  I will also argue this gives you an initial scene as well. 

So, we worked extensively on the protagonist.  I gave you many examples great, bad, and average.  Most of these were from classics, but I also used my own novels and protagonists as examples.  Here’s my plan.

1.     The protagonist comes with a telic flaw – the telic flaw isn’t necessarily a flaw in the protagonist, but rather a flaw in the world of the protagonist that only the Romantic protagonist can resolve.
2.     The telic flaw determines the plot.
3.     The telic flaw determines the theme.
4.     The telic flaw and the protagonist determines the initial scene.
5.     The protagonist and the telic flaw determines the initial setting.
6.     Plot examples from great classic plots.
7.     Plot examples from mediocre classic plots.
8.     Plot examples from my novels.
9.     Creativity and the telic flaw and plots.
10.  Writer’s block as a problem of continuing the plot.

Every great or good protagonist comes with their own telic flaw.  I showed how this worked with my own writing and novels.  Let’s go over it in terms of the plot.

This is all about the telic flaw.  Every protagonist and every novel must come with a telic flaw.  They are the same telic flaw.  That telic flaw can be external, internal or both.

We found that a self-discovery telic flaw or a personal success telic flaw can potentially take a generic plot.  We should be able to get an idea for the plot purely from the protagonist, telic flaw and setting.  All of these are interlaced and bring us our plot.

For a great plot, the resolution of the telic flaw has to be a surprise to the protagonist and to the reader.  This is both the measure and the goal.  As I noted before, for a great plot, the author needs to make the telic flaw resolution appear to be impossible, but then it happens.  There is much more to this.

As I noted, all comedy plots are zero to hero.  This leaves a lot of latitude for plot development.  I’ve been writing about redemption plots because I think they are the most effective and entertaining.  A redemption plot is one where the protagonist is rescued or rescues him or herself from their zero by improving their physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual self.  There are other plot types, and these are worth evaluating.

One of the main other types of plots I’ve written about is the detective plot.  The detective plot is a great example and a great type of plot, but it is generally a genre plot.  In a detective plot, the protagonist solves the crime or mystery.  This is a great plot because the telic flaw is obvious and that’s what makes it a great example.  You can probably think of many novels that are detective plots. 

I also mentioned Dune yesterday.  Dune is a very interesting plot.  It’s one of the first modern messiah plots.  This made it a very unusual and nearly epic novel at the time, and then came all the other messiah plots.  Harry Potty is a messiah plot novel.  There are some mixed plots in there too as you can see in the different novels.  The messiah plot has become nearly its own genre.  You see them in many Young Adult novels.  Why messiahs appeal so much to this group, I don’t know, but think of all the novels about messiahs, for example the Hungry Games, the Amaze Runner, the Sparkly Vampires, all have messiah elements in them—the leader who consciously or unconsciously leads the, usually, children or young adults to freedom or something.  That’s a messiah plot.  I’m not into these types of plots.  They require some type of science fiction dystopian world or environment.  They require the belief that there is a power in humanity that is apart from spirituality or the supernatural.  This comes back to what C.S. Lewis wrote about bringing up the supernatural in a novel.

As, C.S. Lewis knew and these authors seem to forget, a messiah presumes the supernatural.  In Dune, Herbert rightly created a religion and religious structure to hang his messiah one.  It was a science fiction with an agnostic science based religion.  It still brings up the question of God or gods, that’s what happens when you have a messiah.  These other modern writers seem to miss this very important and undeniable fact about the messiah plot.  Messiah plots are always redemption plots.  They are all about redeeming someone other than the protagonist.  Messiahs redeem others, not themselves.  Messiahs don’t need redeeming—they own the process of redemption.  I’m not wholly against messiah plots, but I think the author needs to realize exactly what they are getting into and writing about.  Especially, in the modern world where barely educated people are writing novels and some are actually getting them published, we need to realize exactly what we are bringing into the world.  I’m not opposed as long as they are entertaining and uplifting. I am opposed if they produce end of the world themes or plots.

Let’s face it, messiah plots are usually end of the world plots or themes.  Most likely themes.  The theme of Harry Potty is the end of the world for the wizards.  It’s a theme a not a plot.  The world won’t exactly end, but under Voldermort, the wizard world will be like Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.  That’s a end of the world theme.  On the other hand, the Amaze Runner is a classic end of the world plot and theme.  The world of the Amaze Runner is no kidding coming to an end.  Then there are war themes like what we see in the Hungry Games.        

In any case, lest start with the idea of an internal and external telic flaw.  Then let’s provide it a wrapper.  The wrapper is 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

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