1 July 2021, Writing - part xx636 Writing a Novel, Plots and Classics, Richard Adams
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.
For Novel 32: Shiggy
Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization
gives her for her latest assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and
needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.
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.
Here is our list of 112 classics. I told you this is a compilation of lists
from various sources. These are all true
classics in most every genre of literature.
What I’m going to do now is look at the list and evaluate if they
include a Romantic protagonist or a Romantic plot. Second, I’m going to mark those that are true
classic novels with an asterisk.
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams – Romantic protagonist and Romantic
plot.
*95 Gulliver’s Travels - Jonathan Swift – No
Romantic protagonist or Romantic plot.
*96 Matilda – Roald Dahl – Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl – Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
*100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo –
Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
*101 The Once and Future King – T.H. White – Somewhat Romantic protagonist
and Romantic plot.
*102 The Deerslayer – James Fenimore Cooper – Romantic protagonist and
Romantic plot.
104 Ben Hur – Lew Wallace – Romantic
protagonist and Romantic plot.
105 The Robe – Lloyd C. Douglas –
Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
106 The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan – No Romantic protagonist or
Romantic plot.
*109 The Call of the Wild – Jack London –
Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
*110 Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner – No Romantic protagonist or Romantic
plot.
*111 The Shockwave Rider – John Brunner –
Romantic protagonist and Romantic plot.
I evaluated the list of plots and categorized them according
to the following scale:
Overall (o) – These are the three overall plots we defined above:
redemption, achievement, and revelation.
Achievement (a) – There are plots that fall under the idea of the
achievement plot.
Quality (q)
– These are plots based on a personal or character quality.
Setting (s)
– These are plots based on a setting.
Item (i)
– These are plots based on an item.
I looked at each novel and pulled out the plot types, the telic flaw,
plotline, and the theme of the novel. I didn’t make a list of the themes,
but we identified the telic flaw as internal and external and by plot
type. This generally gives the plotline.
Overall (o)
1. Redemption (o) – 17i, 7e, 23ei, 8 – 49%
2. Revelation (o) –2e, 64, 1i – 60%
3. Achievement (o) – 16e, 19ei, 4i, 43 – 73%
Achievement (a)
1. Detective or mystery (a) – 56, 1e – 51%
2. Revenge or vengeance (a) –3ie, 3e, 45 – 46%
3. Zero to hero (a) – 29 – 26%
4. Romance (a) –1ie, 41 – 37%
5. Coming of age (a) –1ei, 25 – 23%
6. Progress of technology (a) – 6 – 5%
7. Discovery (a) – 3ie, 57 – 54%
8. Money (a) – 2e, 26 – 25%
9. Spoiled child (a) – 7 – 6%
10. Legal (a) – 5 – 4%
11. Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%
12. Self-discovery (a) – 3i, 12 – 13%
13. Guilt or Crime (a) – 32 – 29%
14. Proselytizing (a) – 4 – 4%
15. Reason (a) – 10, 1ie – 10%
16. Escape (a) – 1ie, 23 – 21%
17. Knowledge or Skill (a) – 26 – 23%
18. Secrets (a) – 21 – 19%
Quality (q)
1. Messiah (q) – 10 – 9%
2. Adultery (qa) – 18 – 16%
3. Rejected love (rejection) (q) – 1ei, 21 –
20%
4. Miscommunication (q) – 8 – 7%
5. Love triangle (q) – 14 – 12%
6. Betrayal (q) – 1i, 1ie, 46 – 43%
7. Blood will out or fate (q) –1i, 1e, 26 – 25%
8. Psychological (q) –1i, 45 – 41%
9. Magic (q) – 8 – 7%
10. Mistaken identity (q) – 18 – 16%
11. Illness (q) – 1e, 19 – 18%
12. Anti-hero (q) – 6 – 5%
13. Immorality (q) – 3i, 8 – 10%
14. Satire (q) – 10 – 9%
15. Camaraderie (q) – 19 – 17%
16. Curse (q) – 4 – 4%
17. Insanity (q) – 8 – 7%
18. Mentor (q) – 12 – 11%
Setting (s)
1. End of the World (s) – 3 – 3%
2. War (s) – 20 – 18%
3. Anti-war (s) –2 – 2%
4. Travel (s) –1e, 62 – 56%
5. Totalitarian (s) – 1e, 8 – 8%
6. Horror (s) – 15 – 13%
7. Children (s) – 24 – 21%
8. Historical (s) – 19 – 17%
9. School (s) – 11 – 10%
10. Parallel (s) – 4 – 4%
11. Allegory (s) – 10 – 9%
12. Fantasy world (s) – 5 – 4%
13. Prison (s) – 2 – 2%
Item (i)
1. Article (i) – 1e, 46 – 42%
I’d like to willow down the list of classics to some true
entertaining classics. We’ll then look
at these in more details.
Let’s do a little comparison between these classic works and
evaluate them. Here is how we will
evaluate them:
1.
Are they entertaining?
2. Would you read it again?
3. How’s the protagonist?
4. How’s the plot?
5. How does it relate to actual human values and life?
6. Did the author write in a way that makes this work truly
unique?
7.
Is this work important to humanity
and to the future?
As I’ve noted before, The British Broadcasting Corporation
is not a good judge of the classics—they tend to miss the great for the
terrible and uninteresting. Most people
just accept the opinions of the BBC and their foolish supporters in the academy. It reminds me of the impressionists and how their
beautiful art was ignored and even condemned by the academy and the salon. The painters who were really great starved
and struggled, but in the end, although they starved in life, their paintings were
worth millions.
The BBC and academia seems to completely miss the point of
the novel—to entertain. With Richard
Adams, we have a very entertaining novelist in the modern world. I put him on the list, and I pulled him off
the list. I think as we look at one of
his best novels, we can see why I think he should be on the list, and again why
I pulled him off the list.
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams – Romantic protagonist and Romantic
plot.
Watership Down
is an adult novel about rabbits. The
rabbits are obviously an intentional allegory or at least a parallel plot
concerning human society.
The rabbits of Watership Down are led by Hazel and
motivated by Fiver. Hazel is the messiah
and Fiver the prophet. Fiver predicts
the destruction of their current warren and Hazel leads the true believes through
numerous adventures to Watership Down.
There they have more adventures.
As I noted, this is an allegory or parallel novel. It concerns the god of the rabbits as well as
his prophet and messiah. It is an interesting
tale.
Let’s evaluate this novel according to the criteria.
1. Are they entertaining?
2. Would you read it again?
3. How many movies/plays are there of the novel?
4. How’s the protagonist?
5. How’s the plot?
6. How does it relate to actual human values and life?
7. Did the author write in a way that makes this work truly
unique?
8.
Is this work important to humanity
and to the future?
Watership Down is
very entertaining. It is a well written
and fun novel, but there are issues. I’m
not telling you it isn’t worth reading from an entertainment standpoint, but it
isn’t a classic. It’s just another of
those really great novels especially from the modern era.
I’ve read it one and a half times. It was pretty entertaining when I was
younger, but not as entertaining as I got older. I find many of Adams’ novels to be the
same. I really liked the ones I read,
but with further reflection and with second readings they just weren’t as entertaining
as other novels. Here’s an example. I liked Mara as well as Watership
Down. The protagonist of Mara
is Mara, a sexually abused child who becomes the incarnate sex goddess of an
entire people. Watership Down isn’t
much different. It promotes, not
necessarily sexual abuse, but rather the use of religion to promote rabbit
abuse. I use this example from Mara
to show just how Watership Down has some issues. Both of these novels, and Adams’ other novels
gives us a titillating view of humanity—that is completely false. That’s the problem from a classics standpoint. Although his novels are entertaining, they
have no real meaning or connection to the real world.
There are quite a few adaptations of Watership Down. The main reason is that this is an adult
novel with adult themes that can be made to appeal to children. You can see why this is a problem. This is like selling pornography to children
under the appeal of art. There is
intellectual pornography in Watership Down. It is not a children’s novel. It is an adult novel, and this is the
ultimate problem as a novel. You make
adult novels to appeal to children because you want to affect the minds of the
children. It isn’t as bad when you write
adult novels with children as the protagonist, like Oliver Twist especially
when the novel and the ideas behind it have some moral construction. Watership Down is like Dune in
some ways. You wouldn’t take children to
see Dune it has adult themes in an adult plot. Most children wouldn’t understand it or enjoy
it. On the other hand, you can sell the
idea of rabbits to children and adults as children’s fare. It is not for children or children’s
consumption.
Hazel is the protagonist, but Watership Down is
slightly ambiguous and has multiple points of view. Hazel is a great Romantic protagonist. In fact, the power of the entertainment in
the novel speaks very powerfully to the modern reader because of Hazel. Hazel is not the strongest rabbit, but uses
his intellect to save the rabbits under his leadership over and over. At the same time, the rabbit culture is based
in might makes right, which is an impediment to the Romantic ideal. This makes for great writing and entertainment,
but Adams’ didn’t have to make up a rabbit society to provide this message—and it
is a message.
The plot of Watership Down is a story based one with
multiple Romantic plots developed through the scenes. In other words, Adams is a novelist who uses
the short story patched together to give us a novel length work. This isn’t a negative at all. In fact, it produces a very powerful Romantic
plot over and over through the scenes.
Ray Bradbury is just such an author.
I could just throw out that there are no human values in Watership
Down, just rabbit values, but because this novel is an allegory or a
parallel, the rabbits do represent human values. However, Watership Down is very
similar to The Lord of the Flies just at a lower level of
intensity. The Lord of the Flies
purports to depict human values and human interaction, but it doesn’t at
all. Not to become too repetitious, but,
as I wrote before, when human children or adults are placed in the circumstances
of The Lord of the Flies they don’t go to savagery, but to
civilization. This is the ultimate lie
of the novel. In the tale of the
rabbits, they are held together, even though they are a might-based society by
an intellectual rabbit. You should be
able to see the ultimate problem with this entire idea. Civilizations become civilizations because
they become intellectually led instead of strength led. The strength of a society and culture is not
in its leaders, but in its organization and followers, but this doesn’t make great
or entertaining literature—at least in the minds of the academy. Real human values is about using everyone to
build civilization and protecting the weak and ill. That is not necessarily the view of the
rabbit society. Watership Down is
not completely devoid of human values, but in more powerful literature, the problems
are those who oppose civilization and not those who don’t.
Watership Down is
not as unique as it looks. Jack London
gave us anamorphic animals as protagonists and characters as did George
Orwell. Jack London provided a new and
unique idea, at the time, for adult literature.
George Orwell turned animals into allegory. Adams remade these ideas into something
similar. It is newish, but not all that
unique. What is unique is putting an
adult story into a format that would appeal to children. Jack London reflects grat human values. Orwell shows us humanity reflected as animals—you
can’t miss his point. Adams gives us a
meh—his rabbit world doesn’t really reflect the world of humanity. It isn’t really an allegory and not one of a
negative bent, but it isn’t a positive example either. It’s ambiguous, and potentially misleading. This may be my greatest problem with it.
Watership Down
has floated no other boats that I know of.
Adams’ writing is entertaining, but really hasn’t started anything
new. It has promoted perhaps more
extremes in literature especially for children, and it isn’t for children. If anything, Watership Down has
promoted more adult and inappropriate themes in children’s literature, but that
really isn’t his fault—children’s literature has been moving that direction for
a long time. Plus, it’s a very bad idea.
We’ll look at Jonathan Swift next.
In the end, we can figure out what makes a work have a great
plot and theme, and apply this to our 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
No comments:
Post a Comment