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Friday, October 8, 2021

Writing - part xx736 Writing a Novel, more Creativity and Reflected Worldview

 8 October 2021, Writing - part xx736 Writing a Novel, more Creativity and Reflected Worldview

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 becomes inevitable in the climax.  There is much more to this. 

 

I evaluated the plots from the list of 112 classics 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%

Previously, I defined creativity and how to build and apply it.  The trick now is how to use creativity to develop the telic flaw and the plot(s).  I write plot(s) because we determined that there is no novel with a singular plot.  Plots come in all shapes and sizes that we an apply in all kinds of ways to our writing. 

 

I gave an example of how I approach creativity and the development of a telic flaw.  It all came from the protagonist.  That’s how I recommend designing a novel.  We really are talking about a design process. 

 

Let’s talk about some means of creativity development.  There are three ways you can go. 

1.      Real worldview

2.      Reflected worldview

3.      Created worldview.

 

Do I need to define these again?  Perhaps definitions and discussion is necessary. 

 

The real worldview is the normative view of the world from the standpoint of a specific society and culture and their event horizon.  This is what is accepted as normally and notionally true.  If you are writing about history or the actual world in history or in modern times, you are most likely working in a real worldview.  The problem with the real worldview is that it can change radically based changes in culture and society.  For example, people in certain times believed fervently in many non-real ideas and things.  At the turn of the Twentieth Century, astrophysics believed the universe was filled with aether, light was waves, and that the universe was eternal.  Einstein and others proved that there is no aether to allow the propagation of light, that light is made of particles and waves, and that the universe has a beginning called the Big Bang.  What was once real, became reflective and historical false theories.  The world of science is filled with these wrong ideas.  At one time, people believed the earth was flat and not a sphere.  Science proved otherwise and the idea that the world is not a sphere moved from real to reflected or just fanciful.  There is much more to this.  In the ancient world, people believed in animism and gods and goddesses.  As people and time progressed, they became monotheists and stopped believing in spirits (animism) in everything.  Today, a secular worldview has almost destroyed the idea of a God at all in common modern society and culture.  Is the belief in God about to become a reflected worldview and not a real worldview?  That is very interesting since science, philosophy, and history proves there must be a God.  In any case, that is the real worldview.  Let’s go to the created worldview.

 

The created worldview is simply one that the author invents for a novel.  The created worldview is almost always based on a real or a reflected worldview, but it expands beyond the reflected and can’t be traced back to the real.  We usually think of science fiction and fantasy as created worldview, but the created worldview is a bit more expansive than that.  For example, Harry Potty is a created worldview.  The author took a reflected worldview based in magic, and created an entire world setting that no one had ever thought of before.  That is a ket feature of the created worldview—it is a worldview that already exists?  As I noted, most science fiction is a created worldview.  Still, every author normally starts with a real or a reflected worldview and builds a created worldview from it.  Here’s an example.  A writer might project the near future by having a spaceport in orbit.  There has neve been an orbital spaceport before.  They have been imagined in other science fiction, but they are neither reflected nor real.  To make a created worldview spaceport, the author would start with an airport and extrapolate it into space.  The author might additionally research other author’s or scientist’s ideas of a spaceport, and develop the spaceport from this.  In any case, the author creates the spaceport and the worldview from a real or reflected worldview.

 

There is then the reflected worldview.

 

I’ll leave up the definitions for the real and the created worldview.  Let’s look at the reflected worldview. 

 

The reflected worldview is a very special creative space for the author.  Many authors use this creative space without fully comprehending exactly what they are doing.  Let’s give a very simple definition.  The reflected worldview is the use of a setting that is based on what your or any culture believed as a society and culture.  This doesn’t mean you have to write about history or that culture to produce a reflected worldview.  It just means that the beliefs, myths, and the ideas of the society and culture can make up the worldview of your novel.  What does this mean?

 

In simple terms, it means you can write about vampires, witches, dragons, ghosts, werewolves, wizards, magic, gods, goddesses, Paul Bunion, fairies, and all.  You can write about all of them or only some of them.  You can build a reflected worldview that includes anything known by human cultures.  You can even use fiction, but that can be a little problem.  I’ll mention that a bit.

 

When I write, you can even use fiction, I mean that in the context of the reflected worldview.  For example, if you are writing about vampires, you will undoubtedly use Bram Stocker’s fictional vampire, Dracula, as your model.  You can’t help doing this because Bram Stoker defined the idea of the vampire in society, culture, and fiction.  On the other hand, if you write about dragons, there are few historical or mythical dragons defined in popular literature that have really stuck in people’s collective minds.  You might use the dragon in The Dragon and the George, but not that many people have read this fantasy novel.  Here is how you are supposed to develop a reflected worldview, and this is how ai do it.

 

If I want to write about dragons, I research dragons.  I get together all the myths, cultural references, and social references in history to guide me.  Then I develop my dragon or dragons based on those references.  In a well developed reflected worldview, you want your readers to be able to make some research and discover that your dragon or whatever you designed fits into a historical worldview.  This lends power and realism to your setting and characters.  I do this with all my characters and settings and not just the creatures in them.

 

I’ll write more about this, but I want to mention the created worldview and dragons.  Typically, you will find most of your dragons in a created worldview rather than a reflected worldview.  The Dragon and the George is just an example of a great reflected worldview, and it isn’t unique, it’s just unusual for the inclusion of dragons in a reflected worldview.  More commonly, you find dragons in a created worldview.  Anne McCaffrey’s dragons from Pern are exactly that.  The dragons from How to Train Your Dragon are exactly that.  You can’t do a search of literature or history and find either McCaffrey’s or the Train dragons.  They are made up from the mind of their authors.  McCaffrey in science fiction and Train in fantasy. 

 

This is the huge difference between the reflected worldview and the created worldview.  The reflected worldview ties the writing, setting, and plots into the real world of the reader.  This is a very important point.  While the created worldview for all it’s power and setting is still created.  It’s usually science fiction or fantasy or both.        

 

Again, I’ll leave up the previous definitions and explanation as we continue in the discussion of the reflected worldview.

 

When I write science fiction or intentional fantasy, I use a created worldview.  I’ve developed a classic type science fiction universe for all my science fiction writing.  You can read my novels and see this created worldview as I describe and develop it.  In my later science fiction, I use this same created worldview.  For any science fiction author, the created worldview they develop usually becomes the main focus for all their science fiction writing.  Just look at Jack Vance.  All of his novels fit inside the technological and to some degree cultural setting he created.  In terms of fantasy, most authors do this too.  Let’s look at the currently most famous fantasy author, J.K. Rowling.

 

Harry Potty is a fantasy.  It is called part of the magic realism genre, but it is not really magical realism and it is not a reflected worldview.  Here’s the reasons.  Number one, the world of Harry Potty is supposed to hide beneath the veneer of the real world.  This is the opposite of the reflected worldview.  In a reflected worldview, you should be able to make an internet search and discover some inkling of the mythical of historical nature of the magical society hidden in the real world.  It’s like the novels about Atlantis or Pangea.  You can make a simple search about Atlantis and Pangea and discover all kinds of information about it.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t myth, but it’s a worldview many people do, have or did subscribe to.  

 

Number two, the magical system in Harry Potty is unlike anything from The Golden Bough.  Not to say, The Golden Bough is the truth about magic, but reflected worldview magic is always based on the magical rules and ideas set down in The Golden Bough.  By the way, The Golden Bough is a treatise that technically attempts to disprove magic and spiritualism.  It’s a great source of information on how people see the world and especially from a reflected worldview. 

 

Number three, the creatures, places, and people in Harry Potty are all made up in a large measure.  You can take some of the creatures and research them like dragons and find a host of information, but most of the creatures are just made up or borrowed from other fantasy literature.  The places and people are the same.  There are no real people or extrapolated people in the world of Harry Potty.  This makes it more fantasy than magical realism, and there is nothing wrong with that.  The problem becomes the intersectionality with the real world and the writing itself.  This is my main complaint with Harry Potty, Rowling breaks C.S. Lewis’s major rule about writing about the spiritual.  The spiritual points always to God.  You can’t write about the spiritual: magic, spirits, miracles, gods, goddesses, or creatures, without addressing God.  They all point to God.  In this manner, we can almost beyond a shadow of a doubt note that such writing is fantasy and not a reflected worldview.  That is not to say the reflected worldview must be about God, it just has to acknowledge the source of power, from the world or from God.  This is an important point of morality and reality.  Look at Dracula.

 

Dracula is a full on reflected worldview novel.  The novel is filled with vampires.  The vampires are beaten by the power of God in the world.  Period dot, this is the proper niche for the reflected worldview.  Again, look at The Dragon and the George.  It isn’t the most sterling example of a reflected worldview, but it isn’t entirely a created fantasy worldview either.  It has historical basis for its characters and creatures and touches on the spiritual in that context.  That’s great, I just like a little more in the execution.       

 

I write in a reflected worldview.  I am trying to see the world in a new way.  I then write to convey that new view to my readers.  Perhaps we can look deeper at this.

 

Let’s see what else we can find in creativity and the reflected worldview.

 

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  

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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