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Thursday, November 25, 2021

Writing - part xx784 Writing a Novel, Using Anti-hero Quality Plots in Scenes

 25 November 2021, Writing - part xx784 Writing a Novel, Using Anti-hero Quality Plots in Scenes

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%

So, what is it about writer’s block?  Many if not most authors and writers will complain about writer’s block.  When I was a younger author, I would get writer’s block very often, but I’ve discovered something very important about writer’s block.  Writer’s block is a function of the plot and not the protagonist.  The correction or resolution of writer’s block comes from centering our writing on the protagonist instead of the plot.  This is what I’d really like to get into as a topic.  Here is an outline of how we will approach this.

 

1.     Problems with a plot focus

2.     Correcting with a protagonist focus

3.     How to figure out a plot with a protagonist focus

4.     Writing development

5.     Fixing or blowing through problems with writing

6.     How to write to prevent writer’s block

7.     The Scene Outline

8.     Exercises

9.     Examples

10.  Conclusions

 

The novel is the revelation of the protagonist and the scenes, not the plots, are the process of that revelation.  In fact, the plots are really part of the scenes.  Now, some plots interact beyond and between one scene, but this is the real point we should address.  What really is the plot and how is the plot connected to the scene and the telic flaw.

 

I didn’t want to address the scenes yet, so let’s start with the plot(s).  In the first place, we have a telic flaw. This is the problem the protagonist must resolve.  In a comedy, the protagonist overcomes the telic flaw, while in the tragedy, the telic flaw overcomes the protagonist.  Where is the plot?  That’s a great question.

 

Almost every novel is a revelation of the protagonist.  The author uses various plots and nudges the novel toward the telic flaw resolution.  What about these plots, and how can we create, invent, and/or use them?

 

Except for the protagonist, the telic flaw is the most important point of any novel.  It’s so important that most people don’t even know what it is, yet it is the key point of every novel, and as I’ve noted over and over, the telic flaw is a characteristic of the protagonist.  The protagonist owns the telic flaw.  Just like Harry Potty and Voldermort. Voldermort happens to be the overall antagonist as well as the telic flaw of all the Harry Potty novels.  Then there are the plots.

 

Now, the plot or plots are the means of the telic flaw resolution and they are the means of tension and release development in the scenes.  They are also the means of the development of the rising action to the climax of the novel.  They are parts, but look at the other parts.

 

Mainly, we have the scenes.  The scenes are cohesive parts of a novel.  They are the building blocks of a novel.  Yes, scenes are made of paragraphs, sentences, and words, but you can’t have a novel without scenes.  As I noted in the outline of writing 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

 

So, I have a telic flaw, and I know there are scenes.  Each scene is filled with tension and release.  The tension and release are the plot(s).  In fact, the tension and release are the plots.  This is the trick, and this is where we want to go.  We need to develop tension and release in the scenes and this happens to be the plots. 

 

In the development of a scene, we start with the output of the previous scene.  The author then needs to design the output of that scene.  For example, in the Harry Potty travel scenes, the output of the previous scene is that Harry Potty must go from London to Hogwarts.  That becomes the input for the travel scene.  The output for the travel scene is that Harry arrives at Hogwarts.  Anything else is purely for tension and release.  The author then provides other plots in the scene to create tension and release. 

 

The focus of writing any novel is the scene.  The scene is all about tension and release.  The tension and release comes from the plots.  This is how we bring the plots into the scenes and into a novel.  This means that as an author, we have the scene input and output of the scene, we need to choose plots to then write and install in the scene.

 

We have five types of plots: overall, achievement, setting, quality, and item.  From these plots, we note that, in the scene, achievement, quality, and item can be set into many scenes.  Setting can be used as the setting of the scene, however, there is generally less control over these plots.  In other words, when we move into the scene, the setting is usually already set.

 

The other types of plots give us the opportunity to build tension and release in a scene.  In general, it is difficult to demonstrate this without delving deeply into examples.  Instead, let’s review the potential plots and see how we might use them. 

We choose plots based on three things.  First, is the input and output of the scene.  Second, is the telic flaw resolution.  Third, is the tension and release of the scene.  

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%

Achievement plots are easy to apply to scenes and to overall novels.  Some quality plots lend themselves very well to scenes and some do not.  Still, just like the achievement plots, we can pick and choose them based on our overall plot(s) to power the novel and our scenes.

As I mentioned before, we want to pick our plots first based on the input and output of the scene, second, the telic flaw resolution, and third, the tension and release of the scene.

Quality plots are related to the personality or characteristic of the protagonist and potentially other characters.  This is what makes them harder, in general, to apply to a scene, however, if the focus is the scene and not so much the novel, we will see how many of the quality plots an be easily applied in individual and across scenes. 

Let’s look at the anti-hero quality plot.  Anti-hero plots are not my thing.  It isn’t the favorite or the people’s choice in the classics either—there are only about five percent of classics with an anti-hero plot of any kind.  However, for scene plots, I’m willing to look a little deeper at this plot to see if we can use it effectively.  That, at least, gives us another means of tension and release development. 

First, let’s define the anti-hero and the anti-hero plot:

An antihero is a main character in a story who lacks the typical heroic qualities of bravery, courage, morality, and the special ability and desire to achieve for the greater good. The antihero is thus still the protagonist of the narrative, yet is a foil to the traditional hero archetype.            

We can define the anti-hero plot from this definition.  The anti-hero plot is a plot in which the protagonist displays or acts in the atypical heroic qualities of cowardice, immorality, or acts against the greater good. 

In the first place, this is not a romantic protagonist.  This is generally the type of protagonist that most readers hate.  If your readers hate your protagonist, the novel will not be entertaining, people won’t read your novel, and worst of all, they won’t buy your novel.  For this reason alone, I don’t recommend write about an anti-hero protagonist.  However, as a scene plot, the anti-hero plot is certainly usable.

That is, if the protagonist is really brave, courageous, moral, and acting for the greater good, but for some reason or other acts in an opposite manner to move the telic flaw to resolution, that can make a wonderful scene.  Example, example, example?

Let me put this out on the table.  In my novel, Escape from Freedom, the protagonist is really a Romanitc protagonist, but he constantly allows himself to be sexually seduced by the protagonist’s helper.  Likewise, the protagonist’s helper is driven by the rush of drug withdrawal (from the society’s hormone blockers) and the lack of morality in her society that results in her actions.  She really can’t help herself, and the protagonist, just follows along with actions he knows are immoral in his culture and society.  The ultimate reasons for this is because the protagonist’s helper will do anything to escape the nation of Freedom.  The protagonist has just succumbed to his desires, plus the protagonist’s helper although not the most beautiful woman in the world, is a really great help to him, and he wishes to do nothing to hurt their relationship.

In a nutshell, there is an anti-hero plot that I think can be integrated into a Romantic protagonist and Romantic overall plot.  I’ll give you another example.

In my novel, Regia Anglorum, the protagonist’s helper again, sorry ladies, is willing to break her society’s taboos to try to seduce the protagonist.  He rejects her offer which causes great tension and release through the rest of the novel.  In the end, they marry.

Okay, in one case, Escape from Freedom the protagonist succumbs, in the other case, Regia Anglorum, the protagonist resists.  The plot for both is anti-hero.  This is how you can introduce an anti-hero scene plot into a Romantic protagonist novel.  I’d also like to point out, the propose of both scenes (plots) development was to show, in one case, the resilience of the protagonist, and the other, the fall of the protagonist.  If you remember, in well developed novels, we want to take the protagonist to zero and then build them back to hero.  Morality is simply one means of taking a protagonist to zero.

Now, I do recommend that you be very careful about this.  As a scene plot and a means to take the protagonist to a zero point, this works very well, but we don’t want to damage the protagonist in the eyes of the reader.  If the reader agrees with the protagonist’s actions, the author has succeeded.  If the reader disagrees with the protagonist’s actions, you may have blown it.  It all depends on how you get the protagonist out of the problem—drive them to being hero.

Now, I must mention this.  I do not like the modern novel idea like in Harry Potty where the protagonist is a reluctant and ambivalent protagonist.  The Romantic protagonist can’t be ambivalent about anything.  If they are going to break their own or society’s rules, then they need to do it with reason or at least in a way the readers agree with.  Ambivalence, in my opinion, is death to the protagonist.  That doesn’t mean the protagonist can’t have internal fights about their actions, it means they don’t just blow off their hero characteristics. 

I’ll give, as an example, Harry Potty in the middle books.  He is a petulant adolescent and ambivalent about his life, role, and friends.  I find this repugnant in a protagonist, and I know many perceptive readers who feel the same way.  A real Romantic protagonist might be internally questioning, but never shows an exterior of cowardice, immorality, or lack of seeking the greater good to others, except maybe the protagonist’s helper. 

With the protagonist’s helper, the protagonist is allowed to share any foibles, faults, and problems, but they would never betray the protagonist’s helper.  This is almost an imputable law about having a protagonist’s helper.  You might have a betrayal by the protagonist’s helper which changes the relationship, but as long as it is moving forward, the protagonist would never betray their greatest friend and helper.  I have a near perfect example of this in my novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Deamon.  You can read this novel on this blog.     

In any case, the anti-hero scene plot is very usable for tension and release in a scene or scenes as long as it is not the characteristic of the protagonist but rather a movement of the protagonist toward zero.

We’ll look at the next quality plot tomorrow.   

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%

 

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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