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Thursday, November 17, 2022

Writing - part xxx141 Writing a Novel, A New Romantic Protagonist, Description and Background

17 November 2022, Writing - part xxx141 Writing a Novel, A New Romantic Protagonist, Description and Background

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:  Let me tell you a little about writing.  Writing isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime.  Writing is a habit and an obsession.  We who love to write love to write. 

 

If you love to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well.  We want to write well enough to have others enjoy our writing.  This is important.  No one writes just for themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly.  I can prove why.

 

In the first place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only purpose.  Writing is the abstract communication of the mind through symbols.  As time goes by, we as writers gain more and better tools and our readers gain more and better appreciation for those tools and skills—even if they have no idea what they are. 

 

We are in the modern era.  In this time, the action and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into the form of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the future.  This is the modern style of the novel.  I also showed how the end of literature created the reflected worldview.  We have three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected, and the created.  I choose to work in the reflected worldview.

 

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. 

 

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. 

 

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.

 

With that said, where should we go?  Should I delve into ideas and creativity again, or should we just move into the novel again?  Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we know, will result in a new novel.  I’ve got an idea, but it went stale.  Let’s look at the outline for a novel again:

 

1.      The initial scene

2.     The rising action scenes

3.     The climax scene

4.     The falling action scene(s)

5.     The dénouement scene(s)

    

The initial scene is the most important scene and part of any novel.  To get to the initial scene, you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.

 

Let’s be very clear.  You can start with a plot, a protagonist, an idea, or an idea for an initial scene.  The easiest and most controlled method is to start with a protagonist.  As I’ve written over and over, a protagonist must come with a telic flaw.  I think it is impossible to have a protagonist without a telic flaw, but I suppose you could develop a completely lackluster protagonist without any telic flaw connected to them. 

 

Here is my list for the characteristics of a Romantic protagonist.  I am not very happy with most of the lists I have found.  So, I will start with a classic list from the literature and then translate them to what they really mean.  This is the refined list.  Take a look.

 

1. Some power or ability outside the norm of society that the character develops to resolve the telic flaw.

2. Set of beliefs (morals and ideals) that are different than normal culture or society’s.

3. Courageous

4. Power (skills and abilities) and leadership that are outside of the normal society.

5. Introspective

6. Travel plot

7. Melancholy

8. Overwhelming desire to change and grow—to develop four and one.

9. Pathos developed because the character does not fit the cultural mold.  From the common.

10. Regret when they can’t follow their own moral compass.

11. Self-criticism when they can’t follow their own moral compass.

12. Pathos bearing because he or she is estranged from family or normal society by death, exclusion for some reason, or self-isolation due to three above.

13. From the common and potentially the rural.

14. Love interest

 

Here is the protagonist development list.  We are going to use this list to develop a Romantic protagonist.  With the following outline in mind, we will build a Romantic protagonist.  However, I’m going to ignore the first step.  Instead of starting with an initial scene, I’m just going to design a Romantic protagonist.  Then we may apply the outline to them.

 

1.     Define the initial scene

2.     At the same time as the above—fit a protagonist into the initial scene.  That means the minimum of:

a.      Telic flaw

b.     Approximate age

c.      Approximate social degree

d.     Sex

3.     Refine the protagonist

a.      Physical description

b.     Background – history of the protagonist

                                                  i.     Birth

                                                ii.     Setting

                                              iii.     Life

                                               iv.     Education

                                                v.     Work

                                               vi.     Profession

                                             vii.     Family

c.      Setting – current

                                                  i.     Life

                                                ii.     Setting

                                              iii.     Work

d.     Name

4.     Refine the details of the protagonist

a.      Emotional description (never to be shared directly)

b.     Mental description (never to be shared directly)

c.      Likes and dislikes (never to be shared directly)

5.     Telic flaw resolution

a.      Changes required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

                                                  i.     Physical changes

                                                ii.     Emotional changes

                                              iii.     Mental changes

b.     Alliances required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

c.      Enemies required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

d.     Plots required for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

e.      Obstacles that must be overcome for the protagonist to resolve the telic flaw

 

Here’s what I want to do or how I want to place these on a protagonist.  Let’s clean them up a little and begin to evaluate a protagonist.

I gave you the basics of a Romanic protagonist.  Now, I want to begin to make this protagonist.  As you can see from the protagonist development outline, we need to define the initial scene. 

 

To get to a great initial scene, I need to think about it and imagine it a little.  I also need to research the setting and the characters.  That’s next. 

 

I’ll show you my steps in researching and developing the details so I can write an initial scene.  These are the steps we looked at before:

 

a.      Setting – current

                                                  i.     Life

                                                ii.     Setting

                                              iii.     Work

 

We have a place that I like and want to use.  Next we need more on the Romantic protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.

 

a.      Physical description

b.     Background – history of the protagonist

                                                  i.          Birth

                                                ii.          Setting

                                              iii.          Life

                                               iv.          Education

                                                v.          Work

                                               vi.          Profession

                                             vii.          Family

c.      Setting – current

                                                  i.          Life

                                                ii.          Setting

                                              iii.          Work

d.     Name

 

I have in mind a physical description, but it isn’t very special.  Our Romantic protagonist will not be a beauty or an unusual looking person.  I’ll put in something that defines her physically to stand out, but I plan this book girl to be as common as common can be.  That has been her problem from the beginning.  She is too common for a person as special as she is. 

 

Here is the name I devised for the protagonist and then the protagonist’s helper:

 

Siobhàn Shaw – the name has a nice mouth feel.   The pronunciation of Siobhàn is “Shivaun” and the anglicization is Judith.  I like this for many reasons. 

 

Morven McLean – I didn’t mean for the alliteration in the names of both the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper, but there it is.  The meaning for this name is roughly, a Scottish place and kingdom plus the son of the servant of John.  Thus we have a fixture and a strong connection to the protagonist even if it is simply a family name.

 

In addition, doesn’t Morven sound like a girl who is a little bad, but could be good.  I need to look for nicknames for these two.  I’ll think about it—we need ones for the normies to use to heckle them and their friends and others to properly address them. 

 

a.      Physical description

b.     Background – history of the protagonist

                                                  i.          Birth

                                                ii.          Setting

                                              iii.          Life

                                               iv.          Education

                                                v.          Work

                                               vi.          Profession

                                             vii.          Family

c.      Setting – current

                                                  i.          Life

                                                ii.          Setting

                                              iii.          Work

d.     Name

 

With a name I can call the Romantic protagonist Siobhàn and the protagonist’s helper Morven.  I like these names, but we are by no means finished.  I need a physical description for both and the rest.  Let’s try for a good physical description.  This is a critical element of the novel.

 

Siobhàn Shaw was a very tall and slender girl.  She didn’t sit or stand, she folded and unfolded.  Normal chairs and furniture didn’t seem to fit her properly, but no onlooker could really tell why—she wasn’t basketball tall, and she never sat in an unladylike or informal way.  Perhaps it was her approach to sitting and standing.  It made her standout in ways she never wanted to stand out.  Her dark brown hair was long and always looked a little stringy.  She pulled it up into a highly unpopular and old-fashioned bun, that frizzed at every side.  She didn’t know any other way to put up her hair.  Her face was a classic oval, but that did her no good.  It wasn’t long, just slightly short and she had a high, broad forehead with a widow’s peak that was a little lopsided to the left.  Her eyes were large but slopped a little down at the outside corners so she always looked a little sad even when she smiled.  Her smile was made her cheeks go up without any nice dimples, and her chin was round.  Well that’s what oval means.  She was lucky her brows weren’t like her father’s.  They were evident but not connected and well shaped except they followed the sad droop of her eyes.  That only made her look a little sadder all the time.  The only problem was that she was never really very sad at all.  Her lips and her nose were nicely formed.  The nose small and a little blunt, and her lips wide and pink.  Her complexion was light like a peach and the real redeeming feature was the constant blush on her cheeks.  That also made her stand out in ways she didn’t wish.  Her clothing was always a little frumpy.  It was hard to fit a girl as tall as she was--too tall, but not tall enough, and there never was enough money to have anything that was new.  The used clothing and charity shops were all she could afford.  Even her school uniform was used, and didn’t fit her well.  The ones for tall girls were too big to fit her slender frame and the ones that fit her size were all too short.  Her skirt looked strange and too large, and her blouse a little too short.  At least her skirt, a kilt, was the Shaw tartan, mostly blue and green with a think red line, it matched the coat and her sweater.  Still, the sleeves on her dark blue coat were always too short and the coat too large.  She disappeared in it, and it bulged in all the wrong places.  Only her emerald green sweater fit her properly.  That’s because she has an extra large one that had been through the wash one too many times—the wool had shrunk.  She didn’t have many sewing skills, so she couldn’t do much to fix her clothing.  Her shoes always looked a little off because she had to repair them with book glue and polish them with ink.  Then there was the thing that made her always stand out.  Siobhàn Shaw always carried a book in her hand.  A book in one hand and her official bookbag in the other.  The book is what set her apart.  That’s why they never called her Siobhàn, just book girl.  Always book girl.

 

This is an initial description.  I’m liking it.  It will be improved and edited.  How about the protagonist’s helper?

 

Morven McLean was elegant looking.  Everything about her was elegant looking.  She was perfectly formed—not too tall, not too short, not too thin, and not too curvy.  She was the perfect physical balance that girl’s desired and boys followed greedily with their eyes.  Her face was oval, but with that little well-formed chin that made her look, yes, elegant.  Her cheeks rose sweet and gently high, not too plump, and not to thin with a natural shadow of pink.  Her lips were nicely molded around perfectly white and straight teeth.  They were exactly the correct balance to her nose and her large upward inclined eyes and delicate brow.  Her Scottish hair was the exact shade of red with brown that made her standout in the way she usually wanted to stand out.  Her brow was not too large and not too broad.  Her hair was controlled exactly where she placed it and how she placed it.  She kept it long and free and brushed into perfection.  Not a lock was out of place and not a single strand of her hair dared disobey where she put it.  Her clothing was what you expected from a model.  Always the haute couture and always fit to her form so it revealed her to perfection and not to distraction.  Even her uniform looked good on her from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.  She was always happy that her McLean tartan was mostly red, and made her standout like almost none of the other girls.

 

a.      Physical description – with a physical description like the above, we are really embarking on developing a protagonist, and in this case, a protagonist’s helper.  I moved ahead with a name because we already had enough information about the characters to place them.  The background you need for a name are basically history and setting.  With the setting of Scotland and the history of Scottish girls in the twenty-first century, we can get a name.  I described the exact process a few days ago.  The real problem I have at the moment is setting the time.  I like to set my novels in history.  I call them a type of historical novel.  Usually, I look for events in time to focus the novel and the telic flaw.  In this case, I’m not producing that type of telic flaw.  I think a good setting for the novel might be 2016 or so.  That would allow me to set births and dates.  I made a search of events in Scotland in 2016 and found nothing of real consequence.  If we need internal events, we can make them as part of the fiction, but for anything else, we might need to move to international events.  In any case, I intend this novel to have a basic internal telic flaw and not necessarily any connected external or international telic flaw.  I might try to bring a few of my other characters into this novel, but at the moment, I’m considering it stand alone.

b.     Background – history of the protagonist

                                                  i.          Birth – if we set the novel in 2016, then the birth of the protagonist would be around 2000.  I’m thinking January.  The protagonist’s helper could be around the same year and I’ll leave the date open for the moment.  The point is that you don’t need to use or even place any of this information in your novel at all—only if it becomes relevant in the context of the novel.  For example, if you want to provide a birthday party or make some point about he date of birth.

                                                ii.          Setting – We have defined the setting as Scotland, the city of Perth, the township of Bridge of Earn, and Kilgraston girl’s school.  The other main part of the setting is the bookstore, which we need to describe and name, and the parents which we need to describe and name.  Additionally, I expect to use Morven’s home currently and her past property as a setting.  I’m not certain how I will use this or put this together.  Perhaps when the estate is sold, Siobhàn will buy the specific book I’ve been alluding to that contains or develops the telic flaw mystery.

                                              iii.          Life – life is interesting and all we need, at present, is the basics of both girls.  It is enough to know that Siobhàn is the book girl and a scholarship student, and Morven is the ex-rich girl who is now being bullied.

                                               iv.          Education – they are both in level 11 just before the sixth form.  Siobhàn is over educated and the book girl.

                                                v.          Work – Siobhàn works in her father’s bookstore.  She has nothing else at the moment.  Morven is motivated enough to want and need to work to make pocket change and to supply her fashion and entertainment.  We shall see how this progresses, this is a future research project.

                                               vi.          Profession – school girls at the moment. 

                                             vii.          Family – This gets complicated.  I’m not ready to build this entirely, yet.  We know Siobhàn has a father who owns the bookstore.  He needs a name.  Her mother is dead—we also need a name and a background for her.  Perhaps some other connections in the past and based on her mother’s skills and abilities.  Morven is a bit different.  Her mother and father were wealthy and now not.  We can provide some occupation for both, this requires research I will do in the future.  Perhaps those are the next steps.

c.      Setting – current

                                                  i.          Life – life is school and school is life for kids.

                                                ii.          Setting – we know the setting Kilgraston.

                                              iii.          Work – we looked at work.

d.     Name – we have names for the protagonist and the protagonist’s helper.

 

We have reached the point of writing the initial scene.  I’m not sure I want to do that yet—I’m finishing two other novels.  We shall see where we go. 

    

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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