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Thursday, May 25, 2023

Writing - part xxx329 Writing a Novel, Cassandra, 1000 word Synopsis

25 May 2023, Writing - part xxx329 Writing a Novel, Cassandra, 1000 word Synopsis

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 31st novel, working title, Cassandra, potential title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.  The theme statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.     

Here is the cover proposal for Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors




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.  Writing number 31, working title Shifter.  I just finished 32nd novel, Rose.

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.

 

For novel 33, Book girl:  Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything, her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family and existence.

 

For novel 34:  Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.  

 

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.

 

At this point I want to finish editing Casandra: Enchantment and the Warriors and produce the marketing materials.  I intend to show you the marketing materials before I’m willing to begin writing Seoirse.  I also need to work harder at getting a publisher—basically submitting manuscripts to potential publishers and agents.

 

Here is my list of basic marketing materials:

 

Title of Work:

 

Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors

 

Author(s) Name:

 

L. D. Alford

 

 

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

 

Book

 

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

 

110,000 words

 

Keywords and Market Focus:

 

Fiction, mystery, intelligence, adventure, supernatural, Fae, fairy, France, Saint Malo, boarding school, finishing, secrets, hidden, Dagda, vampire, druid, magic, sorcery, demon; will fascinate anyone interested in mystery, intelligence operations, and the Fae—will appeal particularly to those who enjoy mystery and suspense magic realism novels.

 

Genre:

 

Magic Realism Mystery

 

Proposed Cover:




Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

The finest entertainment in literature is an escape into a real and inviting world—so asserts L. D. Alford, a novelist who explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know.  He builds tales that make ancient and modern people real to us.  His stories uniquely explore the connections between present events, history, and the future—he combines them with threads of reality that bring his fiction alive.  L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he earned a B.S. in Chemistry, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, and is a graduate of Air War College, USAF Test Pilot School, and Air Command and Staff College.  He is widely traveled and has spent long periods in Europe, Asia, and Central America.  L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality.

Synopsis:  Approximately 1000 Words

Sorcha and Deirdre were expelled from Wycombe Abbey, an elite girl’s boarding school.  The reasons were shrouded in secret, but it delt with magic and the fire in Windsor Castle.  Sorcha’s past was revealed, and Deirdre’s pixilated naughty bits displayed on the nightly news.  In any case, their mother sent them to France for continued training.  The plan was that General Bolang would train them for a year to be aviation cadets then to Cranwell for schooling.  Unfortunately, General Bolang was recalled, and Sorcha and Deirdre received a new assignment—they were directed to the Ecole privée Notre Dame Auxiliatrice in Saint Malo, to be finished.

              Perhaps the worst assignment possible.  Instead of Cranwell, they were going to a girl’s school.  One moment, their lives were perfect, the next, they were on their way to be finished.

              Sorcha and Deirdre are stuck in a girl’s finishing school with little support and no real instructions.  All they knew is their cover—orphans under the guardianship of Madam and General Bolang.  They are Sorcha and Deirdre Bolang, girls from Paris who are supposed to be French through and through. 

              Madam Vigier, the daughter of Madam and General Bolang is their handler in the ecole, but she wants nothing to do with them.  Plus, their assignment reverses their normal personalities—Sorcha is supposed to be forward and a leader, while Deirdre is studious and quiet. It’s likely a test.  In addition, Mother Roux, the head of the school wants Sorcha and Deirdre to be flawless students and leaders for her student body. 

              They start strong but learn quickly the school is intentionally isolated even from its sister college, the Lycée Institution.  It’s so isolated that students of the ecole do not interact with the students of the Lycée, for fencing or other athletics—Mother Roux considers interaction a compromise of the dignity and training of her students.

              What Sorcha and Deirdre discover in the ecole is a student who wears their uniform, has a guard of nuns, but never attends classes or meals—she only goes to chapel and Mass.  This younger girl is held isolated in the cloister of the ecole.

              Sorcha and Deirdre are impressive students and fencers.  They make fast friends with Elodie and Laura the daughters of a Marquis and a Councilor.  Laura tells them the strange student in the cloister never seems to age and may not speak French.  Saint Malo and Brittany are places of intrigue where captives from the royalty, like Mary Queen of Scots and others were held in captivity.

              Sorcha and Deirdre realize they were sent to Saint Malo for more than finishing—they make the investigation of this girl their assignment.  That and normal schoolgirl curiosity drives them to explore the crypts below the Saint Malo Cathedral and the smuggler’s caves under the Lycée Institution—with Laura and Elodie, they are looking for a passage into the cloister. 

              In addition to their friends in the ecole, Sorcha and Deirdre make contacts outside the school.  They find a note that points to Nior Angélique, a poor British girl who works in a French bookstore and hunts witches.  Angélique is a friend of the Fae and always surrounded by flower Fae whom she can’t see.  She can control Glamour and make potions—she concocts a potion to find hidden places and things.

              While looking for hidden places, Sorcha and Deirdre search the Cimetière de Rocabey where they meet Giselle who may or may not be a vampire.

              Finally, with Laura and Elodie, Sorcha and Deirdre discover a passage from the ecole to the cloister.  The captive girl expects them and greets them.  She is Cassandra Lyons, and has been a prisoner since 1536.  Sorcha, Deirdre, Laura, and Elodie are her first friends, and they suggest Cassandra petition Mother Roux to enter the ecole.  Cassandra predicts a momentous change is about to affect her.

              The next morning, Luna Bolang, Sorcha and Deirdre’s previous handler from Wycombe Abbey visits the ecole.  When Sorcha and Deirdre are called to Mother Roux’s study, Luna Bolang proposes Cassandra, a ward of Britain and a long captive, should be moved into the ecole.  She assigns Sorcha and Deirdre as her helpers and mentors. 

              Cassandra is changed from captive to member of the ecole, and Sorcha and Deirdre have their hands full with a lady just learning French and the basics of modern society.  Now, their mystery is who and what is Cassandra.  The real problems begin when Cassandra meets Sorcha and Deirdre’s other friends.  Angélique isn’t a problem.  Cassandra knows of the Fae, but when Cassandra meets Giselle, she attacks.  Giselle defeats Cassandra, but Cassandra is long lived and not easy to kill.  In addition, Giselle shows Cassandra mercy and compassion, however Cassandra is seriously wounded.  Sorcha and Deirdre must call for Madam Vigier, their handler, and she brings Luna Bolang.  Cassandra is down for a while, and Luna wants to know who or what injured her.  The girls aren’t talking.

              Sorcha and Deirdre work hard to patch up all the difficulties between their unusual friends, but they face a growing crisis in Saint Malo and Brittany.  Luna is assigned to Amsterdam to investigate criminals sexually exploiting and murdering young women.  Giselle knows it’s a demon.  Sorcha and Deirdre and their friends must prepare to fight it.  They make all the preparations, and while collecting holy water meet two ancient goddesses, the goddesses of gentle love and love’s sharp bite, Saint Amourna and Saint Arduinna.  They contract with these goddesses, none too late because Giselle warns them the demon and his sorcerer are in Saint Malo to conduct a witches’ sabbath and they are the only ones who can stop them.

              They fight a great battle in the unholy ground of Cimetière de Rocabey.  Each of the friends bring their power and skills into an unwinnable battle, and the prayers of Elodie call first the goddesses of love then an angel.  With the help of the angel, they defeat the demon and save the city.

              In the end, we find Sorcha and Deirdre completed their assignment, and all along it was the reconciliation of Cassandra and their finishing.

The purpose of a synopsis is to give a reader an idea about the subject of your novel.  This means specifically, the protagonist, protagonist’s helper, antagonist, potentially major characters, the telic flaw, and the basic structure of the novel from the initial scene to the resolution.  In the reader’s synopsis, we don’t want any spoilers.

For a publisher, we want all of the above plus the resolution of the telic flaw and the end of the novel—yes, there are spoilers.  I’m not a publisher, but this is what I’ve gathered from their information and from speaking to them. 

Next, we want to sell out work to a potential reader and a potential publisher.  The synopsis is all telling, but we want to still draw out the excitement and entertainment of your work.  The point of the synopsis is to sell your work.  First to a publisher and second, to a reader.  I did mention that the synopsis becomes the back cover material as well as the marketing material on the advertising sites, your site, and with your publisher.  In addition, the publisher will use, usually your short synopsis for the press release and for their catalog.  That makes the synopsis very important in the scheme of things, but I already made that point.

So how do we write a synopsis.  Here are my recommendations, and I’ll run through the development of this synopsis for Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.

We start with the protagonist.  In Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors, the protagonist is Sorcha and the protagonist’s helper is Deirdre.  They are in the first sentence.  In some ways, the synopsis is an extension of the theme statement.  Let’s look at the theme statement from Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors.

For novel 31:  Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.

 

Not much to it, but we see the beginnings of the novel.  In the theme statement, we see the protagonist and protagonist’s helper.  The telic flaw is very general, and the setting is not fully defined, just a French finishing school.  This was enough information for me to write an entire novel.  The first paragraph describes the initial scene and presents the basis for the novel:

 

Sorcha and Deirdre were expelled from Wycombe Abbey, an elite girl’s boarding school.  The reasons were shrouded in secret, but it delt with magic and the fire in Windsor Castle.  Sorcha’s past was revealed, and Deirdre’s pixilated naughty bits displayed on the nightly news.  In any case, their mother sent them to France for continued training.  The plan was that General Bolang would train them for a year to be aviation cadets then to Cranwell for schooling.  Unfortunately, General Bolang was recalled, and Sorcha and Deirdre received a new assignment—they were directed to the Ecole privée Notre Dame Auxiliatrice in Saint Malo, to be finished.   

 

This is more information than the theme statement and sets up the entire novel.  It also defines the initial and primary setting.  I’ll continue with this, next.

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words

                    

Synopsis:  Approximately 200 Words

 

Concept of the Work:  Approximately 250 Words

 

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

 

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

 

Reviewer’s quotes.

 

1.  No more than 3 sentences about the content of your manuscript.

2.  One sentence about successful works similar to yours.

3.  No more than 2 sentences about yourself. (use 3rd person)

4.  No more than 2 sentences that include “other,” i.e. any reasons, relationships, or other factors that might make your work more attractive.

 

The plan is to fill in these marketing materials.  I already put in the title, author’s name, and the type.  I’ll opine on these next. 

 

I put together this list from internet sources, information sources, publisher requests for information, and other ideas from agents.  The point is to fill out this information and with it, you should be able to produce your submission letters and provide the information a publisher requires.  This isn’t the end-all, but it does prepare you for most information requests from your publisher.

 

In addition, this provides you with all the information you will likely want to populate a website with.  You can actually take this verbatim and fill a website for your novel.  I’d recommend being a little more creative in your website development, but with the information above, you can provide a potential reader or publisher with everything they need to give your novel a first blush look.

 

Is a website helpful—who knows.  When you have a published work, I think it can be.  In the interim, I’m not sure.  It’s hard today to tell how many visitors you’ve had and the success of the website in advertising.  This is especially true if you don’t have any works to sell.  It’s also true if you don’t have any sales.  If you are self-published on Amazon or are advertised on Amazon, you can easily see your sales.  That’s not as true with your own website. 

 

I’m of the opinion that you should own your own website for every novel.  I’ll get into this as we move along on the marketing materials. 

 

The first point is to have a plan and to develop your marketing materials.  The plan is listed above.  I’ll get to the details next.   

 

I’m still editing Cassandra and I’ll cover some of this before I get to the marketing materials.

 

I’ll repeat.  I just finished up Rose, and I want to finish up Cassandra.  I’m moving in that direction. 

 

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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