23 January 2026, Writing - part xxxx302 The Novel, Idea, Initial Scene to Rising Action
Announcement: I
still need a new publisher. However, I’ve taken the step to republish my
previously published novels. I’m starting with Centurion, and
we’ll see from there. Since previously published novels have little
chance of publication in the market (unless they are huge best sellers), I
might as well get those older novels back out. I’m going through Amazon
Publishing, and I’ll pass the information on to you.
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 two 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.
6. The initial scene is the most important scene.
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.
I finished writing my 34th novel
(actually my 32nd completed novel), Seoirse,
potential title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment. The
theme statement is: 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 cover
proposal for the third edition of Centurion:
|
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 finished writing number 31,
working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior. I just
finished my 32nd novel and 33rd novel: Rose:
Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse: Enchantment and the
Assignment.
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 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.
For novel 35: Eoghan, a Scottish National
Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and
The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally
releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires
a new life and perhaps love.
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.
I want to start with these definitions as
a premise for writing.
1. Write to entertain
2. Write using the
common outline for a novel
3. Develop a telic flaw,
a protagonist, an antagonist, and plan to resolve the telic flaw.
4. Start with an initial
scene.
5. Develop and define a
modern protagonist: you get a telic flaw, a potential protagonist’s helper, and
a potential initial scene from the development.
6. Write to reveal the
protagonist.
And here is the scene:
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
When I first started writing, I had no
idea about scenes. As I began writing
more and more novels as well as analyzing how I wrote and generally how we
write a novel, it became obvious to me, that all fiction and all novels are
written in scenes. I had no idea about
this before, and very few writers or those who think they can teach people to
write understand the important of scenes in the scheme of writing. Writing fiction is entirely about
scenes—there is no other basis for the writing.
The elements can be further broken down, but the ultimate form of all
fiction writing is the scene. You can
easily see this when you review the outline of the classical novel.
The outline begins with an initial scene,
moves to the rising action which is composed of scenes that lead to the climax
scene. This moves to the falling action
scene(s) and finally the dénouement. You
can identify these elements and scenes in every classical novel. In fact about 99.99% of all novels. The few that don’t follow the classical
format are odd and usually not read much.
That’s because these few are not entertaining or interesting to
read.
If you look at the development of the
initial scene, which is the most important scene in the novel, I provide the
elements you need for the scene (initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s
helper or antagonist, action statement).
With these elements, we can begin to imagine the initial scene.
I always recommend, in the development of
every scene, that you begin with the input and imagine and work to the
output. Not only does this work for the
internal scenes in the novel, but it works for the initial scene. The inputs of the initial scene are the
specific elements I listed: initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper
or antagonist, and action statement.
There is also a presumed input into the initial scene. In scenes beyond the initial, the output of
the previous scene is the input for the next scene. This is what makes writing both simple and
logical in a well written novel.
All the time, we hear about writers who
get writer’s block or who can’t continue their story or their novel. If you are writing scene to scene with
outputs to inputs, there is no way you can get writer’s block. You simply have to start with the input and
write to the output for the scene. Now,
we can get hung up working on an output, but that’s simply creativity and just
writing. Many times if I get “hung up”
in the writing, I just start with the input of a scene and start writing. If you don’t like where the scene is going
just stop and start again. I find many
times the scene doesn’t go exactly like I originally imagined it. It has a life of its own based on the
elements in the scene and the characters.
That is the point of writing and especially fiction. Plus, we don’t write with the singular idea
that what we write is the end all of the writing. You should be revising your writing over and
over again. That’s what I do. I revise and revise and revise. I will revise an entire chapter each
day. I should likely get into my methods
for general writing. I think they are
very healthy for the writer and help develop a novel logically and easily. That’s where I’ll go, next.
I need to clean up the breadcrumbs a
little. I’ll do that soon, but the most
important idea on my mind is this. With
a great idea or at least an initial scene, which means we have a protagonist, a
protagonist’s helper or an antagonist, an initial setting, and an action (telic
flaw). With these, we can begin
writing. The question is now the
writing. I don’t know about you, but
when I first started writing, writing was about the most difficult part of the
process. I love the writing now. In the past, the revising was my least
favorite activity. Now, it is my
favorite activity. So, what is different
now than then, and what really changed?
I’ve really thought about this and worked
on this. The first point is what I call
the discipline of writing, and the second is writing in scenes. They fit together hand in glove. This may sound simple, and it’s really easy
with discipline. In the discipline of
writing, you are aiming for a 100,000 word novel—that’s what I’m aiming for in
my novels. Some of you might be writing
to a lower wordcount. That’s okay and
common for other genres. The discipline
of writing will work for you to.
I’m writing toward a 100,000 word
novel. That means 20, 5,000 word
chapters. All I need for 100,000 words
is to write 20, 5,000 word chapters. A
5,000 word chapter is easy. You can
write one of those a day. Theoretically,
you could write a 100,000 word novel in 20 days. I have and you can.
This means we need to write a 5,000 word
chapter. If you are writing in scenes,
this is pretty easy. Remember, the basis
for novels and all fiction is the scene.
We need from one to five or so scenes to fill out a chapter. I write for about 20 pages in Roman size 12
font at double space. Twenty pages will
give you about 5,000 words. Did you see
what I wrote. My chapter might be about
15 pages or 25 pages. I usually don’t
have less than 15 or more than 25, but whatever I need to finish up the scenes. I have no idea how many scenes I write in a
chapter. I just write my scenes until I
get to about 20 pages, and that’s the chapter.
I plan to write about 20 of these to resolve the telic flaw of the
novel. When I get to chapter 20, I know
I have about 100,000 words, and that’s a perfect novel in my mind.
You see the question we need to answer
about writing. With a plan like this, we
need to know how to write a scene. I can
show you how to do that—what’s the point of discipline? If I have the discipline to write a scene, I
can write a 5,000 word chapter. If I can
write about 20 chapters, I can write a 100,000 word novel. The whole point is the discipline to write a
scene. Start with an initial scene and
in twenty or so days, I should be at the dénouement scene. Okay, it might take longer than that—I usually
don’t write a novel in 20 days. I could,
but I usually have more research and revision to write that quickly. I’ll get to that, but first about writing a
great scene, that’s next.
We have reached the point of writing the
scene. This applies to any scene
including the initial scene, but I’ll get to that. Once you know how to write a scene, you can
write a novel (or any other fictional work).
So let’s get to it.
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
When we have an initial scene, we are on
our way. With the initial scene, we have:
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
With an output, the setting, the
characters, and the action movement, we have an initial scene. These feed into the next scene, the first
rising action scene. We use the output
which becomes an input to this new scene.
Once we move from the initial scene, we are in the rising action to the
climax. The climax is the resolution of
the telic flaw. As I wrote, the telic flaw
comes with the protagonist and in the initial scene, this is the action
movement of the scene, plus more. To be
most specific, we might have a great initial scene, but we need to condense the
action movement into some type of action that can resolve the telic flaw. This is very important and I need to get into
this.
For example, in Aine, the telic flaw is
Eoghan’s desires and his lack of motivation toward fulfilling those
desires. Eoghan is a man who has a profession
and a job, but his mother has intentionally prevented him from using his powers
and skills to further his life and desires.
Eoghan’s skills is leadership. He
comes from a family that was directly in the line of succession for the king of
England until they weren’t. They are the
Stuarts and Stewarts of the Scots who should have ascended to the throne, and
they hold to the ancient glamour skills that made others follow them with their
lives. Eoghan’s mother has been fearful
of her own skills and is a bit of a wimp.
She has some issues of her own that she hasn’t ever resolved. Her children Eoghan and Aife followed after
their father in their thoughts about their lives and work, but their mother won
in terms of their family and education. In
other words, Eoghan and Aife don’t want to hide and not use their personal
skills, and they want to interact in society and their nation. Their mother wants them to lay low and have
normal lives, while their father accommodates their mother. What does this have to do with the telic
flaw?
I wrote that the telic flaw is about
Eoghan’s involvement and life. That’s
great, but this telic flaw is kind of amorphous. What is the action that shows Eoghan has now
resolved his telic flaw. Ah, that’s the
rub. The telic flaw is great, but how do
we show, with action or through a climax that Eoghan has achieved? We need something action based and
exciting. Like every scene must be
filled with excitement and entertainment, likewise, the climax needs to be
filled with action excitement and entertainment. The point and the problem is to turn the telic
flaw of Eoghan’s involvement and life into an interesting and exciting climax. What will that be? I haven’t started writing the novel yet, so I
have only a few ideas. I don’t need that
yet—actually, for you, I’ll do some thinking and give you some ideas. That’s, next.
I’m leaving in the breadcrumbs because they
produce a pretty cohesive whole to this discussion of writing the scenes and
connecting them into the novel. At this
point, I’m getting to the telic flaw resolution and how to develop that to a
climax. The question at hand is this: we
know the telic flaw for Eoghan, but how do we turn this telic flaw into a
physical and practical resolution that can conclude a novel?
Since I haven’t written the initial scene
for this novel yet, I really haven’t explored this question much. When I write a novel, I usually allow the novel
and the ideas in them to build on their own to a climax. I have some idea of where the novel is going,
but I write to the climax rather than forcing the novel to a climax. For now, I think if I do a little
brainstorming about Eoghan, I can at least produce a clearer picture of what his
climax should look like. Here we go.
Eoghan has a problem. He wants to be a leader, but he has been
designed and developed by his mother and his upbringing to not become a leader
and to be isolated from leadership and leadership positions. He meets Aine and everything changes. Eoghan is a quiet and yet powerful man with
very definite leadership and other skills.
Aine has made Eoghan her hero and wants his love. She will do anything and everything for him,
but she is also driven and drawn by her deeply ancient Irish culture and
ideas. She wants Eoghan to become
forthright, mentally brash, and physically overwhelming. Eoghan sees these are very negative
characteristics. To remake Eoghan into
her image, Aine must change and Eoghan must change. The question is how should Eoghan change, and
in what ways will he change.
The simplest way might be for Eoghan to
join the military. If he could be
accepted and learn those skills, he might make this great change in himself and
that would please Aine. This may be the
simplest way, but I’ not certain that’s how I want to move the novel. I don’t want to separate Eoghan from Aine,
and Aine is too much of a diva and princess to want to be in the military herself. As I wrote, there are competing issues in her
brain—the problem of her culture and life experience. The military and connections to the military
might work and make sense, but I’m not certain the direct to the military plan
is a good one. The question is then,
what other kinds of leadership and training might make sense for Eoghan?
I have, in my past novels had a training
for highschoolers up to the sixth form in British speak run by the intelligence
operations I’ve written about these opportunities. They are usually for the very special—those with
special skills or dangerous to Britain without oversight and training. I could play that music, but I’ve put Eoghan
in a situation past his basic schooling.
I could move into the university—I’ve done that with my American based
novels, but I haven’t moved to the British advanced schools much, not as a
setting. These might work and I have
used British military training at this level before. I would like to pitch Seoirse and Rose into
the mix with Eoghan and Aine. I think this
would make a great rising action development, but I’m still not sure what could
be considered a great and entertaining action climax for the resolution. Perhaps the best type of end would be for
Eoghan to succeed in a mission of some importance. I’ve played this refrain before with Rose and
Seoirse. It could resonate with Eoghan
and Aine too, but I don’t want the novels to be too similar. I really want to play this novel in a
different way than any of the others. The
point of writing a novel is to explore new ideas and new means of entertaining your
readers, not rehashing or regurgitating past ideas. What might be unique for Aine and Eoghan?
I’m thinking politics. I haven’t played this tune before, but I’m
not very familiar with it or the British version. Perhaps I could move into the government
service or operations track. This is somewhat
political, but not purely political. If
Eoghan could make himself to fit into some of the niches and structures of the
British intelligence and government system, perhaps that might be reasonable. At the same time to resolve a British
supernatural or critical problem and therefore gain accolades and his
position. I could actually leverage off
of his current position. Perhaps I should
do a little more brainstorming tomorrow. I’ll continue.
Eoghan is involved with Stela, but Stela
doesn’t provide many leadership positions.
At most those leadership positions are for one individual as a supervisor
or in the vernacular a handler. In the
intelligence business, you usually have an agent, and that agent or a group of
agents is cared for by a handler. The
handler provides help, support, administration, connections, and communications
with the agency involved. This is the
relationship I provided for Rose through Seoirse in Seoirse: Enchantment and
the Assignment. I need something
larger for Eoghan. He has completely
natural and powerful leadership skills that project over entire groups rather
than for just a single person.
In Warrior of Light, my protagonist
Danny Long went to school at Sandhurst for an officer’s commission and I used
that to bring him into the intelligence community. Like I wrote, I’m not sure about using the
military route for Eoghan. Usually, in
the intelligence community, the individual starts as an agent or an operative
and then goes to handler or manager. The
further leadership options move up on the management trail. It is not uncommon for the leader of an MI or
an intelligence agency to have experience in the military or in public service
and then move into an agency position.
Many of my characters have made this path. In fact, with Shiggy in Sorcha:
Enchantment and the Curse, all of Sorcha’s team were commissioned in the
military. Most of them, including Shiggy,
started in the military although Sorcha did not. I’m planning in Bookgirl to show how Sorcha
got her act together and finally began to follow the right path that led to her
position in Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse.
Now, back to Eoghan. He likely needs some military training—perhaps
this could be pushed along by Aine. I
just need to get him to this position and place. It might be worthwhile to have him train
under Aife on the Ilse of Skye. The
Black Branch is the Scottish woman warriors trained by Aife while, in the past,
Scatach, Aife’s sister trained the Red Branch, male warriors. In Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment,
Rose brought back training to the Isle of Shadows and rebuilt the Black
Branch. Perhaps Eoghan could bring back
the Red Branch. I’m not sure how to make
that work, but it would make a great story.
In Bookgirl, some of the ancient gods and others plotted against Bookgirl
on the Isle of Skye. It has some
supernatural attachments. This is
something I need to work out and develop for Eoghan.
Here's what I’ve put together. In Aine, I need to have Eoghan reinvigorate the
Red Branch and it’s training on the Isle of Skye. This will require some great changes in
Eoghan and in his own development and operations. This will also allow Eoghan to get involved
with Seoirse and Rose which should be very fun especially with Aine. I also want to get Anu or Bookgirl involved in
some way although Bookgirl is completely the opposite of Aine and Rose. Both Aine and Rose are very martial minded
and action oriented. Anu or Bookgirl is
quiet, gentle, reticent, and the divine feminine—she isn’t adverse to fighting
or defending, but she is not interested in fighting as a way or life or
activity. She is a being who needs
defending for her own sake and the sake of Britain. This could play well in Aine too. The confrontations between the characters
will be very fun. Rose and Aine are close
enough in personality to be sisters and sisters usually fight all the time. Anu is a great peacemaker and forgiver like Essie
the Aos Si. Rose and Aine will not be
able to fight against Anu, but Morven is pretty explosive and will defend Anu
as her priestess. All this should be
very fun to write in Aine.
So, I have a telic flaw and a potential
resolution that will bring Eoghan to the telic flaw resolution for the novel
Aine. Now to how we move forward toward
the climax and from the initial scene. That’s next.
I do need to clean out the breadcrumbs,
but I think I’ll wait just a little longer.
Once we have some concrete idea of where the telic flaw resolution can
go or will go, we can begin to write toward it.
Now, this is a very important point.
This is the novel and the entirety of the rising action we are writing
about. This is about 350 pages of a
100,000 word novel. It’s almost 18
chapters of the novel. The initial scene
sets us off, but the telic flaw resolution drives to the climax and the rising action
is all about getting us to the climax. I
can’t express this with more importance.
This is the novel.
Indeed, the initial scene sets up, sells,
and continues to sell your novel, but the rising action is what really
entertains your readers. I’ve written
this before. A well written, cohesive,
exciting, and entertaining rising action is much better than any kind of
amazing climax. Most of the time, your
readers will forgive you for a weak climax, but will destroy you for a poor
rising action. It makes sense. The climax is a single scene—the rising
action is about 18 chapters of scenes.
Those 18 chapters are what you have to win the hearts and minds of your
readers. The climax is just an end
point. You really want your readers to
be excited, flushed, and entertained as they come to the climax, but they
should also be sad because the wonderful characters and novel will soon be
coming to an end. I’ll write about this
some more in a moment.
At the end of the initial scene and when you
have some idea of the telic flaw resolution set in concrete, is the point where
many writers bring out the outline. That
is, they begin an outline for their novel.
I do recommend this if you are an outliner. The most I want from an outline is the
general outline for the classical novel and the outline for scene
development. These are simple enough and
generic enough to always be of use. I
don’t use an outline to write the rising action. You might ask, how do I write it and keep the
novel going in the correct direction?
Let me start and then give you an even
more detailed answer after that. If I
know where I’m going, the telic flaw resolution, I know where I started, the initial
scene, I know my characters, and I have my initial setting, I can begin to
write a great and cohesive rising action.
The purpose of the rising action is, indeed, to get us to the climax in
an entertaining and exciting way where the characters and their lives are
revealed to us. Remember, the rising
action (and the entire novel) is a revelation of the protagonist. The point is to reveal the protagonist. How can you do this without going off track
or writing extraneous stuff?
The answer is, of course, the telic flaw resolution. Everything from the initial scene, and even
the initial scene must track with the relic flaw resolution. That’s how everything stays on track. I really want to get into an example for
you. I guess I’ll take a little more
time for that today.
In Aine, the end of the initial scenes
result in Aine being enamored of Eoghan and with the desire to make him shine
and achieve his goals in life. This is
her goal and desire. Notice, it is also
the telic flaw resolution of the novel in less concrete terms. The characters don’t have any idea what the
telic flaw resolution could be and I haven’t even applied the “impossible until
inevitable” resolution line. They don’t
know and the readers have no idea. The
point is revelation.
Once Aine and Eoghan get things settled in
the park (and I expect a couple of battles to get stuff locked down), we have
to take the lady home, and that’s the problem.
Aine is a belligerent Irish goddess who will always have her way. Eoghan’s mother is an intentionally isolated
and private person who has incredible power and skills outside of normal human
understanding. You don’t and can’t
really oppose her. When these two get
together, there will be hell to pay. Add
to that Eoghan’s sister who is a real kin to Aine, but with less experience and
less force. In any case, I shall
continue from here about moving from the initial scene into the rising
action. That’s next.
The most important idea from the initial
scene is the output. That output creates
the input for the next scene. In this
way, the author will never lack for the start of the next scene. Likewise, the scene setting is just an
extension of the input. For example, I
mentioned that Eoghan must take Aine home.
The output from the initial scene and scenes is that Eoghan and Aine
make their own peace and agreement. This
will definitely not be any kind of full on peace accord. I picture Eoghan being acquiescent and Aine
being pushy. Aine is completely insistent
that she is not part of Eoghan’s house and household. She would claim the position of wife or
matriarch. What else would you do for
the man who released you from a thousand year prison. Eoghan might be the only person in the UK or
Scotland who could ever do such a thing.
Aine is completely aware of this.
Her goal is simply to retain what she has. Life has moved on since she was
imprisoned. Those who imprisoned her are
dead and without any care about her life or existence. Aine is wary, but not too worried. She should be. The world is much different than she is used
to. I plan for Eoghan and his sister
Aife (Eva) to help. This should be a
very fun approach and writing.
As I wrote, Aine was rescued from horrible
imprisonment by Eoghan, and they together resolve Eoghan’s problem. The output of the initial scene(s) is for
Aine and Eoghan to plan to go home. This
is naturally what would happen. Eoghan
lives at home with his overly protective mother and his not so overly
protective father, plus his sister. Why
wouldn’t he go back home? Where else
would he go. This is an obvious point to
me, but seems to elude some authors. The
natural output from a scene is the natural output from a scene. The scenes move with the natural flow of the
world and life. There is no reason,
except in a TV drama, for the author to do anything else. I’m being a little silly, but have you
noticed that some shows and movies especially take the characters to places and
settings that are absurd and illogical.
It’s as if the product placement or the setting placement fees just made
them go there and not logic at all.
In a novel output proceeds to input in
some logical fashion. You can have
obvious scene breaks, and in this I mean, scenes that don’t follow the natural
course of output to input. For example,
I might segue from a direct scene with the protagonist to another scene about
the protagonist but with other characters discussing him or her or plotting
against him or her. And this comes to
the entire idea I want to promote as we move from the initial scene into the
rising action.
The idea of what the telic flaw resolution
looks like allows the author to move in the proper direction and with the
proper movement. For example, we move the
scenes in the normal manner from output to input, but the point of the scene
output is to move from the scene toward the telic flaw resolution. We really only get to this in the scene
design.
I wrote last time that I don’t outline my
novels or really the scenes. I write
notes at the end of my scenes defining future scenes and especially the next
scene. I might write myself notes for
scenes further ahead, but for me, an output goes to an input and requires that
development to the next output. The
point is the output of the scenes with some planning to get to the output. That output always supports the input from my
scenes and in my novels. I only know
that the telic flaw resolution is the endpoint and each scene must support that
development in the novel. This is how
you keep your scenes on track, and your novel on track. This is also how you keep your writing moving
along. As I wrote, the rising action
(and the novel) is the revelation of the protagonist. That is what you are doing and writing. The novel is kept on track as long as the
revelation always moves toward the telic flaw resolution. That is the idea of developing it as a
concrete idea. In the sense of Eoghan,
we must move Eoghan from the point of where he is physically, mentally, and
emotionally to the point we have defined as the telic flaw resolution. A lot of entertainment and excitement should
move him and the novel forward. That’s
the whole idea.
I’ll try to be more specific and give you
more ideas, next.
There’s more.
I want to write another book based on Rose
and Seoirse, and the topic will be the raising of Ceridwen—at least that’s my
plan. Before I get to that, I want to write another novel about
dependency as a theme. We shall see.
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
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