7 February 2016, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part 667, Setting, Outline Scene Development, Style Q
and A
Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher
has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you informed.
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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to 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.
All novels have five discrete parts:
1. The initial scene (the
beginning)
2. The rising action
3. The climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement
The theme statement
of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, is
this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry
and rehabilitates her.
Here is the cover proposal for Escape
from Freedom. Escape is my 25th novel.
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|
Cover
Proposal
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The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I’m editing many of my novels using comments from my primary
reader. I’m editing Children of Light and Darkness at the moment.
I'm
an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising
action--in fact, to write any novel.
Scene development:
1. Scene input (easy)
2. Scene output (a little
harder)
3. Scene setting (basic stuff)
4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
I can immediately discern three ways
to invoke creativity:
1. Historical extrapolation
2. Technological extrapolation
3. Intellectual
extrapolation
Creativity is like
an extrapolation of what has been. It is a reflection of something
new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the
intellect). Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.
One of my blog readers posed these
questions. I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.
14. Mannerism suggested by
speech
15. Style
16. Distinct manner of writing
or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences,
non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent'
inconclusiveness).
Moving on to 15. 15.
Style
Woah—style
is huge. I just spent more than six
months defining style from almost every angle I could imagine. Here are
the elements I found for an author’s style.
1. Novel based style
a. Writing focus
b. Conversations
c. Scene development
d. Word use
e. Foreshadowing
f. Analogies
g. Use of figures of speech
h. Subthemes
I. Character revelation
j. Historicity
k. Real world ties
l. Punctuation
m. Character interaction
b. Conversations
c. Scene development
d. Word use
e. Foreshadowing
f. Analogies
g. Use of figures of speech
h. Subthemes
I. Character revelation
j. Historicity
k. Real world ties
l. Punctuation
m. Character interaction
2. Scene based style
a.
Time
b. Setting
c. Tension and release development
d. Revelation
e. Theme development
f. POV
b. Setting
c. Tension and release development
d. Revelation
e. Theme development
f. POV
When
I write about scenes, I mean, a sequence of continuous action in a novel. This is the smallest element of a novel.
My
method for scene development will accommodate the focus and style of any
author, but it is a method. Here is my
method for scene development.
Scene development:
1. Scene input (easy)
2. Scene output (a little
harder)
3. Scene setting (basic stuff)
4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
The
focus of the writing determines the input and output of the scene. Likewise, the style (or focus of the writing)
determines the setting. Here is the
major question: how is the setting presented.
When I first started writing novels, my style was more oriented to the
setting and the tone of the writing. As
I matured as a writer, my style became more conversation based. Some of my readers liked my earlier setting
and tone based style. I like the
conversation based style and tone. Who’s
right—no one. Actually, I’ve taken my
reader’s comments to heart and am working to increase the descriptions of my
settings and characters again.
Actually,
I think this is a standoff between modern writing and earlier styles of
writing. My early writing is more akin
stylistically to the Gothic Victorian writing (without the strong telling). My late style is more modern and more conversation
based. I don’t think modern writers
describe enough. I think earlier writers
describe too much. I want to be in the
middle. My readers are used to the
classic Victorian style—they want description.
I get that. I am working to the
middle. My style will continue to be
conversational, but I’ll try to give my readers the strong description they
want.
This
goes back to the point I’ve made before about description. You need to focus on description and ensure your
description is sufficient.
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
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
Creativity –From Scene Input to Output in Creativity
7 February 2016, this blog is about writing in
scenes. I’m focusing on the tools to build scenes. I’ll leave up
the parts of a novel because I think this is an important picture for any
novelist. I’m writing about creativity.
1. The
beginning
2. The
rising action
3. The
Climax
4. The
falling action
5. The
dénouement
Announcement: Ancient Light has been delayed due to the
economy. Ancient Light includes Aegypt, Sister of Light and Sister of
Darkness. If you are interested in historical/suspense
literature, please give my novels a try. You can read about
them at http://www.ancientlight.com. I’ll keep you updated.
Today’s Blog: The skill of using language comes from
the ability to put together figures of speech that act as symbols in writing.
Here are my rules of writing:
1.
Entertain your readers.
2.
Don’t confuse 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.
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.
Scene development:
1. Scene input (easy)
2. Scene output (a little
harder)
3. Scene setting (basic stuff)
4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
The plot is the revelation of the characters. The author doesn’t show everything, and the
plot is where the necessary revelation occurs.
To develop the plot, the author takes the characters and the theme and
imagines the portions (scenes) of the plot that might be entertaining. I’ll give you an easier means to accomplish
this.
The last three steps of scene development are fully
encompassed by creativity.
4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
First, the creative elements of the
scene. Just what are these? When you develop a scene, your main focus is
entertainment. As you contemplate the
scene, you must imagine what might make the scene entertaining. So, I have an input and an output. I have a setting and characters. What makes those characters entertaining? Is the guy a ditz? Is the girl a ditz? Is she preoccupied with something? Is he preoccupied with something? What might add to the entertainment of the
scene? He drops his drink down her
shirt. She drops her drink down his
pants. I don’t know what might be
entertaining in the scene—that’s a creative element the author must
provide. I can tell you what I used in
my novels.
For example, I like conversational
fights that are undercover. I use these
all the time. Anything that might bring embarrassment
to the character or excitement. These
are all fair game for the author.
Drinking is always a ploy. Eating
also. Just imagine what might be
entertaining to you in a scene—then write it in.
I’ll write more tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel
websites:
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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