8 March 2017, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part x61, Creative Elements in Scenes, Plot Devices, Flashforward
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
I
finished writing my 27th novel, working title, Claire, potential
title Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse. This might need some tweaking. The theme statement is: Claire (Sorcha) Davis
accepts Shiggy, a dangerous screw-up, into her Stela branch of the organization
and rehabilitates her.
Here is the cover proposal for Sorcha:
Enchantment and the Curse.
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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 started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja. I’m also working on my 29th novel,
working title School.
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: transition from input to output focused on the telic
flaw resolution)
5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative
elements)
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 28: 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 29: Sorcha, the abandoned child of an Unseelie
and a human, secretly attends Wycombe Abbey girls’ school where she meets the
problem child Deirdre and is redeemed.
These are the steps I use to write 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
Here is the beginning of the scene
development method from the 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
Below is a list of plot
devices. I’m less interested in a plot
device than I am in a creative element that drives a plot device. In fact, some of these plot devices are not
good for anyone’s writing. If we
remember, the purpose of fiction writing is entertainment, we will perhaps
begin to see how we can use these plot devices to entertain. If we focus on creative elements that drive
plot devices, we can begin to see how to make our writing truly
entertaining. I’ll leave up the list and
we’ll contemplate creative elements to produce these plot devices.
Deus ex machina (a machination, or act of
god; lit. “god out of the machine”)
Flashback (or analeptic reference)
Flashforward – Current discussion.
Story within a story (Hypodiegesis)
Secrets
Flashforward: Here is a definition of Flashforward from the link-- Also called prolepsis, a scene that
temporarily jumps the narrative forward in time. Flashforwards often represent
events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future. They may also
reveal significant parts of the story that have not yet occurred, but soon will
in greater detail.
This is an unusual plot device. I don’t think I’ve used it in my
writing. The example from the link is A Christmas Carol where Scrooge is shown
the projection of a possible future by the ghost of Christmas future. This use seems reasonable to me. You can see the author doesn’t reveal the
true future plot, but rather a possible future and then with Scrooge’s change
that is assumed to not be the progression.
On the other hand, the idea that the author give a preview of a future
scene in the novel may sound interesting, it seems to me that might ruin the
force of the tension and release in the future scene. That is if the reader already knows what is
going to happen, the force of the scene might be reduced. If this is what you intend, then go for
it. If you present a flashforward that
then doesn’t replicate the future scene, like in A Christmas Carol that further intensifies the future scene. In the case of A Christmas Carol, the
actual scene doesn’t materialize because the protagonist has changed his
destiny.
I
don’t have an example from my own literature to show a flashforward. I might use this plot device in the future,
but maybe not. Since I haven’t used it,
I can’t imagine a set of creative elements that would support it. On second thought, I can provide creative
elements that might give you a flashforward.
You need a future viewing or moving element. In A Christmas
Carol, this is the ghost of Christmas future’s ability to show a possible
future. You require a supernatural means
of seeing or moving to the future. You
further need a reason to see the future.
In A Christmas Carol, the
reason was to correct Scrooge’s internal telic flaw. The visit of this ghost provided the climax
to the novel. I suppose you need a way
back. This is somewhat assumed in the
means to go forward in time. Other
creative elements in the scene provide entertainment value in the scene
itself. I’ll leave those to you.
Yesterday, I realized, I didn’t
provide any details on creative elements that potentially drive a
flashback. I’ll give a few here to make
up for missing that detail. You need a
means to move back in time. This is easy
for a flashback—most flashbacks rise out of a protagonist’s memories. I suppose a flashforward could also occur in
the thoughts of a character. That would
be telling unless it happened in a conversation, but you could do it.
The flashback
usually happens do to the protagonist remembering an event. The author writes it as if it is occurring at
the current moment. In The End of Honor, the creative elements
were to death of Lyral, the fiancé, the plot against the Emperor, the plot
against Prince John-Mark, the plan to unite the houses of the Empire, along
with many other entertainment creative elements. In general, the point of the use of a
flashback in The End of Honor was to
move the most exciting scene of the novel to the initial scene so the rest of
the novel could flow from that point forward in time.
This
might also be the reason for a flashforward that is if the flashforward were
used to move the initial scene from a point in the future to the
beginning. I’m not sure how this would
work, but it is an idea.
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
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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