July 6, 2013

Science-fiction oriented

NOVEL-WRITING
GUIDELINES
NOTES
By Mike Rozak

[email protected]

Or, [email protected]

Copyright 2013

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Draft 1, 27 October 2012 Draft 11, 3 February 2013

Draft 2, 4 November 2012 Draft 12, 14 February 2013
Draft 3, 11 November 2012 Draft 13, 3 March 2013
Draft 4, 21 November 2012 Draft 14, 25 March 2013
Draft 5, 26 November 2012 Draft 15, 9 April 2013
Draft 6, 17 December 2012 Draft 16, 13 May 2013
Draft 7, 1 January 2013 Draft 17, 8 June 2013
Draft 8, 10 January 2013 Draft 18, 6 July 3013
Draft 9, 16 January 2013 To be continued…
Draft 10, 23 January 2013

CLICK TO QUICK-JUMP

Foreword – “Someone needs to make the sand” ........... 7

Why I am writing these “Novel-writing guidelines” .... 10

Why You might be interested in these “Novel-Writing

Guidelines” .......................................... 11

What this document “Is NOT” .......................... 12

Novel-writing guidelines Notes......................... 14

Why do you want to write a novel? .................... 14

The Story-publishing Industry ........................ 25

Genres ............................................... 32

Novel-building principles ............................ 64

The Experience ....................................... 77

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Social Agenda ........................................ 79

Happening-Motivations, Happenings, and Pivots ........ 89

Happening-motivations and Pivots – Plot .............. 90

Happening-motivations, Happenings, and Pivots – Dis-

contiguous Mini-plots and Plot-fragments ............ 142

Happening-motivations, Happenings, and Pivots –

Situations (Obstacles to be overcome) ............... 157

Happening-motivations, Happenings, and Pivots –

Undercurrents ....................................... 159

Characters - General ................................ 161

Characters – Protagonists ........................... 176

Characters – Secondary characters ................... 197

Characters – Incidental characters .................. 204

Characters – Character Groups ....................... 205

Characters – Alien personalities .................... 209

Happening-motivations and Happenings – Relationships 228

Place – The World ................................... 243

Place – Technology (Technological and legal) ........ 249

Place – Setting (A sub-element of the world) ........ 252

Place – Industry (or vocation) ...................... 259

Place – Locations ................................... 260

Happenings and Pivots – Plot-arc .................... 267

Happening-motivations – Non-plot-arc content ........ 277

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Happenings and Pivots – Character arcs .............. 279

Happenings, Happening-Motivations, and Pivots –

Vocation-arcs (Changes to a character’s “Way of life”)
.................................................... 289

Happenings and Pivots – Relationship-arcs (Relationship

transitions) ........................................ 292

Happenings and Pivots – Character-group arcs ........ 298

Happenings and Pivots – Journey “twists” ............ 298

Pivots – Decision-points ............................ 300

Happenings and Pivots – Plans ....................... 308

Reader-Character Relationships – Getting the Reader to

have an opinion/Feelings about a character .......... 309

Reader-author relationships – Creating a phantom reader-

author relationship ................................. 318

Reader-Character Relationships – Creating Phantom

Reader-Protagonist Relationships .................... 320

Creating Meeting Reader-Expectations ................ 339

Creating Reader-Believability ....................... 342

Creating Reader-Interest ............................ 345

Creating Reader-Entertainment ....................... 356

Creating Reader-Emotions ............................ 356

Creating Reader-Delight ............................. 361

Creating Reader-Feelings (and moods?) ............... 369

Creating Maintaining Reader-Investment .............. 377

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Creating Reader-Pain ................................ 377

Creating Reader-Thoughts ............................ 380

Creating reader-Comprehension ....................... 388

Creating Reader-“Rooting-for-a-character” ........... 389

Creating Reader-“Perceived density/loudness” ........ 389

Creating Reader-XXX: “Emotion” transition-templates . 390

Happenings – Chapters (and plot-arc) ................ 399

Happenings – Scenes (within a chapter) .............. 406

Happenings – Dialogue ............................... 422

Paragraphs and Sentences ............................ 429

Grammar and words ................................... 433

Pivots – Choice fiction ............................. 454

Cutting content ..................................... 461

Beta-testing ........................................ 466

Marketing ........................................... 467

Novel series ........................................ 474

A life’s work ....................................... 477

Writing-Guidelines specific to my own novels ........ 478

How could my novel-writing guidelines be turned-into a

software-application? ............................... 483

References, further reading, and source-material/ideas

.................................................... 483

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Novel-idea Outline: Genetic Migration................. 489

Overview ............................................ 489

Outlines ............................................ 490

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FOREWORD – “SOMEONE NEEDS TO MAKE THE SAND”

“Someone needs to make the sand” [Rough draft]

Retold to me by a Dreamtime located near Kuku-Yalanji, in

North-East Queensland.

Several-hundred years ago, an aboriginal woman sat on the

beach, bashing two rocks together. Nearby, basked an
enormous saltwater-crocodile.

A wise-man walked-up to the woman, and handed her a

bundle of food – nuts, and two pieces of fruit.

“What are you up to?” he sociably inquired.

“Nothing,” she answered.

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And then the woman added, “What is beyond the ocean?”

The man did not know. “A few times a year, my friends and
I take a canoe out to the edge of the reef, half a day’s
paddle. There is a small island there.”

“And what is beyond that?”

“Water,” of course.

“And beyond the water?”

“Is this a riddle?” the wise-man asked. He knew that the

woman was an odd-one, the first-and-only from the Cougar
skin-group. She had invented her own skin-group from a
mythical animal that wandered in her dreams.

“There MUST be land beyond the water.”

The man remained silent.

“And on that land MUST live people… with buildings,

airplanes, and airplanes that fly to the stars.” And then
the woman added quietly, “And those airplanes can fly me
back to my homeland.” (The Aboriginal-language the two
spoke had no word for “planet”, nor even for “airplane”.)

Another wild dream retold by the woman, thought the wise-

man. “What is an airplane?”

“It flies people through the sky,” she answered,

realizing that the wise-man was not “multiple-born”, and
had never seen any technology. The woman had been both
born as an Aboriginal-woman, and as a Cougar-woman.

“Interesting,” the wise-man replied politely, letting the

woman believe that he had understood her. “You could
borrow my canoe, but as everyone says, you will never
find land beyond the ocean. It goes-on forever. You will
run-out of drinking water, and have to return to land.”
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“Thank you for your offer. I have already tried rowing
beyond the ocean,” answered the smiling woman. “I ineptly
lost my paddle long-before I ran-out of fresh-water.”

Grinning at her tale, the wise-man encouraged it to

continue: “So what do you plan to do now?”

The woman resumed her work, bashing the two rocks

together. A few small fragments broke-off, and became
part of the beach’s sand.

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know.”

And quieter, “I don’t know.”

Then the woman looked-up with a spry smile, “But until

then, I will make sand.”

She held up a small fragment of stone that she had just

produced.

And she smiled. “Someone needs to make the sand… Who

knows… If I bash enough rocks together, I may produce
enough sand to expand the beach across the ocean.”

The wise-man knew this was impossible, and so did the

woman. “Who suggested this cockamamie idea to you?”

The woman side-nodded. “Oh, just a dream-person. Just a

dream-person.”

“Hmm.” The wise-man surveyed the ocean, and the closer

beach. “I never thought about where the sand came from.”

What could he do to help her? The man would think about

it.

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“You are here every day. I will return tomorrow with more
food.”

“Thank you,” answered the woman. She waved-goodbye as the

man walked away.

------

The man returned the next day, bringing with him a larger
rock to bash. It wouldn’t help the woman’s quest, but it
might lighten her mood.

She was not there!

Nor was the crocodile!

As the story was told several-hundred years ago, the

woman was eaten by the crocodile, and he swam her across
the ocean.

More happily, the woman may have spied a British

exploration-ship sailing along the coast, and hailed it
down. The wise-man would not have known they existed. The
Cougar-born woman would not have expected a ship to pass
by.

In your retelling, Mike, the Cougar-born woman was

rescued by aliens. Perhaps Gecko-people.

WHY I AM WRITING THESE “NOVEL-WRITING

GUIDELINES”

I intend to write an ANTHROPOMORPHIC/REPTILIAN SCIENCE-

FICTION novel. (Sorry, I cannot bring myself to write a

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Hominid-centric novel. There are plenty of excellent
Hominid-oriented science-fiction novelists.)

I have no clue how to write a novel… Consequently, I am

putting-together my own novel-writing guidelines.

WHY YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THESE “NO VEL-

WRITING GUIDELINES”

This document is a “constitution” that defines the

guidelines that I will use to construct my novel. This
“constitution” is a collection of notes taken from
various “How to write novels” books, “How to design
computer-games” books, and my own observations.

 If you are thinking about writing a novel, the

concept of FIRST writing a set of novel-writing
guidelines for yourself, is in-itself useful.

 My own (these) novel-writing guidelines might be

helpful to you.

 The referenced “How to write novels” books should

also be helpful.

 I have included some novel ideas that you might

find inspirational. These story-ideas include
plots, protagonists, settings, and technologies.

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WHAT THIS DOCUMENT “IS NOT”

 This document is NOT a professionally-written “How

to write novels” book!

o I am NOT a professional novelist.

o This document is NOT content-checked,

proofread, grammar-checked, and/or spell-
checked.

o I am intentionally avoiding images, sketches,

and charts – which would be included in a
professional “How to write novels” book.

o The document is NOT “cleanly” arranged-and-

ordered.

 There is NO “For beginners” section.

 I DO-NOT cover recipes, such as “How to write your

first fantasy-novel in 10 steps.”

 There is NO “How to find a publisher” section.

 This document is NOT a “compendium of ideas”.

 This document is NOT a history of, “This is the

process that I am undertaking to design a novel,
with an included example-novel.”

 This document is NOT an analysis of every

novel/movie that I have read/seen.

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NOVEL-WRITING
GUIDELINES NOTES
I have written-up these novel-writing guidelines for
myself, based on notes from several “How to write novels”
books, as well as my own first-principles guesses.

You might find these guidelines handy for your own

novels.

You might find the concept of writing-up your own

personal guidelines, with your own personal style, even
more useful.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL?

WHY DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL?

Every “How to write a novel” book begins with “Why do you

want to write a novel?” At first, I thought that I would
avoid the question. But, I cannot. Instead, I will over-
indulge the question.

What are the reasons why people write a novel?

 Money – Plenty of other activities earn money, not

just novel-writing.

 Because you’re bored – Are there any-other

activities that could fill your bored-time?

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 For fun – Novel-writing is fun-and-enjoyable for
many people. Writing a novel that people will
actually read is less-fun.

 To help solve/clarify your own personal issues –

How many novels have been written by authors as a
way to investigate their own psychology?

 A mental itch – “I don’t know why I want to write.

I just want to write.”

 An obsession – Kind of like Roy Neary’s obsession

with getting to Devil’s Tower, despite all
obstacles, in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters
of the Third Kind”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_t
he_Third_Kind)

 To learn new skills – Such as novel-writing. Or

grammar. Or psychology. Or marketing.

 So that people will like you – You never know.

 To encourage other people to write better novels

 To spread a message, information, and/or to educate

the reader – Would a documentary book/article, or a
blog, or an index-website be more-effective?

WHY DO YOUR HYPOTHETICAL-READERS WANT YOU TO

WRITE A NOVEL?

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 Your hypothetical-readers are your friends-and-
relatives – They WANT you to be happy, but they DO-
NOT want to read your novel.

 Your novel will be entertaining – Yeah, but 50,000

already-written science-fiction novels are also
entertaining.

 Your novel will inform/educate the reader about

subject-X better than any-other novel currently-
available – Really? There are already 50,000
already-written science-fiction novels.
Probabilistically, at least one of them will
inform/educate readers about subject-X better than
your novel will.

 Your novel is timely – Many hypothetical novels

have-not been written before, simply because the
technology supporting their storyline had not
existed, or world-events had-not made the novel-
premise relevant.

For example: Dinosaur-adventure novels have existed

for over a hundred years. The concept of cloning
dinosaurs from fossilized DNA had-NOT existed in
science-fiction novels, until Michael Crichton
wrote “Jurassic Park”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_(novel)
)

 You have a viewpoint that your readers cannot

experience anywhere-else – You-alone (or you and
perhaps only a-few-other novelists) write in a
VERY-unique style, with a VERY-unique message, with
VERY-unique plots, with whatever-else that-is VERY-
unique.

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On the negative-side for readers, but the positive-side

for society:

 Readers will NOT want your novel to have a

“message”, and they barely tolerate “themes”.

 Adult-readers do-not want to be restricted to

“wholesome” novels – But, most-adult readers want
their children to read ONLY “wholesome” novels.

WHY DOES SOCIETY WANT TO YOU WRITE A NOV EL?

 Capitalism – Our capitalist society encourage

people to earn money.

 “Wholesomeness” – Society benefits from “wholesome”

literature, particularly when the literature is
targeted at children. Society benefits from
“wholesome” adult-oriented
novels/movies/television. BUT, IT ALSO BENEFITS
from intentionally “UN-WHOLESOME”
novels/movies/television.

 Information/education – Your novel informs-and-

educates people in your society.

 Message and themes – Society benefits from

“messages” and “themes” in novels.

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 Redirection – Some novels redirect sub-populations
of your society in directions that your society
wishes them to head.

“Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough

Riders of the World” encouraged East-coast
Americans to move west.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill)

John Badham’s “War Games”, and Steven Lisberger’s

“Tron” encouraged engineer-minded teenagers to
migrate into the computer-industry.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Games_(film),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(film) )

HOW MANY COPIES DO SCIENCE-FICTION NOVELS SELL?

MY SPECULATION… Not found in “How to write novels” books.

As a quick-and-inaccurate metric, you can guess how many

copies a novel sells by identifying what size of
bookstore the novel can be found in:

a) Small bookstores – 500-to-1000 science-fiction

novels on the shelves

Bookstore shelf-space is advertising. Small-

bookstores, with smaller-shelves, advertise fewer
books. Consequently, they are better advertising-
venues than giant-sized bookstores.

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Novels that appear in small-bookstores sell between
10,000 to 100,000 to 1,000,000 copies a year.

b) Giant-sized bookstores – 5000-to-10,000 science-

fiction novels on the shelves

Novels that ONLY appear in giant-sized bookstores,

have sales between 1000 and 10,000 copies a year.
(???)

c) Internet mail-order warehouse-bookshelves – 50,000-

ish science-fiction novels.

Novels that ONLY appear on mail-order warehouse-

bookshelves, have sales between 100 and 1000 copies
a year. (???)

d) E-book-only virtual-bookstores – 50,000-ish

science-fiction novels.

Novels that are ONLY sold as E-books, sell

approximately 100 copies a year. (???)

e) Free E-books – Anyone can distribute a free E-book

on the internet. Elfwood.com, for example,
distributes 40,000 science-fiction (and fantasy)
novels and short-stores. The more-popular
novels/stories are “viewed” between 1000-and-10,000
times. Popular “Project Gutenberg” E-books are
“downloaded” up to 100,000 times per year.
(http://www.elfwood.com/, http://www.gutenberg.org)

From my previous research into shareware computer-

software (Unfortunately, I have no references), I
guesstimate that if an E-book were free-to-read,
instead of costing money to purchase, 5-to-10 times
as many people would read the E-book. Flipping this

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around, a for-purchase E-book of a given quality
and target-audience-size, has 1/5th to 1/10th the
readership of an equivalent free-E-book.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware)

E-BOOKS ARE ***NOT*** PAPER-NOVELS

MY SPECULATION FOLLOWS…

E-book-only novels can be designed-and-written to be more

“compelling” than paper-novels.

Current E-book data-formats allow for:

 Color illustrations, every 10-to-20 pages.

Illustrations are VERY compelling. I discuss this
below, in “Illustrate, don’t tell”.

Within 10-to-20 years, E-books data-formats will feature:

 Animated illustrations

 High-quality voice-synthesis, letting the E-book

read the novel to you.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_synthesis)

 E-books might include background music and/or

sound-scapes.

 Some E-books will include a professionally-recorded

audio-book recording.
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 Limited interactivity, such as abridged-and-

lengthened versions of the novel.

 Translations into multiple languages

10-to-20 years AFTER E-books regularly-use the-above

functionality, paper-novels will adapt-themselves to
compete against E-books:

 Paper-novels will include color illustrations,

every 10-to-20 pages. 600-to-900-page novels, with
color illustrations, are currently too-expensive to
print.

 Paper-novels will include built-in memory-chips

with digital-audio. The audio might include audio
sound-scapes, and/or a professionally-recorded
audio-book version.

E-BOOK-ONLY SALES INVERSION?

Until paper-novels reproduce E-book features,

particularly color-illustrations every 10-to-20 pages, an
odd sales-inversion could-possibly occur:

a) From above: IF a novel is expected to ONLY sell

100-ish copies a year, then the novel will only-
ever be distributed as an E-book.

b) It follows that: If the novel will only be

distributed as an E-book, then the author should
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design-and-write the novel to take advantage of E-
book features, such as the ability to include
color-illustrations every 10-to-20 pages.

Color-illustrations in amateur E-books (100-ish

copies a year) are cheap to produce, since readers
of the amateur E-books expect amateur
illustrations.

c) Due to the more-compelling E-book design, the

illustrated E-book might(???) NOW sell 2-to-5-times
as many copies.

Anecdotal evidence: When I browse free-E-book

catalogs, free E-books WITHOUT scattered
illustrations are both unappealing, and they DO-NOT
“stand out” from the “crowd”. Free E-books WITHOUT
a cover illustration don’t-even get noticed by me.

d) The design trap: Once a 600-to-900-page E-book

novel relies-upon scattered illustrations, it
CANNOT be economically printed as a paper-novel.

Previously, I speculated that novels which ONLY appear in

mail-order warehouses only sell 100-to-1000 copies a
year.

I also speculated that E-book-ONLY novels sell 100-ish

copies a year. BUT, what if the E-book were written-and-
designed to use more-compelling E-book features? Would
such E-books sell 200-ish to 500-ish copies a year? This
would make E-book-only novels (that took-advantage of E-
book features) as profitable as mail-order-only paper-
novels.

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IS MAKING-MONEY ALL-THAT IMPORTANT?

If a for-purchase E-book is only selling 100-ish copies a

year, why not give it away for free? A free version of
the E-book might result in 5-to-10-times as many readers
as the for-pay version.

 Does the author think that their novel’s “message”

is more-important than a few-hundred dollars of
income?

 Does distributing 1000-to-10,000 copies a year for

free, encourage readership of the author’s future
for-purchase novels? Does the free E-book scare-
away future publishers?

Without advertising (which free E-books cannot afford),

free-E-book distribution maxes out at 1000-to-10,000 (to-
perhaps-100,000) copies a year. The more-popular
novels/stories on Elfwood.com are “viewed” between 1000-
and-10,000 times. Popular “Project Gutenberg” E-books are
“downloaded” up to 100,000 times per year.
(http://www.elfwood.com/, http://www.gutenberg.org)

The above-observation is a tautology. IF more than 10,000

free-copies of an E-book are downloaded a year, then the
author most-likely stops giving-away the E-book for free,
and publishes a paper version of the E-book.

DO YOU STILL WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL?

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Perhaps there are more-appealing and more-appropriate
alternatives to novel-writing:

 Forget writing! Read novels, instead of writing

them.

 Write-and-maintain a website with novel

recommendations/reviews … especially if you crave
unique-and-unusual novels that are difficult to
discover amidst the 50,000 science-fiction novels
available from mail-order warehouses.

 Write-and-maintain a blog website

 Write articles/books about writing a novel instead

 Write a graphic novel

 Write a graphic novel, without any story or text –

Just draw/paint pictures instead.

 Write a movie/television script

 Film your own low-budget movie

 Create a computer-graphics movie using Machinima or

an animation-package
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima)

 Write a computer adventure-game

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game)

 Write a dungeon-module for pen-and-paper role-

playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_%26_

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Dragons_modules,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

Or, write choice-fiction, like a “Fighting

Fantasy”-style E-book.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy)

 Play Dungeons & Dragons as a “Dungeon Master”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master)

 Proof-read novels for other novelists

THE STORY-PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

HOW THE NOVEL PUBLISHING-INDUSTRY WORKS

(MY OVERLY-SIMPLISTIC SPECULATION…)

Publishers:

a) Simplistically… The only novels that “make money”

are appear in small bookstores (rather than
exclusively in mega-bookstores).

b) Small-bookstore shelf-space is limited, I SPECULATE

that the top-10 science-fiction publishers “pay”
for shelf-space… somehow… perhaps with sales-
quantity discounts. (PURE SPECULATION)

c) Consequently, and simplistically, non-top-10

science-fiction publishers DO-NOT get the

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opportunity to display their novels small
bookstores. (PURE SPECULATION)

d) All publishers have a portfolio of novels they need

to print and market. All publishers also have a
“staff” of novelists who, once-a-year, each write
one new novel… which publisher MUST print-and-
market.

e) Simplistically, only when a staff-novelist dies-or-

retires, does a publisher seek-out new novelist for
their “staff”.

f) Since there are INFINITE number of new-novelists,

publishers save themselves time-and-effort by
limiting their new-novelist submissions to those
from quality literary-agents.

g) Even with that, a publisher MUST have the new-

novelist’s novel read by 5-to-10 (?) very-skilled
very-expensive professional-readers. Professional-
readers are very-expensive because they have a
proven track-record of accurately guessing how-many
copies a particular novel will sell, before the
novel is published. Very-expensive professional
readers can only evaluate 10-to-33(?)novel-
submissions a year.

Literary agents:

a) Like publishers, literary-agents have “staff” of

authors, and only-occasionally seek-out new
authors.

b) Individual literary-agents receive 100-ish(?)

novel-submissions from new authors a year.
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c) Literary-agents only have time to read 10-ish

novel-submissions a year.

d) Consequently, literary-agents narrow the 100-ish

submissions to 10-ish submissions by requiring the
new novel-author to have-been published by someone
else… typically short-story anthologies (and/or
competitions).

e) Unlike publishers’ professional-readers, literary-

agents GO OUT OF BUSINESS (or take-up day-jobs) if
cannot accurately-predict how-many copies a novel-
submission will sell.

Short-story anthology-editors (and short-story

competitions):

a) Short-story anthology-editors have NO “staff” of

authors.

b) They receive 100-to-333 short-story

submissions/year.

c) Anthology-editors rapidly eliminate short-story

submissions based-on spelling-and-grammer mistakes,
the first 3 paragraphs, and skimming the story.

d) Anthology-editors pay closer-attention to a

submission if the submitting-author has other
publishing successes – in short-stories or novels.

e) Anthology-editors that fail to select best short-

stories rapidly(?) GO OUT OF BUSINESS.

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Novel authors:

a) Novel-authors produce 10-ish novel-ideas / year.

b) They write 1-ish novel a year.

c) Most novel-authors have day-jobs.

HOW THE MOVIE-PUBLISHING INDUSTRY WORKS

(MY OVERLY-SIMPLISTIC SPECULATION… What little I have

read about movie-publishing is contrary information.)

Movie producers:

a) Movie producers have INFINITE number of movie

scripts that COULD produce.

b) To save themselves time-and-effort, movie-producers

only accept movie-scripts from screenwriting-
agents.

Movie-producers occasionally commission screenplay

from a successful novel.

c) Movie-producers (as people) must be somewhat-

skilled at reading-and-evaluating screenplays from
screenwriting-agents. A movie-producer receive-and-
evaluate 10-to-33 (???) screenplays a year.

d) Movie-producers MUST hire EXPERT screenplay-

evaluators, to sanity-check the movie-producer’s
less-expertly-selected top-3-to-10 screenplay-
candidates. They estimate how many viewers will

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watch the movie, given a budget for actors, sets,
special-effects, and marketing. Expert screenplay-
evaluators with a proven track-record would-be
VERY-VERY-EXPENSIVE.

e) Movie-producers select ONE of their top-3-to-10

screenplays, and spend 3-to-5 years producing.

Screenwriting agents:

a) Screenwriting-agents function similarly-to

literary-agents… I suspect.

Treatment-writers: (These people SHOULD exist, but I have

“seen” no mention of them as specialists.)

a) Treatment-writers invent 100-ish screenplay ideas a

year.

To invent 100-ish screenplay ideas/year, treatment-

writers must READ EXTENSIVELY, WATCH EVERY
COMPETING MOVIE/TELEVISION-SHOW, WATCH MANY NON-
COMPETING MOVIES/TELEVISION-SHOWS, and PRE-RESEARCH
odd-and-unusual subjects for inspiration.

b) Treatment-writers annually write treatments (short-

stories) 10-ish screenplays.

c) Do treatment-writers submit their treatments to

screenwriting agents? I don’t know.

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d) I suspect that perhaps… the best 3-ish treatments
(per year) are passed-onto screenwriters, turned-
into movie screenplays.

I suspect that treatment-writers are COMPLETELY-

different people to screenwriters, because their
mindset-and-skill-set must be so-different.

Screenplay writers:

a) Screenplay-writers are-given, or seek-out,

treatments.

b) They polish treatments. Add dialogue. Add camera

angles. Minimize sets. Identify potential actors.
Etcetera.

c) The screenplays submitted to screenwriting agents.

HOW THE TELEVISION-SERIES INDUSTRY WORKS

(This is PURE speculation. I have read NOTHING about

television-series authoring.)

Treatment-writers:

a) A group of treatment-writers invents-and-compiles

treatments for the 10-to-20 episodes in an upcoming
television-season. The treatment-collection would
be 1000-to-2000 novel-sized pages. Of course,

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individual episodes are summarized into a 100-to-
200 page summary.

b) Several versions of television-season treatment are

produced. One version is “lighter”, another “more
macabre”, etcetera.

c) There are TWO versions of the last episode (or last

two episodes) of every season. Both versions will
be filmed, fast video-edited, and shown to test-
audience. The test-audience’s evaluations (as well
as evaluations from television-series team-members)
determines the “direction” that the next-season
will take.

d) Television-series producers examine-and-analyze the

multiple treatment-versions for the season. The
producers (and hired experts) determine treatment-
version will be used. Better-components of
discarded treatment-versions are included in the
selected treatment-version.

Screenwriters:

a) Screenwriters convert-and-rewrite the episode-

treatments into screenplays. Screenwriters are
concerned about dialogue, camera angles, sets,
etcetera.

b) Multiple versions scenes (and dialogue) are

scripted to maximize choices for video-editors.

Test-viewers:
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a) A “rough cut” of every episode is produced by
video-editors. Perhaps several different versions.

b) Demographically-matched test-viewers preview the

rough-cuts, score them.

c) Professional team-members likewise EVALUATE the

rough-cuts, with more detailed-and-accurate
feedback.

d) Video-editors use feedback to final-edit the

episode.

e) Two directionally-DIFFERENT versions of the LAST

episode (or the last two episodes) are filmed and
rough-cut. Two short “next-season” treatments
accompany the two different-versions of the last
episode, detailing what direction the television-
series will take, depending-upon version of the
last-episode is selected.

f) The test-viewers evaluate which version of the last

episode they like best. They must also-read the
accompanying mini-treatments of two-possible-
versions of next season.

GENRES

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ELEMENTS OF A NOVEL THAT KEEP PEOPLE REA DING

 Angst – Some readers enjoy angst-filled novels.

Horror-novels often rely-upon angst. So does Rod
Serling’s television series, “The Twilight Zone”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(19
59_TV_series) )

 Competition – Although “Competition” is not-easily

incorporated into novel, many readers enjoy
“Competition”. “Competition” is so-easily
incorporated into computer-games that it is
ubiquitous.

 Crime in the neighborhood – People become very-

concerned when crime occurring in their
neighborhood, or when a stranger is seen
wandering/prowling around.

 Conflict – “Stories are about conflict.”

 Curiosity about an unknown factoid – Did you know

that New-York-City is 10,429 square-kilometers in
area? You know now. Or, perhaps sometime after the
cliffhanger chapter-ending.

 Curiosity about “how” to solve a problem – Do you

want to know how to properly change the oil in car?
Or, do you want to know the answer to “The riddle
of the Sphinx”?

 Curiosity about misfortune – Did you hear that

William had a terrible auto accident? (From
“Conflict & Suspense”)

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 Curiosity about “what happened” in the retelling of
the story (Suspense) – Stringing the reader along
with emotion-laden cliff-hanger chapters, half-
revealed information about something that will
happen in the future.

 Curiosity about what a location “looks like” –

Interesting architecture. Natural scenery. The
ambience of boutique city-districts.

 Curiosity about what a person is doing –

Particularly if they are doing something that
affects society, or that might be criminal.

 Curiosity about who a person is – Not their name.

But knowing them as a person. Or, knowing their
secrets.

 Descriptions of the weather – People interested in

the weather. Just listen to any ordinary
conversation.

 Different laws of reality – Such as fantasy magic,

or science-fiction technology. Science-fiction-
readers and fantasy-readers crave worlds where laws
of reality are unlike our own.

 Disagreement/conflict within a group – If two

people in a group that YOU are a member of, get
into disagreement/conflict, YOU become very-
concerned.

 Education – Information that the reader wishes to

learn.

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 Emotional drive in the country – Pull the reader
through emotions that they don’t normally
experience in real-life.

 Empathy with protagonists

 Escapism – Some element of escapism that the reader

is looking for… whether they want a better
relationship, or they wish fly a spaceship, or they
wish to live in an alien society.

 Food – Not readily describable/enjoyable in novel.

 Goals – Goals keep computer-game-players interested

in playing computer-games. Goals keep protagonists
interested their virtual-lives. Does a
protagonist’s goals keep novel-readers interested
in the book?

 Horror-novel techniques – Horror-novel techniques

create a feeling of “horror” (not quite), that
keeps some people reading.

 Information about individuals in power –

Information about someone in power keeps some
people reading. (From “Plot & Structure”)

 Learning how to overcome a danger – If you are

caught in an earthquake, how do you survive?
(Inspired by “Plot & Structure”)

 Machinations (often legal in nature) – Some people

enjoy maneuvering through ephemeral “mazes”
constructed of rules, law-and-personality-
prescribed limitations, and non-obvious social
effects.
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Machinations take the form of combining-and-

integrating technological devices to solve a
problem.

 “Missing narrative” and intrigue – When portions of

the story are missing, the experience often becomes
more engaging. Not for everyone.

 Mystery – Stringing reader along with half-revealed

information, about something that happened in the
past.

 News-watcher – Some people enjoy watching the news,

from local to international.

 Novelty – New-and-novel things (people, places,

objects, concepts) are attractive to people. Other
people avoid newness.

 Pattern challenges – Game-players find identifying-

patterns fun. Once a pattern has been “grocked”,
the pattern-challenge is no-longer fun. It is
merely tedious. (From “A Theory of fun”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok)

 Plot-arc (sometimes called a “Plot”) – The action.

People are interested in action, just listen to
ordinary day-to-day conversations. “So what did you
do over the weekend?”

 Politics – Politics is different than

relationships, because involves social competition
and intrigue.

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 Relationships – People like relationships. Just
listen to a every-day conversation. “Did I tell you
about what my sister is up to? She just went to Los
Angeles for the weekend.”

 Retribution – Retribution against a criminal or

cheat.

 Seeing justice served – The criminal gets caught by

the police. The downtrodden person is helped. (From
“Plot & Structure”)

 Setting – An interesting setting.

 Sex, and relationships powerful-enough to include

sex

 Technology (cool and new) – Science-fiction and

technological-espionage novels rely on readers
being interested-in cool-and-new technology ideas.
So do the gadget news-websites, www.Engadget.com
and www.Gizmodo.com.

 Tension – Some sort of danger. More-clichéd…

“Stories are about conflict.”

 Uncovering hidden messages within the novel – Some

readers enjoy uncovering hidden messages – themes
and allegories. (From “Plot & Structure”)

 Verbal circumnavigation – When someone DOES-NOT

speak openly, and say what is on their mind, people
pay attention: What are they hiding? Who listening,
that the speaker does-not want the-listener to
understand the message? Who in the room could
actually decode the message?
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 Verbal trickery/deception – When someone in

conversation is being verbally-evasive, people pay
attention.

 Voyeurism – People like knowing what other people

are doing. They like watching other people. They
enjoy scandalous voyeurism. Some people are
curious-enough that they rudely learn details about
celebrities’ (and neighbors’) private lives.

(Idea from “How to write Science Fiction &

Fantasy”) Readers wish to know the “why” of
someone, and/or their actions. Not just the “who”,
“what”, “when”, and “where”.

 Warnings of danger – Warn people about real-life

dangers, cyclones or shady salespeople. Just listen
to ordinary conversations: “Don’t drink that coffee
over there… it’s disgusting.”

 “The weird” – The movie/novel presents a

strange/twisted version of the real-world, as its
setting. When the movie/novel ends, the reader
wanders-around the real world, wondering if their
real-world isn’t-actually the same strange/twisted
world as depicted in the movie/novel. J. K.
Rowling’s “Harry Potter” describes the existence of
“wizards-and-witches amongst us”, and even provides
“plausible” explanations about why we do-not
perceive them.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

 Weirdness – An element of setting, plot-arc,

physics, or personality that is “weird”. Odd, yet
not-dangerous???

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 “What if” twists – Hypothesize that ONE (and
typically only-one) difference exists between the
novel’s setting, and the real world. That ONE
twist/difference is a change to the laws of physics
(such as “Faster than light travel”), or change in
the outcome of a historical event, or a change in
the psychology of Homo-Sapiens, or a major change
to the protagonist’s psychology/history. The
“Sliders” television-series used a different “What
if”-twist for every episode.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders)

 What is the/that trouble-maker up to now?!? – As in

the cartoon/movie, “Dennis the Menace”, and Homer
Simpson from “The Simpsons”. (Also illustrated in
“Harlequin Mills & Boon Novels”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_the_Menace_(U.
S._comics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_simpsons)

 “Who’s the father” – When the father of an infant

(and only an infant? Not a toddler. Not a child.
Not a teenager.) is unnamed, people want to know
who the father is. (From “Writing a Romance Novel
for Dummies.”)

 “You must read the novel because of X” – Novels

must have several easy-to-describe scenes that
cause readers to virally-advertise novel to other
readers.

There must ALSO be a chapter or two which causes a

reader to WANT to recommend the novel to someone
else. This is often accomplished by a cliché “happy
ending”.

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 Player motivations – Game-designers have an
equivalent “Elements of a novel game that keep
people reading playing” list, grouped into “player
types”. Search the internet for “player
motivations” and “game player motivations”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation,
http://www.nickyee.com/pubs/2012%20CHI%20-
%20Motivations%20Scale.pdf,
http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-
library/06276.26370.pdf,http://www.nickyee.com/daed
alus/archives/pdf/3-2.pdf,
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001298.php
?page=4,
http://www.nickyee.com/facets/5motiva.html,
http://www.silentblade.com/presentations/bbostan-
2008-2.pdf, http://www.thinkfeelplay.com/theory-of-
gaming-motivation/,
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129852/design
ing_for_motivation.php, http://www.critical-
hits.com/blog/2008/07/04/player-motivation-and-
types-revisited-again/)

 See my game-design “blog”, for more ideas.

(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerInter
activeFictionGameDesignBlog.pdf)

“CONFLICT” IS AN OVERLOADED TERM

When “How to write novels” books use the term

“Conflict”, the MEANING is OVERLOADED.

 INTERNAL conflict – “Do I really want to go to

university? Or do I want to become a forest ranger
instead?”

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Results in character-arcs, decision-points, and
reader-thoughts about morality.

 RELATIONSHIP conflict arguments – “It-is YOUR turn

to take out the garbage! [And you SHOULD-NOT have
gone drinking with your friends last night –
Unspoken.]”

Results in relationships, relationship-arcs, group

dynamics, and reader-thoughts, as readers “read
between the lines”.

 INTERROGATION conflict – Cliché: A police-

investigator is trying to fool witnesses into
revealing clues. “SOMEONE in this room is a
MURDERER! And I know WHO it is.”

Results in dialogue, reader-tension, and the

reader’s heightened verbal-attention (for subtle
word-details).

 OBSERVATIONAL conflict spying –A private-

investigator is spying on someone.

Results in tension, uncertainty (about whether the

spied-upon person will be caught, or whether the
spy will be caught).

 LEGAL conflict obstacles – Laws often form unseen

(but known to exist) barriers, preventing people
from acting.

For example: When the United-States Government

could-not catch mobsters shooting people, they
instead convicted them of tax-fraud.

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For example: A more-common legal obstacle: It is
ILLEGAL to walk across someone’s property, but
LEGAL to walk down their driveway and knock on
their door.

This form of “conflict” results in reader-thought,

and reader-education.

 NEGOTIATIONS conflict

 LAW-COURT conflict – Trials are conflict.

 LEGISLATURE conflict politics – The

politicking/discussion in a legislature is
“conflict”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_(2012_film) )

 Competitive conflict sports – Competitive sporting-

events might-also be considered “conflict”.

 PHYSICAL conflict – Aggressive-or-violent physical

interaction between characters.

Results in “happenings”, “action”, tension,

emotions, and uncertainty.

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YOU ONLY HAVE 300 PAGES

Need to squeeze as much entertainment and information in

300 pages as possible.

Which means that there will be a genre:

Below is a list of novel-genres, grouped by “How to write

novels” book-categories. I have grouped the novel-genres
by “How to write novels” book-categories, so that I can
more-easily compare how popular the novel-genre is (how
many novels are sold), versus how many amateur-authors
are trying to write for the novel-genre (how many “How to
write novels” books are sold). Numbers of “How to write
novels” books, and numbers of novels, are from
Amazon.com. (www.Amazon.com)

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: (84 “HOW TO WRITE ”

BOOKS)

 Children’s books/novels (325,000 books, the number

seems inaccurate)

 Choice fiction (300(?) novels) – The ability for

readers to see what happens along an ever-branching
timeline. See “Choose your own adventure” series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adven
ture)

Choice-fiction can also include “fill in the blank”

fields, such as the weapons, armor, and gold-money,
such as in “Fighting Fantasy” choice-fiction books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy)

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 Coming of Age (3000 novels)

 Meet-the-character – Only used as Children’s

fiction, “Meet-the-character” stories have NO
antagonist, NO conflict, NO plot. They merely
detail a few days in the life of a protagonist and
his/her friends.

FICTION: (307 “HOW TO WRITE” BOOKS)

 Adventure (55,000 novels) – The character is sent

on a quest-or-journey by a mentor, and must
accomplish a set of tasks. These stories emphasize
plot, action, suspense, worlds, and newness. See
Joseph Campbell’s, “The Hero’s Journey”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth)

 Biographical (2900 novels) – A fictional biography

(of a real person)?

 Decision story – The novel has MANY planning-

meetings and decision-points. Most decisions that
the protagonist makes, are the wrong decisions,
and/or the decisions have unanticipated side-
effects that surface later-on in the novel.

 Helper fiction – Characterization, mystery, and

setting/education are most-important. 100 pages to
characterization of 5-10 characters. 100 pages to
mystery and setting/education. (“Ghost Whisperer”
paranormal television-series, for example.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Whisperer)

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 Holiday novel – Read by people thinking about

taking holiday in a far-away place. The novel
provides an overview of a real-life setting
(holiday destination), with fiction interwoven.
Perhaps a holiday-romance?

 Historical novel (40,000 novels) – 100 pages to

historically-accurate setting… which is mostly
about education and internal-consistency for a
setting.

 Historical novel, archetype (14,000 “Western”

novels) – A historical novel taking-place in an
inaccurate-archetypical depiction of history, such
as a “Western” or “Chicago Gangster”.

 Humor

 Meeting fiction – The novel is essentially a long-

meeting. Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” is
meeting-fiction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove)

 Metaorganism novel – A novel that describes the

thoughts-and-actions of organization-“characters”,
instead of the thoughts-and-actions of people-
characters. People portrayed in metaorganism-novels
are just names, attached to metaorganisms. Like,
William Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third
Reich”, but fictional. J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The
Silmarillion” is nearly a metaorganism novel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_
the_Third_Reich,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silmarillion)

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Metaorganism – A metaorganism is an organism

constructed from the minds of a group of
people.

Some metaorganisms: Nations. Cultures.

Religions. Sports teams. Choirs.
Relationships.

 Metaphysical (2500 novels)

 Political (3700 novels)

 Relationship novel (Unknown – 400,000 “Literature &

Fiction” novels total) – The novel centers-around
relationship between two (or more) people. Or, the
relationships of a groups of friends. The
relationship can be friendship, marriage, or
rivalry.

 Religious

 Road-trip – (Is this really a sub-genre, or is it a

“master” plot?) Several characters embark on a
journey across a vast country, via road. Along the
way, stop at culturally-familiar cities and
tourist-sights. Since readers ALREADY know (or have
experienced) the cities and tourist-sights, the
road-trip plotline focuses-in-on the character-
interactions surrounding tourist-sights. Several of
the characters MUST(???) be trouble-makers. Like
Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise”, Douglas Adams’
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and John
Hughes’ “National Lampoon’s Vacation”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_%26_Louise,
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Gui
de_to_the_Galaxy_(novel),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon%27s_V
acation)

 Satire (600 novels)

 War (8000 novels)

GRAPHIC NOVEL: (1446 “HOW TO CARTOON” BOOKS)

 Graphic novel (60,000 novels) – Most graphic novels

are fantasy, science-fiction, and superhero.

MYSTERY: (252 “HOW TO WRITE” BOOKS)

 Crime (4300 novels) – 100 pages for plot-arc and

mystery. 100 pages for characterization, perhaps
relationships between police-officers. 100 pages
for the rest.

 Horror Mystery/Thriller – A Mystery/Thriller

novel/film that incorporates elements of a Horror
novel/film. The “Horror” elements are derived from
technology, politics, and secrets, instead of
paranormal events. The reader is expected to feel
angst, “The weird”, “Weirdness”, and fear. John
Bracato’s and Michael Ferris’ movie, “The Game” is
an example.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(1997_film)
)
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 Law-court (4800 novels)

 Mystery novel (65,000 novels) – 100 pages to

mystery. 100 pages to setting and characterization
of 10-to-20 characters. 100 pages to the rest.

“Who dunnit?” novels are really games, where the

reader/player tries to guess “Who dunnit?” before
the protagonist(s) do. How is a “Who dunnit?” novel
written where two protagonists independently find
clues?

 Small village – The “genre” is similar to a soap-

opera crossed with a metaorganism-novel, except
with HUNDREDS of characters. The reader’s interest
is maintained by difficulty/challenge of
remembering all of the characters, and trying to
identify what each character does (for work), what
each character’s personality is, and how each
character partakes in the observed metaorganism.

Season 2 of David Benoiff’s and D. B. Weiss’ “Game

of Thrones” is genre-wise between a “Small village”
genre and a “Soap opera”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones)

 Technology espionage (18,000 novels) – 100 pages

for plot-arc and technological gadgets. 100 pages
for characterization and relationships. 100 pages
for the rest. Such as David Marconi’s movie, “Enemy
of the state”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(f
ilm) )

 Thriller (60,000 novels)

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PARANORMAL: (100(?) “HOW TO WRITE” BOOKS )

 Paranormal (4500 novels) – 100 pages to “the weird”

– whether a weird setting, or a weird plot-arc. 100
pages to plot-arc and action. 100 pages to the
rest.

 Horror (32,000 novels) – 100 pages for character

development. 100 pages for plot-arc and “the
weird”. 100 pages for the rest.

ROMANCE AND EROTICA: (488 “HOW TO WRITE” BOOKS)

 Affair novel – Read by people thinking about having

an affair-or-relationship with someone at work (a
fellow employee, or a boss, or a subordinate), or
whom they have been introduced to (an airplane
pilot, a rancher, a police-officer, etcetera).
These novels provide the reader with peek at what
their future affair/relationship might be like, as
well as providing them tips to help-ensure success
in their planned endeavor.

 Falling-in-love (180,000 “Romance” novels total) –

Since interpersonal relationships are paramount,
only have two protagonists… or one-and-a-half
protagonists. 100 pages devoted to protagonist
characterizations, 100 pages towards their
relationship. The remaining 100 pages to plot-arc,
setting, memes, etcetera.

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Conjecture: In a “Romance novel”, the reader should
“almost” fall in “phantom”-love with the romantic-
lead.

Example: “My Fair Lady” is a romance-musical. Henry

Higgins picks-up Eliza Doolittle, NOT in a dating-
bar, but off the street. He pays her to move in
with him. He treats her like an inferior, AND an
experiment. He begins the musical/play as a
complete-and-total “no-go-zone” male-lead. By the
end of the musical, THE AUDIENCE (I suspect) thinks
that Henry Higgins is not-a-bad-guy, and perhaps…
marriage-quality???
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady_(film) )

 Soap opera (television) – Soap operas let viewers

participate in the daily-lives of characters, for
years-to-decades. Do long-time soap-opera viewers
experience “phantom” relationships with characters?
The “phantom” relationships include buddies,
friends, rivals, and even “Serious
boyfriend/girlfriend” and/or a marriage-
relationship. (See below for a discussion of
“Phantom reader-protagonist relationships”.)

SCIENCE-FICTION AND FANTASY: (128 “HOW TO

WRITE” BOOKS)

 Anthropomorphic, non-children’s (100(?) novels) –

The “number of novels”-metric is from SofaWolf-
Press and Rabbit-Valley.
(https://www.sofawolf.com/,
http://www.rabbitvalley.com/)

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 Fantasy (50,000 novels) – Setting, plot-arc, and
non-realistic changes to the laws of physics are
primary. Because setting and plot-arc are
important, and they must be explored by
protagonists, requires 2-6 protagonists. 100 pages
devoted to setting. 100 pages to plot-arc. 100 the
rest.

 The Hero’s Journey – (I this really a sub-genre, or

is it a “master” plot? It seems to be most-common
as a sub-genre of “Fantasy”.) An avatar-protagonist
is given a “quest” by a mentor (or by worldly
events). The avatar-protagonist initially refuses,
but are ultimately compelled into the quest. The
quest involves a series of tasks, culminating with
the achievement of a prize. Part-way through the
quest, the avatar-protagonist’s mentor must die, be
captured, or go-on an extended-holiday.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth)

 History, alternative history (3800 novels) – The

novel takes place in alternative history. Is this
“science fiction”, or just “fiction”?

 Insanity fiction – In most fiction, the narrator

almost-never lies to the reader. Nor do the
characters. The narrator might sometimes misdirect
the reader. Narrators almost-always fail to mention
important facts. In Insanity-fiction, the narrator
lies… If the reader naively trusts the narrator,
then the reader doesn’t know what reality the
character is actually existing in. Terry Gilliam’s
“The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”, and Terry
Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys” both lie to the reader
movie-viewer, inaccurately-depicting the movie’s
virtual-world events to indicate the protagonists’
delusions.
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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Bar
on_Munchausen,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Monkeys)

 Mythology (18,000 novels) – Is this “science-

fiction and fantasy”, or “fiction”?

 Science fiction (50,000 novels) – Setting, not-yet-

invented technology, and education (and warnings of
danger) are most-important. 100 pages to setting,
not-yet-invented technology, and education. 100
pages to plot-arc. 100 pages to the rest.

 Superhero – Novel written about superhero

characters in a contemporary world.

WHAT NOVEL-GENRES ARE THE MOST-FUN TO WRITE?

There are 1359 “How to write novels” books, NOT INCLUDING

the 1446 “How to write manga/comics/graphic-novels”
books. (Derived from www.Amazon.com searches.)

I have-not yet determined how many “How to write novels”

web-pages, and free E-books there are; I have found at-
least 10. Free novel-writing E-books DO-NOT MATTER, since
$20 spent on a professionally-written “How to write
novels” book could save the author hundreds-to-thousands
of hours of mistakes.

Here is a table that I constructed from the

www.Amazon.com data:

Category Number of "How to write"-books

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divided-by Log(Number of
novels)
Children's literature 15.23979999
Paranormal 21.91880332
Science-Fiction and Fantasy 25.23718017
Mystery 48.88139166
Fiction 53.91067322
Romance and Erotica 92.85912377
Graphic novel 302.6275068

This INACCURATE-data indicates:

 Amateur-authors must very-much enjoy writing

“Graphic novels” and “Romance and Erotica”.

Conversely, there is a glut of “Graphic novel” and

“Romance and Erotica” novelists and unpublished-
novels.

 Amateur-authors dislike writing “Children’s

literature”, “Paranormal”, and “Science-fiction and
Fantasy” novels.

SCIENCE-FICTION SUB-GENRES

As I intend to write a science-fiction novel, I analyzed

the science-fiction plots (seen in the “Plot” chapter,
below), to determine which sub-genres of science-fiction
are popular.

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Science-Fiction sub-genres, and their popularity in science- Count

fiction movies
Mystery/Thriller 33%
Very Science-Fictiony Plots 30%
Fantasy 23%
Action/Adventure 12%
Drama 11%
Horror 9%
Military/War 8%
Kids-and-Family 6%
Paranormal 3%
Comedy 2.7%
(The actual
number
might be
higher
than 2.7%.)
Romance 2.6%

Based on novel-counts, how popular are other genres

compared to science-fiction novels?

Popularity of other genres compared to science-fiction Count

Drama 800%
Kids-and-Family 650%
Romance 360%
Mystery/Thriller 300%
Action/Adventure 110%

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Science-fiction 100%
Fantasy 100%
Comedy No data
Paranormal 9% (The
number is
most-likely
MUCH
higher
than 9%.)
Horror 64%
Military/War 16%

Some conclusions:

 If you plan on writing a “Military/War” novel, then

converting the novel’s setting to a “Science-
fiction” setting, with a “Military/War” subgenre,
might result in approximately the same sales.

 For every-other genre (or sub-genre), removing the

“Science-fiction” aspects of the novel should
almost-always result in higher sales...
Particularly for “Romance”, “Drama”, and “Comedy”
science-fiction.

SOURCE-DATA

The source-data for the “Science-fiction sub-genres”

table: (The unified list of movie science-fiction-plots,
appears in the “Plot” chapter.)

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Very Science-Fictiony Plots Count

Survive (often in a post-apocalyptic world, or malevolent 31
government)
Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against 16
Race to find antiviral (or other non-violent solution to problem) 14
Mess-up timeline 10
Alien lands on Earth and tries to survive government 8
Alien invasion, Hominid-protagonist survives 8
Alien abduction 8
First contact with aliens 7
Alien invasion, Hominids defend against 6
Alien assault on Earth, by single very-large alien 5
Disclosure, without alien invasion 4
Aliens living amongst us 3
Aliens defend the Earth from our technology 2
TOTAL 122/409 =
30%

Romance-like Plot in Science-fiction movie Count

Romance 11
TOTAL 11/409 =
2.6%

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Drama-like Plot in Science-fiction Movie Count

Descent into insanity (or losing self) 13
Political intrigue 8
Finding one's self (becoming mentally stable) 8
Enslaved 7
Alien enslaved by Hominids 4
Aliens living amongst us 3
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
TOTAL 44/409 =
11%

Action/Adventure-like Plot in Science-fiction movie Count

Survive (often in a post-apocalyptic world, or malevolent 31
government)
Travel as obstacle 9
Lost in space (Random quests) 5
Alien and Hominid work-together to survive in hostile world 3
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
Catastrophe 1
TOTAL 50/409 =
12%

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Military/war-like plot in Science-fiction Movie Count

Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against 16
Alien invasion, Hominid-protagonist survives 8
Alien invasion, Hominids defend against 6
Assault a small group of aliens, by Hominids 4
TOTAL 34/409 =
8%

Mystery/Thriller-like Plot in a Science-Fiction Movie Count

Defeat an evil villain (or capture criminal) 56
Protagonist hunted down 40
Police/investigation 12
Protagonist rescues people 10
Political intrigue 8
Protagonist hunts-down an alien 8
Heist 1
Stealth/cleverness to goal 1
TOTAL 136/409 =
33%

Comedy-like Plot in a Science-Fiction Movie Count

Mess-up timeline 10
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
TOTAL 11/409 =
2.7%
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Horror-like Plot in a Science-Fiction Movie Count

Protagonist hunted down (Horror) 17
Descent into insanity (or losing self) 13
Alien invasion, Hominid-protagonist survives 8
TOTAL 38/409 =
9%

Paranormal-like Plot in a Science-Fiction Movie Count

Descent into insanity (or losing self) 13
TOTAL 13/409 =
3%

Fantasy-like Plot in a Science-fiction Movie Count

Defeat an evil villain (or capture criminal) 56
Defeat the evil overlord 22
Travel as obstacle 9
Lost in space (Random quests) 5
Become the evil overlord 3
TOTAL 95/409 =
23%
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Kids-and-Family-like Plot in a Science-fiction Movie Count

Mess-up timeline 10
Alien lands on Earth and tries to survive government 8
Lost in space (Random quests) 5
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
TOTAL 24/409 =
6%

ADULT-GENRES VERSUS TEENAG ER-GENRES

(MY SPECULATION)

Adult genre (Artsy to Geeky) Teenager genre (Artsy to

Geeky)
Romance (♀)
Relationship (♀) Girl’s novel (♀)
Comedy (♀, ♂) Comedy (♀, ♂)
Drama (♀)
Action/adventure (♂)
Mystery (♀, ♂)
Paranormal (♀) Paranormal (♀)
War (♂)
Thriller (♂)
Superheroes (♂) Superheroes (♂)
Science-fiction (♂) Combat science-fiction (♂)

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Fantasy (♀, ♂) Combat fantasy (♂)

Adult genre (Not orderable) Teenager genre (Not

orderable)
Comedy (♀, ♂) Comedy (♀, ♂)
Horror(♂) Squeam(-ish)/Horror/Ghosts
(♂)

Perhaps it would be a good idea for adult-novels to avoid

the teenage-genres?

NON-GENRE APPROACH

What are the number-one, number-two, and number-three

impetus-elements?

 Characters – Interesting-and-odd characters-and-

characterization are paramount.

 Emotional – The novel should induce emotions in

readers. (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”)

 Fantasy escapism – The novel is about escaping from

ordinary reality. Some people find that a
historical setting is enough of an escape. Some
think near-future science-fiction is far-enough
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away. Other people want “fantasy elements” – odd-
and-unusual laws of reality.

 Humor – Laughter-and-chuckles are most important.

 Horror – The novel should promote “chills” and

“angst”. (Stephen King’s “It”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel) )

 Puzzle – The novel provides a puzzle for readers to

solve. (Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient
Express”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_on_the_Orient_
Express)

 Social agenda – The novel should encourage people

to think about issue. (Upton Sinclair’s “The
Jungle”) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle)

 Teaching – The novel should teach, instruct, and/or

train the reader in a skill or skills. Such as
Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick)

 The weird – Change the reader’s view about real-

life reality, so that AFTER reading the novel,
readers don’t-really know if they are actually
living in a magical world. (Tom Clancy’s
technological-espionage novels, J. K. Rowling’s
“Harry Potter”, ghost stories)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_story)

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BUILDING ON-TOP OF PREEXISTING N OVELS

Novels can be built on-top of the characters, settings,

and storylines of pre-existing novels:

 Archetype worlds-and-settings – Some worlds and

settings are copies-with-modification of
archetypes.

o Medieval fantasy – Many fantasy novels occur

in a world with swords, magic, evil
overlords, “Elves”, and “Orcs”. Being set in
essentially the same universe as many-other
fantasy novels, the author does-not need to
explain the details of the fantasy universe.
Instead, the author can emphasize action,
characters, and relationships.

o Space-opera – Many science-fiction novels

occur in a world with laser-blasters, warp-
capable spaceships, space-battles, and
aliens. Being set in essentially the same
universe as every-other space-opera world,
the author does-not need to explain the
details of the science-fiction universe.
Instead, the author can emphasize action,
characters, and relationships.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera)

 Fan fiction – Amateur authors sometimes write their

fiction using the worlds and characters designed by
popular authors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction)

 Parody – An author writes a parody of an existing-

and-popular novel. Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don

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Quixote” is a parody of chivalric novels of his
time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote)

 Shared worlds – Some worlds are shared between

several authors. And/or, they are shared between
authors, and a role-playing-game world.

NOVEL-BUILDING PRINCIPLES

READERS

 DO-NOT think of your “reader” as someone with your

own personality, interests, beliefs, and knowledge.

 DO-NOT think of your “reader” as an average (mean)

of all readers that might read your novel. (A 22
year-old person who drives a $15,000 automobile,
and who enjoys pizza, but not philosophy.)

 DO-NOT think of your “reader” as a typical (median)

reader that might read your novel. (A 25 year-old
male who drives a $20,000 Ford station-wagon, and
who enjoys chicken-wings, and occasional museum-
visits.)

 DO think of your “reader” as a set of metrics, with

scatter-plot (or Gaussian distribution) values. (A
16-to-45 year-old, most-likely male, who drives a
$11,000 to $54,000 Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, or Toyota.
And who enjoys pizza, chicken-wings, or burgers.
And who rarely likes philosophy, or museum visits,
but prefers walks in the park.)
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 DO think of your “reader” as a collection of ten(?)

readers from scattered demographics. (A 25 year-old
male who drives a $20,000 Ford station-wagon, and
who enjoys chicken-wings, and occasional museum-
visits. A 21 year-old female who rides a bicycle to
work, and who enjoys stout-beer, and occasional
holidays in Thailand. A 48 year-old male who drives
a Jeep four-wheel drive, and who enjoys pizza, and
fishing. Etcetera.)

READER DEMOGRAPHICS

 Acceptance of new realities – Most science-fiction

(and fantasy) readers will (almost “by definition”)
have a high “acceptance of new realities”
(formerly-named “suspension of disbelief”).

Most children, and fewer teenagers, and even-fewer

adults have a high “acceptance of new realities”.

Those people that have high “acceptance of new

realities” often fall into the “geek” demographic.

 Acceptance of improbabilities – The reader is

capable of believing in improbable events.

 Acceptance of unrealistic personalities – The

reader either does-not notice unrealistic
personalities in characters, or does-not mind.

 Acceptance of historical inaccuracies – How

historically-accurate a novel must be.

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 Acceptance of inaccurate-simulations of the laws of
physics-and-biology – Some people notice when
tsunamis are inaccurately exaggerated for disaster
movies.

 The reader likes non-Hominid races in stories –

10%-to-30% of the characters on children’s
television-shows are non-Hominid characters
(anthropomorphic animals, anthropomorphic-reptiles,
anthropomorphic-insects, and aliens). 0.1%-to-1% of
adult television-characters (1%-to-10% of science-
fiction-and-fantasy television-characters) are
similarly non-Hominid. (Klingons and Vulcans DO-NOT
count; they are Hominid.)

 Age

Children also have a higher “acceptance of new

realities”, “acceptance of improbabilities”,
“acceptance of unrealistic personalities”,
“acceptance of historical inaccuracies”, and
“acceptance of inaccurate simulation of the laws of
physics-and-biology” than adults.

 Gender – (From “How to write Science Fiction &

Fantasy”) Men are attracted to science-fiction
novels, women to fantasy novels.

“Science-fiction”, I assume, emphasizes

“Technology”, “Military”, and a central “What-if”-
twist.

“Fantasy”, I assume, emphasizes “Non-technology-

based magic”, “Quests”, and “Non-Homo-Sapiens
races”. “Elves”, “Halflings”, “Fey”, “Dwarves”, and
“Orcs” are common.

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 “Artsy” versus “Geeky” – Some readers are “artsy”
(liberal-arts majors, “artEEsts”), while others are
“geeky” (engineers, scientists, mathematicians). Do
“geeky” people prefer science-fiction over fantasy?
Do normal people/adults (in-between “artsy” and
“geeky”) read science-fiction and/or fantasy?

 People with heightened novel/movie emotions – Orson

Scott Card, the author of “Characters & Viewpoint”,
describes novel-reading as an emotional experience,
and movie-watching as very-emotional. I am jealous.
For him, any/every character is intriguing and
emotion-inducing. For me, a novel/movie rarely
produces real-life emotions. How does “heightened
novel/movie emotions” affect what novels/movies a
person reads/watches? (From “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

 Visualizers – These people ALWAYS prefer “Show,

don’t tell.” Describe the actions and details,
only. NOT the character’s thoughts. Character
thoughts are implied/deduced by the described
details. (Inspired by “Plot & Structure”)

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ACCEPTANCE OF NEW REALITIES

Different readers have different capacities to accept new

realities (suspend disbelief), and different knowledge
about what is believable.

Some guidelines:

8. Fantasy readers (small children, and “geek” men-

and-women) have a VERY-large “acceptance of new
realities” (suspension of disbelief???). 20-cm-tall
fairies are entirely credible to them as a story-
element, despite the fact that 20cm-fairy
intelligence would be rat-like, and their voices
would be equally as squeaky… not to mention that
their wings wouldn’t enable flight… and that if
they really existed, then “by now”, someone would
have captured some fairies and bred them as pets.

a. Fantasy novels have the most-

innovative/interesting plot-arcs and settings
though.

7. Space-opera science-fiction readers accept the fact

that spaceships and laser-blasters exist.
Spaceships and laser-blasters are a science-fiction
archetype/cliché.

6. Hard-core science-fiction readers want a

pseudoscience explanation for every major
technological device in the story.

5. Paranormal television-viewers are exposed to the

real-world, with some additional fantasy-elements.
They have to be able to believe that telepathy,
precognition, and ghosts exist.

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4. High-tech spy/espionage novels requires their
readers believe in a high-tech super-secret
military in the US, that can invent super-
magnetized watches, or where spy-satellites can (at
great expense) watch the movements of individual
people.

3. Cop-show and murder-mystery viewers have to believe

(or not know) that cops can investigate-and-solve
one murder-mystery after another, after another.

2. Romance readers have to believe that a couple can

fall in love over the course of 300 pages.

1. At a minimum “acceptance of new realities”, readers

have to stomach an interesting-but-contrived
sequence of events, minus all of the incidentals of
everyday life (getting out of bed, doing laundry,
throwing old food out of the fridge, etc.).

0. No “acceptance of new realities” – Narrations (not

stories) that depict average person’s normal-but-
boring life just don’t sell, because most-people
have normal-but-boring lives, and they don’t need
to read about someone else’s normal-but-boring
life.

REDUCING THE REQUIREMENT FOR A HIGH “ACCEPTANCE

OF NEW REALITIES”

The higher the novel’s “acceptance of new realities”

value (above), the fewer readers that a novel will have.
If a story DOES-NOT require a high “acceptance of new
realities”-value, then reduce the
technology/magic/foreignness of the story by at least one
category. For example: If a romance aboard a 25th-century
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spaceship would be nearly-as compelling aboard a 21st-
century ocean-liner, then place the romance in the 21st-
century instead.

ACCEPTANCE OF IMPROBABILITIES

BUGBUG – Do this

ACCEPTANCE OF UNREALISTIC PERSONALITIES

BUGBUG – do this

ACCEPTANCE OF HISTORICAL INACCURACIES

BUGBUG – do this

ACCEPTANCE OF INACCURATE-SIMULATIONS OF THE

LAWS OF PHYSICS-AND-BIOLOGY

BUGBUG – do this

A legislature in 19th century Indiana is perfectly capable

of believing that pi can be rounded-off to 3.2 without
any ill-effects happening, but a true mathematician
realizes that pi isn’t even a quantifiable number (like
3.14…) because the number changes depending upon how

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curved-and-distorted space is.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill)

NOVELS – TIME-SLICED 10-HOUR-LONG HOLIDAYS

People read novels because they want to go on holiday

from real life, for an hour every few nights.

Consequently, novels are about:

 Consistency throughout the novel – Every one-

hour time-slice of novel should be as
comfortable, easy-to-read, “energetic”, etcetera
as every-other one-hour time-slice.

 Relaxation – Nothing too exciting, or too

difficult to think-about.

Novel-holidays do NOT include:

 Big flashy exciting chapters at the expense of

other chapters – Two-hour movies can have a slow
buildup to an exciting climax. Novels cannot…
kind-of.

VIDEO (MOVIES AND TELEVISION-SHOWS) COMPETES

AGAINST TEXT-NOVELS

If portions of your novel would be better-experienced as

video (movies and television-shows), should you redesign
those portions of your novel?
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Strengths of text, versus video:

 TEXT IS CHEAP TO PRODUCE. TARGET NICHE

AUDIENCES.

 Descriptions of scenery works… to an extent

 The minds of protagonists can be read by the

reader

 Foreshadowing by exposition works well

 Exposition works well… despite what “How to

write a novel” books say.

 “Tell, don’t show” – Movies and television are

“Show, don’t tell”.

 Narration of alternative timelines at decision

points work well – Protagonists can spend a
chapter or two thinking about the choices
available in decision point. Each choice can
have a paragraph to a page describing the
expected outcome of the choice.

 Protagonists can have perceptible character arcs

 Emotional rides through the country – Slow-paced

emotions can be created, such as a sense of
accomplishment, pride in someone else’s
accomplishments, sorrow, grief, etcetera. (Some
game-evoked emotions described in “A theory of
fun”.

Limitations of text:

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 Action scenes fail miserably

 Dialogue doesn’t work well – Television works

much better. Foreign-accents barely work.
Subtle-emotions and connotations embedded in
dialogue DO NOT work.

 Emotional roller-coasters fail – It is very-

difficult to create adrenaline, for example.

 Sex-scenes don’t work well – Telepathic-

“Feelies” television works much-better.

COMPUTER-GAMES COMPETE AGAINST TEXT-NOVELS

If portions of your novel would be better-experienced as

a computer-game, should you redesign those portions of
your novel?

What computer games do well: (From “A Theory of Fun”, and

game-design experience)

 Computer-games let player explore a possibility

space

 Action, particularly running through a virtual

world, jumping, and shooting

 Danger – Games about danger work REALLY-REALLY

well.

 Architecture – Virtual-world games are an excellent

way to experience buildings, as well as outdoor
settings.

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 Some emotions – Excitement/adrenalin, frustrations,
victory

 Some mental states – Hypnotic “flow”, intensity

 Learning by doing

 15-minute “casual games” – Some games can be played

and completed within 15 minutes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual_game)

Text-novels are better than games at:

 Relaxing

 Characters and relationships – Computer non-player

characters are, at the moment, completely
inadequate.

REALITY COMPETES AGAINST TEXT-NOVELS

If portions of your novel would be better-experienced in

ordinary real-life, should you redesign those portions of
your novel?

Reality provides a better-experience than text-novels

when:

 Visual/sensory effects – Real-world visual/sensory

effects are almost-always better than the visual-
effects in a novel.

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 Characters – Real-world characters are almost
always more well-rounded than in a text novel.

Text-novels are more-compelling than reality when:

 Danger – People would rather read about danger than

experience it. However, computer games are a better
way to experience danger than novels.

 Social danger – What happens if you upset everyone

on your street? You don’t ever want to do this in
real life, but you can experience the thrill(??!?)
of doing-so through a novel.

 Characters – Text-novels have more odd-and-unusual

characters in them than real-life.

 Relationships – Text-novels are better at fleshing-

out interesting relationships than real-life.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF E-BOOKS

 Low-quality illustrations – With E-books, a low-

quality illustration can be included every 10
pages, greatly improving the enjoy-ability of the
novel.

o Character illustrations
o Settings – Landscapes, architecture, vehicles
o Machinery, technology, and gadgets
o Action locations

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o Clothing fashions

 Update the novel frequently online, so that “beta

testers” can provide early feedback.

 Two versions? – If the e-book has sex-scenes or

gore, one version of the e-book without them, and
one with? Somehow get your word-processor to split
the e-book into two?

 Or, perhaps grey-background chapters (or parts of

chapters) that readers can skip over if they’re
bored.

 Or, perhaps bold-face information so readers can

quickly skim?

 Or, perhaps provide an extensive back-story

appendix that readers don’t have to look at? With
hyperlinks to the back-story?

 In an E-book, readers never know how many pages are

left… Well, actually they do. The slider indicates
their progress, BUT the second-half of the E-book
can be filled with junk-text. Readers don’t know
how long the novel is until it actually ends!

 Should E-books be given-away for free?

 If an E-book has digital-rights-management

limitations, the novel will eventually disappear.
Paper novel last hundreds of years in a library. E-
books last only a decade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_manage
ment)

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THE EXPERIENCE

When the reader reads the novel, what is he/she looking

to experience?

 “What is it like to fight in Vietnam?” Oliver

Stone’s “Platoon”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platoon_(film) )

 “What are dinosaurs like?” Steven Spielberg’s

“Jurassic Park”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_(film)
)

 “I want to fall in-love with someone.” A romance

novel.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Four-legged Animal-person – What is it like to live

as a four-legged Animal-person in a two-legged
Animal-person world?

 Incognito – What is it like for a high-tech (body-

swapping?) person to live “incognito” in a low-tech
(Star-Trek-like) society? (See James Cameron’s
movie, “Avatar”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film) )

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 Merged souls/awarenesses – Experience the world
through the eyes of someone composed of several
merged souls/awarenesses. This often happens when
people are killed in war. (Steven Martin and Lilly
Tomlin in “All of Me”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_of_Me_(1984_film)
)

I have purposely abridged the descriptions of

my novel ideas so that I do-not limit the
creativity of other authors and game-
designers (who might be reading this). Feel
free to use/percolate/incorporate these ideas
in your fiction/games. E-mail me if you wish
to receive a more-extensive list of ideas.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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SOCIAL AGENDA

How is the novel supposed to positively affect society?

 Changes to society’s mores, morals, religion,

and philosophies?

 Educate people within a society.

 Cause people to relocate? – Hollywood movies set

in California cause people to move to
California.

 Change purchasing habits of readers?

 Change career-preferences of readers?

 Encourage readers to go on holidays in specific

locales or with specific themes?

 Encourage readers to work on certain causes?

Such as anti-war or anti-poverty?

“WHOLESOME”

Novels should promote good-and-wholesome behaviors-and-

thoughts in readers.

Children’s novels/movies/television almost-always

“wholesome”… most-likely because adults control what
novels/movies/television children watch.

Adults occasionally enjoy/prefer “wholesome”

novels/movies/television. Most of the time, they prefer
to read/watch less-“wholesome” novels/movies/television.
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THE MESSAGE

Novels should only have one message, maximum.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 “All aliens think differently, compared to us; some

very-differently. Many aliens are VERY
intelligent.”

 “There are known knowns. These are things we know

that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to
say, there are things that we now know we don’t
know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These
are things we do not know we don’t know.” – Donald
Rumsfeld
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_known
s)

 “You should-NOT attempt-to travel to other

planets.” The message in the original “The Planet
of the Apes” movie, by Michael Wilson and Rod
Serling.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1
968_film) )

 “You are walking though history, unknowingly adding

to history.” J. R. R. Tolkien
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

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 “6 x 9 = 42 (base 13… 13 is an unlucky-number)” My
interpretation of Douglas Adams message in “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. In interviews,
he claimed that “42” was chosen merely because it
was a funny number, nothing more.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Gu
ide_to_the_Galaxy)

THEMES

A theme is something like “ecology is important”, or

“technology is dangerous”, or “don’t tear-down old
houses”. Themes are often accepted truisms.

Do any themes appear throughout the novel? Try to make

the two(?) most-common themes more-dominant. And try to
obscure/eliminate less-common themes.

Should the novel’s themes (and/or characters) illustrate

your own personal points-of-view, such as views about
political-parties?

You most-likely will-not be able to identify a novel’s

many-themes until the novel has been written-up as a
rough-draft.

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SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 A society’s quest for isolation – “Scram! Don’t

migrate here! Leave our planet alone.”

ALLEGORIES

OBVIOUS ALLEGORIES

Richard Adams’ “Watership Down” is an obvious allegory

about people seeking-out a better society/government.
Just-about everyone who reads the novel will realize
this. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down)

INTELLIGENTSIA ALLEGORIES

These allegories are expected to be perceived by only a

small-percentage novel’s readership.

With a novel written by an author with a social-IQ of

130-to-150-plus, try reversing /flipping the roles, and
then reversing/flipping the roles again, in another
direction.

Steven Spielberg’s “Falling Skies” has an intelligentsia

allegory. “Falling Skies” is about the Iraq war. The 2nd
Massachusetts, the protagonists, are actually Iraqi
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freedom-fighters (or jihadists, or Al Qaeda) in the Iraq
war. The invading aliens are allegorical United-States
soldiers, continually ambushed (and ambushing) the 2nd
Massachusetts. The rival-aliens that arrive at the end of
the second season may be allegorical Iranians. I have
not-yet seen the third season, since it is has not-yet
been broadcast.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq)

During the second season, “Falling Skies” also gives a

nod to Richard Adams’ “Watership Down”. The season
culminates when the wandering group enters Cowslip’s (a
Watership-Down character) underground-warren .
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down)

LATENT ALLEGORIES

These allegories are hidden in a manner such that no-one

will recognize-them in the novel, until a generation (or
two) later.

HIDDEN SUB-TEXTS

A very-small-number of novels have hidden sub-texts, that

are only decodable by cognoscenti.

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SYMBOLISM

OBJECTS

In the original “The Planet of the Apes”, the half-buried

“Statue of Liberty” is an identifiable icon from 20th-
century Earth. In the context where it is placed, the
half-buried statue symbolizes the loss of technology, the
loss of nationhood, the loss of freedom, and the decline
of Hominids.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_fi
lm), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty)

PLACES

NAMES

ACTIONS

VERB-SELECTION, ADVERB-SELECTION

ADJECTIVE-SELECTION

SENTENCE SYNTAX

BACKGROUND MUSIC

EDUCATION

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Educate the reader about:

 Personal-interaction issues – Which is where

characterization and relationships prove useful.

 History – Set in a historical period, novels teach

us about history.

 Social issues – Such as the antislavery novel,

“Roots: The Sage of an American Family”, by Alex
Haley.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots:_The_Saga_of_an
_American_Family)

 Societies – Different settings.

 Technology and science – Science-fiction.

 Other subjects – Such as whaling.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick)

Is the teaching-information evenly-distributed throughout

the entire novel? Does it last up until the end of the
novel? If any sections of the novel are-not teaching
information, should they be bolstered with some teaching?
Or should the story-sections be removed?

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

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 Aliens – Prepare readers for interaction with
aliens. Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. The Extra-
terrestrial”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-
Terrestrial)

 Technology awareness – Prepare readers for new (or

newly-available) technologies, such as submarines –
Jules Verne’s “Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the
sea”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagu
es_Under_the_Sea)

“GEE, LOOK AT THAT. ISN’T THAT NEAT!”

Not-quite education:

 Small observations about real-life

behaviors/eccentricities/experiences, highlighted
for the benefit of the reader’s real-life. (Derived
from “Characters & Viewpoint”)

 “Pretty” things that go un-noticed in real-life,

such as the sheen of a fabric, or how delicately a
tie is embroidered. (Derived from “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

WARNINGS

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“Warnings” are compelling… “Don’t buy a car from that
shady used-car salesman on Main Street. My neighbor just
purchased a “lemon” from him.”

“Warnings” also include elements of “education”,

“palatable news”, “danger”, “character”, “relationship”,
and “plot”. This makes “Warning” EVEN MORE COMPELLING.

Because warfare is “dangerous”, “palatable news”, full of

“gadgets”, full of “heroism”, “plot”-laden, an
“undercurrent”, and worthy of a “warning”, warfare is a
prime-candidate for novel-warnings.

Warnings are often also-used as the novel’s “The

message”, “Themes”, and “Undercurrents”.

Do science-fiction stories include “warnings” more-often

than fantasy-stories? Do “artsy” people (as opposed to
engineer-type people) prefer fantasy, or science-fiction?
If fantasy-stories have fewer “warnings”, does that mean
that “artsy” people dislike “warnings” in the stories
they read? If science-fiction stories have more
“warnings”, does that mean that engineer-type people like
“warnings” in the stories they read?

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Dis-contiguous permanent staccato-war – Because the

“military industrial-complex” can only be ramped-up
and trimmed-down slowly, nations with a military
industrial-complex MUST be in a permanent staccato-
war (5-to-10 years of war, followed by 5-to-10
years of no-war), moving the war-site from one
location to another. After one war ends, another-

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one is likely to begin a decade later.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-
industrial_complex,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staccato)

For example: After the first Iraq-war ended (the

freeing of Kuwait), several nations were implicitly
put-on-notice that the United States’ military-
industrial-complex might be pointed in their
direction. George Bush’s “axis of evil” comments
pointed towards either Iraq (again), Iran, or North
Korea. Nations in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as
Libya, and perhaps some South-American countries
would also have been concerned.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America)

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PALATABLE NEWS

Contemporary news-events can be included in novels (or

“Saturday Night Live” sketches) to make the new-stories
more-palatable, and/or read/watched by more people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live)

MEMES

Memes are one-paragraph ideas that are readily absorbed

into the readers’ minds. Memes semi-permanently influence
the reader’s real-life thinking. Readers often re-tell
the memes to other people.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS, HAPPENINGS, AND PIVOTS

(My own speculation follows…)

Happening-motivation – An element of the novel/story that

ultimately causes something to “happen”.

Happening – Something that “happens” in the novel/story:

A change perceived by the reader, an action perceived by

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the reader, and/or a narrated-activity perceived-by-the-
reader (that is moderately-interesting).

Pivot – Points in the novel/story where the reader’s

expectation of “what will happen next?” prove incorrect.
And/or points in the novel/story where timelines diverge,
such as the flip-of-a-coin causing a protagonist to
select either Door-A or Door-B.

HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS AND PIVOTS – PLOT

A “plot” is an overall-“goal” that the author has in mind

for their characters, relationships, and setting.

A plot is a “beginning” and “destination”. The plot

sometimes has intermediary “waypoints”.

The “plot-arc” is the shortest, most-interesting, most-

fun, most-believable path between the plot’s “beginning”
and “destination”, including “waypoints”.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Enslavement – Begin with a romance on-board a war-

observation spaceplane. The spaceplane is sliced in
half. Some people are “arrested”, and enslaved. The
storylines split: One person is enslaved, and
forced into a breeding program (see below). His/her
romantic-partner spends the rest of the novel
tacking him/her down, and rescuing him/her.

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 Mistrust – The protagonist’s spaceplane is shot-

down by an enemy. The protagonist’s body dies. As
part of a prisoner-of-war peace-initiative, their
soul is attached to an enemy body-shape, and they
are allowed to live-and-work in the enemy’s
society. The protagonist faces mistrust from the
indigenous “enemy” population, as the indigenous-
people are unsure of the protagonist’s motives, as
well as the motives of other body-swapped
prisoners-of-war. Real-life example: During World
War II, Italian prisoners-of-war were transported
to Australia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Australian)

 Rescuing enslaved-people in spaceplane airlifts –

Like the attempted rescue of hostages from Iran in
1980, but with paramilitaries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis)

 War-reporter on an abandoned (yokel) planet –

(Douglas Adams names such yokels “Golgafrinchan
telephone-sanitizers”, in “The Restaurant at the
End of the Universe”.) Abandoned (yokel) planets
feature decaying infrastructure, declining living-
conditions for all, and previously-enslaved Animal-
people. The Animal-people are often “set lose/free”
by their original owners, but they are re-enslaved
elsewhere, a few towns away.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_races_and_spe
cies_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Golg
afrinchans,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Restaurant_at_the_
End_of_the_Universe)

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20-AND-36 BASIC PLOTS

The “20 plots” are from Ronald B. Tobias. “20 Master

Plots: And How to Build them”, Cincinnati. Writer’s
Digest Books, 1993. The “36 dramatic situations” are from
Georges Politi.
(http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-
Six_Dramatic_Situations)

36 Dramatic Situations (Year 20 Master Plots (Year 1993)

1895)
1. Supplication 1. Quest
2. Deliverance 2. Adventure
3. Crime pursued by 3. Pursuit
vengeance 4. Rescue
4. Vengeance taken for 5. Escape
kin upon kin 6. Revenge
5. Pursuit 7. The Riddle
6. Disaster 8. Rivalry
7. Falling prey to 9. Underdog
cruelty/misfortune 10. Temptation
8. Revolt 11. Metamorphosis
9. Daring enterprise 12. Transformation
10. Abduction 13. Maturation
11. The enigma 14. Love
12. Obtaining 15. Forbidden love
13. Enmity of kin 16. Sacrifice
14. Rivalry of kin 17. Discovery
15. Murderous 18. Wretched Excess
adultery 19. Ascension
16. Madness 20. Descension
17. Fatal imprudence
18. Involuntary
crimes of love
19. Slaying of kin
unrecognized
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20. Self-sacrifice
for an ideal
21. Self-sacrifice
for kin
22. All sacrificed
for passion
23. Necessity of
sacrificing loved-ones
24. Rivalry of
superior versus
inferior
25. Adultery
26. Crimes of love
27. Discovery of the
dishonor of a loved
one
28. Obstacles to
love
29. An enemy loved
30. Ambition
31. Conflict with
god
32. Mistaken
jealousy
33. Erroneous
judgment
34. Remorse
35. Recovery of a
lost one
36. Loss of loved
ones

PLOT-EXPECTATIONS

(MY SPECULATION)

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Readers have “plot-expectations” that limit possible
plots. (See the “Creating Meeting Reader-Expectations”
section.)

Readers EXPECT one of the following “plot-expectations”

to dominate novel… and ONLY(???) one of the following
“plot-expectations”. My list somewhat-corresponds with
the “20-and-36 basic plots”, listed above.

 Bad luck – The protagonist is plagued by bad-luck

throughout the novel. The novel is ONLY about
protagonist’s bad luck.

 Biography, person – The novel is about an important

real-life person.

 Biography, event – The novel is about important

real-life EVENT, such as a war, with the characters
providing first-person accounts of the event.

 Catch the criminal – A major criminal is tracked-

down and caught, either through investigation or
heroic feats. The major criminal could
alternatively be “The evil overlord”.

 Comedy – The novel is humorous (or funny)

throughout.

 Death of the protagonist – The protagonist dies in

the end, either through old age, or through
decisions made in the story.

 Decisions gone wrong – Or, “Wishes gone awry”. The

protagonist makes a decision early-on in the story
which has negative consequences throughout the
novel. The protagonist spends their novel-time
trying to fix the problems.
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 Exciting heroic feats – The protagonist achieves

goal by performing exciting heroic-feats throughout
the novel. Instead of “achieving”, the protagonist
can “escape”, “protect”, or “rescue”.

 Fascinating – The ENTIRE story is simply

fascinating, odd, or weird. Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes
Wide Shut”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Wide_Shut)

 Final decision – The protagonist makes important

final decision, sometimes sacrificing someone. The
novel’s plot leads-up to this final decision. Alan
J. Pakula’s “Sophie’s Choice”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie%27s_Choice_(fi
lm) )

 Last survivor in a group – As per cliché horror

films, the protagonist begins the novel as part of
a 5-to-15-person group. By the end of the novel,
only a few people (including the protagonist)
remain.

 Life problem – The novel instructs readers how to

deal with a likely-encountered life-problem, such
as natural disaster, or in the case of children,
how a child deals with the dictates of a grumpy
adult.

 Marriage/Romance – The protagonist pursues (or is

pursed) a romantic interest, and ultimately marries
the romantic-lead.

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 Rags-to-riches – The protagonist becomes wealthier
and wealthier. Orson Welle’s “Citizen Kane”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_kane)

 Spat – The novel follows two parties as they

escalate a “spat”. Michael J. Leeson’s “War of the
Roses”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Roses_(fil
m) )

 Soap opera – The novel is about the intertwined

lives of 20-ish characters.

 Unique locale or vocation – The protagonist enters

and survives a unique local or vocation.

In David Marconi’s “Enemy of the State”, the

protagonist is suddenly thrust into the
“locale/vocation” of espionage.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(f
ilm) )

SCIENCE-FICTION MOVIES – PLOTS

Below is a list of “Plots”, “Meta-meta-races”,

“Locations”, and “Miscellaneous elements” from the top-
100-ish science-fiction movies. I summed-up the numbers,
based-on plot-synopsis located on various “Top-100
science-fiction movies” websites, most-often using my
personal recollections of the movies.
(http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?512851-500-Sci-fi-
plot-ideas, http://www.imdb.com/list/F2Xg1MpQL7A/,
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/fact-
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vs-fiction/the-100-best-sci-fi-movies-of-all-time#slide-
1, http://totalscifionline.com/features/3809-the-100-
greatest-sci-fi-movies, http://science.discovery.com/sci-
fi/10-sci-fi-films.htm,
http://au.ign.com/articles/2010/09/14/top-25-sci-fi-
movies-of-all-time)

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

Plot Count
Defeat an evil villain (or capture criminal) 56
Protagonist hunted down 40
Survive (often in a post-apocalyptic world, or malevolent 31
government)
Escape by Hominids 26
Defeat the evil overlord 22
Protagonist hunted down (Horror) 17
Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against 16
Race to find antiviral (or other non-violent solution to problem) 14

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Descent into insanity (or losing self) 13
Police/investigation 12
Romance 11
Mess-up timeline 10
Protagonist rescues people 10
Travel as obstacle 9
Running, while carrying an important artefact 9
Political intrigue 8
Alien lands on Earth and tries to survive government 8
Protagonist hunts-down an alien 8
Alien invasion, Hominid-protagonist survives 8
Finding one's self (becoming mentally stable) 8
Alien abduction 8
Enslaved 7
First contact with aliens 7
Alien escapes from Earth 7
Alien invasion, Hominids defend against 6
Alien assault on Earth, by single very-large alien 5
Lost in space (Random quests) 5
Disclosure, without alien invasion 4
Alien enslaved by Hominids 4
Assault a small group of aliens, by Hominids 4
Become the evil overlord 3
Alien and Hominid work-together to survive in hostile world 3
Aliens living amongst us 3
Aliens defend the Earth from our technology 2
Heist 1
Stealth/cleverness to goal 1
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
Hominid escapes Earth 1
Catastrophe 1

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(The above-list enumerates about 40 “science-fiction” plots. I suspect that
there are up-to 80 “science-fiction” plots that are compelling-enough to
support a movie.)

The “Society-redirecting messages” in science-fiction movies are also

noteworthy. I suspect that it’s best for a science-fiction novel to avoid the
most-common messages, such as “A global thermonuclear war is possible”:

Society-redirecting messages Count

Aliens exist 41
Mistrust androids, replicants, and artificial intelligences 16
A global thermonuclear war is possible 11
You should strive for a multiracial (alien) society 10
You-too can live on another planet 10
Mistrust your bio-tech corporations 9
Mistrust your perception of reality 9
Some aliens are biological war-machines 9
There are a lot of planets with Hominids on them 9
There is a rebellion against the Galactic Empire 9
Trust androids, replicants, and artificial intelligences 9
Introduce a new religion 8
You are part of a machine 8
Aliens have terra-forming capability 7
Time-travellers from the future are interfering with your 7
society
You are part of a galactic Federation 7
Aliens might attack/invade Earth 6
Mistrust your military industrial-complex 6
Some wealthy individuals have very-advanced technology 6
You are part of a galactic Empire 6
Some corporations have very-advanced technology 5
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Your government is hiding the existence of aliens from you 5
Aliens are benevolent 4
Androids (and artificial intelligence) might extinct your society 4
Do-not let your government turn fascist 4
Dreams are important 4
Super-people exist on your planet 4
You can swap to a new body 4
Your government has very-advanced technology 4
Hominids invade-and-destroy low-tech cultures 3
Replicants should NOT be hunted down 3
Terra-forming is a weapon 3
You are being mind controlled 3
Your government is having secret meeting with aliens 3
Your government is hiding dinosaurs 3
Your government is hunting-down aliens on Earth 3
Aliens are at war with Hominids in space 2
Aliens are potentially more-intelligent than you 2
Bio-tech aliens can extinct your society 2
Bio-tech viruses can destroy your society 2
Children are more open-minded than adults 2
Do-not travel into space 2
Mistrust your food supply 2
Other Hominoidea are sentient on other planets 2
Some criminals are super-intelligent 2
You were created by aliens 2
You will-not be allowed into the Galactic Federation until your 2
become less-violent
Your government's bureaucracy is squashing you 2
Aliens live amongst you 1
Crazy-people know what is "happening" 1
Do-not garbage-up your planet 1
Mistrust news-and-media corporations 1

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Mistrust your dreams 1
You are controlled by an artificial intelligence 1
*** No identifiable society-redirecting message *** 0
BUGBUG - Incomplete list

Meta-meta-race Count
Aliens – Intelligent 116
Androids 90
Aliens – Monster 48
Artificial intelligence 23
Animals - Intelligent (Such as intelligent Chimpanzees) 18
Replicants 17
Dinosaurs 16
Hominids – Mutants 15
Aliens – Doppelgangers 13
Cyborgs 7
Ghosts 6

Combat Count
Hand-to-hand duels 153
Small-arms combat 148
Military-unit combat 49
Spaceship combat 47
Investigate (Not-quite combat) 42
Car chase 25
Robots – giant 13

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Location Count
Space-travel 96
Spaceship (large) 76
Post-apocalyptic world 41
Time travel 40
Planet – weird 31
Space-station 31
Moon-base 24
Virtual world 12
Alternate timeline 11
Dream world 9
Constructed faux-world 7
Underwater 7
Hollow earth 3
Miniaturization 2

Miscellaneous Element Count

Body augmentation 39
Comedy 30
US Government conspiracy 29
Alien possession of character 23
Alien mind-influence 15
Amnesia 14
Body transformation 11
Prescience 10
Body swapping 6

SCIENCE-FICTION MOVIES – HYPOTHETICAL ALIEN -

CENTERED PLOTS
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Since I plan to write science-fiction that is alien-
centric (anthropomorphic and/or reptilian), I tried
estimating how an alien-centered plot would impact the
novel’s popularity.

From the list of science-fiction plots, above, I found

paired-examples of plots that are fundamentally the same
plot… except that one member of the pair
includes/emphasizes “Aliens”.

 Hominid survive (in post-apocalyptic, or malevolent

government) = 31, Alien lands on Earth and tries to
survive government = 8. 8/31 = 25.8%

 Hominid protagonist hunts down alien = 8, Hominid

protagonist hunted down (by an alien) = 40, 8/40
(cheating) = 20%

 Alien escapes from Earth = 7, Escape by Hominids =

26. 7/26 = 27%

 Alien escapes from Earth = 7, Hominid escapes from

Earth = 1. 1 / 7 (cheating) = 15%

 Alien enslaved by Hominids = 4, Hominid enslaved

(by aliens) = 7. 4/7 = 57%

 Assault on a small group of aliens by Hominids = 4,

Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against (16).
4/16 = 25%

“Summing” the numbers up:

 pow (25.8% * 20% * 27% * 15% * 57% * 25%, 1 / 6) =

25.8% = Scaling-penalty for using an alien as a
central character!

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Approximately: Every time the word “Hominid” is replaced

with the word “Alien” in a plot, reduce the novel-sales
by 75%.

I next extended the list of science-fiction plots, from

the original-list, derived from the top-100-ish science-
fiction movies.

Plot Count
Defeat an evil villain (or capture criminal) 56
Protagonist hunted down 40
Survive (often in a post-apocalyptic world, or malevolent 31
government)
Escape by Hominids 26
Defeat the evil overlord 22
Protagonist hunted down (Horror) 17
Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against 16
Race to find antiviral (or other non-violent solution to problem) 14
ALIEN-protagonist defeats an evil villain (or captures a criminal) 56 * 25.8%
= 14
Descent into insanity (or losing self) 13
ALIEN protagonist hunted down 40 * 25.8%
= 13
Police/investigation 12
HOMINIDS living amongst ALIENS 3 / 25.8% =
12 (???)
Romance 11
Mess-up timeline 10
Protagonist rescues people 10
Travel as obstacle 9
Running, while carrying an important artefact 9

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Political intrigue 8
Alien lands on Earth and tries to survive government 8
Protagonist hunts-down an alien 8
Alien invasion, Hominid-protagonist survives 8
Finding one's self (becoming mentally stable) 8
Alien abduction 8
ALIEN survives (often in a post-apocalyptic world, or 31 * 25.8%
malevolent government) =8
Enslaved 7
First contact with aliens 7
Alien escapes from Earth 7
Escape by ALIENS 26 * 25.8%
=7
Alien invasion, Hominids defend against 6
ALIEN defeats the evil-overlord 22 * 25.8%
=6
Alien assault on Earth, by single very-large alien 5
Lost in space (Random quests) 5
Disclosure, without alien invasion 4
Alien enslaved by Hominids 4
Assault a small group of aliens, by Hominids 4
ALIEN protagonist hunted-down (Horror) 17 * 25.8%
=4
Alien assault, small, Hominids defend against, from the ALIEN 16 * 25.8%
viewpoint =4
ALIEN race to find an antiviral 14 * 25.8%
=4
Become the evil overlord 3
Alien and Hominid work-together to survive in hostile world 3
Aliens living amongst us 3
ALIEN descent into insanity (or losing self) 13 * 25.8%
=3
ALIEN police investigation 12 * 25.8%
=3
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ALIEN-Hominid romance 11 * 25.8%
=3
ALIEN mess-up timeline 10 * 25.8%
=3
ALIEN protagonist rescues people 10 * 25.8%
=3
Aliens defend the Earth from our technology 2
ALIEN experiences travel as an obstacle 9 * 25.8% =
2
ALIEN running, while carrying an important artefact 9 * 25.8% =
2
ALIEN political intrigue 8 * 25.8% =
2
ALIEN protagonist hunts down an alien 8 * 25.8% =
2
HOMINID invasion, ALIEN protagonist survives 8 * 25.8% =
2,
Or perhaps
8 * 25.8% *
25.8% =
0.25%
ALIEN finding one’s self (becoming mentally stable) 8 * 25.8% =
2
ALIEN UFO-abducted by HOMINID 8 * 25.8% =
2,
Or perhaps
8 * 25.8% *
25.8% =
0.25%
ALIEN-society’s first-contact with HOMINIDS (or ALIENS) 7 * 25.8% =
2,
Or perhaps
7 * 25.8% *
25.8% =
0.25%
ALIEN invasion of ALIEN planet, ALIENS defend against 6 * 25.8% =
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2
ALIEN lost in space (Random quests) 5 * 25.8% =
2
ALIEN-society disclosed to (by HOMINIDS?), without an 4 * 25.8% =
invasion 2
Assault on a small group of aliens, by Hominids, from the ALIEN 4 * 25.8% =
viewpoint 2
Heist 1
Stealth/cleverness to goal 1
Alien's weird experiences on Earth 1
Hominid escapes Earth 1
Catastrophe 1
ALIEN protagonist becomes the evil-overlord 3 * 25.8% =
1
ALIEN-ALIEN romance 11 * 25.8%
* 25.8% = 1
ALIEN-protagonist undertakes heist 1 * 25.8% =
0.25
ALIEN-protagonist stealth/cleverness to goal 1 * 25.8% =
0.25
ALIEN-viewpoint catastrophe 1 * 25.8% =
0.25

SCIENCE-FICTION – TYPICAL ELEMENTS

Readers (and publishers) will feel cheated if their

science-fiction novel does-not include at least a few of
the following elements: (Most of the list-items below are
from my recollection of science-fiction
novels/television/movies. Some list-elements are from
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science-fiction authorship sites.)
(http://www.writepop.com/category/1001-story-ideas,
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?512851-500-Sci-fi-
plot-ideas,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_them
es)

 Aliens
 Aliens – Abduction
 Aliens – First conotact
 Aliens – Invasions
 Alternate history
 Androids
 Apocalypse
 Artificial intelligence
 Body swapping
 Cyborgs
 Cloning
 Colonies (on other planets)
 Dinosaurs
 Doppelganger
 Environmental change
 Exploration
 Genetic engineering
 Other planets
 Memory editing
 Mind uploading
 Military (squad) combat
 Pandemics
 Political systems
 Robots
 Space
 Space – Long-duration travel
 Space battles
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 Spaceships
 Technology
 Telekinesis
 Telepathy
 Teleportation
 Time travel
 Terra-forming
 Virtual worlds
 “What-if” twist
 Wormholes

FANTASY MOVIES – PLOTS

These “fantasy”-movie plots are from the current top-25

list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “fantasy”-movie plots that are enjoyed by movie
viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.
109 | P a g e
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 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

Plot Count
Recovery of a kingship/queenship 3
Running with important item 2
Defeat the evil overlord 2
Destroy a magic item 2
Defeat a monster 2
Romance - Staying together despite challenges 1
Romance - Fall in love 1
Revenge against villain 1
Rescue hostages 1
Putting-together a band of heroes 1
Defeat a villain 1
Travel through a detailed world 1
Seek a cure for a disease 1
Murder mystery 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

One person can make a difference against evil 3
Sympathy for an enemy 3
Children can undertake world-changing tasks 1
BUGBUG - Do this

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Meta-meta-race Count
Humanoid 8
Monster 6
Short people 6
Animal-like 5
Ghosts 5
Dragon 2
Magic constructs 2
Giants 2
Giant animals 2
Magic toy 1
Vampire 0

Combat Count
Swords 12
Magic 12
Military - Squad combat 4
Military - Battles 3
Ship combat 1
Small firearms 1

Location Count
Castle 11
Medieval world 9
Underground 5
Sailing vessel 4
Modern world 3

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Magic sub-world off-of real world 2
Industrial-revolution world 2
Pyramid 1
Spaceship 1
Hot-air balloon 1
Space-station 0

Miscellaneous Element Count

Magic – Spell-casters 13
Magic – Items 10
Reincarnation 3
Time travel 3
Shape transformation 3
Comedy 2
Portals 2
Teenager-oriented 2
Weirdness 2
Soul consumption 1
Child-oriented 1
Romance - Falling in love 1

FANTASY-NOVELS – TYPICAL ELEMENTS

Readers (and publishers) will feel cheated if their

fantasy novel does-not include at least a few of the
following elements:

 Ascendancy from farmhand to king/queen

 Avatar protagonists
 A world in war

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 Castles
 Defeat the evil-overlord
 Demons
 Destiny
 “Elves”, “Fey”, and “Orcs”
 Hunted
 Magic – Curses
 Magic – Duels
 Magic – Spells
 Magic – Items
 Medieval technology
 Mentor (sometimes super-minds)
 Parties of characters
 Prophecies
 Quests
 Raised in secret, away from real parents
 Swordfights
 Travelling across the world
 Underground
 Vampires
 Wizards and witches
 Worlds

ADULT-READ ANTHROPOMORPHIC FICTION – PLOTS

I have not-yet researched the plots of anthropomorphic

fiction.

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ADULT-READ ANTHROPOMORPHIC -FICTION – TYPICAL
ELEMENTS

 Anthropomorphic characters
 Fantasy or science-fiction setting
 Liberal relationships (in some novels targeted at
adults)
 Romance (in some novels targeted at adults)
 Transformation

CHILDREN’S MOVIES – PLOTS

These “children’s”-movie plots are from the current top-

25 list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “children’s”-movie plots that are enjoyed by
movie viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

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 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are
“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

Plot Count
Survival in a chaotic/magical world 2
Solve a mystery 2
Enter a magical world 1
Rescue someone 1
Friends - Trying to stay together 1
Rescue parents 1
Growing-up adventure 1
Romance - Falling in love 1
Non-Hominid survival in modern Hominid world 1
Escape from dystopian world 1
Defeat a villain trying to take over the world 1
Repair a broken object 1
Adopted child blends-in with family 1
Children (protagonists) run-away 1
Child (protagonist) beset by grumpy adult 1
Romance - Socially-low boy wins the socially-high girl 1
Criminal con job 1
Human-child living amongst aliens 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Children can undertake important tasks 4
Ignore society-class differences 1
One person can help save a society 1
Odd-people should-not be shunned 1
BUGBUG - Do this
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Meta-meta-race Count
Intelligent pets 7
Humanoid 6
Monsters 6
Magical constructs 4
Magical people 4
Witches 4
Dragons 3
Anthropomorphic animals 3
Dinosaurs 1

Combat Count
Magic 4
Hand-to-hand 4
Swords 2
Small firearms 2
Military - Squad 1
Military - Battle 1

Location Count
Magical world 5
Mansion 5
Underground 4
Flying 3
Magic sub-world off-of real world 3
Forest 3
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Boats 2
Miniature world 2
Maze 1
Dystopian world 1
Stylized historic setting 1
Foreign country 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Comedy 9
An evil villain 9
Kids surviving by themselves 6
Magic – Spell-casters 6
Romance - Falling in love 5
Weirdness 5
Boy meets girl 3
Child (protagonist) has skills that adults do-not 3
Time travel 2
A monster that impedes/chases 2
Magic - Magic items 1
Children (protagonists) searched-for by police 1

CHILDREN’S MOVIES/NOVELS/STORIES – “WHAT KIDS

LIKE”

Just-about an exact quote, (From “Writing Children’s

books for Dummies”)

What kids like:

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 Extreme and over-the-top rules.
 It’s okay to be different.
 Bad guys cannot win.
 Good guys must win.
 People can change from bad-to-good and/or good-to
bad. People cannot be both good and bad at the same
time.
 Scary-things cannot touch your body. (???)
 Children can triumph over adults.
 Defecation and nudity humor.
 Turning-things upside-down can be funny.
 Magic.
 Regular children can perform extraordinary feats.
 Regular children can go-on implausible missions.

(MY SPECULATION) Should adult-genre novels avoid elements

from the “What kids like” list?

ROMANCE MOVIES – PLOTS

These “romance”-movie plots are from the current top-25

list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “romance”-movie plots that are enjoyed by movie
viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

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 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses
than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These

“romance” plots are most-likely untenable in a science-
fiction setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft, planets, and
technology would scare-off most “romance”-novel readers.
Science-fiction-novel readers might-not be interested in
the “romance”-plots either.

Plot Count
Rebuilding a marriage 2
Serious boyfriend/girlfriend... Only... Never marry 2
Falling in love 2
Falling in love, after meeting in professional relationship 2
Poor-woman marries a prince 1
Torn between relationships 1
Falling-in-love as a (reverse) competition 1
Women hunting men 1
Effort to sustain marriage 1
Love triangle 1
Falling in love, while married to someone else 1
Falling in love, by mismatched couple 1

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Falling in love, just after major failure in life 1
Mail-order bride (or hiring a wife) 1
Unusual/weird marriage 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Homosexuals are people, and should-not be shunned 1
BUGBUG - Do this

Combat Count
Small firearms 1
Violent crime 1

Location Count
Foreign country 3
Hospital 2
Wedding 2
Law-firm 2
Radio-era 2
Pet animals 2
Medieval 1
Alternative timelines 1
Holiday home 1
Mansion 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

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Sex scenes 5
Infidelity 4
Two couples 3
Comedy 3
Unlikable personalities 2
Cross-racial marriage/relationship 2
One member of the couple sustains a medical injury 2
Overcome an addiction 1
The romantic-lead has an arranged marriage 1
Medical professionals 1
Begin relationship for material reasons 1
Bankruptcy 1
Choice between love or possession/job 1
Couple dislikes one-another initially 1
Couple hunted down by killer 1
One member of the couple has a dark past 1
Romantic-lead from the protagonist's distant past 1

DRAMA MOVIES – PLOTS

These “drama”-movie plots are from the current top-25

list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “drama”-movie plots that are enjoyed by movie
viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

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 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses
than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These “drama”

plots are most-likely untenable in a science-fiction
setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft, planets, and
technology would scare-off most “drama”-novel readers.
Science-fiction-novel readers might-not be interested in
the “drama”-plots either.

Plot Count
Quest to escape from reality 2
Life of a semi-criminal 2
Help others in creative ways 1
Siblings interacting as adults 1
Ex-spouse relationship problems 1
Protagonist struggles to excel at public art-form 1
Older/failing employee striving to keep his job 1
Difficult-life as a teenager 1
Lawyers quest to convict/defend 1
Move to a foreign country (and survive there) 1
Surrealist situation 1
Difficult life during war 1

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Struggling against a government/cultural system 1
Series of morality tests 1
Protagonist in the sex industry 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Random acts of kindness 1
Over-glorify the past 1
BUGBUG - Do this

Combat Count
Hand-to-hand 2
Court case 1
Violent crime 1
Small firearms 1

Location Count
Foreign country 3
Seedy (angst) portion of modern world 3
Stylized historical setting 3
Law-court 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Romance - Falling in love 5
Drugs 5
Semi-magical world 3
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Family troubles complicate 3
Pregnancy 2
"The system" as villain 2
Music/dance 2
Time travel 1
Facetious humour 1
Sports 1
Attempted suicide 1
Comedy 1

ACTION-AND-ADVENTURE MOVIES – PLOTS

These “action-and-adventure”-movie plots are from the

current top-25 list at www.Amazon.com. I used
http://en.wikipedia.org for the movie synopses, from
which I generated the plot information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “action-and-adventure”-movie plots that are
enjoyed by movie viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

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 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are
“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These “action-

and-adventure” plots are most-likely untenable in a
science-fiction setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft,
planets, and technology would scare-off most “action-and-
adventure”-novel readers. Science-fiction-novel readers
might-not be interested in the “action-and-adventure”-
plots either.

NOTE: I re-categorized most of the Amazon.com-categorized

“action-and-adventure” movies, into other categories. I
found very-few movies that I would consider to be
“action-and-adventure”

Plot Count
Travel into the wilderness 1
Eventful trip across the country, by road 1
Travel in a war-torn foreign land 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Arab nations fight for independence 1
Ordinary people can become heroes 1
People do actually give-up material goods, and then they die 1

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Combat Count
Small firearms 1
Military, squad 1

Location Count
Authentic historical figure 2
Forest, snow 1
Desert 1
Foreign culture 1

MILITARY-AND-WAR MOVIES – PLOTS

These “military-and-war”-movie plots are from the current

top-25 list at www.Amazon.com. I used
http://en.wikipedia.org for the movie synopses, from
which I generated the plot information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “military-and-war”-movie plots that are enjoyed
by movie viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

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 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses
than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These

“military-and-war” plots are most-likely untenable in a
science-fiction setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft,
planets, and technology would scare-off most “military-
and-war”-novel readers. Science-fiction-novel readers
might-not be interested in the “military-and-war”-plots
either.

Plot Count
Follow a squad of soldier on combat duty 3
Follow a soldier's combat duty 2
Resistance under occupation 1
Rescuing genocide targets 1
Battle, and scattering of people partaking in the battle 1
Military raid, and the effort/planning involved 1
Battles from a commanding-officer's point-of-view 1
Battle, shown from both sides 1
Rising through the ranks, during wartime 1
Follow a war-animal (or piece of machinery) through war 1
Life of a spy during war 1

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Civilian in a war-zone 1
Follow a crew on a ship 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Warfare is a traumatic experience 2
People behave differently than their profession 1
BUGBUG - Do this

Combat Count
Military – Squad 10
Small firearms 9
Military – Battle 8
Hand-to-hand 8
Explosives 5
Being Investigated/watched 1
Naval combat 1

Location Count
Authentic war 12
Foreign culture/world 5
Distant past 4

Miscellaneous Element Count

Impossible odds 3
Mistakes made in war 3
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Disgusting-ness of war 2
Major failure 2
Family problems 2
Romance 2
Protagonist has "right/justice" on his side 1
Protagonist defects from military 1
Intentional friendly fire 1
Diverted from original mission 1

MYSTERY-AND-THRILLER MOVIES – PLOTS

These “mystery-and-thriller”-movie plots are from the

current top-25 list at www.Amazon.com. I used
http://en.wikipedia.org for the movie synopses, from
which I generated the plot information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “mystery-and-thriller”-movie plots that are
enjoyed by movie viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.
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I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These

“mystery-and-thriller” plots are most-likely untenable in
a science-fiction setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft,
planets, and technology would scare-off most “mystery-
and-thriller”-novel readers. Science-fiction-novel
readers might-not be interested in the “mystery-and-
thriller”-plots either.

Plot Count
Elite government operative - Avert terrorist attack 2
Investigate a crime 2
Mystery - Who dunnit 1
Help someone escape from prison 1
Police officers fight crime-lord 1
Follows police, criminals, and victims of a crime 1
Police officers catch criminal 1
Hunted down by corrupt members of own side 1
Escape as a hostage 1
Ordinary person suddenly thrust into the centre of a 1
spy/operative plot
Assassinate/capture a dictator 1
Framed for a crime, try to avoid police 1
Civilians (newspaper) investigates and clears criminal 1
Cover-up an accident 1
Protagonist is criminal 1
Follow victims of a crime 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

There are shadowy government spy/assassination agencies 2
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Your government is protecting you 1
BUGBUG - Do this

Combat Count
Small firearms 12
Hand-to-hand 11
Being trailed 7
Car chase 6
Military – Squad 3
Trailing someone 3
Violent crime 3
Legal trial 2

Location Count
Foreign country 5
Car-crash 3
Mansion 3
Court room 2
Prison 2
Famous landmark/building 2
Airport 1
Cruise ship 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Famous intelligence agency 6
Family member endangered 5

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Romance 5
Illustrates racism 3
Two protagonists as partners 2
Gangs 1
Linked to 10-20 year-old unsolved crime 1
Alcoholism 1
Link to reincarnation 1
Survival in the wilderness 1
Prevent international political disaster 1
Sex scenes 1

COMEDY MOVIES – PLOTS

These “comedy”-movie plots are from the current top-25

list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “comedy”-movie plots that are enjoyed by movie
viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

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 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are
“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These “comedy”

plots are most-likely untenable in a science-fiction
setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft, planets, and
technology would scare-off most “comedy”-novel readers.
Science-fiction-novel readers might-not be interested in
the “comedy”-plots either.

Plot Count
Romance 2
Friendship – Squabble 1
Quest, pointless 1
Escape from Dadaist trap 1
Wishes gone awry 1
Life can be fun 1
Keeping a group together 1
Police officer 1
Navy goofy comedy 1
Criminal's personalities as odd-enough to be turned funny 1
Political satire - Elections 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

BUGBUG - Do this

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Meta-meta-race Count
Magical toy 1
Monster 1

Combat Count
Sword combat 1
Naval combat, clever 1
Small firearms 1

Location Count
Television personality 3
Medieval 1
Fantasy world 1
Time travel 1
War-games 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Silly humour 2
Things out-of-control humour 2
Inept group pulls-together and wins challenge 2
Magic 1
Wishes 1
Workaholic 1
Protagonist is group-assistant who properly-organizes poorly- 1
organized group
Most protagonists are musicians (=> lots of music) 1
Contemporary issues 1

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HORROR MOVIES – PLOTS

These “horror”-movie plots are from the current top-25

list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies

resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “horror”-movie plots that are enjoyed by movie
viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These “horror”

plots are most-likely untenable in a science-fiction
setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft, planets, and
technology would scare-off most “horror”-novel readers.
Science-fiction-novel readers might-not be interested in
the “horror”-plots either.

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Plot Count
Psychotic serial killer 2
Investigate haunting 2
Ghost/poltergeist attacking people 2
Zombie survival 2
Montage 1
Hunted by evil/magic in various forms 1
Exorcism 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

BUGBUG - Do this

Meta-meta-race Count
Ghosts 3
Psychotic killer 3
Zombie 3
Apparitions 2
Animated trees 1
Demon-possessed child 1

Combat Count

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Hand-to-hand 5
Poltergeist attacking people 3
Small firearms 3
Gross visuals 2
Car chase 1

Location Count
Small village 3
Post-apocalyptic 2
Remote cabin 2
Newly-purchased house 1
Historical setting 1
Insane asylum 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Protagonist dies in the end 4
Sex scene 2
Ghost appears mostly on camera 2
Comedy 2
Cursed video tape 1

PARANORMAL MOVIES – PLOTS

These “paranormal”-movie plots are from the current top-

25 list at www.Amazon.com. I used http://en.wikipedia.org
for the movie synopses, from which I generated the plot
information.

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Since my more-exhaustive search of science-fiction movies
resulted in 40 “plots”, I suspect that there are at-least
40-to-80 “paranormal”-movie plots that are enjoyed by
movie viewers.

I used movie-plots instead of novel-plots because:

 http://en.wikipedia.org has more movie-synopses

than novel-synopses.

 I intend to write a novella, not a full-length

novel. I suspect that novella-plots are more-
similar to movie-plots.

 Due to their longer length, novel-plots are

“softer” and less well-defined than movie-plots.
Novels also include many sub-plots.

I intend to write a science-fiction novel: These

“paranormal” plots are most-likely untenable in a
science-fiction setting. Adding aliens, spacecraft,
planets, and technology would scare-off most
“paranormal”-novel readers. Science-fiction-novel readers
might-not be interested in the “paranormal”-plots either.

Plot Count
Defeat a plot to take over the world 2
Romance - Fall in love 1
Hominid hunted 1
Romance - Protect a child 1
Romance - Temporarily break apart 1
Court trial 1
Romance - Over a lifetime 1
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Exorcism 1
Witchcraft gets into trouble 1
Struggling-against being turned into a vampire 1
Saving an ill vampire 1

Society-redirecting messages Count

Vampires, if they exist, would be very wealthy 2
New religion - Magic spells 1
New religion - Life-after-death theory-modifications 0
BUGBUG - Do this

Meta-meta-race Count
Vampire 6
Werewolves 3
Angels 2
Demon-person 1
Ghost 1

Combat Count
Hand to hand 2
Military - Squad combat 1
Small firearms 1
Magic combat 1
Murder 1
Car race 1

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Location Count
Heaven/Hell 2
Small new-England town 2
Another country 1
Medieval world 1

Miscellaneous Element Count

Romance 4
Dreams 4
Prescience 3
Afterlife 3
Comedy 1
Reverse aging 1
Follow character over a lifetime 1
Family endangered 1

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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Anthro-alien fashion.

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HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS, HAPPENINGS, AND PIVOTS –

DIS-CONTIGUOUS MINI-PLOTS AND PLOT-FRAGMENTS

DIS-CONTIGUOUS MINI-PLOT

(MY SPECULATION…)

As a general guideline, a mini-plot is a non-contiguous

component of a novel (or movie, or television series)
that could be cut-out from the novel and easily reshaped
into a complete short-story (or perhaps novella).

Some attributes of “typical-standard” mini-plots:

 As per a “story”, mini-plots typically have a

protagonist, antagonist, “conflict”, and twist.
(From “Plot & Structure”)

 Mini-plots have an “Act I”, “Act II”, and “Act

III”. (From “Plot & Structure”)

 “Act I” introduces the protagonist, antagonist, and

“conflict”. (From “Plot & Structure”)

 “Act I” transitions into “Act II” when the

protagonist decides to enter into the “conflict”.
(From “Plot & Structure”)

 “Act II” follows the “conflict”. It may include a

“twist” in the mini-plot’s direction. (From “Plot &
Structure”)

 “Act II” transitions to “Act III” when the

“conflict” can no-longer be avoided by the

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protagonist or antagonist. (From “Plot &
Structure”)

 “Act III” includes the resolution to the

“conflict”, and wraps-up the mini-plot. (From “Plot
& Structure”)

“Typical-
standard”
Mini-plot
Main mini- Act I Act II Act III
plot
In-parallel Twist?

DIS-CONTIGUOUS SUB-PLOTS

A sub-plot is:

 A mini-plot within a mini-plot. Both the sub-plot

and mini-plot focus-on the same protagonist. (I
think…. According to the usage of sub-plot that I
have seen in various novel-writing books.)

 Or, a sub-plot is a mini-plot that uses the same

protagonist as another mini-plot, BUT the sub-plot
runs in parallel with the mini-plot.

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Some sub-plots:

 The central/main mini-plot is the quest to defeat

the evil overlord. A sub-plot, running the length
of the novel, ALSO has the protagonist deal with
the introduction-and-resolution of family troubles.

 Flashback – A flashback can be a complete sub-plot

or parallel-plot, not merely a plot-fragment.
Stephen King’s “It” contains two parallel-plots
focusing-on the same protagonists, one set
thirty(?) years in the past.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel) )

DIS-CONTIGUOUS PARALLEL-PLOT

A parallel-plot is (???):

a) A mini-plot (or a plot-fragment) that runs in

parallel to other mini-plots.

b) The parallel-plot follows protagonists who are

different-people from the protagonists in other
mini/parallel-plots.

Some parallel-plots:

 A mini-plot turns parallel when the “party/group”

splits-up geographically. J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The
Lord of the Rings” did this.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

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 Several parallel-plots follow individual

protagonists BEFORE the protagonists meet and form
a “party/group”.

DIS-CONTIGUOUS PLOT-FRAGMENT

A “dis-contiguous plot-fragment” is:

 A plot-fragment is NOT a complete mini-plot.

A plot-fragment does-not form a complete-and-

satisfying plot (or short-story), with
“protagonist, antagonist, conflict, twist, Act I,
Act II, and Act III”.

Some types of plot-fragments:

 Flashbacks.

 Undercurrents

 Tracking the historical changes in the world, over

the timeline of the novel.

 Walking the protagonist through a landscape of

historical buildings/structures. J. R. R. Tolkien’s
“Lord of the Rings” did this.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

 Back-story exposition

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For example: Several dis-contiguous plot-fragments exist

in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philos
opher’s_Stone)

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”

Mini-plot -----------------------------
(Mystery/Thriller)
Harry Potter’s quest to find the
philosopher’s stone, and
survive/discover/defeat Quirrel-
Voldemort. Includes Hermione and Ron.

Plot-fragment --------------------------
(Fantasy genre?
Farmhand to King, Harry Potter’s inheritance from
Defeat the evil Voldemort, including talking-to
overlord) snakes, and the death of his parents.
Culminates with the defeat of Quirrel-
Voldemort.

Plot-fragment ----------
(Children’s genre:
Cinderella step- Harry Potter’s experiences with his
child) aunt’s family.

Plot-fragment -------------------------
(Science-fiction)
Harry Potter’s experiences with magic
technology, and the science of magic.

Plot-fragment -------------------------
(Teenage genre:
Girl’s novel) Harry Potter’s school experiences,
beginning with Harry Potter’s rescue
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by Hagrid. Harry Potter’s relationship
with Ron and Hermoine, and Malfoy.

COMMON TO BOTH MINI-PLOTS AND PLOT-FRAGMENTS

 Mini-plots and plot-fragments mostly-cleanly(???)

adhere to a “genre”, such as “science-fiction”,
“war”, or “romance”.

 Mini-plots and plot-fragments are presented dis-

contiguously in a novel, because they are spread-
out over several chapters, select scenes within
chapters, and they are often mixed with other mini-
plots (and plot-fragments) within a scene.

 Mini-plots and plot-fragments include decision-

points (and pivot-points) affect other mini-plots
and plot-fragments in a novel. A relationship
break-up in a romance mini-plot changes the
direction in the novel’s war mini-plot, for
example.

Is this a requirement? Highly recommended? Is a

mini-plot (or plot-fragment) that has no-influence
on the other mini-plots (and plot-fragments) more-
readily cut from the novel?

 Mini-plots (and plot-fragments) include “gates-and-

triggers” that affect other mini-plots (and plot-
fragments). For example: War mini-plot cannot

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“logically” proceed until something happens in the
romance mini-plot.

Is this a requirement? Highly recommended? Is a

mini-plot (or plot-fragment) that has no-influence
on the other mini-plots (and plot-fragments) more-
readily cut from the novel?

 Mini-plots (and plot-fragments) “set up” the

situation… “happenings” (happening-motivations) for
other mini-plots (and plot-fragments).

Is this a requirement? Highly recommended? Is a

mini-plot (or plot-fragment) that has no-influence
on the other mini-plots (and plot-fragments) more-
readily cut from the novel?

NOVEL MINI-PLOT AND PLOT-FRAGMENT COMPOSITION

(MY SPECULATION…)

Novels are composed of:

a) At least one central/core mini-plot, corresponding

to a specific “genre”.

The central/core mini-plot is half(???) of the

novel’s text???

b) Perhaps one or two other mini-plots, preferably

corresponding to “genres” that are different from
the other mini-plots and plot-fragments.

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The different “genres” provide variety for
individual readers, as well as expanding the
novel’s readership outside of the core “genre”.

Virtual-world games similarly cycle through

different game-genres, sub-games. In game-design
blog, I note that game-designers need to design
“quests” that cycle through different sub-games.
(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerInter
activeFictionGameDesignBlog.pdf)

c) Zero or more plot-fragments, preferably from

“genres” different-to the mini-plots and other
plot-fragments.

MOVIE MINI-PLOT AND PLOT-FRAGMENT COMPOSITION

Movies are composed of:

a) A central-core mini-plot, corresponding to the

“genre” of the movie.

b) A smaller mini-plot or plot-fragment for variety,

and to expand viewership-demographics. For example:
include a “romance” in a “war” movie.

TELEVISION-SERIES MINI-PLOT AND PLOT-FRAGMENT

COMPOSITION

(MY SPECULATION…)

Television-series are composed of:

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a) A mini-plot that spans entire season (10-to-20
episodes) of the television series.

b) Plot-fragments that span the entire season of the

television series, often dealing with character-
arcs, and back-story exposition.

Each television-series episode is composed of:

a) A complete mini-plot… unless the mini-plot is too-

long to fit into one time-slot. The “episode” is
then expanded to cover two time-slots, with a
cliff-hanger in-between.

The “genre” often varies from episode to episode.

One episode might be a “war” genre, while the next
might be “drama” genre.

b) Perhaps a second parallel-plot, preferably with a

“genre” different to the main mini-plot.

c) “Fragments” of the television-SERIES’ mini-plot and

plot-fragments.

SOAP-OPERA MINI-PLOT AND PLOT-FRAGMENT

COMPOSITION

Soap-operas are composed of:

a) Several simultaneous, overlapping, and staggered

parallel-plots. (From “Creation Emotion in Games”)

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BALANCE

(MY SPECULATION…)

Some techniques to balance-and-broaden the readership-

demographics of a novel:

 Divide mini-plots (and plot-fragments) between MALE

and FEMALE genres.

 Divide mini-plots (and plot-fragments) between

ADULT and TEENAGE genres. Or TEENAGE and CHILDREN
genres.

 Divide mini-plots (and plot-fragments) between

“GEEK” and TYPICAL-PERSON genres. Or, TYPICAL-
PERSON and “ARTSY” genres.

 Divide mini-plots (and plot-fragments) between a

SINGLE-PROTAGONIST-FOCUS and a GROUP-OF-CHARACTERS-
FOCUS.

Novel-complexity with regard to what protagonists

are focused-on:

a) Follow only one protagonist in EVERY mini-

plot and plot-fragment. (Simplest?)

b) Follow the same group of protagonists in

EVERY mini-plot and plot-fragment.

c) Follow single-protagonist-A in half of the

mini-plots and plot-fragments. And group-1
(sometimes including single-person-A) in
the other half.
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d) ….

e) Follow single-protagonist-A, single-

protagonist-B, single-protagonist-C,
group-1, group-2, and group-3, with lots-
of mixing. Mini-plots and plot-fragments
are divided-amongst the permutations.
(Most complex?)

 If a science fiction novel’s central/main MINI-PLOT

is the “drama” genre, and the “science-fiction”
genre ONLY appears in minor PLOT-FRAGMENTS, then
the novel WILL-NOT be perceived as a “science-
fiction” novel. It will appear be a “drama” novel
with science-fiction tacked-on. (MY SPECULATION)

If this happens, should the “drama” MINI-PLOT

OVEREMPHASIZE the “science-fiction”
setting/location/technology??? Overemphasis of a
“science-fiction” setting/location/technology might
normally be undesirable, but to FIT/CRAM the novel
into the “science-fiction” genre, such overemphasis
might be necessary. (MY SPECULATION)

MINI-PLOT AND PLOT-FRAGMENT VARIATIONS

 Flashback – The mini-plot or plot-fragment is

presented as a flashback. Such as in Stephen King’s
“It”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(novel))

 Guess – When the reader is half-way through the

novel, can reader guess which plot-fragment is

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actually the novel’s central/core mini-plot? Half-
way through the novel, ALL mini-plots will(???)
appear to be plot-fragments.

 Imaginary – The mini-plot or plot-fragment is

imagined (and perhaps interwoven) into the real
(non-imaginary) mini-plots and plot-fragments. Such
as Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil”, and many children’s
television-show episodes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film) )

 Misdirection – The reader and characters are led to

believe that the mini-plot or plot-fragment is
different than what is actually happening. The
“Scooby-Doo” television series famous for this. The
reader-and-characters ALWAYS believe that “the
gang” is being chased by ghosts-and-monsters
(Horror-genre). In reality, “the gang” is most-
often fooled by con-artists (Mystery/Thriller-
genre). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-doo)

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I am thinking about omitting the

middle-section of this document from
my public notes. I would be able to
E-mail the complete notes to
interested people, of course.

Sections which I might remove, ONLY to-be available in

the “complete notes”:

 Happening-motivations, Happenings, and Pivots –

Situations (Obstacles to be overcome)

 Happening-motivations, Happenings, and Pivots –

Undercurrents

 Characters – General

 Characters – Protagonists

 Characters – Secondary characters

 Characters – Incidental characters

 Characters – Character Groups

 Characters – Alien personalities

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 Happening-motivations and Happenings –
Relationships

 Place – The World

 Place – Technology (Technological and legal)

 Place – Setting (A sub-element of the world)

 Place – Industry (or vocation)

 Place – Locations

 Happenings and Pivots – Plot-arc

 Happening-motivations – Non-plot-arc content

 Happenings and Pivots – Character arcs

 Happenings, Happening-Motivations, and Pivots –

Vocation-arcs (Changes to a character’s “Way of
life”)

 Happenings and Pivots – Relationship-arcs

(Relationship transitions)

 Happenings and Pivots – Character-group arcs

 Happenings and Pivots – Journey “twists”

 Pivots – Decision-points

 Happenings and Pivots – Plans

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 Reader-Character Relationships – Getting the Reader
to have an opinion/Feelings about a character

 Reader-author relationships – Creating a phantom

reader-author relationship

 Reader-Character Relationships – Creating Phantom

Reader-Protagonist Relationships

 Creating Meeting Reader-Expectations

 Creating Reader-Believability

 Creating Reader-Interest

 Creating Reader-Entertainment

 Creating Reader-Emotions

 Creating Reader-Delight

 Creating Reader-Feelings (and moods?)

 Creating Maintaining Reader-Investment

 Creating Reader-Pain

 Creating Reader-Thoughts

 Creating reader-Comprehension

 Creating Reader-“Rooting-for-a-character”

 Creating Reader-“Perceived density/loudness”

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 Creating Reader-XXX: “Emotion” transition-templates

 Happenings – Chapters (and plot-arc)

HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS, HAPPENINGS, AND PIVOTS –

SITUATIONS (OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME)

Situations are collections (or a tree) of related

“obstacles” that a protagonist can decide to overcome.

1. Going to university – This “situation” includes

schoolwork and intelligence-exams. Research into
potential universities. A decision about which
universities to apply to. The application process.
Exploration-visits to the universities. And
finally, the decision about which university
someone should attend.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

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 Cross-racial marriage – It isn’t just a matter of
culture-clash, or racism. Individuals from
different races think-and-behave SIGNIFICANTLY
differently. If a couple decides be of the same
race, then who makes the sacrifice to ditch their
current body, and move-to- a body that is
genetically-viable with their spouse’s body? Or, do
both husband-and-wife swap to a third race? Does
the body-swap ostracize the re-bodied person from
their old society?

 Being bred to be friendly – Specific-breeds of pet-

dogs are specially-bred to be friendly to Hominid
children. So are Animal-people.

 Emergency soul/awareness merger – Two people are on

a spaceplane in a remote-corner of space. One
persons’ body dies. The ship’s emergency soul-bot
grafts the dead-person’s soul onto the living
person. The two people must coexist within the same
body, while racing-against time, before their
souls/awarenesses are permanently merged. (Robin
Hobb’s “Farseer trilogy”, where Fitz coexists in
Wolf’s body)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farseer_Trilogy)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS, HAPPENINGS, AND P IVOTS –
UNDERCURRENTS

Undercurrents are “pressures-and-events” happening

throughout the novel’s timeline, that are not-quite
large-enough to build a plot around.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 The advance of history – Useful for picaresques.

(The movie, “Forrest Gump”, by Robert Zemeckis.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump)

 Cursed by a compu-metaorganism – Telepathic,

health, social, and legal harassment paid-for by an
anonymous bank-account, and operated by semi-
anonymous paralegals. Enslavement and assassination
are also possible.

 Population swap/relocation – After the United

Kingdom returned India its sovereignty, India
divided itself into India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh. Mass-migrations ensued, as Muslims and
Hindus cross-migrated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India)

 Profession-number – Only 1000 official-professions

are listed in the planet’s hive-mind computer-
database. A protagonist with an uncommon profession
finds that people don’t-quite understand what the
protagonist actually does for a job… and they (the
hive-mind) continually try to redirect the
protagonist’s life-decisions, to funnel the
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protagonist into one of the one-thousand official-
professions.

 Simulation-trap and/or time-trap – A clandestine-

organization is future-simulating the protagonist’s
society on a super-computer, producing thousands of
“What if” simulated-futures. They are also scanning
time-signals from the future, for “What if” news-
items. What happens when the protagonist’s name
shows-up as someone who might-perhaps be able to
change the future in a beneficial manner?… but only
IF the protagonist happens to know the ideal piece
of information, or be in the right place at the
right time, or meet a certain person? The
clandestine organization only has telepathic-
communication resources to affect the protagonist’s
behavior and knowledge. How are the protagonist’s
life-choices funneled via telepathic suggestions
and dreams? (See Steven Spielberg’s movie,
“Minority Report”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film
) )

 Wars that tangentially affect the protagonists –

The movie, “Out of Africa” by Sydney Pollack.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa_(film)
)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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CHARACTERS - GENERAL

“Games are a subset of entertainment limited to

conflicts in which players work to foil each
other’s goals, just one of many leaves off a tree
that includes playthings, toys, challenges,
stories, competitions, and a lot more.” –
Attributed to Chris Crawford (From “A Theory of
Fun”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Crawford_(game_
designer) )

CHARACTERS ARE DESIGNED TO PRODUCE

INTERESTING/ENJOYABLE STORIES

Authors use a combination of the following techniques to

build/puppet characters, maximizing novel enjoy-ability.
Some novel writing-styles (renamed design-styles?)
overweight one-or-two of the following techniques.

CHARACTERS ARE PRE-DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE

ENJOYABILITY

Ordinary people in ordinary situations are boring, to

other people.

Reality-television shows are entertaining because (a)

they feature professionally-selected real-people, (b)
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interacting in professionally-manufactured situations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_television)

Professionals select the realty-television-show’s 10-ish

participants from thousands of applicants. The “most
interesting” (aka: “most-obnoxious yet most-likable” ???)
10-ish people from the 1000-ish applicants are invited to
participate.

MY SPECULATION: Participants are also selected to form an

interesting-to-watch GROUP. As an offensive
stereotypical-example: Six (???) of the participants are
NOT selected as individuals, but as potential dating-
couples, statistically-ensuring that two couples end-up
seriously-dating by the end of the reality-television
show. Several scoundrels are also included in the group.
One participant MUST be self-centered. Etcetera.

Similarly, the characters in most novels are specially-

selected designed by their authors.

CHARACTER-ACTIONS ARE REDIRECTED TO MAXIMIZE

ENJOYABILITY

Character reactions, thoughts, decisions, behaviors, and

micro-decisions are redirected by the author as he/she
designs the novel.

Character-actions are redirected just-enough to ensure an

enjoyable novel (enjoyable character-arcs, relationship-
arcs, plot, action, etcetera).

If character-actions are redirected too-much, then

readers notice, and decide to dislike the novel.

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CHARACTERS SOMETIME BEHAVE LIKE THE READER

EXPECTS THEM TO REACT

Characters behave the way that the READER expects them to

behave, NOT the way that they would actually behave if
they were real people. And NOT in a manner that would
maximize some other enjoyable-aspects of the novel, such
as character-arcs, relationship-arcs, plot, action,
etcetera.

CHARACTERS ARE SIMULATED AS REALISTICALLY AS

POSSIBLE

1. Characters, relationships, world, setting, and the

starting-situation are designed with a “goal” for
the plot, character-arcs, relationship-arcs,
etcetera.

2. However: Characters, relationships, the laws of

physics, and the world are thereafter untouchable
and not-redirectable (puppeted) by the author.
Simply put, the characters and world run-themselves
in the author’s mental simulation.

3. Add randomness:

 Some elements of the characters,

relationships, world, setting, and starting-
situation are random, such as the color of

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the neighbors car, where characters live, who
their children’s friends are, etcetera.

 While the novel is being written, random-

events occasionally change character
interactions : weather, in-novel coin-flips,
traffic accidents, etcetera.

4. The author mentally-simulates ten iterations of the

world, for the duration of the novel’s timeline.
Due to the above-mentioned randomness, each
iteration begins with a slightly-different “state”.
Almost-certainly, every iteration will end
completely-differently.

5. Each of the ten iterations are scored based on how-

enjoyable their story is.

6. The author determines which of the ten-iterations

is the most-enjoyable. He/she then writes/expands
the most-enjoyable iteration into a novel.

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Every character (protagonists and secondary-characters)

has 3-to-5 personality-traits. (See “Creating Emotion in
Games”)

Personality-traits affect:

 The character’s actions

 The character’s behaviors
 The character’s life-choices
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 The character’s interactions with other characters
 The character’s opinions (and observations) of
other characters
 Dialogue

Personality-traits are “illustrated” to the reader by:

 Exposition
 Interactions with other characters
 Dialogue with other characters
 Comments that the character speaks to themselves
 Internal thoughts – For protagonists.
 Choices that the character makes

How to select a character’s personality-traits?

 Since readers “recognize” characters partly through

their personality-traits, protagonists and
secondary-characters should have unique
personality-traits… reducing the confusability of
characters. There is no point having two very-shy
very-quiet secondary-characters.

 Protagonists may require special personality-

traits, depending-upon how the protagonists are
used by the story-structure. See the “Protagonists”
section, below.

 Make the characters “well rounded”, which means…

some good traits, and some flaws. (“Creating
Emotion in Games”)

(My own thoughts) Some personality-traits are

genetic (as well as upbringing).

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Which leads to an interesting idea… The character
might have genetic flaws, that parents would also
have had. When his parents raised the character as
a child, they would have taught their child to
overcome their-own genetic personality-trait flaws.
The adult character would have trained/ingrained
personality-traits to counteract genetic
personality-flaws. Or, weaker personality-
behaviors could counteract the genetic personality-
flaws.

If the character were adopted, he/she MIGHT-NOT

have been-taught counteracting personality-traits
and/or personality-behaviors. His adopting-family
(or orphanage) would-not have thought to teach the
child-character the techniques.

 Realistically, some trait-combinations are

psychologically impossible/implausible.

 Strong traits? (“Creating Emotion in Games”)

 Colorful traits? (“Creating Emotion in Games”)

o To make a character “interesting”, use at

least 3 traits from the “colorful” group.

 Personality-traits must be selected to ensure a

plausible plot-arc.

 Personality-traits must be selected to ensure that

the character has a worthwhile character-arc???

 Personality-traits must be selected to ensure

character relationships:

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o Characters that are supposed to meet-and-
befriend, have character-traits that
encourage them to befriend one-another… as
per the requirements of the plot, plot-arc,
relationships, and relationship-arcs.

o Characters that are supposed to get into

conflict, have personality-traits that cause
dissonance.

o If a relationship is designed to morph over

the course of the novel, then the characters’
traits/behaviors should be designed to
change/morph with the relationship-arc.

 A person’s vocation-choices (“Way of life”) are

limited by their personality-traits. Conversely, a
character’s vocation-choice changes their
personality-traits and personality-behaviors.

 Personality-traits must be selected so that they

reveal themselves regularly throughout the novel.
If a character is afraid of spiders, and a
terrifying (to the character) spider only appears
in the third chapter, then the character-trait
might be perceived as an artificial story device…

Perhaps a specific character-trait should have both

positive-effects and negative-effects on the
character’s well-being, and the plot-progression?
This makes the character-trait seem less like a
story-device.

Not only positive-and-negative, but a personality-

trait should add interest, and boredom(?), and
variety.

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 “Interesting”, “Deep”, and “Likable” personality-
traits

 Personality-traits that result from

emotional/intellectual scarring make the
character more “interesting” and “deeper”???

 “Positive” personality-traits make the character

more-likeable, but less-believable, and hence
less-interesting. “Positive” personality-traits
also make it difficult for the character to be
“deep”??? (See personality-behaviors, below)

 “Negative” personality-traits enable

counteracting “positive” personality-behaviors
(see below), which makes the character more
“flawed”, not-quite disliked, but most-
definitely “deeper”.

 Deepening – Emotional pain, deep regret. (From

“Creating Emotion in games”.)

 One of the character’s personality-traits should be

selected from a list of personality-traits that
commonly-appear within the reader’s real-life
circle of acquaintances. This lets the novel
“educate” the reader about different personalities,
and how to best interact with them.

A negatively-viewed personality-trait that the

reader will encounter in real-life, should somehow
present itself as a problem to other characters in
the novel. The other characters in the novel will
help the flawed-character overcome their negative
personality-trait. From this example, the reader
learns new social skills. (Young-children’s

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television shows, such as “Poko”, where the child-
character gets grumpy, and nearly has temper-
tantrums.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poko_(TV_series) )

Related: Readers should be informed/educated about

how to “get along” with people that have common
antisocial/abrasive character-traits.

 A positive personality-trait in a character might

encourage the reader to seek-out and befriend a
real-person with a similar personality-trait.

Should the novel encourage readers to befriend

real-life personality-types that need befriending?

 Why would a novel want a “hero” protagonist WITHOUT

imperfections? The plot-and-action become more-
important, and they “flow” better. The reader does-
NOT-ever feel embarrassed about the protagonist.
The reader does-NOT “dislike” the protagonist. NOR
does the reader “like” the protagonist. (Inspired
by “Characters & Viewpoint”)

PROBLEM

If a movie (or novel?) tries to use too-many characters,

or contains too-much action, while using the personality-
trait techniques, then the techniques become VERY
obvious. They highlight themselves.

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PERSONALITY BEHAVIORS

I will redefine personality-traits as they are described

in “Creating Emotion in Games”, to something slightly-
different.

A personality-trait is:

 Genetic, and unchangeable… kind of.

 Worn-into a character in their youth.

 Consciously-learned/acquired by the character, over

a long period of time, years to decades.

 Burned-in by a psychological-shock to the system,

such as a spouse’s death, strong emotional-pain,
brainwashing, or torture.

A personality “behavior” is:

 A learned response-system.

 A personality-behavior is a behavior that a

character is consciously-attempting to affect… or
at least willingly-and-consciously allowing.

 Often, personality-behaviors are affected to offset

negatively-perceived personality-traits.

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A character will have 3-to-5 personality-behaviors:

 Most of what I wrote about personality-traits

(above), applies to personality-behaviors.

 Half(?) of a character’s personality-behaviors

offset a negative personality-trait, but never
completely, and never in all circumstances.
Sometimes the counteracting personality-behaviors
overcompensate.

 Half(?) of the personality-behaviors are

learned/affected for purposes of survival: social,
economic, and/or wilderness/warfare.

 A character’s vocation (see below), may dictate

some of the character’s personality-behaviors.

 Personality-behaviors are effort-consuming and

time-consuming for the character.

One or two of a character’s personality-behaviors

are often selected (by the character-themselves) to
ensure that they have friends: “Willing to help
people repair their houses” and “Takes road-trips
on weekends”. In reality, people only have to be
“nice enough” to have as many friends as their
psychology/lifestyle/employment requires. Being
“nice/friendly” consumes time-and-energy, and other
resources.

Therefore, a simplistic rule is that a character

will have two personality-behaviors that make
him/her likable to his/her friends. (“Willing to
help people repair their houses” and “Takes road-
trips on weekends”.) And, two personality-behaviors
that are selected for economic-survival, which have
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side-effects of making the character less-likable.
(“Impatient at slowness because he/she has to get
back to real-work” and “Money obsessed”.)

If a character trying to be nice/friendly to

everyone, then three personality-behaviors will be
likeable behaviors. The last personality-behavior
(more of an observation) is always something-like
“No personality” or “Two faced” … because group-
dynamics prevent someone from being liked by
everyone. Or, the personality-behavior could be,
“Permanently unemployed”, because the character
spends all of his/her time with friends.

Alternatively, very-interesting characters don’t

have many friends. They have an observed likeable
personality-behavior of “Very interesting”, but
their survival-behaviors (or emotional-scarring
traits/behaviors?) are dominant. (“Wary of
crocodiles”, “Workaholic”, and “Paranoid”.)

 If characters select their own personality-

behaviors (for reasons of self-identification,
pride, or economic-survival), then do you want
readers to select these same personality-behaviors
for their own self-improvement? If a reader mimics
a personality-behavior from a famous character,
then does this personality-behavior lead to the
reader changing one of their own personality-
traits? Doctor Who consciously decides to “Not
carry weapons”. Does this affect what personality-
behaviors Doctor-Who viewers select for themselves
in real-life?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who)

Or do you want readers to NOT select these

personality-behaviors for self-improvement?
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 “Interesting”, “Deep”, and “Likable” character-

behaviors

 Are personality-behaviors “deeper” than

personality-traits, because they indicate an
effort (person-ness) on the part of the
character?

 The more personality-behaviors that mask

“negative” personality-traits, the less
“interesting” the character is. A personality-
behavior never-completely masks a negative
personality-trait, though.

 If a personality-behavior causes a “negative”

personality-issue, then is the character seen as
a jerk?

 Deepening – Appreciation for a friend, wise,

false emotional-front. (From “Creating Emotion
in games”.)

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PERSONALITY QUIRKS

What do personality-quirks do?

 3-to-5 quirks?

 Help with characterization of a character

o Dialogue
o Micro-actions
o Appearance
o Help readers to identify the character as
different from other characters.

 Personality-quirks do NOT(???) affect the

character’s decision-making process in any major
way??? Or perhaps they do? “Being on a diet” might
be a character-quirk that affects decisions that
the character makes.

 Do characters decide what quirks they have? Did

Indiana Jones (from the “Indiana Jones” movies)
train himself to always wear a beaten-up hat? Is
Indiana Jones’ hat-quirk a failed-attempt at a
personality-behavior?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones)

 Some personality-quirks are conscious-decisions by

a character to change him/herself. “Being on a diet
– so always talking about calories” might be a
personality-quirk, that has little story-impact.

 Personality-quirks are “quieter” than character-

traits and character-behaviors???

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 A character’s vocation (such as being a priest)
leads to personality quirks… such as “Attends
church regularly”.

 If characters select their own personality-quirks

(for reasons of self-identification, pride, or
economic-survival), then do you want readers to
select these same quirks for their own self-
improvement? If a reader mimics a quirk from a
famous character, then does this quirk lead to the
reader changing one of their own personality-
behaviors and personality-traits? The line “May the
force be with you,” from George Lucas’ “Star Wars”
most-likely led to some people to change their
religion from “Atheist” or “Christian”, to “Jedi”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Religion)

MISCELLANEOUS

 Find photos of real people that resemble what your

characters look like in your mind. Do the same for
their homes, automobiles, and other possessions.

 Find recordings of a famous person’s

speech/dialogue, and use them as an accent/dialect
template?

 Create an oversupply of incidental information

about your protagonists (and secondary characters),
much-more than will ever appear in a book.

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WORK IN PROGRESS…

CHARACTERS – PROTAGONISTS

Protagonists are characters who appear often-enough that:

 A novel will have 1 to 5 protagonists.

 They have a non-cliché/archetypical personality.

 They have a history.

 They have a character-arc.

 They may have a relationship, and relationship-

arc.

 Three(?)-or-more chapters are written in their

point-of-view.

 The reader MUST empathize with them, as well as

understand their point-of-view, motivations,
goals, and ways of thinking.

Another way to “find” the protagonist(s): (From

“Characters & Viewpoint”)

 Find the character who “needs” the most.

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Such characters have believable motives to act.
They attract reader-sympathy. They might undergo a
novel-worthy character-arc.

 Find a character who has the ability to make

decisions, take action on them, and affect the
world. (Also called “agency”).

Protagonists that do-not make decisions, produce

novels that are missing decision-points.
Protagonists that cannot undertake action, are
boring to observe (read-about). Protagonists that
cannot affect the world, have non-effectual
decision-points, and/or non-effectual actions.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – PROTAGONISTS

 Body swapper – Someone that can swap their soul

between two or more bodies, kept in their house or
spaceplane.

 Clan-member – What is it like to be part of a clan

of four-to-eight individuals, and to exist as a
hive-mind?

 Mother of an endangered-species child – Endangered-

species embryos can be artificially-implanted into
a woman’s womb. Endangered-species children look
different, act different, and are-not as
intelligent as their peers.

 Politician/leader hiding-out from retribution – A

politician/leader who failed his/her society, or
who significantly-offended a portion of his/her
society. Combine this with “Cursed by a compu-
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metaorganism” (below). (The Emperor from “Star
Wars” would face retribution from the relatives of
the more-than one-million people that died in the
Emperor’s two very-expensive death-stars, destroyed
by Luke Skywalker.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:
_A_New_Hope,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Star)

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – PROTAGONIST’S

PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY

 Field-intensive and information-intensive

protagonist – Hominids are VERY visual. Some races
don’t-quite see. They exist in a world of
electromagnetic fields, and telepathy-implant
information-streams.

 Replicant “child” – Experience the world through

the eyes of a one-year-old “replicant”, who looks
like an adult, sometimes acts like an adult, but
who has the past and life-experience-limitations of
a child. (Data from “Star Trek: The Next
Generation”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_G
eneration,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Star_Trek) )

 Reptilian in a non-Reptilian society – What is it

like for a Reptilian to live in a non-Reptilian
society? How does a Reptilian’s thinking differ
from the thinking of non-Reptilians? (Kind of like
Data in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, except
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that everyone in Star Trek was exceptionally-nice,
and Data looked the same as the Hominids.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_G
eneration,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Star_Trek) )

ARCHETYPES

An archetypical-character, is a character than generic-

readers have encountered often-enough, that they know
what to expect from the character’s personality, skills,
relationships, and biography.

Real-life experience produces VERY-FEW archetypes that

GENERIC-readers can recall. The real-life archetypical
people-categories that I can perceive, follow:

 High school – Male/female preppies, male/female

jocks, middle-males/females, male/female geeks,
male/female outcasts (the name we used was much
ruder), teachers, parents, adults

 University – Students, professors, cleaning-staff

From the viewpoint of GENERIC-readers,

novel/television/movie archetypes are artificial-
constructs! The television/movie archetypes of rugged
outdoor-person, had-hitting cop, and shady-businessperson
ONLY EXIST in the reader’s mind, because they have
watched too-much/many television/movies.

Real-life archetypes that I perceive ONLY-because of my

specialized life-history:

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 Computer-programming work – Computer programmers,
testers, managers

 Zoo volunteering – Animal hand-raisers (zookeeper),

reptile people (zookeeper), rural-lifestyler

Protagonists begin as a cliché/archetypical personality-

type. Often, introductory exposition labels them as the
cliché/archetypical personality-type. “Fred was a jock.”
Or, “Fred came from San Francisco”, using the city as a
modifier to the cliché/archetype. Career/employment also
modifies the cliché/archetype, “Fred worked at Apple
Computer” => “Fred was a creative geek.”

Oops… This may NOT work. People who were “preppies” or

“geeks” in high-school are most-like PREDISPOSED to
DISLIKING “jocks”… which means that if a protagonist has
a “jock” archetype, then one-quarter of the novel’s
readers will be predisposed to dislike the protagonist!

The plot-arc, dialogue, etcetera of the story quickly

modifies the cliché/archetypical personality-type of the
protagonists into a non-cliché/archetype.

Further back-story, flashbacks, plot-arc, dialogue,

etcetera reveal other non-cliché/archetype aspects about
the protagonists.

The protagonists typically change throughout the story in

a manner that leads them even further-away from the 100-
ish personality clichés/archetypes of a literary culture.

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PROTAGONIST CLASS – READER’S AVATAR

The protagonist is really a copy (avatar) of the reader.

An “avatar protagonist” that the reader is supposed to

self-identify, with should begin the story with a similar
personality, knowledge, skill-set and social-status to
the reader.

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Ring” series, Frodo

Baggins begins the book as a young, boring, village-
dwelling character. He gradually becomes more-interesting
and worldly as he travels through the world, over the
course of three novels. The reader begins reading the
series as a twenty-something reader without any knowledge
about the world of Middle-Earth, and gains worldly
experience along-with Frodo Baggins.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

Does the author have several avatar-protagonists to

ensure that a reader can identify with at least one? J.
K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series has Harry Potter (an
ordinary boy/teenager), Hermione (a geek girl, and
ordinary teenager), and Ron (a geek boy, and failure
teenager). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

In general, an avatar-protagonist should have: (From “How

to Write a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

 Emotionally-strong, smart, and attractive (but

not a beauty)

 Emotionally simple yet deep – So that the reader

can remember having experiences all of the
emotions that the protagonist experiences in the
novel.

 Vulnerable – Needed for plot-arc and

relationship.
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 A person that the reader would like to befriend

 A person that the reader would like to be

 Determined – They must be able to overcome plot-

arc-obstacles and relationship-obstacles that
the reader would not normally overcome… but not
too-much-more difficult than the reader might
face-and-overcome.

 The avatar-protagonist’s personality (and ways

of thinking and psychology) MUST be similar to
the reader’s… so that the reader can self-
identify with the avatar-protagonist.

For a Romance-novel read by woman, an avatar-protagonist:

(From “How to write a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

 The self-identification protagonist is a woman.

 A person that the reader would like to be

o The Romance-Writing guidelines-good
suggest: “Make the woman-protagonist a
millionaire [from the beginning]” because
readers would like to be millionaires. But
this conflicts with setting up a link to
the woman-protagonist as the reader’s
avatar… “Beginning the story in the
reader’s home, with the reader as
protagonist.”

 The woman-protagonist’s personality (and ways of

thinking and psychology) MUST be similar to the
reader’s… so that the reader can self-identify
with the woman-protagonist, and so that both the
reader and the woman-protagonist can fall in

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love with the male-protagonist as they both
progress through the novel.

 Don’t let the woman-protagonist realize that she

is beautiful. Reader self-identifies with the
woman-reader? Also, this lets the male-lead
protagonist find the woman-protagonist
beautiful, even though the woman-protagonist
isn’t much-more than above-average pretty.
Romance.
o Fixable beauty flaws? Glasses instead of
contacts? Poor fashion sense?

PROTAGONIST-CLASS – ROLE-PLAYING FOR THE READ ER

The purpose of the protagonist is to allow the reader to

imagine being someone different, often heroic.

An “avatar-protagonist” can gradually turn-into a Role-

playing protagonist.

Or, the novel can begin with a role-playing protagonist.

I think… but I am not certain… that role-playing

protagonists only “work” when the reader is already 97%-
familiar with the setting. A heroic-archeologist
character like Indiana Jones, from the movie “Raiders of
the Lost Ark”, can exist in a World War II movie. People
are already familiar with the World War II setting.
HOWEVER, being Indiana Jones in J. R. R. Tolkien’s
Middle-Earth, stealing the one-ring from Gollum in the
caves beneath the Misty Mountains, and the reader will be
lost.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit)
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WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – WORKING

TOGETHER TO COMPLETE A PROJECT

Protagonists can work together to complete a project

(such as the Harry Potter series) or to solve a “Who
Dunnit?” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

 How deal with different knowledge bases? The reader

knows what both Protagonist-A and Protagonist-B
know, but Protagonist-A doesn’t know what
Protagonist-B knows, and vice versa. If
Protagonist-A discovers a clue that Protagonist-B
needs to solve another clue, the reader won’t
immediately recognize that the information isn’t
immediately transferred to Protagonist-B’s mind.

 When both protagonists appear in the same chapter,

which one’s point-of-view is used?

 Use the project/mystery as a way to define and

evolve the relationship between protagonist-A and
protagonist-B.

WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – A ROMANCE

Romance novels need two protagonists, or at least one-

and-a-half protagonists.

Or, weaker relationships are possible, such as a very-

strong friendship, or a competitive-rivalry.
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From my limited reading of romance-novels, it appears

absolutely-necessary that BOTH the female-lead AND male-
lead MUST be protagonists. The viewpoint of the novel
needs to switch back-and-forth frequently between the two
protagonists. If the only protagonist is the male-lead,
then the novel cannot be a romance-novel intended to be
read by women. (???) If the only protagonist is the
woman, I suspect that the reader does-not get “as
involved” in the novel. (Observed from “Harlequin Mills &
Boon Novels”)

WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – DIFFERENT

POINTS OF VIEW

The plot-arc/setting of the novel cannot be properly-

explored with only one point-of-view.

WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – THE WORLD IS

TOO-LARGE TO EXPLORE

The world is a fantasy or science-fiction world. The

protagonists are slated to begin as a group, divide-up to
explore the world, and then rejoin near the end.

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WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – IF ALL OF THAT
STUFF HAPPENED TO JUST ONE-PERSON IT WOULD BE
TOO-UNBELIEVABLE

If there is a group of people in an unusual circumstance,

it makes reality-sense for the interesting-stuff to be
doled-out somewhat equally to all of the people. While
having one protagonist might be better according to most
principles, having everything-interesting happen to only
the one protagonist would endanger the reader’s
“acceptance of improbabilities”.

Example: A military movie with a small platoon of

soldiers, each experiencing different trials of the war.
One person gets shot and wounded. Another-one is killed.
A third has to do something terrible to another person –
such as shoot them, or interrogate them. A fourth gets
taken hostage. Etcetera. (The movie, “Forrest Gump”, by
Robert Zemeckis, ignores this problem, turning itself
into a reality-fantasy.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump)

WHY MORE THAN ONE PROTAGONIST? – THE ORIGINAL

PROTAGONIST IS EXPECTED TO DIE

If the original protagonist is going to die half-way

through the novel, then the novelist had-better have a
second protagonist ready.

PROTAGONIST CLASS – SKILLS AND RELATIONSHIPS

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This protagonist brings skills, relationships, and
personality to the novel that the avatar-protagonist
cannot. This class of protagonist is used when more than
one protagonist is needed for a project in the novel to
be completed.

PROTAGONIST CLASS – PERSONALITY AND POIN T-OF-

VIEW

The protagonist brings a markedly-different personality

and point-of-view to the novel. Assuming that the first
protagonist is an avatar-protagonist.

PROTAGONIST CLASS – ROMANTIC LEAD

In general:

 Someone that the reader can fall in love with,

along-side with the avatar-protagonist falling
in love with the romantic-lead also.

For a Romance-novel read by women: (From “Writing a

Romance Novel for Dummies”

 The love-protagonist should be a man.

 “Alpha male” who is stereotypically a

boss/leader/manager of other men. Some women are
looking to marry financially. High-finance
alpha-male men are work-obsessed though.

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o Woman-protagonist must “establish her own
strength”, as well as be noticed by the
alpha-male.
o Alpha-males are seen as decision-makers,
implementer, and he doesn’t think about
his-or-others’ feelings. This makes it
difficult for him to be romantic.
o If the Alpha-male was married before, the
relationship failed because his ex-wife
was not capable of breaking-through the
man’s alpha-ness. Which turns the romance-
novel into a psychological search-and-hunt
for a secret entryway into the romantic-
lead’s inner emotional self.

 Or, a stereotypical “Beta male” who is not

really going anywhere on the corporate-ladder,
but who is the kind of guy you want to marry…
Not really… The kind of guy you can spend the
rest of your life with.
o If a beta-male had a wife, she either died
or the relationship ended in a more real-
world way. ??? Any other ending would
imply that the beta-male was flawed as a
marriageable person. ???
o Beta-males have emotional support systems
(aka: friends, not just alpha-male
coworkers). This makes “I am your only
friend-and-romantic-partner” romances
more-difficult.
o Beta-males do not hide their
emotional/financial/physical weaknesses.
The woman-protagonist does NOT have to
try-and-discover them, nor does she have
to break through the romantic-lead’s
emotional barriers.
o According to the romance-writers book,
emotional-issues should NOT be discussed
calmly and rationally.

 Or, “tortured” male-lead

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o He is emotionally scarred because of a
traumatic event in his past, turning him
into a “fixer upper”… without the alpha-
maleness.

 From romance-writing book: “rugged, strong,

usually solitary, and very-definitely not
touchy-feely sensitive new-age guy. He lives in
a rugged land that tests men’s courage, and he
passes the test every time. He can tame a wild
horse, rope a runaway steer…”. For some reason
the romance-writer author thinks this male is
Alpha. Beta seems more accurate.

 Vulnerable – Needed for plot-arc and

relationship, and so that the reader has someone
to mold/guide/mentor.

 If wealthy, then worries that the female

protagonist is a gold-digger?

 Looking for a long-term commitment

 Romance-reason for the two to fall in love, as

well as a relationship-conflict.

 Genetically viable – Good looking, well-balanced

personality, intelligent, employed, not wasting
money, no previous children, healthy, etcetera.

o Conversely: Interesting story-wise –

Scarred, flawed personality, less-
intelligent than the reader, splurges on
exotic holidays, other gnarly
relationships to deal with, ill due a war-
wound, etcetera.
o Which means that some of the “interesting
story-wise” problems need to be manageable
obstacles that the reader (from the
beginning) can see to be challenges that
can be overcome.

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o Which turns the romantic-interest into a
fixer-upper.

 Romantic-lead should be the woman protagonist’s

“equal” – in an absolute measurement, in the
reader’s opinion… for contemporary Earth-Sol
society.

 The romantic-lead should be better than the

woman-protagonist at skill-X, but not far-
superior. And the converse. If the romantic-lead
is very-good at identifying fingerprints, then
the woman-protagonist has to be at least
mediocre. Or vice versa. Unbalanced skills
either (a) aren’t desirable, and/or (b) harm the
plot-arc/relationship.

 The romantic-lead should have a softer

(feminine, caring, non-alpha, non-beta, non-
male) side, so he can be a friend to the woman-
protagonist and the woman-reader. Having said
that, most alpha-males and beta-males and other-
males have no-such softer-side… which means that
women-readers know this… which means that for
the story to be credible and realistic, the
woman-reader has to believe that there might-
perhaps be males who are both sexy/romantic, and
who have a softer-side that they only share with
friends/romancers in private.

 Have the romantic-lead provide awkward-humor? So

says the romance-novel writing-guide.

 If the romantic-lead is a famous person, who

obviously has a public-persona that is
different-than their private real-self, then the
woman avatar-protagonist (and the woman-READER?)
enjoy (“get a buzz out of”) knowing “the real
person”. As well as, “Only ***I*** know him as a
real person.” And it’s a secret! This ALSO ties
into town-life (not village-life) where knowing
“the real FAMOUS-PERSON” is socially
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advantageous. (Observed from “Harlequin Mills &
Boon Novels”)

PROTAGONIST CLASS – FRIEND OF THE AVATAR -

PROTAGONIST

BUGBUG – Do this

PROTAGONIST CLASS – METAORGANISM

Can a church choir, or a corporation take the role of a

protagonist?

Whose point-of-view are the chapters written in? Perhaps

using a different archetypical secondary-character for
each role?

Is J. R. R. Tolkien’s fellowship (with nine characters) a

protagonist in itself?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_fellowship_of_the_ring)

What happens when a metaorganism-protagonist splits?

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NEWS/INFORMATION REACHING THE PROTAGONIS T’S
EARS

How often do novels have a protagonist receive a

telephone call from a sibling informing them that the
protagonist is now an uncle? Would the information from
the telephone-call remain unused for the rest of the
novel?

Does incidental information that is relevant to the

protagonist, but irrelevant to the plot-
arc/relationships/character-arcs, need to be in the
novel? Does it add empathy to the protagonist? Or too-
much distraction to the story?

PROTAGONIST’S VOCATION (WAY OF LIFE)

BUGBUG – More information

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – VOCATIONS (WAYS

OF LIFE)

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 Male companion – With some races, gender is a
decision. Women are genetically more-intelligent
than men, so most people choose to be women.

 Planet soul/awareness – What is it like to be a

soul living inside a planet? They have no physical
body. They see through the digital-eyes of
invisible cameras.

 Priest – Being a priest is more-than just partaking

in a profession.

 “Royalty” – The function of (some) “royalty” is to

annoy/jibe foreign nations.

 Soul living in a battleship’s “computer” – The

protagonist has no body. They see through the
ship’s cameras, or they see only the ship’s
computer-displays, or they exist in a virtual-
reality world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate:_Continuum)

 Soul-ship traveler – Soul-ships (see below) are

extremely-fast spaceplanes that only transport a
person’s soul, sometimes only their upper-soul.
When the person arrives at their destination, they
have a new/different body, as well as a
new/different personality, as well as destination-
specific memories. They forget half (or more) of
their previous memories.

PROTAGONIST’S PROFESSION
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BUGBUG – More information

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – PROFESSIONS

 Espionage – Combine implant-hacking (below), with

mentors, soirees, and multiracial politics.

 Medic – For some reason, medical-professionals seem

to make good protagonists.

 Telepathy signals-expert – Trace-down the

originating-person of a telepathy signal, and
verify that the telepathy-transcript is accurate.

PROTAGONIST’S HOBBIES

PROTAGONIST’S RELATIVES

What do a protagonist’s relatives imply about the

protagonist? Rather than the author using exposition to
point-out that the protagonist is wealthy, an author can
“show” that the protagonist’s relatives are wealthy,
implying that the protagonist is also wealthy.

PROTAGONIST’S FRIENDS

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PROTAGONIST’S GOALS

The “lead” protagonist should have a personally-important

“objective”. (From “Plot & Structure)

My speculation:

 Characters with personally-important objectives

have a reader-believable impetus to take-on
challenges, enter into relationships, face danger,
and undertake other novel-worthy activities.

Characters WITHOUT a personally-important

objective, are more-likely to get a low-stress 9-
to-5 job, spend quiet evenings with their spouse,
and weekends at the lake with their children.
Readers do-not particularly find mundane life to be
novel-worthy.

 When the “lead” protagonist is focused on a single

objective, the author can use the intense-focus as
an excuse to cut-out any narration that is-not
linked to the objective.

PROTAGONIST’S SECRETS

Design the protagonists (and secondary characters) with

secrets that are (potentially) drip-revealed throughout
the novel. (From “Plot & Structure”)

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MORE PROTAGONIST IDEAS

 Protagonists have quirks that the reader would like

to have (or would like to try out) but which are
too-expensive in real-life. The reader might like
to have a pet dog, but they cannot because of the
time-commitment and expense. However, a protagonist
could have a pet dog… not that the pet dog does
much to enhance the plot-arc.

 Don’t design protagonist personalities (and

backgrounds) to be perfect matches for the plot-
arc. “If a gun appears above the fireplace in the
first act, it must be used by the third act.” This
is too-much efficiency in the story. Likewise, “If
a protagonist likes cooking pastries, he/she must
use pastry-cooking by the end of the novel.”
Tangentially, “If a mystery-solving protagonist is
an expert in Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the first
act, then make them decode a clue written in
Latin.” (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”)

 One (or more) of the protagonists (or secondary

characters) should spend at least half of the novel
with beliefs in-opposition to one of the novel’s
THEMES. (From “Conflict & Suspense”)

 When is a protagonist supposed to be memorable to

the reader? Why? Is it so that people will
recommend the book? Is it so that they will re-read
the book? What are the costs of a memorable
protagonist? Does the reader try to emulate a
memorable protagonist?

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In J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”, Frodo
Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, are memorable
protagonists. Gandalf and Gollum are memorable
secondary characters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CHARACTERS – SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Secondary characters are characters with:

 A novel will have between 5 to 20 secondary-

characters.

 They have a cliché/archetypical personality,

which is either obvious from “showing”, or which
is told outright.

 They DO NOT typically experience a character

arc.

 They might have a history.

 Chapters are rarely written from their point of

view.

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SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 High social-IQ mentor/benefactor/antagonist –

Imagine a politician’s politician. Every word
he/she speaks/writes has meaning-and-intention.
Every choice he/she makes is the social-equivalent
of a chess-grandmaster’s move of a chess-piece. You
might perceive this person as “patronizing,”
“controlling”, and “hyper-political”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_(chess) )

 Sides of time – Through most of the novel, a remote

character can only be communicated-with using a
video-phone. The video-phone signal travels over a
time-link. Every phone-call to the remote-character
ends up in a slightly-different timeline.

 Telepathic mentor – A Christianity-like “guardian

angel”, some Hominid, and some with tentacles or
mandibles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_angel)

WHY A SECONDARY-CHARACTER? – WORKING-TOGETHER

TO COMPLETE A PROJECT

A secondary-character might be necessary for the

protagonist(s) to complete a project.

 The secondary-character brings a different

skills-set, relationships, or personality to the
project.

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WHY A SECONDARY-CHARACTER? – TO FACILITATE A
PLOT

Stereotypically, “the villain”.

SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – SUPER-MINDS

A super-mind is a character that is so knowledgeable,

intelligent, and wise that they can tell the protagonist
exactly what they protagonist should do, and if the
protagonist does that, then the protagonist succeeds
successfully every-time… Which means that the protagonist
then becomes a puppet of the super-mind.

Super-minds also have the problem that the reader cannot

possibly empathize or understand them.

As per Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey”, if a

super-mind is introduced into the story, they must
somehow be forced to leave the story, or they merely
puppet the protagonist around. Hence, in J. R. R.
Tolkien’s, “The Lord of the Rings”, Gandalf must either
always be away on business, or he must die (temporarily).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero%27s_Journey,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – FRIEND OF THE

AVATAR-PROTAGONIST

BUGBUG – Do this

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SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – ANGEL/DEVIL TO THE
PROTAGONIST

This character is a buddy (or friend) to a protagonist.

They might be a protagonist themselves. (From by “Plot &
Structure”)

Their literary purpose it to:

 Discuss decision-points, plans, and morality with

the protagonist, rather than having the protagonist
think-aloud to themselves.

 The angel/devil character provides the protagonist

with alternative viewpoints and problem-solutions.
Traditionally, the angel/devil character either
tells the protagonist to be “saintly” or
“mischievous”, as frequently occurred in the old
“Tom and Jerry” cartoons. “Angel/devil”-characters
could alternatively-offer advice swinging-between
“try something new” versus “become an expert in
what you are already doing”. Etcetera.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry)

 The angel/devil character “tempts” the protagonist

into “doing things” that the protagonist would-not
normally do. This creates new-and-unique
“situations” for the protagonist (and READER) to
experience.

SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – SELF-ADMITTED

ENEMY/RIVAL WITHIN THE GROUP

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BUGBUG – Do this

SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – BENEVOLENT

ANTAGONIST

The original-and-FIRST “The Planet of the Apes” movie

must have been written by someone with a social-IQ of
130-to-150-plus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_(1968_fi
lm) )

The movie’s antagonist, Doctor Zaius, is an Orangutan-

evolved leader of a village. The village has a few
Orangutan-evolved “priests”, more Chimpanzee-evolved
civilians, and a like-number of Gorilla-evolved soldiers.

Doctor Zaius is written as a character with a social-IQ

of 150. He controls the village using several techniques:
Withholding information to non-cognoscenti, backroom
discussions, compromise, and resolving legal-arguments by
letting everyone “save face” (including Taylor, and his
Chimpanzee-evolved supporters, Zira and Cornelius).

Throughout the movie, Doctor Zaius is:

 Suppressing discoveries of past histories, in order

to suppress the discovery/invention of more
technology, which the inquisitive Chimpanzee-
evolved characters would eagerly find, and
reproduce. While the Chimpanzee-evolved characters
might safely use the new technologies, the gun-
wielding Gorilla-evolved characters would almost-

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certainly use the technologies to form a fascist
state. (My speculation about Doctor Zaius’
reasoning, and the movie’s fictional portrayal of
Chimpanzee-evolved and Gorilla-evolved people.)

 Doctor Zaius is following a marginally-humane

policy of keeping the Hominid population mute, and
limited to 40-IQ, by castrating speaking-Hominids.
Hominids, having historically destroyed/lost the
planet 2000-years previously, have a proven
proclivity for both, creating technology, and using
that technology for destruction.

The less-humane alternative to the Hominid-

population is genocide.

 Doctor Zaius is an antagonist to Taylor, and

Taylor’s Chimpanzee-evolved supporter.

Despite being a commander of a space-expedition, Taylor,

behaves as though he has a social-IQ of 70. He acts
impulsively-and-violently throughout the movie, never
understanding (or trying to understand) Doctor-Zaius’
reasoning.

To illustrate Doctor Zaius’ behavior, versus Taylor’s

behavior: Near the end of the movie, Taylor ties-up
Doctor Zaius at gun-point. Taylor threatens to shoot
Doctor Zaius, unless Taylor is given a horse-and-food,
and allowed to escape. Knowing that he is in earshot of
the Gorilla-evolved soldiers, Doctor Zaius replies to
Taylor’s threat. He states that “Taylor is potentially a
violent person, capable of killing a tied-up Doctor
Zaius.” (Paraphrased.) This resolves the situation,
allowing the soldiers to accede to Taylor’s
terrorist/criminal-like demands. They let Taylor
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“escape”. Meanwhile, Zira and Cornelius are saved from
heresy charges. They had just shown Doctor Zaius that
their religiously-contentious research-claim was true.
(Doctor Zaius soon has the cave-entrance blocked,
ensuring that Cornelius’ excavation-evidence will be
forgotten.) And, Doctor Zaius saves himself from being
shot by Taylor.

SECONDARY-CHARACTER CLASS – CHILDREN OF

PROTAGONISTS

Is it enjoyable to hear your friends talk incessantly

about their children? Is it enjoyable to interact with
the children of your friends? Is it enjoyable to hear
about the children secondary-characters of your favorite
protagonist? Or to watch your protagonist’s children
interact with the novel’s characters?

SECONDARY-CHARACTERS INSTEAD OF EXPOSITION?

 Protagonists can have conversations with secondary

characters to avoid raw exposition.

 Secondary characters might notice things about

protagonists that the reader should-have noticed,
but doesn’t. This can be used to embarrass the
reader into paying more attention. “Sally slowly
settled the knickknack on the coffee-table.” Ten
pages later, “Jane looks at Sally and says, “Are
you alright? You seem a bit down?””.

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 Protagonists might not reveal their emotional state
(or thinking) until they’re in conversation with
secondary characters.

CHARACTERS – INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS

Incidental characters (like waiters and bus-drivers):

 A novel has any number of incidental characters.

 The characters may not even have a name.

 They don’t even have a personality. Any attempt

at personality is often quashed by the
character’s functional-need to drive a scene,
plot-arc, or setting.

INCIDENTAL-CHARACTER CLASS – PETS (AND VERY-

YOUNG CHILDREN)

Pets may appear often-enough in the novel to be

considered secondary characters, but they don’t have the
intelligence and interpersonal-reactivity to warrant the
titles.

Pets can be used as:

 Devices for the plot-arc, or to influence/transmit

the relationship interactions between protagonists.
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 Some emotional strength.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CHARACTERS – CHARACTER GROUPS

Some combinations of protagonists and secondary-

characters “just work”.

For example:

 The “character group” of a woman looking for a

husband, and a man not-necessarily looking for a
wife, “just works”, because it creates a romance-
novel. Include the relationship-metaorganism in the
character group.

Why do certain character-groups “work”???

Some other thoughts:

 Create personality-traits, personality-behaviors,

and personality-quirks for groups (metaorganisms),

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similar to personality-traits/behaviors for
characters. (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

Perhaps a group’s “personality-traits” are those

traits that are fundamental to its existence. A
church-choir might have traits of, “Attracts people
that like to sing”, and “Functionally-owns the
church’s choir-loft”. WOULD members of the group
inherit these personality-traits?

A group’s “personality-behaviors” might be designed

for the group’s social, political, economic, war,
and wilderness survival. A church-choir might have,
“Insists on being the focal-point during church
services”, and “Fund raising is very important”.
How do these group personality-behaviors affect the
personality-traits and personality-behaviors of
members of the choir?

The church-choir’s “personality-quirks” might

include, “Prefers maroon-and-white choir uniforms.”

 What makes a group interesting/deep?

o The group somehow participates in the story,

as a secondary or incidental character. “I
got a phone-call from someone [Fred] at the
Church Choir.” (Fred ONLY acts as a telephone
representative of the church choir, ever.)

o Members of the group participate in the

story, AND those members are strongly
affected/identified by the group.

o The group provides “situations” for

protagonists, or locations, or back-story(?),
or whatever???
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SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Alien’s family-structure – How is an alien’s

nuclear (or extended) family different to a Homo-
sapiens’ family.

 Fellowship/Party – A group of people, temporarily

bonded together by a mentor to achieve a common
cause. Used by J. R. R. Tolkien in “The Lord of the
Rings”. One protagonist is an avatar of the reader,
Frodo Baggins. The avatar-protagonist’s friend tags
along, either as a protagonist or secondary-
character, Samwise Gamgee. A frequently-absent
and/or closed-mouth mentor arranges-and-manages the
party, Gandalf. “Expert” characters, and characters
with different “points of view”, must help the
avatar-protagonist and his friend: Aragorn,
Legolas, and Gimli. Boromir is added as a traitor
secondary-character.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lord_of_the_rings
)

 Planet exploration – The “Star Trek” exploration-

spacecraft character-group consists of a commander,
his second in command, several professional-
personality “expert” characters, and one civilian
non-professional-personality “non-expert” (such as
Doctor McCoy, or Wesley Crusher). One of the non-
commander characters has a friendly non-Homo-
Sapiens personality (such as Spock or Data).
Include viewer-demographics in the crew: Women,

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teenager, and non-Caucasians. And one-or-two
aliens. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek)

CHARACTER-GROUPS AS A TOOL

Character-groups are their own literary “entity”,

separate from metaorganisms. Groups of characters enable
the following literary tools-and-techniques:

 Group activities – What are group activities like,

and how are they different from friends/buddies
partaking in the same activity?

 People join-and-leave the group – What happens to

the “group dynamics” when someone joins/leaves the
group? Is the person joining the group a
protagonist? Or a secondary-character? Or an
incidental character?

 Selecting a new leader – What happens when a group

selects a new leader? How does a group make the
decision? How do individuals in the group make the
decision? Is the decision based on a utility value?
Or a non-scalar life-choice, such as “I want Mark
as the leader because I want fun… or morality… or
wealth… or a resolution to a continuing problem…
etcetera.”

 Two groups of people merge together

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 Groups of people interact with one-another – The
nature of the interactions are different. AND,
characters from two merging groups interact
differently.

For example: A soccer game is two groups of people

interacting with one-another. The individual
players have no animosity, but the group-
interaction (combined with the rules and marketing-
money) produce different emotional-contexts. What
happens when one soccer player accidentally (not-
quite) breaks another soccer-player’s leg, for game
purposes? What do the two soccer-player s think-
and-feel?

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CHARACTERS – ALIEN PERSONALITIES

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 When you observe someone, do you think, “They are

behaving like a bird now,” or “They might be
behaving like a mouse,” or “They are in predator-
mode now.”

 Are you fun-oriented? You will only try to

accomplish something if it is fun.

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 Do you think of every individual person as being an
“instance”/“incarnation” of an archetype-
personality/person? Some aliens do-not remember
people as individuals, but as “copies” of an
archetype – kind of.

 When you are at a party, are people individuals, or

are they part of a color-separated fluid?

INCORPORATING ALIEN-PERSONALITIES INTO A NOVEL

Science-fiction television/moves/novels include a variety

of aliens, from Human-actors with pointy ears, to people
hidden by alien-looking rubber-suits, to large motorized
puppets, to computer-graphics.

Alien-characters have personalities ranging from (a)

“just like us” to (d) “completely bizarre”. Below is a
sequence illustrating how alien the alien-personalities
are:

a) Humans with “Homo-sapiens” personalities only. The

core characters are only Homo-Sapiens.

The crew on Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” series were

only Homo-sapiens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series) )

b) Aliens with modified “Homo-sapiens” personalities.

To be abusive to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”,

Klingons are “grumpy” Homo-Sapiens with dark-skin
and ridges. Vulcans are Homo-Sapiens acting
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“dispassionate”. Betazoids are Homo-Sapiens-
personalities with a telepathy-skill.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_G
eneration, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(Star_Trek),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betazoid)

c) Hominids. Homo-Sapiens are a subset of Hominids.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens)

Hominids are often more-intelligent than Homo-

Sapiens. They are almost-always more socially-
intelligent.

How do Hominid personalities differ from Homo-

Sapiens personalities?

Identify the often-subtle personality differences

that exist between the following Homo-Sapiens
“races” and archetypes: Africans. Caucasians.
Chinese. Indians. Japanese. Middle-easterners.
Native Americans. Artsy-types. Conservative
religious-people. Corporate-managers. Geek-types.
Normal-people. Liberals. Financial-conservatives.
Religious-conservatives.

All of the Homo-Sapiens personality-traits exist in

Hominids, but the personality-traits are (perhaps?)
more-noticeable to us.

Identifiable sub-sub-races of Hominids exist.

Hominids with hair-color-X, and skin-color-Y, and
skull-structure-Z, have statistically-identifiable
personality-trait clusters. And vice-versa.

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When Hominids are depicted in
television/movies/novels, the correlation between a
Hominid-person’s appearance and their personality-
traits will most-likely NOT be perceived by Homo-
Sapiens viewers/readers. Which means that sub-sub-
race is irrelevant for television/movies/novels???
Except for perhaps back-story.

Hominid characters might evoke stronger like-and-

dislike opinions from Homo-Sapiens viewers/readers.
Homo-Sapiens viewers/readers might perceive
Hominid-characters as “Not a normal every-day
person.” Which means that Homo-Sapiens
viewers/readers might think of the Hominid-
characters as NOT-“likeable” and/or NOT-“befriend-
able”, BUT “very-interesting”.

The Hominid-character interactions with one-another

would be more-interesting than interacting Homo-
Sapiens-personalities.

“Stargate: Continuum” has character-personalities

that are more-Hominid than Homo-Sapiens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate:_Continuum)

d) Hominini. Hominids are a subset of Hominini.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominini)

Many Hominini personality-traits are unlike those

of Homo-Sapiens. Hominini are often perceived as
“odd/goofy” and/or “aloof” and/or “wise” and/or
“introspective”. Increase all intelligences.

Some of the Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord

of the Rings” have Hominini personalities,
particularly the travelling-group encountered
early-on by Frodo and his friends.

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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

e) Aliens with alien-like personalities. Many aliens

have very-different personalities, compared to
Homo-Sapiens. (Not all aliens have alien-like
personalities. Some aliens have Hominid-like
personalities. Or, the alien-individuals adapt
their behaviors to appear to have Hominid-like
personalities.)

In real life, aliens are often perceived as

“unemotional”, or “grumpy”, or “weird”.

In television/moves/novels…

 Many of the reoccurring-characters in the

“Farscape” television-series have alien-like
personalities. I found that the alien-like
personalities in Farscape were “likeable”,
but “bizarre” and “unpredictable”.

If one of the Farscape alien-characters lived

next-door to you, would you honestly try to
befriend him/her? Or would you invite him/her
to dinner once-only, out of neighborly
politeness?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

 Many of Terry Gilliam’s movie-characters have

alien-like personalities.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)

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HOW ALIEN-LIKE PERSONALITIES ARE USED IN A
NOVEL/MOVIE/TELEVISION-SERIES

Alien-like personalities are uncommon in science-fiction

television/movies/novels.

From my own movie/television/novel viewing/reading-

experience, and first-principles thoughts, it appears
that CHARACTERS WITH alien-like personalities are used-
differently in movies/television/novels than CHARACTERS
WITH Homo-Sapiens personalities.

It-is NOT a claw-hammer versus ball-peen-hammer

difference. It is a hammer versus rubber-mallet
difference. Or even, a hammer versus chisel difference:

 Science-fiction novels that include alien-like

personalities sometimes rely on significant
exposition. The author needs to explain how the
alien-personality perceives-and-thinks differently,
compared to an equivalent Homo-Sapiens, in the same
scene. Some of Larry Niven’s novels include
significant exposition about alien-like
personalities.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven)

And/or, a Homo-Sapiens character in the scene must

converse/quarrel with the alien-personality,
substituting the above-mentioned exposition with
dialogue. In the original “Star Trek” series,
Doctor McCoy is always jibing Spock about Spock’s
unemotional Vulcan-behavior.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek)

 “Farscape” characters frequently got into serious-

arguments about decision-points. The alien-
personalities’ different points-of-view, and ways-

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of-thinking, produced the arguments.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

 Alien-personalities enable different-and-unique

“interactions” (an element of scene). Alien-
personality-enabled “interactions” are well-suited
to producing novels/movies/television-series that
are comedies or “weirdness”.

Most of Terry Gilliam’s movies are somewhat

comedic, and they always rely on “weirdness”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)

Cramer, from the “Seinfeld” television-series, also

has a somewhat-alien personality. His personality
is used to produce atypical sitcom comedy-scenes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld)

The above (short) list contains all of the alien-like

personalities that I can recall from
moves/television/novels.

Here are some first-principles thoughts (and

speculations):

 There may be an “Uncanny valley”-like effect with

regards to alien-personalities.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley)

In computer graphics, the “uncanny valley” occurs

when a computer-drawn three-D model of a face looks
realistic-enough that our mind perceives the three-
D-modeled face, BUT the face is perceived as
“scary” and “insane-looking”. If the computer-
rendered face gets more-realistic (with more
polygons, better textures, and better animation)
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then the computer-rendered face is perceived as
INCREASINGLY LESS-SCARY. Conversely, if the
rendered-face looks less-realistic (fewer more-
blocky polygons, solid-colors instead of textured
skin, and robotic animation), then the computer-
rendered face ALSO looks LESS-SCARY… because the
less-realistic face is obviously NOT real.

A well-written Homo-Sapiens character can easily be

“likable” (as opposed to “I think I’ll go talk to
someone else at the party.”), and “friend-material”
(“Would you invite that person over to your house
for dinner? More than once?”)

As a character’s personality turns more alien-like,

the character’s-personality becomes slightly
disagreeable to Homo-Sapiens. Warf, from “Star
Trek: The Next Generation”, is “likable” and a
potential “friend”, but his apparent “grumpy”
personality would put a damper on both.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek)

More alien-like than Warf? Do slightly-alien

characters lose their “likable” and/or “friend”-
material status? I think/suspect so.

How about a very alien-like personality, such as

some of the alien-like personalities on the
television-show, “Farscape”? Surprisingly, I find
the characters to be “likable”, but NOT “friend”-
material. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

I DO-NOT have enough examples to make a case for

this “uncanny valley” speculation.

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 Alien-like personalities enable different
“interactions”. (See below for a description of
“Interactions”)

o Different-and-innovative “interactions” are

possible/plausible when incorporating
characters with alien-like personalities. The
same “interactions” WOULD-NOT be
possible/plausible with Homo-Sapiens
personalities.

A catch: The types of readers/viewers that

accept alien-personalities are those with a
high “acceptance of new realities”…
Therefore, including alien-like personalities
for the purpose of varied-and-novel
interactions THAT ARE PLAUSIBLE, makes sense,
only barely. People with a high “acceptance
of new realities” DO-NOT care about
plausibility (kind-of), so they MAY-NOT need
an alien-personality in the story merely to
add plausibility to a Homo-Sapiens-
implausible “interaction”.

o Comedy – Some alien-like personalities lend

themselves to comedic “interactions”. See
Terry Gilliam’s movies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)

o Multiracial squabbles/arguments – A mixture

of different alien-like personalities leads
to squabbling-and-arguments that would-not
normally exist within a group of Homo-
Sapiens. See the “Farscape” television-
series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

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Squabbles/arguments, can be enjoyable for
readers/viewers to read/watch, as in
“Farscape”.

Squabbles/arguments during decision-point

discussions (and planning) lead to
failed/different/more-interesting decision-
points (and plans).

Squabbles/arguments (particularly when they

are common), can highlight characters’
personalities.

Squabbles/arguments, when properly presented,

can encourage READERS to think. (See below
about “Creating reader-thoughts”)

o Misunderstandings – An alien-personality
character is likely to PLAUSIBLY-
misunderstand characters of different alien-
races. Misunderstandings produce new
“interactions”, and new “situations”.

o Mental block – Alien-personality characters

will have “mental blocks” that we do-not, and
vice versa. As a Homo-Sapiens, for example,
you simply cannot ever imagine what a five-
dimensional toro-tesseract looks like. Nor do
you realize how limiting your inability to
accept constructive-criticism is.
Encountering a mental-block, and overcoming
it, allows new-and-innovative “interactions”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torus,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract)

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The “mental-block” scenes also teach readers
how to overcome “mental blocks” that they
encounter in real-life people.

o Insights – Alien-personality characters will

jump/leap to insights that neither the
characters, nor the reader, will perceive.

New insights keep the reader interested in

the novel.

o Philosophical conversations – One of the

most-basic philosophical questions that an
alien asks when he/she first-meets another
alien of a different race is, “What do you
see?” As it turns out, some alien-races do-
not perceive color… kind of. After the
vision-question, aliens ask, “What do you
perceive when you see?” Etcetera.

 Decision points – See below for a discussion about

“Decision points”.

o Arguments – A mixed-group of characters, all

from different alien-races, will disagree
about a common decision-choice, MUCH-MORE
often than a same-sized group of Homo-Sapiens
characters. See the “Farscape” television
series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

o Different choices – The author can offer a

different choice-set to characters with
alien-personalities, simply because their
personalities will-not automatically-
eliminate some choices.

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o Twist – If the author offers three choices to
a multiracial group, the alien- personality
might invent a creatively-bizarre fourth-
choice, one that the Homo-Sapiens
personalities would NEVER have thought of.

The invention of new choices is

educational/instructional for the reader,
also.

o Follow several choices at once – Homo-Sapiens

prefer to make a decision, by selecting an
offered choice, and sticking with that
decision. Some alien-personalities prefer
selecting two-choices from a decision-point,
and proceeding-along both choices, until one
of the choices must be abandoned.

o Backing-out of a decision – Homo-Sapiens DO

NOT like backing-out of a choice. They prefer
to “change their mind” gradually, and alter
the choice slightly/gradually – often in
quiet anonymity and denial. Alien-
personalities might back-out of a decision
without warning, or with warnings, but in a
manner different to Homo-Sapiens
personalities.

 Character traits/behaviors and character-arcs –

Alien-personalities have different character
traits/behaviors. Alien-personalities select new
character-behaviors in ways (and using deciding-
factors) that a Homo-Sapiens personality would-not.
An alien-personality’s character-behaviors grow-
and-settle differently, because aliens have
different “laws” of psychology. All of this results

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in markedly different-and-innovative-and-unique
character-arcs.

 Relationships and relationship-arcs – Alien-

personalities have different types of
relationships, such as three-person marriages, or
“familiarity” relationships (“I want you around as
a “friend”, simply because I have known you long
enough that I know you are lying-scoundrel. Him, he
might be very honest and likable, but I don’t know
him, and the personality-uncertainty scares me”).
New-and-innovative alien-personality relationships
will undergo different relationship-arc paths.

The relationships that occur between an alien-

personality, and a Homo-Sapiens personality, are
potentially even-more bizarre-and-interesting-and-
thought-provoking. What happens when the alien-
personality wants a three-person marriage,
something that Homo-Sapiens DO-NOT
COMPREHEND/ACCEPT… AND… The Homo-Sapiens
personality is equivalence-ing the marriage-
relationship, with fidelity requests that appear
bizarre for the alien-personality.

What is the relationship like between the alien-

personality and the READER?

 Viewpoint – As an author, how does one Homo-Sapiens

character’s “point-of-view” affect the writing of a
chapter? Versus using a different Homo-Sapiens
character’s “point-of-view”? Characters have
different knowledge. Characters are different
intelligence-abilities. Characters perceive some
information as more/less important than other
characters would . Some characters perceive what

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someone is wearing, while others perceive the way
someone moves. Etcetera.

Alien-personalities might have completely-different

viewpoint-differentiators. This lets the author
write a scene/chapter in a new-and-refreshing
style. For example: Some aliens classify people
into one of ten archetypes. Whenever they meet
someone from that archetype, they
subconsciously/automatically/naively assume that
everyone from the same archetype has the same
knowledge and past-history. Since this assumption
obviously does-not-work socially, the alien-
personality INSTEAD AVOIDS social-interactions that
rely-on the alien-personality’s ability to remember
exactly how the alien-personality has previously
interacted with an individual. I suspect that
Alzheimer’s sufferers use similar conversation-
coping techniques.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's_disease)

 Insanity fiction – If an entire novel is written

from an alien’s point-of-view, the novel is
perceived as “Insanity fiction” by Homo-Sapiens
readers, even though it IS-NOT technically
“Insanity fiction”.

Example: The alien-character cannot comprehend that

Homo-Sapiens ride-in automobiles, because the
alien-race uses only very-large subway-cars (This
is a “mental block”). What does the author write
when the alien sees another character climb into a
taxi automobile? Does the alien-personality
think/perceive that the taxi-entering character
disappears? Or becomes part of the automobile?

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Sociologists have reported a similar “mental block”
manifesting in a small tribe of native-Americans in
South America: When another person walks a few-
hundred meters away from the native-American, and
then out of view, the distant-person “no longer
exists” – kind-of. (I cannot find a webpage for
this.)

 “Weirdness” – Terry Gilliam’s movies have shown

that alien-like personalities can produce
“Weirdness”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)

 Locations – If a character with an alien-

personality lives in a capsule-hotel instead of an
apartment, then the capsule-hotel is a new-and-
unique novel-location that would-not have existed
without the alien-personality.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel)

 Different “Situations” – I discuss “Situations”

below. Alien-personalities lead/trap alien-
characters into “situations” that Homo-Sapiens
characters DO NOT EVER encounter.

EVENLY-DISTRIBUTE BACK-STORY

An alien race’s personality, thinking-processes, and

culture are a lot for readers to learn. The
personality/thinking/culture new-stuff-information should
be scattered throughout the novel.

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ALIEN-LIKE PERSONALITIES AFFECTING THE
FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN OF THE NOVEL

The more alien-like the personalities of characters…

 An avatar-protagonist CAN ONLY HAVE a non-descript

pass-through Homo-Sapiens personality, since
avatar-protagonists represent the “generic” Homo-
Sapiens reader. Therefore, avatar-protagonists
CANNOT-EVER have an alien-like personality.

 Other protagonists and secondary-characters CAN

have alien-like personalities.

With limits…

“Star Trek” (and other science-fiction

moves/television-series) limit their Homo-sapiens-
personality aliens to less-than one-third of the
lead-characters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek)

“Farscape”, a less-popular science-fiction series

than “Star Trek”, limits its alien-like
personalities to half of the starship’s
crewmembers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape)

 As a novelist, you only have 300 pages to squeeze-

in everything. Consequently, the more alien-like
your character-personalities are…

o The more alien-like your character-

personalities are, the more pages that you
need to devote to character “likability” and
“befriend-ability”… and the fewer pages that

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you have for plot, setting, relationships,
action, and technology.

o The more alien-like your character-

personalities are, the more-pages you need to
devote to exposition/dialogue/decisions
demonstrating how alien-like the characters
are… and the fewer pages you have for plot,
setting, relationships, action, and
technology.

o In the limit(???), a protagonist with a very-

alien-like personality can-only be placed in
a reader-familiar setting, like New York
City. Most of the novel’s 300-pages would
then be devoted to exploring the
protagonist’s alien-personality through the
plot, secondary-characters, and
relationships. The alien-personality’s
“likability” and “befriend-ability” becomes a
MAJOR challenge. Does the “in the limit”-case
force the novel into either being a comedy,
or a sociologist-experiment?

 If the novel persists in having alien

personalities, AND exotic settings, AND new
technologies, AND characters, AND relationships,
then it won’t have many readers???

Conversely, a science-fiction novel with only

archetypical-personality Homo-sapiens characters, can
have exotic settings, new technologies, many characters,
and relationships. However, most of the novel’s
“interactions” and “decision-points” will inevitably
already have-been seen-by the reader, when they
previously read other novels.
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MAMMAL-EVOLVED RACES

Mammal-evolved races (anthropomorphic characters) are

common in children’s cartoons. Consequently, mammal-
evolved races are seen as children’s characters. They
rarely-appear in adult science-fiction literature.

Adult-literature aliens, therefore, must be non-Mammal-

evolved.

COMMON MISREPRESENTATIONS OF ALIENS –

INTELLIGENCE

BUGBUG – do this

COMMON MISREPRESENTATIONS OF ALIENS – FASHION

BUGBUG – do this

Look at the scattered fashion-illustrations for

epiphanies about alien fashion. The anthro-alien fashion-
sketches will appear ridiculous to most authors, but they
focus my “Novel writing guidelines notes”.

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Anthro-alien fashion.

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COMMON MISREPRESENTATIONS OF ALIENS – USED AS

AN AMORAL UNTHINKING ENEMY

BUGBUG – do this

COMMON MISREPRESENTATIONS OF ALIENS – LANGUAGES

BUGBUG – do this

HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS AND HAPPENINGS –

RELATIONSHIPS

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Telepathy “clans” – Like massively-multiplayer-

online guild-chat.

 Telepathy friends – See the Jimmy Stewart movie,

“Harvey”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(film) )

 Women pairing – Two (Animal-people) women can give

birth to a child. One woman has a female soul. The
other has a male-ish soul. A man-friend is brought
in, to fertilize one of the woman’s bodies, as well

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as her lower soul. Her woman-friend fertilizes her
upper soul.

WHY DO PEOPLE (NOT CHARACTERS) WANT TO ENTER

INTO A RELATIONSHIP?

A relationship is a metaorganism (and organism built on-

top of other organisms). Why do the protagonists want to
enter into the relationship? Why does the reader want to
enter into the relationship? Why does the reader what the
relationship to exist?

 A metaorganism is a new character-type, different

than people-characters. It provides new avenues for
plot-arc and character-interactions.

 The relationship between the reader and the

protagonists is also a metaorganism… which means
that if the metaorganism is hurt (by an author that
kills-off a reader’s favorite character), then the
metaorganism may attack back… at the reader, or the
author.

Some less-abstract reasons for a relationship:

 The act of solidifying the relationship is a prize

for the protagonist and reader. Marriage is, in a
way, a prize.

 Relationships provide people something to do.

Something to manage. Something to worry about.

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 Relationships lead to other relationships. This is
called networking.

 Relationships lead to new characters being born… or

new pets being purchased.

ARCHETYPICAL/STEREOTYPE RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships between protagonists should never be

stereotypes.

Relationships between protagonists and secondary

characters, and between secondary characters, should
avoid stereotypes… (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”). Should they really avoid stereotypes? Because
if the relationship doesn’t begin as a
stereotype/archetype, then it isn’t easy for the reader
to immediately identify the type of relationship… which
confuses the reader about the identity/personality of the
relationship-metaorganism.

Types of relationship common in real-life:

 Buddy
 Friend
 Love-infatuation/lust
 Love-marriage
 Uncle-as-buddy (Friend-like mentor/educator) –
Nephew
 Formal teacher – Student
 Older sibling – Younger sibling
 Clique-leader – Clique-member

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 Parent (worry and police children) – Child
(resources and safety from parents)
 Antagonistic
 Indifferent
 Professional – Client
 Dominant – Subservient
 … and others that I haven’t thought of.

RELATIONSHIP – BUDDIES (CHARACTER “CHEMISTRY”?)

(From “Creating Emotion in Games”) The term “Character-

chemistry” is applied to very-week (or emerging)
relationships.

Some ways to improve character-chemistry: (From “Creating

Emotion in Games”)

 The characters think the same way. My rephrasing:

The characters produce the same conclusions, most
of the time. This leads to a “buddies”
relationship.

 Quarreling (but not arguing – I think?).

Particularly about decision-points for the group?
And/or decision-points for one of the individuals?

 The characters can read one-another’s feelings, on

their faces, in their words, and in their actions –
This creates “buddies”. Does the author need to
show that the characters can “read one-another’s
feelings”?

What happens if the characters cannot “read one-

another’s feelings” via faces/words/emotes/actions?
But instead, the character can “sit and think”, and
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put himself in the other-character’s “shoes”? Some
mind-effort can compensate for misrecognized
facial-expressions, dialogue, emotes, and actions.
Does such reverse-engineering create (more??? or)
less “character-chemistry”?

 Characters have shared “bits” – “You like

waterskiing? So do I! Have you ever tried the XYZ
skis?” This leads to “buddies”.

RELATIONSHIP – LOVE-INFATUATION/LUST

A love-infatuation/lust relationship grows hidden-and-

dormant, unrevealed for months-to-years. Both parties
consciously(?) keep the love-infatuation/lust
relationship damped-down to a “business” or
“acquaintance” relationship. When/if circumstances are
right, all of the sudden, the damped-down love-
infatuation/lust relationship suddenly-flowers into an “I
just realized that I am in love with you” relationship.
(Observed from “Harlequin Mills & Boon Novels”)

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VISUALLY EXPLAINING RELATIONSHIPS: PEOPLE’S
PERSONALITIES AS SHAPES

Imagine a person’s personality like a two-dimensional

shape, like a blob, or a box with a few sub-shapes cut
out.

Everyone has a shape.

Some people work well together. Their shapes slide

together, fitting neatly together.

Other people’s shapes only slide-together if one person’s

shape is raised up.

Or if the person’s shape is rotated at an odd angle.

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Even if two people’s personality-shapes fit-together
perfectly under normal-conditions, their personality-
shapes my stretch, squash, or buckle when they’re under
pressure.

Perhaps their personality-shapes fit-together better when

they’re under pressure.

Or perhaps their personality-shapes fit-together better

when one person is in an odd-mood, and his/her shape
suddenly twists slightly.

“ACCEPTANCE OF NEW RE ALITIES” VERSUS

RELATIONSHIPS

Almost all plots are contrived… if they weren’t then they

would be “Narratives”, and much less interesting. They
would merely enumerate the mundane lives of mundane
people, including brushing teeth and opening packaging.

Every reader has limit to their “acceptance of new

realities”, with fantasy-novel readers and science-
fiction-novel readers having some of the highest
“acceptance of new realities”. Does this mean the
relationships for fantasy and science-fiction readers can
go from nothing to complete-intimacy in ten pages? (Is a
reader-demographics’ “acceptance of new realities”
correlated to their “acceptance of unrealistic
personalities”?) Which might mean that fantasy and
science-fiction readers would-not need to read romance-
novels… other than very-short romance-novels.

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MAKING RELATIONSHIPS “DEEPER”

Have the characters feel/think a variety of sometimes-

conflicting emotions/thoughts towards the other
character. These thoughts come from the character’s
personality-traits and personality-behaviors, as well as
their past histories, the novel’s back-story, and the
events so-far in the novel. (From “Creating Emotion in
Games”)

Show these conflicting feelings/thoughts throughout the

novel, as part of narration, character-thoughts, and
dialogue. They could also show-up in decision-points.

CONFLICT IN RELATIONSHIPS
 All relationships inherently have conflict
points. (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”)

 Some of the conflict points must be obvious,

others unexpected. (From “Writing a Romance
Novel for Dummies”)

 Some of the conflict points must be

relationship-conflicts that the readers will
experience in their own lives. When they see how
the protagonists overcome the conflicts, the
reader learns how to overcome their own
conflict.

 Relationship conflicts can be brought-on by

plot-arc.

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 Plot-arc progression (solving plot-arc
obstacles) can help protagonists overcome
relationship conflicts..

o Does the plot-arc help solve conflicts

that would obviously break-apart the
relationship? City-woman and man-rancher
would never get-along, except they’re
stuck-together in the middle of nowhere.
(Paul Hogan’s “Crocodile Dundee”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_
the_Rings)

o Or does the plot-arc provide obstacles for

the two to overcome, to show how
determined they are to be together?

 Conflict

 Intellectual conflict – Conflict of ideas,

within a protagonist or between protagonists.

o Link intellectual conflict to emotional

conflict? (From “Writing a Romance
Novel for Dummies”)

 Emotional conflict – Conflict of emotions,

within a protagonist or between protagonists.
(From “Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

o Must somehow tie into emotional

conflicts that the reader would have
had, or they cannot easily re-
experience the conflict in the context
of the novel?

 Socio-political conflict – Conflict due to

the person’s social-class, political-office,
or job. Within a protagonist, or between
protagonists.

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 Relationship interrelationship conflict – A
male-lead can only be romantically involved
with one woman… and not cause moray problems.

 Conflict

 Internal conflict – Conflict that happens

within the protagonist only.

 Interpersonal conflict – Conflict occurring

between the protagonists.

 Conflict

 Past-experience-based conflict – Conflict

that comes from the protagonists’ previous
experiences, as well as their selves. (From
“Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

 Plot-arc-based conflict – Conflict that comes

from the plot-arc, or other characters in the
novel.

 Misunderstandings

 Incomplete understanding

RELATIONSHIPS MODIFYING OTHER RELATIONSH IPS

In a romance novel, if the male lead has a relationship

with another woman at the beginning of the book, does
this encourage/discourage the protagonist-woman to change
her relationship with the male-lead from “Indifferent” to
“Romantic”? Does this cause conflict?

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REVEALING THE SHAPE OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE

PLOT-ARC

Two people can be “Friends” throughout the novel, but the

friendship-relationship isn’t proven/tested until the
plot-arc forces this. For example: Samwise Gamgee
returning to rescue Frodo Baggins from Shelob, in “The
Lord of the Rings” series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

PRIOR LIFE-EXPERIENCES

 Common prior life-experiences are useful in real-

life as a way for people to feel immediately
comfortable with one-another. A protagonist might-
perhaps have a common prior life-experience with
THE READER.

There isn’t much point in having two protagonists

having the same prior life-experience so that they
feel comfortable with one-another.

 When does a protagonist reminisce about a prior

life-experience, as a way to strengthen (or weaken)
a relationship with another protagonist? And with
the reader?

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DANGER

When Protagonist-A gets into danger, the reader should

become just as nervous for Protagonist-A’s welfare as
Protagonist-B is… which means (roughly) that Protagonist-
A cannot get into danger until later-on in the novel.

The danger can be used to modify the relationship.

NOTE: Does danger work in a novel where there is no

strong relationship between protagonists? In that case,
the reader is concerned about the protagonist-A’s being
in danger, but no other people (in the room book) are
concerned about protagonist-A’s danger… other than for
their own selfish welfare, and the welfare of the plot-
arc. Face it, the only reason that Gandalf’s death in
Moria is sad, is because (a) the other characters are
lost without his magic/advice, and (b) it means that a
character that the reader actually cares about (Frodo
Baggins or Samwise Gamgee) might die.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

PLOT-ARC INTERACTIONS

 The plot-arc can be used to create relationship

interactions that don’t normally exist in real-life
relationships. An example: (From the “Writing a
Romance Novel for Dummies”) Is the woman’s
boyfriend/fiancé really a corporate spy out to
steal her company’s work?

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CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

Conversations about relationships are boring (to observe)

and awkward (for the people involved in the
relationship). Are they??? Conversations are necessary
though. (Are they???)

 They create an intellectual relationship,

augmenting the emotional relationship, and the
physical relationship.

 They clarify the relationship to the reader.

 Once a relationship has been clarified by an inter-

protagonist conversation about their relationship,
then the relationship can be allowed to rapidly
change over the rest of the novel. If followed-up
by another conversation about relationships, then
the reader can more-easily perceive the change in
the relationship. (From “Writing a Romance Novel
for Dummies”)

 Having protagonists converse about a relationship

encourages READERS to have conversations about
relationships with their significant others.

 How can a conversation about relationships be made

more-interesting to readers?

 How can a conversation about relationships be made

less-awkward feeling for the protagonists?

 How can a conversation about relationships be made

so it doesn’t feel like exposition written as a
conversation?

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 How many real-life people use psychology-analysis
of their own relationships when discussing their
relationship with their significant other? This
stretches the reader’s “acceptance of unrealistic
personalities”.

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS

If the plot-arc contains real-life relationship-issues

that the reader HAS NOT YET faced, then the reader can
learn possible ways of handling the real-life
relationship-issue when it happens to them! This ties in
with decision points. Target younger readers who don’t
have much life experience, or readers who will soon see a
life-change, such as retirement.

SECONDARY-CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS (SIDE-

RELATIONSHIPS)

A side-relationship is a relationship between secondary

characters. The total text dedicated to the side-
relationship might be a paragraph or a page.

 They point out relationship directions that the

protagonists DON’T want to go. (As in BBC-One’s “As
time goes by” secondary-characters.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Time_Goes_By_(TV_s
eries) )

 Point-out relationship-directions where the

protagonist do need to head towards… or problems

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between the protagonists-in-relationship that
haven’t yet occurred.

 Or incidental “how to” information supplied to the

reader.

TO-BE-DELETED INTERACTIONS

Write-up mundane interactions between protagonists-with-

relationships. Expect the mundane interactions to be cut
from the novel even before they’re written. This provides
practice, and “Missing narrative”.

And/or, write alternate realities… interaction-scenes

that could never take place because they would too-
significantly alter the course of the novel that follows.
After rereading them, perhaps the course of the novel
should be altered.

RELATIONSHIP STRENGTH

How important is the relationship metaorganism to the

protagonists involved in the relationship? Is the
relationship more-important than the well-being of one-
or-both of the protagonists?

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WORK IN PROGRESS…

PLACE – THE WORLD

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – “WHAT IF” TWISTS

 What would-have happen if the Roswell UFO-crash

had-not been covered-up? – What would the world be
like today, if in 1950, the Greys that crash-landed
in Roswell had been introduced to the media?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident)

 What would-have happened if our rocket-fuel was

more-efficient? – If we had more-efficient rocket-
fuel, would we have a moon-base already, as well as
a settlement on Mars?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars)

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – HISTORICAL

CONTEXT

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 Hominid compu-metaorganism – A conglomeration of
sub-compu-metaorganisms. Sub-component compu-
metaorganisms resemble the Star-Trek Federation,
the Star-Wars Republic, the Star-Wars Empire, the
Star-Wars resistance, and/or the American “Wild”
West.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Federation,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Republic,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Empire_(Star_
Wars), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Alliance,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series) )

 Genetic-diversity migration – “Here’s a spaceplane

ticket to a long-long ways away. It’s your turn to
stay there for a few years, just in-case our
planet/race is occupied/annihilated.” (In the
1980’s, Hong-Kong families migrated their children
to the United States, Britain, and Canada, so that
the family could migrate-away from Hong Kong if a
reunified Hong-Kong became oppressive.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waves_of_mass_migrati
ons_from_Hong_Kong)

 Mass-migration due to war – People mass-migrate

away from long-term war-zones. They are VERY
unhappy that they have been forced to migrate/flee.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – GEOGRAPHY

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 Territories, contiguous versus scattered – Some
races live in contiguous territories, which
resemble Earth’s nations. Other races reside in
scattered territories, coexisting within-and-
throughout the contiguous territories. In Medieval
Europe, the Roman-Catholic Church effectively had
small territories (churches, cathedrals,
monasteries, and granges) scattered throughout
Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church
, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastic_grange)

A MAP OF THE GALAXY OF GALAXIES

This intentionally low-detail map of “The Galaxy of

Galaxies” might provide you with ideas.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – CULTURES

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 Dating agencies – In a society where ONLY one-in-
ten people are men, dating-agencies ensure genetic-
diversity and genetic-quality for children. They
also perform personality evaluations-and-
comparisons, to ensure that the couple very-much
likes one-another during their one-month honeymoon…
an important criterion for genetically-maximized
children.

 Socialist society, hyper-socialist – The

protagonist own the contents of a 1-cubic-meter
locker. The protagonist’s freshly-washed clothes
are picked-up at the corner-shop every morning.
Their takeaway-food is free. They sleep for free,
in whichever cubicle-hotel they choose. For mental-
variety, a person’s morning-employer/job is
different than their afternoon-employer/job. Lunch
hobby-classes. Enforced holidays.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel)

 Socialist-plus society – No-rent serviced-

apartments, without much furniture. Frozen-meals
pre-delivered to one’s freezer. Takeaway
restaurants. For mental-variety, a person’s
morning-employer/job is different than their
afternoon-employer/job. Lunch hobby-classes.
Enforced holidays.

INVENTING A UNIQUE SETTING, OR CHOOSING A GOOD

SETTING-LOCATION WITHIN THE REAL WORLD

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In (“How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy”), Orson
Scott Card discusses several techniques for creating a
unique setting. One technique is to generate a “What if”-
twist on reality, that significantly impacts the laws of
physics, a historical event, Homo-Sapiens psychology, or
a character’s psychology. From that one “What if”-twist,
employ first-principles and mental-simulations to
estimate/predict how the single “What if”-twist would
affect other aspects of the world-and-reality.

From my own experience, and particularly from my reading

of the (“Eberron Campaign Setting”, by Keith Baker), I
noticed:

 Use a world with layers of history. Successive

invasions/migrations over portions of the map.
Occasional natural disasters. All of these
historical-layers prop-up and enrich a detailed-
and-deep world.

 The world should be non-homogenous, as players

travel-around from city to city. For example:
There-ARE NO fast-food chains… but occasionally
there are. Languages change over travel-distance.
Religions change. Architecture changes. Technology-
levels change.

 The world should be “spring-loaded” with elements

that might lead to conflict, both the large-scale
(warfare, social uprising, natural disasters), and
on a personal level (crime, disease, lawsuits,
etcetera). Even-though the world is “spring-
loaded”, it is almost-always peaceful-and-safe.
When the game-master wishes to create an
interesting/enjoyable scenario for the players, the
game-master releases one of the springs, and the

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world-experience is temporarily turned “upside-
down”.

 Players in the “Eberron” world have many choices

for “What to do” in their next “adventure”… from
exploring a cliché dungeon, to investigating a
murder, to managing the construction of a railway,
to sailing a ship across the ocean.

Importantly, NOT-all activities are available

everywhere. Only a fraction (10% to 30%) of all
adventuring-activities are available in a
particular locale.

 Unique “interesting-things” are everywhere. One

city will boast the ruins of an old fort. Another
will have a super water-park. The next city over
will feature a high-tech arcade-game building.

 Players have ability to impact the setting. They

can change the course of history, at one extreme.
Smaller impacts including saving a village from
well-meaning over-industrious capitalistic Goblins.
If players CANNOT affect their setting, then they
participate/exist in a less-interesting world.

 Design a setting for one purpose, such as for a

“war” novel. Then, re-apply the same setting to a
different use, such as a “romance” novel. This
causes the world to NOT be fine-tuned for the
novel’s plot/premise. The author then must scrounge
through his/her world’s history, cities, cultures,
and geography for a locale (city or town) that is
appropriate (only barely, ever) for the plot he/she
wishes to write.

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See also, my own game-design blog:
(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerInteractive
FictionGameDesignBlog.pdf)

PLACE – TECHNOLOGY (TECHNOLO GICAL AND LEGAL)

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – (COOL NEW)

TECHNOLOGIES

 Encounter suits – They look like aquatic “dry

suits”, but allow wearers to slide into
extradimensional space.

 Implant hacking –Malicious software-scripts can be

uploaded into soul/mind implants. The software-
scripts can record-and-transmit the activities of
the person, as well as influence their behavior,
and/or the behavior of people around them. The
software can hop from person to person, or even
virally-duplicate itself.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_worm,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computin
g) )

 Soul/awareness merging – When the souls-and-

awarenesses of two people are merged into one body.

 Virtual-reality rooms closets – Used by high-tech

people to observe low-tech people. On the low-tech
planet, a combination of extradimensional floating
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video-cameras, thought-transmitting implants, and
haptic-transmitting implants, lets the observer
more-readily understand the life of the observed
person.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – MACHINATIONS

(OFTEN LEGAL IN NATURE)

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 “Amateur” exposé videos – Retailing at $200, these
“amateur” exposé videos are like the best news-
articles from the “60 minutes” television-show.
They exist because of legal-liability protection-
laws for videos-and-books whose production-numbers
run less-than 100,000 units, 10,000 units for
books. (Don’t forget that CBS-television’s “60
minutes” was concerned about a potential billion-
dollar lawsuit from the tobacco company, “Brown &
Williamson” at one point. Such lawsuit-threats
dampen-down investigative reporting.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_Minutes,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_%26_Williamson)

 Innovation – A protagonist has only a thumb-tack,

rubber-hose, small laser-pen, and a breath-mint at
his/her disposal. How does the protagonist use
these objects to escape from a locked building,
which is about to burn down? The “MacGyver”
television-series. Some “Doctor Who” episodes are
like this, also.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who)

USE TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE CHARACTERS,

RELATIONSHIPS, AND ACTION

When people read a novel, they are much-more interested

in the characters, relationships, and action, THAN the
technological-gadgets and the law-technologies.

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Therefore, when selecting what technological-gadgets and
law-technologies to include in the novel, ask:

 Does the gadget/law-technology help illustrate a

character’s personality or character-arc? Does the
gadget/law-technology enable different
personalities or character-arcs to appear in the
novel?

 Does the gadget/law-technology help illustrate a

relationship or relationship-arc? Does the
gadget/law-technology enable different
relationships or relationship-arcs to appear in the
novel?

 How does the gadget/law-technology

encourage/enhance the novel’s “action”?

PLACE – SETTING (A SUB-ELEMENT OF THE WORLD )

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

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 Core ship – What is life on a core-ship like?
(Imagine a Star-Wars “Death Star” with shopping
malls, movie theaters, and a local television news-
broadcast.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:
_A_New_Hope,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Star)

 Multiracial city – In a multiracial city, a

person’s race publicly reveals both their
intelligence and approximate-personality.

 Planet, castle-planet surrounded by abandoned

(yokel) planets – During periods of prolonger war,
most-of the wealthy/intelligent individuals flee to
central well-protected hyper-urbanized planets. All
of the yokels (Douglas Adams calls them
“Golgafrinchan telephone-sanitizers” in his novel,
“The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”) are
left on the less-protected more-remote more-
conquerable planets.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_races_and_spe
cies_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Golg
afrinchans,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Restaurant_at_the_
End_of_the_Universe)

 Planet, post-apocalyptic – A long-abandoned planet,

without any indigenous races. Only a few recently-
settled small communities exist, along with the
ruins of a billions-strong civilization to explore.

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 Planet, under settlement – The protagonist is
settling on a planet of low-tech primitives, and/or
very-large predators. (Like American Wild-West
movies, with the Native-Americans being the
equivalent of low-tech “primitives”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Frontier)

BEGIN WITH AN ARCHETYPE?

If a novel begins with the lines:

1. “It was a wintry day in New York City…” (Modern)

2. “The ancient-Egyptian pyramids were marred by

the encroaching suburbs.” (Modern, foreign)

3. “The horse-and-carriage rolled up to the English

manor-house. Being nighttime, all of its gas-
lamps were lit.” (Historical – Regency period)

4. “Marcus looked up at the newly-built coliseum.

He straightened his toga and walked in.”
(Historical – Roman)

5. “She pulled out her [Star Wars] laser-blaster,

and hopped into her [X-wing] star-fighter…”
(Space-opera)

6. “The Elven forest was just over the ridge.”

(High fantasy)

If a novel begin with any of those lines, then the

reader, having seen-and-read a plethora of movies-and-
novels about the archetypical settings, already knows
what the realities are like.
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When the reader knows the setting by heart, then the
author doesn’t have to spend valuable pages explaining
what the setting is like, and how people live within the
setting.

Once a setting is established, modifications to the

archetype can be updated in the reader’s mind a few
factoids at a time:

1. “Several blocks had been leveled for the

construction of a new spaceport.” (Modern turned
into science-fiction)

2. “The pyramids had been moved brick-by-brick to

Las Vegas.” (Foreign turned into modern)

3. “William stepped-off the carriage ladder, and

secretly checked his satellite cell-phone – a
technology that didn’t yet exist in 18th century
England.” (Historical – Regency period, turned
into Steam-punk)

4. “Fighting in the coliseum today would be three

of the best gladiatorial wizards, against a
newly-imported dragon.” (Historical – Roman,
turned into historical fantasy)

5. “Disconnected, beeped the computer. Sarah gave-

up hope playing in the new online-game.” (Space-
opera turned into cyber-reality)

6. “Frodo and Samwise revved-up their motorcycled

and dug tracks through the pristine Elven lawn.”
(High fantasy, turned into technology fantasy)

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BEGINNING WITH A UNIQUE SETTING

If the author begins with a unique setting, then the

first few chapters of the book, and most of the book
thereafter, will be dedicated to describing the setting
and how people live in it.

Some readers enjoy the challenge of relocating their

imagination to a new setting/reality.

But characters, plot-arc, and just-about every-other

story element will suffer… unless the novel is just one
in a series about activities in the world.

ORIGINAL SOURCES

Whether beginning with an archetype or not, always read

original sources… so that the setting is more
historically-accurate, or so that new ideas can be
introduced into the archetype.

1. People do not eat fish-and-chips in New York

City… not many, at least. (Modern)

2. Cairo is a now modern city, despite the

pyramids. (Modern, foreign)

3. Not everyone in Regency-England was fabulously-

wealthy and searching for a spouse, and/or vice-
versa, and/or vice-versa on that. (Historical –
Regency period)

4. Romans did-not wear togas all of the time.

(Historical – Roman)

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5. X-wing space-fighters don’t actually fly
properly. The X-configuration isn’t
“aerodynamic” enough for spaceflight. (Space-
opera)

6. Elves much-prefer living in high-rise cities.

(High fantasy)

WORLDWIDE EVENTS (NOT-QUITE HISTORICAL CONTEXT)

A setting (location) exists amidst larger events-and-

trends, such as wars, fads, new technology, social
upheaval, etcetera.

ACCEPTANCE OF NEW REALITIES

The reader’s “acceptance of new realities” also affects

the setting. However, the closer a setting is to the
person’s real-life setting, (a) the fewer pages that you
need to devote to the setting, but (b) the more-accurate
you must be about the setting.

The more-accurate the setting, the more that you risk

enflaming/harming real-life people.

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DISTRIBUTE DESCRIPTIONS

Distribute the setting descriptions, as well as current-

events (like war, social upheaval, etcetera) throughout
the novel???

Ideally, avatar-protagonist and the reader should

experience a newly-encountered feature of the setting
together. Does this mean that the “haunts” where the
protagonist lives, works, and eats out should be
archetypes/clichés to the reader, so that the novel
doesn’t need to describe them to the reader?

Since a setting description (location and current-events)

is also a teaching exercise… Does this mean that the
setting-description should be bundled-up into small
lessons? And then separated by completely-different
lessons? For example: Each chapter might have a few
paragraphs about the setting in the beginning, and half-
way through, a few paragraphs about the science-fiction
physics, or vice versa.

Not-quite education:

 Small observations about real-life

behaviors/eccentricities/experiences, highlighted
for the benefit of the reader’s real-life. (Derived
from “Characters & Viewpoint”)

 “Pretty” things that go un-noticed in real-life,

such as the sheen of a fabric, or how delicately a
tie is embroidered. (Derived from “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

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WORK IN PROGRESS…

PLACE – INDUSTRY (OR VOCATIO N)

Many novels feature an industry, such as a hospital or

shares-trading.

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS – INDUSTRIES

 Alien’s extended-family – Not-exactly an industry,

but close-enough.

 Mind-reading call-center operator – Correct

computer-transcribed mind-read thoughts. Then,
analyze the transcript for higher-level activities
and intentions.

 Remote rescue – These people travel singly (or in a

group) to remote spaceplane failures. They are a
combination of tow-truck operator, flat-bed-trailer
operator, explorer, medic, and soul-rescuer.

 Telepathic “guardian angel” – A person who performs

the role of a Christianity-style “guardian angel”.
They help 1-to-10-to-100 people through life’s
turmoils, using special-purpose “[high school]
school-councilor” software.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_angel,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_counselor)

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 Telepathy DJ – Telepathy DJ’s are like disc-jockeys
that telepathically link-together two-to-five deep-
thinking people, who are all pondering the same
subject, though galaxies apart. The thinkers are
encouraged to exchange ideas for a few minutes, and
then they’re ushered-on, to a different thought-
exchange group.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

PLACE – LOCATIONS

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 International airport – The first thing that you

need to know about an international airport is that
MOST ALIENS CANNOT READ! Or rather, most aliens
cannot read whatever alphabet/language is displayed
on the airport signs.

The second major issue, is that there are so many

body-shapes and sizes, that airport norms do-not
work. Toilets are one example. Overnight sleeping
quarters. Magazines. Lounge chairs. Food. And even
what chromas are used for the television monitors.

 Mega-mansion – 600 meters x 300 meters x 10

stories. A cross between Buckingham Palace,
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Versailles, Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean”
indoor boat-ride, and the mansion-world in Tad
Williams’ “Otherland” novel-series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Palace,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbe
an_(attraction),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherland)

 Spaceplane, battleship

 Spaceplane, cruise-ship – Unlike ocean-going

cruise-ships, spaceplane cruise-ships feature
sleeping-gas-filled rooms, and cafeteria-quality
food. It is cheaper for passengers to sleep for a
few weeks, than to keep them entertained.

 Spaceplane, soul-ship – These EXTREMELY-FAST

spaceplanes do-not transport people’s bodies. They
transport their souls, sometimes only their upper
souls.

 Spaceplane, war-observation ship

 Planet, dark – Some planets revolve around infrared

red-dwarfs.

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 Planet, with a day-side and a night-side – One side
of the planet is in eternal day, the other in
eternal-night. The sunniest spot is desert.
Greenery exists around the sunset edge. The foliage
and wildlife on the near dark-side is very bizarre.
The permanently-dark portion of the planet is an
ice continent.

WHAT LOCATIONS ARE NOVEL-WORTHY?

BUGBUG – do this

TRANSPORT-JOURNEYS VERSUS STATIC LOCATIONS

BUGBUG – do this

HOW TO USE PLANETS AS STORY-TOOLS

BUGBUG – do this

“ILLUSTRATE, DON’T TELL”

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Illustrate (an image of) a location in preference to
writing-up a description?

DESCRIBE AS DELTAS

Is the location described as a delta (change) compared to

the reader’s current location? What happens if the novel
takes-place in a large glassy city, but only 33% of
readers live in a large glassy city? Or only 33% have
ever experienced a large glassy city? Or only 33% have
ever experience a large glassy city? To describe in terms
of deltas, you must identify the readers’ real-life
locations, and what real-life settings the readers know
about, and what novel/movie settings (archetypes/clichés)
the readers know about.

SCATTER THE DESCRIPTION OF A LOCATION

If a location is a diner with red-checkered curtains, but

the red-checkered curtains don’t affect the story, are
the red-checkered curtains even mentioned?

If you describe the protagonist being in a “seedy diner”,

what percentage of readers think of (a) a trendy rebuild
of a 1950’s diner, (b) an old wooden house turned into a
diner, (c) a pub-like diner underneath a three-story
building. Let’s say 33% for each. Now, if half-way
through the diner-scene, you mention the diner’s
dilapidated porch (from diner (b)), then 67% of readers
((a) and (c)) will have to suddenly transport the
protagonist into a different diner.

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Not-quite education:

 Small observations about real-life

behaviors/eccentricities/experiences, highlighted
for the benefit of the reader’s real-life. (Derived
from “Characters & Viewpoint”)

 “Pretty” things that go un-noticed in real-life,

such as the sheen of a fabric, or how delicately a
tie is embroidered. (Derived from “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

PROVIDING HINTS ABOUT YOUR PROTAGONISTS’

PERSONALITIES

The portions of your setting where your protagonists

haunt (live, work, hang-out) say something about your
protagonists and individuals.

Locations also show the protagonist’s vulnerabilities

(and other personality traits).

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PROTAGONIST’S MOODS

Locations affect your protagonist’s moods, which affects

which aspects of their personalities are displayed, which
affects how they interact with other characters within
the setting-location, which affect how plot-arc-
obstacles, relationship-obstacles, and character-arc
obstacles are overcome. People behave and think
differently in a church than they do on a football field.

PROVIDE TOOLS FOR…

The setting can provide imaginary tools for…

 Protagonist interactions – Pool-halls are designed

to encourage groups of 2-to-4 people to interact
with one-another.

 Character-arc modification – A remote location

encourages people to change in ways that city-life
does not. (“On golden pond”)

 Plot-arc development – Some plot-arcs require (or

are encouraged by) some locations

 Technology display – Science-fiction settings

illustrate different technologies and how they
affect society.

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GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

To make a location more-important:

 Don’t just describe the setting as a moonlit night.

Describe how the moonlight casts shadows on the
dark path.

 Intermingle the description of the location

throughout the chapter, continually bringing
attention to it.

o Small observations about real-life

behaviors/eccentricities/experiences,
highlighted for the benefit of the reader’s
real-life. (Derived from “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

o “Pretty” things that go un-noticed in real-

life, such as the sheen of a fabric, or how
delicately a tie is embroidered. (Derived
from “Characters & Viewpoint”)

 Use more adjectives.

 Use poetic (indirect adjectives and words)

descriptions – Instead of “moonlight” say “a cold
light” or “a pale, thin light” (From Romance
writing guide)

 Use loaded words (or phrases) that imply

personality or anthropomorphism of the location

 Have characters react to movement in the location.

“Isn’t that sunset beautiful?”

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 Have characters describe the location as another
person, such as an automobile described as “he” or
“she”.

FUTURE/POSSIBLE HOLIDAY/RELOCATION DESTI NATION?

If the location is a real-life future/possible

holiday/relocation destination for the reader, then make
sure to include details that help the reader get to the
destination, have fun in the destination, survive in the
destination, etcetera.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – PLOT-ARC

Plot-arcs are traditionally called the “Plot”. I am

revising the definition. A “Plot” is a “beginning” and a
more-interesting “destination”. A “Plot-arc” is the
shortest, most-fun, most-interesting, most-realistic path
between the “beginning” and the “destination”, including
“waypoints”.

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PURPOSE OF THE PLOT-ARC

 To maintain a reader’s interest

 As a framework for interesting decision-points

 To enable protagonist character-arcs

 To enable, illustrate, modify, and

“test/stretch/abuse” relationships

 To illustrate protagonist personalities and

personality flaws

 As a scaffolding to display the setting (such as J.

R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Ring” series)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
)

 As a scaffolding to display technology ideas, and

to discuss their ramifications (Isaac Asimov’s
“Foundation” series)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Series)

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“ACCEPTANCE OF IMPROBABILITIES” AFFECTING THE
PLOT-ARC?

Almost all plots are contrived… if they weren’t then they

would be “Narratives”, and much-less interesting,
enumerating the mundane life of mundane people, including
brushing teeth and opening packaging.

Every reader has a limit to their “acceptance of new

realities”, “acceptance of improbabilities”, and
“acceptance of unrealistic personalities”, with fantasy-
novel readers having some of the highest “acceptance of
new realities”. Science-fiction readers have a high
“acceptance of new realities” so-long as some science-
fiction archetype/cliché is used, or the pseudoscience is
explained to them (low “Acceptance of inaccurate-
simulations of the laws of physics-and-biology “). Which
means that science-fiction plot-arcs must follow a
realistic plot-path? (No “acceptance of
improbabilities”?) And fantasy-novel plot-arcs can skip-
around???

BEGINNING AT THE READER’S CHARACTER’S HOME

Many novels begin at the reader’s character’s home, with

the reader disguised as the avatar-protagonist. The novel
then takes the reader out of their real-life home
(incorporated into the novel’s text), and into the
novel’s world, and to intermingle with the novel’s
characters.

 J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” begins in a

British village with Frodo Baggins as naïve and

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ignorant about the world as the reader.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

 J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series begins in a

British suburb, with Harry Potter as unsuspecting
about the world of wizardry as the reader.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

 Romance novels begin in the woman-reader’s home

with the woman-reader as the protagonist. The
reader is introduced to the romantic male-lead at
the same time the woman-protagonist is introduced
to him.

WITHOUT A PLOT-ARC, PROTAGONISTS WILL SIT AT

HOME AND READ NOVELS

Without a plot-arc:

 A real-world protagonist would sit at home and read

novels.

 They might visit their friends once in awhile.

(Other protagonists, secondary-characters, and home
locations.)

 And they’d go grocery shopping. (Incidental

characters, and public locations)

 And go to work or school. (Other protagonists,

secondary-characters, and home locations.)

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 They might-perhaps meet new people. (Other
protagonists, secondary-characters, relationship-
arcs)

 All of these personal interactions might cause the

protagonist to “grow”. (Character-arc and
relationship-arcs) (The BBC-One’s “As time goes by”
television-show.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Time_Goes_By_(TV_s
eries) )

On the whole, all of that is boring… Until a plot-arc is

added to:

 Encourage protagonists to do everything they world

normally do (as per above), but in more-interesting
yet-contrived ways. Interesting to both the reader
and the protagonists.

 Introduce the protagonist to exceptionally-

interesting protagonists and secondary-characters…
or to characters that will encourage exceptionally-
interesting interactions with the protagonist.
(Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island)

 Place the protagonist in an exceptionally-

interesting settings.

 Introduce atypical yet-interesting situations into

the protagonist’s lives, such as hurricanes,
blizzards, earthquakes, corporate takeovers, wars,
alien-invasions, etcetera. Interesting to both the
reader and the protagonists.

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 Change the protagonist in interesting ways. (David
Koepp’s “Spiderman”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_(film) )

MUSIC-LIKE MOVEMENTS

Does a storyline (protagonist-specific strands of a plot-

arc) have two or more music-like movements? Each movement
involves the same protagonist, BUT something has changed
radically in the protagonist’s life. Perhaps first part
of a fantasy novel has the protagonist building-up a
party of heroes to slay the evil overlord. Half-way
through, the protagonist opts-out, and opens up an ice-
cream shop.

More traditionally in movies: The first “movement”

involved the setup of the setting, plot-arc, and
characters. The second “movement” is the action, with a
false-climax and the climax. The third “movement” is the
denouement. Note: In a traditional movie-story, ALL of
the intertwined storylines synchronize their “movement”
changes. This doesn’t-necessarily have to be the case.

INTERTWINED STORYLINE S

 Intertwine storylines if there is more than one

protagonist, and the storylines are occurring at
approximately the same time.

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 Intertwine storylines if a storyline by itself is
boring…

o Is the storyline boring because it is boring?

o Or, is the storyline boring because it become

boring when it is consumed all at once,
instead of as drips?

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS

If the plot-arc contains real-life situations that the

reader HAS NOT faced, then the reader can learn possible
ways of handling the real-life situation when it happens
to them! This ties in with decision points. Target
younger readers who don’t have much life experience, or
readers who will soon see a life-change, such as
retirement.

NON-REAL LOCATIONS FOR A PLOT-ARC

 Dreams

 Cyber-worlds (virtual-worlds)

 On the telephone

 Mentally “in a chess game” while playing chess.

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“MISSING NARRATIVE” CHAPTERS

Write-up chapters that you expect to cut-out even before

they’re written. Their absence provides more-believable
“Missing narrative” elements. Missing-narrative helps
maintain some reader’s interests.

ALTERNATIVE-TIMELINE CHAPTERS

Write alternative versions of chapters, where the end-

result is the same. These chapters could be substituted
in. Should they?

Write alternative versions of chapters, where the chapter

would change the subsequent course of the storyline or
novel. Expect these chapters to be cut before they’re
written. But then again, perhaps the storyline/novel
really should follow the alternative storyline?

Alternative-timeline chapters are sometimes included in

the novel. In Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary”, the father
imagines what the life of his child would have been like
if his child had-not been hit by a truck.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Sematary)

SIDE-STORYLINES

These are storylines that secondary-characters are

involved with, throughout the novel. The total page-space
allotted to a side-storyline might be 1-to-10 pages.
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AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER-AFTER…

Why does a novel need to have a “And they lived happily

ever-after…” chapter at the end?

 This encourages the reader to think about

recommending the novel to their friends… Free
advertising.

 Self identification – Most people’s goals in

life are to live happy lives. If, after all of
the work of existing and struggling through the
plot-arc, all the characters get is a lousy
unhappy existence, then what is the point of the
struggle?

 Resolving mysteries/suspense – If a novel uses

mysteries/suspense to keep people reading, then
the end needs to ensure there are no more
unsolved mysteries, or many readers will find
the novel to be incomplete. Other readers enjoy
“incomplete” novels that leave them
thinking/pondering.

 Clean-up protagonist relationships – Why do

people want the relationships of protagonists to
be left in a “neat and tidy” state at the end of
a novel? Couples are married, or they are
separated. They are NOT left dating, or
ambiguous about a marriage, or in a divorce.

Why? When most-people hear a news-item, it

remains in their mind as a constant. If you tell
someone that a Ford sedan costs $25,000, and
then ask them ten-years later how much that Ford
sedan costs, half(?) of the people will answer
$25,000… until they’re prompted, or unless they
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have recently experienced inflation. Hence, if a
novel ends with a novel-couple in an unstable
relationship-state, then the novel-couple is
forever in the unstable relationship-state in
the reader’s mind.

 Reinforcing protagonist relationships – With the

climax/tension eased, protagonists can sit on
the verandah, sipping some iced-tea, and talk
calmly (and intellectually) about their
relationship. This reinforces the expectation
(and contract?) of the relationship. (From
“Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

If the protagonists had discusses their

relationship six chapters earlier, and come to a
different expectation (and contract?) about
their relationship, then the “Happily ever
after” ending shows that the relationship and
protagonists have changed.

 Mental modeling of characters outside of the

story – It’s too-much work/bother, or not even a
consideration, for people to continue imagining
that characters exist after the last chapter of
a novel has been read.

If a couple splits up at the end of a romance

novel, do they remain separated and fighting in
your mind for all-eternity? If you last talked
to your friend and his/her spouse when they
called you from a holiday on Hawaii, do you
think that they are still holidaying in Hawaii
half a year later?

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS – NON-PLOT-ARC CONTENT

PROLOGUE

The prologue (a demi-chapter?) of a novel does-not need

to include any of the novel’s characters. (From “Plot &
Structure”)

TEASER

A “teaser” demi-chapter provides a glimpse of the action

further-along in the novel. (From “Plot & Structure”)

BACK-STORY

A description of the story that occurred before the plot-

arc began.

Minimize back-story? A comment from Stephen King that I

do-not understand. His novel-writing book says to
minimize back-story… but my recollection of his novels is
that he provides extensive back-story for all his
protagonists and settings… over the course of the novel.
Is there more than one type of back-story? (From “Stephen
King | On Writing”)

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BACK-RELATIONSHIPS

A description of the relationships behind the scenes.

SCIENCE/PHYSICS EXPLANATION

An explanation of the science/physics of the world. Or

perhaps the economics.

NEWS STORIES

News stories describe what is happening in the world,

beyond the plot-arc.

READER INSTRUCTION/EDUCATION

Take a few chapters to instruct the reader on a topic

related to the book, such as Herman Melville’s “Moby
Dick” explanations about whaling.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick)

MYTHS AND ULTRA-SHORT STORIES

A few chapters dedicated to myths or ultra-short stories,

to bolster the plot-arc. Richard Adams’ “Watership down”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down)
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DREAMS

Dreams that protagonists have… although these might also

be considered to be plot-arc-points.

AFTERWARDS

A description about what happens after the plot-arc ends.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – CHARACTER ARCS

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

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 Augmentation – The protagonist receives soul
surgery/enhancement, automatic knowledge-training,
and better implants (knowledge-base access, and
multivariable-calculus implants). Their life-
experience, personality, perception, and outlook on
life change as this occurs. (Like the first episode
of “Spiderman”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderman_(film),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivariable_calculus
)

PERSONALITY FLAWS

 Begin protagonists with personality flaws.

o If the protagonist is to have a relationship,

design the personality-flaws of their
friend/spouse to somehow encourage/shape the
relationship. One protagonist’s personality-
flaws (“Unable to eat a healthy diet.”) can
lead to their friend/spouse playing a role in
their life (“Here, eat this tofu.”). Or, this
can be used to create relationship
tension/conflict.

 Show AND tell (exposition) about personality flaws.

 Have protagonists grow/mature/change throughout the

novel, thanks to the plot-arc and interactions with
other characters.

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 The protagonist should overcome some personality
flaws… particularly character-flaws that are
important for the readership to overcome.

 But have the novel “scar” the protagonist, and

introduce new personality flaws. (From “Writing a
Romance Novel for Dummies”)

 The protagonist leaves the novel with half their

original character flaws, and half(?) new character
flaws

PERSONALITY-BEHAVIORS – THE TRUE CHARACTER-ARC?

Is a character-arc (the change in a character’s

personality) mostly-constructed from a set of new
personality-behaviors that the character decides to
affect?

Changes to a person’s fundamental personality

(personality-traits) require years-to-decades, and may
not be noticeable over the duration of a novel.
Personality-traits can be modified in less than a year by
severe emotional-stress (such as the death of a spouse),
brain-washing techniques, extreme stress (war), or worse,
torture.

High suspension-of-disbelief readers (fantasy and

science-fiction readers) can accept rapid personality-
trait changes. Low suspension-of-disbelief readers might-
not accept personality-trait modification as part of the
character-arc, forcing changes to occur in the
character’s affected personality-behaviors.

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If a character’s personality-trait is “Grumpy”, but his
character-arc (perhaps due to a relationship-arc)
requires that the character-trait “Grumpy” turns to
“Affable”, then maybe the “Grumpy” character-trait NEVER
goes away. Instead, the character drops a prior
personality-behavior, and picks up a new behavior of
“Tries to be affable” or “Is very-thoughtful about his
girlfriend, only”.

Or, a character’s personality-trait might have already

have-been changed (or mostly transitioned) at the
beginning of the novel, but the character is using a
self-affected personality-behavior to hide the trait.

 Hypothetically: In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas

Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge is actually a very-nice
man throughout the entire novel, even at the
beginning. He merely appears miserly-and-grumpy
because of an affected character-behavior of
“Pretending to be miserly-and-grumpy” so that he
doesn’t lose all of his money to charity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)

 Or, perhaps the three ghosts of Christmas used

magic-technology to rapidly alter Ebenezer
Scrooge’s personality.

 If Ebenezer Scrooge’s personality-trait was

actually/accurately “Miserly-and-grumpy”, and no
Christmas-magic was used to rapidly change
Ebenezer’s personality-traits, then Ebenezer
Scrooge merely listened-to and understood the
threat (from the three Christmas ghosts thugs), and
decided to hide is “Miserly-and-grumpy”
personality-trait for a few weeks. Two months
later, after Easter arrives, and the novel ends,
Ebenezer would be back to his old self.

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The costs of changing personality-behaviors:

 If a new personality-behavior is added, then an

existing personality-behavior must be dropped.
Personality-behaviors are willingly (and perhaps
consciously) learned by characters, for reasons of
survival/wellbeing: Social, economic, in times of
war, wilderness-survival, etcetera.

Does the character think that the “benefit” from

the new personality-behavior offsets the “loss”
from dropping one of their other personality
behaviors?

Does the character experience regrets at making the

change? Does the plot (and/or plot-arc) point-out
the character’s “loss”, as well as the “benefit”?

What friends fall-away from the character, as the

character changes his/her personality-behaviors?
Does he lose his job if he decides that a
“Romantic-person” character-behavior is more-
important than the personality-behavior of “Arrives
to work on time”?

 If an existing personality behavior is modified,

then how “complex” can a character’s personality
behavior be? Are personality-behaviors limited to
short descriptions, like “Helps around the house.”
Or, do characters have-to-affect more-constrained
behaviors like, “Helps around the house doing
outdoor chores, but only when it is sunny.”

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How much “work” is it for a character to change
“Helps around the house doing outdoor chores, but
only when it is sunny” to “Helps around the house”?

WHY IS THE CHARACTER-ARC HAPPENING NOW?

If the impetus of the movie/novel is for the protagonist

to undergo a character-arc, then “Why is the character-
arc happening NOW”? Why didn’t the character change a
year ago, or ten years ago? (From “Creating Emotion in
Games”)

 Characters decide to change a personality-behavior

(or learn a new one) when the environment around
them changes. Such as a move to a new location, a
new job, a major historical event, a tragedy, some
new friends, a romance, etcetera.

 Perhaps, the personality-“flaw” that the character

must correct never existed (or manifested?) in the
character’s old world, before the novel began. Or,
the personality-“flaw” existed, but the character
never bothered to address it. Other personality-
flaws were more-important.

 Characters DO NOT want to change??? (From “Creating

Emotion in Games”) Perhaps this makes the novel
deeper, or more emotional. What happens when a
character identifies the character-flaw at the
beginning of the novel, and decides to address it
immediately?

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CHARACTER-EPIPHANIES

SHOWING CHARACTERS REACTING IN DIFFERENT MOODS

When protagonists are in different moods (happy,

afraid/scared, during sex, and inebriated), their
personalities change. See the “Personality shapes”
discussions. The way they interact with other characters
also changes.

These changes allow protagonists to overcome obstacles in

the plot-arc, their relationships, and/or their own
character arcs.

Inebriated (or drugged) characters exhibit different

personality-traits and personality-behaviors. They often
cannot maintain their affected personality-behaviors.
While inebriated, the characters’ temporarily-changed
personality helps them overcome relationship-and-plot
obstacles… Or, the temporary-personality of the
temporarily-drunk character causes relationship-and-plot
problems.

PERSONALITY TRANSITIONS

A protagonist can change their personality subconsciously

through operant conditioning.

Or, a protagonist can change their personality after

realizing something (an epiphany). “I was a jerk back
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there, wasn’t I?” Is this followed by a “tell, don’t
show” of “I won’t be a jerk the next time,” or with a
“show don’t tell” when the character isn’t a jerk the
next time. Or when he/she stops himself/herself from
being a jerk halfway through.

Or, a protagonist can decide to change their personality.

For a protagonist to decide to change their personality

(from personality-B to personality-C), or even for them
to realize that their personality needs to change, they
must first have had their personality changed from
personality-A to personality-B. “You cannot climb to the
summit of a mountain until you reach its base. You cannot
reach its base until you walk through the woods. You
cannot walk through the woods until you realize that you
need to take a holiday.”

GIVING-UP SOMETHING IMPORTANT

If a protagonist gives up something important (such as

selling a rural house and moving to a small city
apartment), this shows both a personality transition, and
a decision point. (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”)

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UNCERTAINTY

If you know that a category-5 cyclone is about to either

hit-and-destroy your city, or completely miss, what food
do you purchase at the grocery store?

If a husband is about to leave the United States for

World-War-II Europe, do he and his wide suddenly decide
to have a child?

LEARNING

Protagonists learn from their experiences.

Do protagonists try to teach their new wisdom to other

characters?

Do protagonists try to teach their new wisdom to the

readers?

PROGRESSION OF THE CHARACTER-ARC

 Never a smooth transition/path. Never a

monotonically-increasing (always-incremental)
transition/path. (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

 Darkness before the growth. (From “Creating Emotion

in Games”)

Me – If there is going to be a major step-forward

in the character’s growth, then first have a
noticeable step back, THEN a overstep forward, then
a slight step back… but still an improvement over
what existed BEFORE the major step-forward.
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Me – Or, does this mean that the character needs to

suffer a shock (have impetus) before the step-
forward change occurs.

 Hyper-dimensional – There are many ways to “solve”

a character flaw, some of which involve ignoring
the character-flaw.

Perhaps the character tries affecting one

character-behavior. That doesn’t work. Giving-up
the first attempted character-behavior, the
character tries a slightly-different character-
behavior. That works slightly better. For grins,
the character abandons the slightly-different
character-behavior, and instead takes-up a
radically-different character-behavior. Oops; that
character-behavior definitely DID-NOT-WORK… So, the
character returns to a variant of the first
character-behavior, and the end of the novel.

 Decision-points that highlight the character-flaw,

and the new character-behavior.

 Relationships, trials, and plot-events that

highlight the character-flaw, and the new
character-behavior.

 Character s DO-NOT always succeed in

changing/adding a character-behavior.

 What about too-much success in the character-

behavior? Over-shooting?

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MEETING A COPY OF ONE’S EARLIER SELF

You can illustrate how much the protagonist has changed

throughout the novel, by having the protagonist meet a
copy-personality of his/her earlier self, near the end of
the novel. (From “Plot & Structure”)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS, HAPPENING-MOTIVATIONS, AND PIVOTS –

VOCATION-ARCS (CHANGES TO A CHARACTER’S “WAY OF
LIFE”)

If a character decides to change their way of life (or

needs to do so as part of a vocation-plan, or a plot),
then:

 Assuming that a character is “settled” in his/her

vocation (“Way of life”), the character WILL-NOT
WANT to change his/her vocation, EVER.

 Characters WANT to change their vocation (“Way of

life”) when their personality-traits match the
vocation’s “advertised” personality-traits, AND the
character’s personality-traits greatly-conflict
with their current vocation. (Could changes to a
character’s affected personality-behaviors result
in the character wanting to change their vocation?
Perhaps not.)

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Outside(?)-impetus could change the character’s

personality-traits, causing the character to
rethink their vocation (“Way of life”).

Or, a character can be forced into a new vocation.

Or, conned into a new vocation.

 Once a character decides to enter a new vocation,

the character MUST pass some trials-and-tests...

 Some of the “trials” are school course-work. In

a story, the trials might be physical, such as
“Move the scalding-hot iron-pot with your bare
arms,” from Ed Spielman’s television series,
“Kung Fu”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_(TV_series
) )

 Personality tests are also required to enter a

new vocation.

 Accepting the vocation changes the character’s

relationships, relationship-arcs, setting,
locations, professions, and technologies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation)

 Characters will be required to adopt new

personality-behaviors. Some religions require
their clergy to be celibate, for example.

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 Changes to a character’s life (and personality-
traits, and personality-behaviors, and personality-
quirks) continue AFTER the character has changed
vocations.

 Any new personality-behaviors and personality-

quirks that a character adopts, such as
“Celibacy” for the clergy, may ultimately affect
their personality-traits.

 Living a frugal-life in a Medieval monastery

might-have been somewhat-similar to
“brainwashing”, causing permanent personality-
trait modifications over a few years.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing)

 In a technological society, changes to the

character’s personality-traits are also
possible. Or even changes to the character’s
body. In Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman”, Peter Parker
is forced into the vocation of a “Superhero” by
a radioactive spider.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderman_(film) )

 A character’s commitment to a vocation (“Way of

life”) can waver:

 BBC’s “To the manor Born” follows a noble-woman

who becomes a middle-class cottage-dwelling
retiree. For years, she rejects her vocation-
change, and tries to befriend (and ultimately
marries) the wealthy capitalist who purchased
her estate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Manor_Born)

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 In Wang Dulu’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”,
the Mu Bai character had decided to change his
vocation to “monk”(?) prior to the movie
beginning. Before that, he had a vocation of
“warrior”. Due to events in the story, he
temporarily returns to a vocation of “warrior”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crouching_Tiger,_H
idden_Dragon)

HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – RELATIONSHIP-ARCS

(RELATIONSHIP TRANSITIONS)

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Gender/race change – Two good friends. One gets a

gender-change, or a race-change. Sometimes the new
race is four-legged.

 Injured soul – Two good friends. One friend dies in

a spaceplane “crash”, and has so-much soul-damage
that he/she must have a new lower-soul grafted onto
his/her soul, as well as a new body. Perhaps the
government decides to change the injured-person’s
race for diversity reasons. Or, perhaps the
injured-person is so damaged, that they can only
continue their existence as an intelligent-pet.

 Merged souls/awarenesses – Two good friends. One

friend dies in war, and has so-much soul-damage
that he/she cannot be placed into a new body.
His/her soul/awareness is merged with a different
person, who already has his/her own strong
relationships. The friend that lived, has to re-
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befriend (kind-of) the merged-soul/awareness
person.

 Slave-guard and enslaved-person twist – An

enslaved-person is enslaved on a plantation, and
forms a “respect”-relationship with one of the
more-amicable slave-guards. Space-marines land and
free the enslaved-person… who now sees himself as
either freed, or under-occupation. However, the
slave-guard is now concerned about his own arrest,
as well as occupation. How do the two people
interact? (Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List)

VISUALLY EXPLAINING RELATIONSHIPS: PEOPLE’S

PERSONALITIES AS SHAPES, CONTINUED

The story’s plot-arc causes a character’s shape to alter,

enlarging and reshaping shape-peninsulas, as well as
shrinking and lengthening shape-bays.

Meanwhile, as the character interacts with other

characters, the other characters reshape their
personality shape…

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Which causes the two characters to interact better, or
worse… or causes the reshaped character to interact less-
well with different characters… or better.

DEMONSTRATING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELAT IONSHIP

For a romance novel to work, when two protagonists meet,

it must be obvious from the beginning that a strong
relationship is possible. (???) (From “Writing a Romance
Novel for Dummies”). I have no clue.

EMOTIONAL “RELAXED-DRIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRY”

The changing state of the relationship, and moments of

stress-and-failure-and-success, lead to an emotional
“relaxed-drive through the country”… but NOT a
rollercoaster with sudden turns. Varied emotions
(elation, concern, pride, wariness, etcetera) should be
planted and grown in the reader. Don’t tell. Don’t show.
Get the reader to experience the emotions themselves.

Pacing is important.

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OBSTACLES

Relationships between protagonists overcome seemingly-

insurmountable obstacles. (From “Writing a Romance Novel
for Dummies”)

The plot-arc’s obstacles help the protagonists “gain

enough momentum” to overcome the relationship obstacles.
Or, the plot-arc-obstacles expose the relationship
obstacles.

RELATIONSHIP TRANSITIONS

At what point does a relationship transition from

“Buddies” to “Romantic”? Is it a slow transition, or
sudden? Is there an in-between relationship? What signals
that the transition has occurred, dialogue including “I
love you”??? Or, is “I love you” a goal set early in the
novel, and only met near the end. Or is the relationship
transition not realized until the relationship is broken
by a fight, distance, or death? Who recognizes transition
first: The protagonists, secondary characters, or the
reader? (From “Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

TWISTS-AND-TURNS

???

TELEPHONE-CALLS, E-MAIL, AND LETTERS

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People’s personalities are different at a distance. This
means that issues/obstacles in a relationship that CANNOT
be solved with a face-to-face conversation, CAN be solved
with a telephone-call, E-mail, or letter.

PROTAGONIST RELATIONSHIP-ARCS WITH THE READER

Protagonists have a relationship with the reader:

 Everything that the protagonist does, says, and

thinks affects the protagonist’s relationship with
the reader… assuming that the reader observes this.

 The protagonist’s relationships with other

characters affects the protagonist’s relationships
with the reader. If protagonist-B is friendly
towards protagonist-A, and as it turns out, the
reader really-really-likes protagonist-A, then will
the READER like protagonist-B better?

If the reader is a male, and protagonist-A is a

likeable-AND-sexy female, what happens when
protagonist-B (male) begins picking-up protagonist-
A (female), and stealing protagonist-A away from
the reader?

 If the protagonist “breaks the fourth wall”, and

speaks directly to the reader, does this make the
protagonist more-likable?

 If the protagonist has “things in common with the

reader”, then does this make the reader feel like
they can “buddy”-up with the protagonist? (From
“Creating Emotion in Games”)

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 If the protagonist makes/encourages the reader to
grow and become a better person (by example, or
conversations to the reader), then does the reader
like the protagonist more? (From “Creating Emotion
in Games”)

 If the protagonist dies, then the relationship is

broken, and the reader will most-likely be
unhappy/upset.

 The shared experience of the reader following the

protagonist’s life-experiences through the novel,
creates a relationship with the reader. (From
“Creating Emotion in Games”)

 Shared references – The READER and the protagonist

experience an exciting event in chapter 2. Thirty
chapters later, or in the next novel in the series,
the protagonist relates the chapter-2 event (that
the READER ALSO experienced) to another character
in the novel. Does this make the reader feel like a
“buddy” to the protagonist? (From “Creating Emotion
in Games”)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – CHARACTER-GROUP ARCS

Character-groups are their own literary “entity”,

separate from metaorganisms. Groups of characters enable
the following literary tools-and-techniques:

 Group activities – How do the inter-relationships

in the group change when the group gets together?
Is someone elected “treasurer” of a group because
they do-not attend the weekend barbeque?

 People join-and-leave the group – How does the

group change?

 Two groups of people merge together

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – JOURNEY “TWISTS”

What happens when a protagonist is on a journey? Or when

a protagonist is merely sitting idle, waiting for
something to happen?

 Dungeons & Dragons introduced the concept of

“Wandering monsters” – Whenever player-characters
travel or sit-idle, groups of monsters (randomly
selected) will sometimes appear. They provide (a)
content, (b) risk of an unfavorable plot-twist

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(player-character death), and (c) player-character
injuries and loot. Player-character injuries and
loot affect subsequent game-play.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_monsters)

Corollary: Journey “twists” that only provide

“content”, and/or unfavorable plot-twists are-not
very interesting. (???)

 Interesting plot-twists – Something happens during

a journey or idle-time that twists the plot (and
story “music-like movement”) in a completely new
direction.

For example: In Ridley Scott’s movie “Alien”,

having the alien pop-out of Kane’s chest DURING the
journey produced a plot twist, with significantly-
different effects compared to if the alien had
appeared while the same-ship was docked.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film) )

 Character-arcs and relationship-arcs – “Journeys”

are a different-class of “location” than buildings,
where characters typically meet. Consequently,
journey-locations change character personality-
shapes, and enable character-arcs and relationship-
arcs to progress.

For example: Ridley Scott’s movie, “Thelma and

Louise”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_and_Louise)

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SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

 Breakdowns, and diversions to foreign planets –

Along any intergalactic travel-route, there are a
LOT of weird races/societies that begrudgingly let
broken-down spaceplanes stop and get repaired.

Spacecraft breakdowns are like having an automobile

breakdown in Beverly Hills, California. Pilots
climbing over an iron gate, and knocking on
someone’s mansion-door to ask them for the use of
their telephone… Oh, and could you give me a ride
to the auto-mechanics? And, could I leave my
children here while we’re out?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills,_Califo
rnia)

 Wormholes –In cliché science-fiction, protagonists

travelling through space ALWAYS encounter wormholes
that introduce plot-twists.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

PIVOTS – DECISION-POINTS

SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL IDEAS

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 Birth versus parthenogenesis – “We-will surgically-
take that embryo-child from your womb, and return
your child as a teenager… in about two months.”
Ordering a parthenogenesis-child is so-much easier
than giving birth, that governments offer
incentive-programs to birth-mothers.

A GAME IS A SERIES OF INTERESTING CHOICE S

“A game is a series of interesting choices.” – Sid Meier,

game designer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sid_Meier)

“A game novel is a series sequence of interesting choices

with interesting consequences.” – My rephrase

Perhaps twice in a novel? Once in a movie? – Protagonists

should spend some time thinking ahead. “What should I
do?” followed by “What are my choices?” followed by “What
are the possible consequences of my choices?”

Not just, “What do I want to do?” and “Who do I want to

be with?”, but “Who do I want to be?” and “How do I want
to change my personality?” and “How do I want to change
my outlook on life/reality?”

How is the decision-and-choices examined? As a

conversation between the protagonist and their best
friend? Or as internal thoughts?

Once the protagonists have guessed what the ramifications

of their decision will be… Have the real-events turn-out
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to be DIFFERENT than what the protagonist (or reader)
expects. Never give the reader what the
reader/protagonists expect, especially for the choice
they make. Give them something better.

Later on in the book, reader/protagonists can have

regrets, thinking back and realizing that a different
choice at a decision point would have served them better.

For more discussions on choice, see my game-design notes

on “Choice”.
(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerInteractive
FictionGameDesignBlog.pdf)

J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” has a

decision-point when the fellowship is standing in-front
of the gates to Moria. Another decision-point occurs when
Frodo Baggins decides to leave the fellowship. And
another decision-point when Samwise Gamgee decides to
return to Shelob’s lair to save Frodo Baggins.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” is a movie about the

decision to begin a nuclear war.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove)

NUMERICALLY-EVALUATING CHOICES W ITHIN A

DECISION

If a person has $500, and can use it to either purchase a

holiday trip, or a microwave oven, or a new computer,
which does the person purchase?

In a utilitarian thought-model, people assign a utility

value to each of the choices. A holiday-trip is worth 50
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points of utility, a microwave oven is 10 points of
utility, and a new-computer is 80 points of utility.
Using a utilitarian-model, the new-computer is the
obvious choice, and the only choice… which means that the
decision only has once possible choice, which means that
it is NOT a decision.

To get around this problem:

 Hide the utility value from the protagonist/reader…

which means that the protagonist essentially
concludes, “Hell, I don’t know. I’ll take what’s
behind curtain-B.”

 Before the protagonist can make the decision, they

must first research their choices to determine
their utility value. The act of researching becomes
part of the plot-arc.

 Have the character choose the computer, only to

realize three-chapters later that the holiday would
have resulted in a higher utility. This either
builds up “regrets”, or informs the reader that
“you (the reader) should research your choices
better.”

 Mix apples with oranges: A holiday as a moral-

growth utility-value of 80. A microwave has a
convenience-utility of 80. And a computer has a
communication-utility of 80. The decision is not
one of, “Do I want a holiday, microwave, or
computer?”, but “Do I want moral growth,
convenience, or communication?”… Which can be
pointed-out to the reader, so that the reader sees
life-decisions not in terms of utility, but as a
way to determine what their personality-and-
character will be.

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 Or, a postponed(?) decision is ultimately made

based on emotion or necessity.

UNQUESTIONED DECISIONS

Novels (and movies) RARELY show protagonists explicitly

deciding anything. They VERY-RARELY have protagonists
enumerate their choices, and speculate on the possible
outcomes of each choice!

These are called “unquestioned” decisions. The

protagonist just decides to act. Harry Potter just-
decides to join Hogwarts when he is 9 years old… no
thinking involved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

Unquestioned-decisions CAN “WORK” if the alternative

consequences are obvious to the reader… if Harry Potter
DIDN’T join Hogwarts when he was 9-years-old, then the
reader knows that Harry Potter would lead a stifled-life
in suburban Britain… as implied by the preceding chapter.

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BACKING-OUT OF A DECISION

Protagonists must perform actions that enact their

choice. For example: If a protagonist decides to buy a
television, they must drive to the electronics store,
look at all of the television models, talk to a
salesperson, and hand the salesperson their credit-card.

In computer games, players must perform actions to enact

their choice. (See “A Theory of Fun.”)

In computer games, the game-world MUST ALWAYS provide

intermediate feedback about how-well the player’s choice
is performing. Excepting very-small decisions, where
there is no way to back-out. And even smaller-decisions,
where backing-out involves, simply, reversing the action,
like stepping-backwards.

1. Protagonists should be provided with

feedback/metrics about how well their choice is
working.

2. Protagonists should have several opportunities to

back-out of a choice, particularly an important
choice.

3. Readers should realize that protagonists are

thinking about backing-out.

4. Of course, backing-out typically incurs a cost to

the protagonist… and the reader’s boredom.

EMOTIONS INDUCED BY DECISION POINTS

 Success vs. failure

o Follow every success by a failure?
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 Regrets

 Risk of failure or expected negative outcome, or

unexpected outcome

 See “A theory of fun” for decision-induced emotions

EFFECTS OF A DECISION POINT

Are the effects of a decision-point shown in the next

chapter? Or N-chapters later?

From the point-of-view of the decision maker? Or someone

affected by the decision? Or by an unaffected
protagonist?

REPRIEVED DECISION-POINTS

I like/enjoy Tim Burton’s movies. I have a major-quip

about the way that Tim Burton handled decision-points in
his movie, “Alice in Wonderland”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(2010_f
ilm) )

Alice makes three decisions in the movie:

1. Alice decides to run-away from her potential

fiancée, soon after he publicly admits his love for
her.

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2. Half-way through the movie, Alice decides to NOT

follow the pre-assigned quest-plot (handed-out by
Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum in a prophecy).
Instead, she insists on being taken to the Mad
Hatter by the talking dog. Alice was prophesied to
next visit the White Queen.

3. In the final battle, on a chess-board, the Red-and-

White queens present Alice with the vorpal blade,
and task her will slaying the jabberwocky.

 In my version of the story, Alice once-again

makes a decision to break-away from the
quest-plot. She drops the sword on the chess-
board ground. It clatters for a second, after
it hits the flat stone-work. The clatter
quickly muffles to a vibration-ring, which
fades-away to silence. Alice boldly tells the
two queens that they can fight their own war.
Alice then walks-off into the Wonderland
sunset, arm-in-arm with the Mad Hatter, the
Cheshire-Cat following.

 In Tim Burton’s version, Alice obeys the

queens, kills the Jabberwocky, returns to
“boring-land” (leaving Wonderland… even
though she can remain in Wonderland if she
wishes), marries her fiancée, and takes-up a
career as a ship’s captain.

I saw the movie twice in the theatre. The

second-time, I walked-out before the
Jabberwocky fight, just to improve the movie…
or at least my perception of the movie.

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After a choice is made in a decision, should the “type of
choice” be reprieved in a later decision, but with a
different disguise? Particularly a self-destiny choice
like the type that Alice made.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS AND PIVOTS – PLANS

Protagonists will make plans. They will have to research

the plans. The plans will not work as expected. Lots of
decisions. Lots of conversations. Foreshadowing.
Etcetera.

Plans enable:

1. Characters research, think-about, and discuss

possible plans.

2. Characters have meetings, forming a temporary(?)

character-group.

3. Alien-personalities and alien-thinkers stand-out

during the meetings, because of alien-characters’
very-different viewpoints and proposed-plans.

4. The act of discussing a plan and its merits is a

form of foreshadowing.

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5. Antagonists (and traitors) spy on the plans, and
design counter-plans.

6. A decision-point exists where the character-group

decides-upon a plan.

7. Plans never work as expected.

8. The act of carrying-out the plan leads to “Journey

twist” elements.

9. After the plan has succeeded (or failed), the

character-group can re-unite and discuss the
success/failure of their plans.

10. Characters learn-and-change from planned

activities.

This is also handy for computer-game design. Perhaps

“Planning” should be built into computer-games, just as
“Quests” are built-in.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

READER-CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS – GETTING THE

READER TO HAVE AN OPINION/FEELINGS ABOUT A
CHARACTER

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This section describes methods that the author can
employ, to get the reader to have opinions-and-feelings
about specific characters.

LIKE, ADMIRATION, DISLIKE, ANNOYANCE (PARTIAL

SUMMATION)

Admiration is what happens when the reader likes the

character, WITHOUT the character TRYING to be liked???
Not quite. I need to think about this.

Annoyance is what happens when the reader DISLIKES the

character, but NOT because the character is trying to be
disliked??? Not quite. I need to think about this.

How to increase a reader’s “like” (decrease “dislike”) of

a character?

 Make the character similar-in-personality to the

reader. Or, if the character is similar-to what the
reader aspires to be.

 Empathy/understanding, and misunderstanding (See

below)

 Vitality, sometimes. (See below)

 Curious about person (See below)

 Trust (See below)

 Respect (See below)

 Morally-proud (See below)

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 Happy with (See below)

 Social proud (See below)

 Show that the given-character is a friend-of (or

helpful to) a previous-character that the reader
likes. Does the reverse-plus-opposite work also???

 Beautiful/handsome, well-dressed

How to cause the reader to “dislike” (decrease “like”) a

character?

 Make the character opposite-in-personality to the

reader.

 “Opaque” (See below)

 Sympathy (See below)

 Finds the person to be boring (See below)

 Mistrust (See below)

 Belittling (See below)

 Angry/Ashamed (See below)

 Embarrassed/Ashamed (See below)

 Social-embarrassment (See below)

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 Show that the given-character is an enemy-of (or
harmful to) a previous-character that the reader
likes. Does the reverse-plus-opposite work also???

In George Lucas’ “Star Wars”, I disliked Darth

Vader, not-because he was the obvious villain, but
because he maliciously killed Obi-Wan Kenobi. I
liked Obi-Wan Kenobi by that point in the movie. If
I had been ambiguous about Obi-Wan Kenobi when Obi-
Wan Kenobi was killed, then I WOULD-NOT-HAVE
“disliked” Darth Vader; Darth Vader would merely be
the villain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:
_A_New_Hope)

 Ugly/comely, poorly-dressed

 People/characters that are significantly more (or

less) intelligent than the reader, are disliked by
the reader. (From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

EMPATHY/UNDERSTANDING, MISUNDERSTANDING,
“OPAQUE”

The author can create empathy for the character.

“Understanding” is a more-neutral form of empathy???
“Misunderstanding” induces a false understanding of what
the character is thinking/perceiving.

How to produce empathy/understanding:

 Describe what the character is thinking,

perceiving, and feeling.

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 Have the character talk to other characters about
what he is thinking.

 Have the character talk A-LOT to other characters.

 Have the character emote in meaningful ways.

 Base the character on an archetype… whom the reader

already knows.

“Opaque” causes the reader to have NO understanding about

the character:

 Non-meaningful emotes.

CURIOUS ABOUT THE CHARACTER, FINDS THE

CHARACTER TO BE BORING

To make the reader “curious about the character”:

 Create a mystery about the character’s background.

 Give the character an unusual profession.

To make the reader “perceive the character as boring”:

 Have the character provide his/her long-winded

resume in exposition.

 Give the character a boring (or perceived boring)

profession.

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VITALITY, SYMPATHY

To show vitality:

 Show the character overcoming obstacles.

 The character has spare time/energy.

To create sympathy:

 Show that the character is in strife, while the

character cannot overcome the issues himself.

Psychology question??? If the READER is in strife, does

the READER prefer reading-about sympathetic characters
(flawed characters), or vitality-laden characters
(heroes)? If the READER is confident (full of vitality),
do they prefer reading about sympathetic characters? Do
teenagers who are in strife, prefer reading fantasy-
novels, where the protagonist is heroic? Do adults who
are in vitality, prefer reading/watching helper-fiction,
where the protagonist helps people in strife? (???)

TRUST, MISTRUST

To get the reader to trust the character:

 Show the character being honest/trustworthy to

other characters.

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To get the reader to mistrust the character:

 Show the character being dishonest to other

characters.

 Have the reader misperceive the character’s

personality???

 A character that speaks/acts in an insane manner is

mistrusted. (From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

RESPECT, BELITTLING (PARTIAL SUMMATION)

To get the reader to respect the character:

 Make the character older than the reader.

 Portray the character as mature/wise.

 Morally-proud (See below)

 Happy with (See below)

 Social-proud (See below)

To get the reader to belittle the character:

 Make the character younger than the reader.

 Portray the character is immature.

 Angry/ashamed (See below)

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 Embarrassed/ashamed (See below)

 Social-embarrassment (See below)

MORALLY-PROUD, ANGRY/ASHAMED WITH

To get the reader to be “morally-proud” of the character:

 Have the character choose a moral/ethical choice

(at a decision point), especially if the character
knows that he will be hurt by the decision.

To get the reader to be angry with the character:

 Have the character choose an immoral choice (at at

a decision point), especially one that personally
benefits the character.

HAPPY WITH, EMBARRASSED/ASHAMED

To get the reader to be “happy with” a character:

 Have the character perform a difficult-task, well.

To get the reader to be “embarrassed/ashamed” of a

character:

 Have the character (non-accidentally) perform a

simple task, poorly. Incompetence.
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SOCIAL-PROUD, SOCIAL-EMBARRASSMENT

To get the reader to be “socially-proud” of a character:

 Have the character behave-well socially. Polite,

for example. Or even resolve conflicts in a
socially-skilled manner.

 The character improves himself by tackling a flawed

character-trait.

To get the reader to be “socially-embarrassed” with a

character:

 Have the character make (intentional? and/or

unintentional?) social mistakes.

 The character FAILS to correct a flawed character-

trait, deciding to-not improve himself.

ADMIRATION, CONTEMPT

(MY OWN SPECULATION)

If the character is similar to a real-life person that

the READER has admiration for, then the reader
should(???) have admiration for the character.

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 Selfless teacher

If the character is similar to a real-life person that

the READER has contempt for, then the reader should(???)
have contempt for the character:

 Bully. (From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

Evil-overlord characters that are bullies might-

also induce contempt. Slave-owners that are bullies
might induce contempt.

 Shonky automobile-salesperson

MISCELLANEOUS

 Include an image/sketch of the character.

READER-AUTHOR RELATIONSHIPS – CREATING A

PHANTOM READER-AUTHOR RELATIONSHIP

To create a “phantom” relationship between the author and

the reader:

 Include a photograph of the author in the novel.

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 Use the author’s voice, for the audio-book version
of the novel?

 Book signings. Live readings of the author’s novel.

Online chats. Author’s web pages.

 Use “chatty” language.

 Comment (as the author) about a character, or

aspect of the story.

 Digress from the story to provide anecdotes about

your own life.

 Show your “waffling”, “indecisions”, and “remade

decisions” in your text.

“… Bill wore a red shirt....”

A few paragraphs later, breaking the fourth (or

fifth?) wall… “You know what? I don’t like the name
Bill. I will call Bill, Fred, instead.”

 Ask the reader questions. Provide imagined answers

that reader might-have provided. Accept one of the
imagined answers, and modify the story according to
the selected imagined-answer.

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

“Do you think it should be “Dark and stormy”? How

about cold-and-snowy? Or merely a sunny night?”

“Just have a think about that for a few

paragraphs.”

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Several paragraphs later…

“A “sunny night”, you say? Very-well, then.”

If a parent is reading-aloud such a novel to the child,

then this style of writing strengthens the parent’s
relationship with the child. (???)

Extensive discussion about breaking the “fourth wall” and

writing-styles can be found in (“Characters &
Viewpoint”).

READER-CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS – CREATING

PHANTOM READER-PROTAGONIST RELATIONSHIPS

“Phantom” relationships are (subconsciously?)

imagined/experienced relationships that the reader has
with the character.

IN GENERAL

 Include an image/sketch of the character.

 Have the character talk directly to the reader.

 Have the character comment about other characters

(or about the story) to the reader.

 Have the character digress from the story, and

provide an unrelated anecdote targeted directly at
the reader.

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 Have the character ask the reader questions,
provide possible answers that the reader might
reply-with, and have the character use one of those
answers to affect the character’s
decisions/actions.

Why is “The character talks to the reader/viewer” more-

often used in novels/television targeted at small
children?

AVATAR PROTAGONIST

I discuss “Avatar protagonists” above, in the “Characters

– Protagonists” section.

The reader has a phantom-relationship with their avatar-

protagonist that does-not exist in real life.

PHANTOM BUDDIES

What characteristics should a protagonist have to become

a buddy of the reader?

 Buddies are almost-always the same-gender.

 Similar personalities, beliefs, activities, and age

to the READER.

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 The protagonist has NO-OTHER buddies. A
boyfriend/girlfriend is marginally acceptable.

 The READER should-NOT have a buddy.

 Buddies can be short-term, such as for a week

during a holiday.

Some buddy-relationship-forming activities:

 Shared experiences… which is what a novel is, kind-

of. However, the shared-experiences should-perhaps
be (a) social-games/interactions like sports,
hiking, fishing, or dragon-slaying, and (b) enjoyed
by the READER.

Which implies that the PROTAGONIST needs a

CHARACTER-buddy, so that the READER can phantom-
participate in social-games/interactions with the
protagonist. Which is a problem, because the
protagonist SHOULD-NOT have an in-novel CHARACTER-
buddy… or the buddy-relationship might-not form
with the READER. Perhaps a very “nerdy” CHARACTER-
buddy would-not pose a social-threat to the
READER???

 The READER visits the protagonist’s house for

lunch/dinner, and meets the protagonist’s
wife/parents.

 The PROTAGONIST should somehow telephone the

READER, and invite the READER to the protagonist’s
house to participate in activities.

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 In choice-fiction, the protagonist-buddy could play

a game of cards with/against the READER.

 If the protagonist breaks the fourth-wall, and

talks directly to the reader, then the buddy-
relationship is strengthened.

PHANTOM FRIENDS

How is a friend-relationship different than a buddy-

relationship?

 Friends have “soul” compatibility. “I like him/her”

or “I like being around him/her”.

 Friends will spend time just “hanging out”, without

partaking-in ANY activities.

They might sit in the same room, separately-and-

quietly doing their-own homework assignments.

 ??? People feel an obligation to participate in

activities that their BUDDY has suggested. A person
who has a “friends” relationship will more-often
turn-down a friend’s suggested-activity, if they
do-not wish to partake. ???

 There is more trust in a “friend” relationship,

compared to a “buddy” relationship.

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 In some ways, a “friend” relationship is like a
“marriage” relationship, but without the sexual-
intercourse, the long-term commitment, the strength
of commitment, and the children. But then again, it
isn’t, because in a marriage-relationship, the
metaorganism dominates, and the couple will partake
in activities for the sake of “the relationship”.

How could a phantom-friends relationship be created

between the protagonist and the reader?

 BUGBUG – Work on this

PHANTOM UNCLE-AS-A-BUDDY TO A NEPHEW (OR AUNT -

AS-A-BUDDY TO A NIECE) RELATIONSHIP

BUGBUG – Needs work

I noticed a phantom-relationship forming in my mind,

while watching J J Abram’s “Super 8”. Both lead-children
(Joe and Alice) are “not properly looked-after” by their
fathers/mothers. Consequently, as an adult VIEWER/READER,
I have the urge to step-in and become a surrogate
parent…. The Uncle-as-a-buddy or aunt-as-a-buddy
relationships. As a surrogate parent, I wouldn’t worry
about regularly feeding the children. Instead, I would
want/help to encourage them to explore the world, and to
“grow up” in fun.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_(film) )

PHANTOM SERIOUS BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND

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A romance-novel should enchant the woman-READER into
“falling in love” with the romantic-lead character.
Romance-novels accomplish this by getting a woman avatar-
protagonist to “fall in love” with the romantic-lead. The
woman avatar-protagonist must be designed to be somewhat-
similar to the typical woman-reader in personality, life-
outlook, and lifestyle. (From “Writing a Romance Novel
for Dummies”)

MY SPECULATION…

Before the novel can enchant the woman-READER into a

PHANTOM “falling in love” with the romantic-lead:

1. The woman-reader must FIRST think of the avatar-

protagonist as a “buddy” or “friend”. (???)

2. The woman-reader must peer-through the crystal-

clear avatar-protagonist’s mind, as the avatar-
protagonist, and the woman-reader, both “fall in
love” with the romantic-lead.

3. The woman-reader CANNOT be allowed to get-into a

phantom-rivalry with the woman avatar-protagonist
over the romantic-lead!

Do romance-novels with men avatar-protagonists and

men-readers partly-fail because then man-reader
perceives the man avatar-protagonist as a rival?

What personality traits does a man/woman look-for in

someone who they would consider for the relationship of
“serious boyfriend/girlfriend”? The woman-READER MUST
perceive these qualities in the romantic-lead. Does the
woman AVATAR-PROTAGONIST need to perceive the same
qualities, or as many? (NOTE: I have-not yet read Ellen-

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Fein’s and Sherrie-Schneider’s self-help book, “The
Rules”, perhaps useful for this section.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rules)

 “Buddy”-relationship capable. Is a “Friend”

relationship sought-after? Or is “Friendship”
mutually exclusive to “Serious
boyfriend/girlfriend”?

 Handsome/pretty – Not stunningly-beautiful.

 Magazine “Top ten” lists of traits that women look

for in a man – Adventurous, Acts of “I-am thinking
of you”, Ability to read people’s character,
Adeptly-and-skillfully maintains the woman’s
attention, Animal/pet lover, Attentiveness, Balance
in their life and priorities, Caring, Challenge,
Confidence, Considerate, Cooking, Deluded (on the
up-side) about how “great” their partner is,
Dependable, Don’t rush sex, Dominance, Honest,
Faithful, Fatherliness, Fitness, Friends with
partner, Generosity, Lifelong marriage, Likes
strong women, Listens, Intelligence, Kind, Love
(emotion) of partner is more-important than other
life-accomplishments, Moral integrity, No ego, Not
jealous, Passion, Persistent, Polite, Prior
partners never mentioned-or-seen, Realist,
Respectful, Responsible, Romantic, Sex skill, Sex
with love, Sense of Fun, Sense of Humor,
Spontaneous, Style (Fashionable?), Supportive of
partner’s independence, Willing to make fools of
themselves to romance their partner (From various
“Top ten most-desirable traits in a man” websites.)
(http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/most_desirable_t
raits/Top_5_Character_Traits.php,
http://au.askmen.com/top_10/dating/top-10-traits-
attractive-women-look-for-in-a-man_10.html,
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http://datingadvicefromagirl.com/10-qualities-
women-want-in-men-based-on-the-notebook_26/,
http://zoevblog.com/2008/08/17/top-20-qualities-of-
good-guys/, http://living.msn.com/love-
relationships/love-sex/the-top-10-traits-women-
want-in-a-man-4#1,
http://wonderful1.hubpages.com/hub/10-Most-
Attractive-Traits-and-Men-in-the-World)

 NOT on the magazine “Top ten” lists:

o “Normal” – Someone whose personality and

appearance are close to the centroid of the
Gaussian-distribution.

o NOT embarrassing to be around

o Single – Obviously

o Fun to be around

o Willing to partake in activities with the

woman AVATAR-PROTAGONIST – The activities
must be activities that the woman-READER
does-NOT mind partaking in.

o NOT significantly-below the woman’s wealth

and social-status (???)

 I must be in-error about some of these

requirements. Some requirements are almost-
certainly missing from the list.

What plot-waypoints should the NOVELIST have the woman

AVATAR-PROTAGONIST arrange, so that the woman-READER

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develops a PHANTOM “serious boyfriend/girlfriend”
relationship with the romantic-lead?

1. Non-official dates (and “Stopping by to say,

“Hello””) throughout the novel

2. The woman AVATAR-PROTAGONIST should have

conversations with women-characters that know the
romantic-lead, about the romantic-lead. Men-
characters that know the romantic-lead are less-
reliable references.

3. “Buddy”-relationship material – Enough non-official

dates should prove to the woman-READER that the
romantic-lead is “Buddy” material. Or “Friend”
material?

4. Official dates, starting-after one or two non-

official dates have occurred. Non-official dates
DO-NOT CEASE once official-dating begins.

5. Shared meals, often as part of official dates.

Home-cooked meals are personality-and-skill tests
for the romantic-lead.

6. The romantic-lead must be capable of engaging in

non-banal conversation with the woman AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST.

7. Proof that the romantic-lead can drive an

automobile, preferably NOT a dilapidated automobile

8. Proof that the romantic-lead is gainfully employed,

in a non-boring job

9. The romantic-lead character should make an effort

(“above and beyond the call of duty”) to contact,

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meet, romance (try-and convince the AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST to have sex), and purchase-presents for
the woman-READER (as well as the woman AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST).

See Ellen-Fein’s and Sherrie-Schneider’s self-help

book, “The Rules”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rules)

Having the romantic-lead “make an effort” to

“romance the AVATAR-PROTAGONIST, for the purposes
of sex”, might be seen as misogynistic or
philosophically-offensive to some woman-READERS.
Should this be excised from the novel?

10. The woman-READER must visit the romantic-

lead’s bedroom, to judge its cleanliness. Also his
apartment, in which-case any roommates must also
keep the apartment tidy.

Is a romantic-lead who is established-enough to own

a house, “safe” dating-material? He might already
be married. Or have-been married. And, romantic-
lead houses make “moving-in” more-complicated.
(???)

11. The woman-READER must meet the romantic-lead

CHARACTER’S friends.

12. The woman AVATAR-PROTAGONIST should

subconsciously(?) design-and-run various
personality-tests on the romantic-lead, to make-
certain that the romantic-lead is “honest”, “fun to
be around”, etcetera. These tests often take-place
on official-dates and outings.

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13. The CHARACTER-FRIENDS of the woman AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST should approve of the romantic-lead.

14. The woman-READER must learn a handful of

details about the romantic-lead’s previous
girlfriends, both from the romantic-lead, AND from
characters that know the romantic-lead.

15. The CHARACTER-MOTHER of the woman AVATAR-

PROTAGONIST should-perhaps DISAPPROVE of the
romantic-lead. (???) Is this an important
“instinct” to ensure genetic diversity?

16. The woman-READER must be willing to move-in

with the romantic-lead. If the romantic-lead has a
roommate, the woman-READER must find the roommate
acceptable.

17. Sex-scenes (???)

18. I am almost-certainly in-error about some of

these steps, as well as missing some steps.

Meanwhile, ALL OF THIS is INTERTWINED and HIDDEN-WITHIN

the novel’s story-elements, such as the “plot”,
“undercurrents”, “historical context”, etcetera.

PHANTOM LOVE (MARRIAGE)

(BUGBUG – I am in the process of writing this section. I

have several lower-priority self-help marriage and
marriage-counseling books to read through.)
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Love (Linked to marriage) is NOT the same as “Serious
boyfriend/girlfriend”.

When a man/woman is looking for someone to marry (love),

they look for the following qualities:

 The marriage-relationship must have a practical

reason for existing. The romantic-lead should have
flaws-and-inabilities that the AVATAR-PROTAGONIST
can counteract, if-ever the two marry. Consequently
,the woman-READER should ALSO feel that she can
counteract the romantic-lead’s flaws-and-
inabilities. (Observed from “Harlequin Mills & Boon
Novels”)

 Most of the time, married couples LIKE the typical

personality of their spouse. They DO-NOT “LOVE” the
typical personality of their spouse. However,
people’s personalities ARE-NOT constant-and-
immutable throughout the day. The AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST must be-able to temporarily change the
romantic-lead’s personality to a more-lovable
personality, for at-least 10-to-30 minutes a day.
Something as simple as a joke, or hug, can change
the romantic-lead’s personality. Alpha-male
romantic-leads must occasionally become personable.
Beta-male romantic-leads must occasionally become
leaders. Does the woman-READER (subconsciously?)
expect this behavior? (Observed from “Harlequin
Mills & Boon Novels”)

 Treated with respect (From “Should I stay or should

I go?”)

 Feel safe (From “Should I stay or should I go?”)

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 Feel loved the great majority of the time (From
“Should I stay or should I go?”)

 The relationship should create far-more

possibilities than it takes away (From “Should I
stay or should I go?”)

 Passion and intimacy (From “Should I stay or should

I go?”)

 The woman-READER should feel that the woman-

protagonist is “seen” (noticed, perceived,
appreciated) by the romantic-lead. (From “Should I
stay or should I go?”)

 “Women tend to find meaning in their lives through

the bonds of relationship” – Quote. I’m not certain
what to do with this, as far as novel-writing.
(From “Should I stay or should I go?”)

 The woman-READER will avoid immature romantic-

leads. (From “Should I stay or should I go?”)

 The woman-READER will avoid substance-addicted

romantic-leads. (From “Should I stay or should I
go?”)

 The woman-READER will avoid mentally-unstable and

mentally-ill romantic-leads. (From “Should I stay
or should I go?”)

 The woman-READER will avoid mean (potentially

abusive) romantic-leads. (From “Should I stay or
should I go?”)

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 “A healthy relationship requires honest
communication – so speak up.” (From “Whom not to
Marry”)

 The woman-READER will avoid jealous romantic-leads.

(From “Whom not to Marry”)

 “Never marry a man who tries to control you.” (From

“Whom not to Marry”)

 “A forgiving spirit is a must for married life.”

(From “Whom not to Marry”)

 Is the READER’S “admiration” of the romantic-lead,

and the romantic-lead’s admiration of the READER
(NOT the protagonist?) a requirement? (Inspired by
“Whom not to Marry”)

 The romantic-lead should NOT be opposite to the

READER on: Money-saver versus big-spending. Strong-
optimist versus strong-pessimist. The romantic-lead
wants (no) children versus whether the READER wants
(no) children. The romantic lead drinks heavily,
versus whether the READER drinks heavily. (From
“Whom not to Marry”)

 A quote from Paul to the Corinthians, New

Testament. “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is
not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love
is not selfish; it does not insist on its own way.
Love is not easily irritated, nor is it resentful.
Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing; it rejoices in
the truth. Love hopes all things, endures all
things. And it never gives up.” How does the author
cause the READER to-perceive these “behaviors” in
the male-lead? (From “Whom not to Marry”)

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 “Compromise is the essence of diplomacy; and

diplomacy is the cornerstone of love.” – Unknown
(From “Whom not to Marry”)

 The romantic-lead should-NOT become boring to the

READER. In a long-term relationship, the romantic-
lead will-not be interesting all of the time,
though. Does the READER need to be shown that the
romantic-lead partakes in hobbies, sports, or other
extracurricular activities?

 The READER needs evidence that the romantic-lead

can, and is willing to, partake in a long-term
relationship. Previous divorces are sometimes not-
good. Long-term commitment to a single employer is
good. Long-term commitment to living in the same
house is also good. Long-term friends, also.

 The romantic-lead has flaws. Can the READER live

(for decades) with the romantic-lead’s flaws? (If
the romantic-lead has NO flaws, then the READER may
conclude that she (the READER???) cannot be a
practically-useful partner in the relationship.)
Can the READER bolster/support the romantic-lead,
and compensate/counteract his flaws?

 If the PROTAGONIST should die, would the romantic-

lead still participate in the PROTAGONIST’S family,
or would he wander-away? This is particularly
important if the couple has children.

If the PROTAGONIST should die, would the romantic-

lead still participate in the READER’S family, or
would he wander-away?

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 Is the romantic-lead’s profession different-enough
from the READER’S profession, that if there is an
economic downturn, at least one partner will keep
his/her job?

 Does the romantic-lead provide an emotional-

counterbalance to the READER’S emotional weak-
points, and vice versa?

 BUGBUG – As mentioned above, I am in the process of

writing this.

The emotional/relationship process of getting-married

roughly follows:

1. Romantic stage – “I could just stare at you all day

– I’ve never felt this way before.” (Category-title
from “Should I stay or should I go?”)

2. Conflict stage – “I need a little space. We’re two

different people. I’m not that into you.”
(Category-title from “Should I stay or should I
go?”)

3. Evaluating Commitment stage – “Is this working?”

(Category-title from “Should I stay or should I
go?”)

More details about pre-marriage activities:

1. Firsts – To imprint memories on the romantic-lead,

the AVATAR-PROTAGONIST will take the romantic-lead
on outings that involve “firsts”… such as the
first-time the romantic-lead has been to a tropical

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island, or the first-time the romantic-lead has
been skydiving. Does the woman-READER
(subconsciously?) expect such behavior? (Observed
from “Harlequin Mills & Boon Novels”)

2. The AVATAR-PROTAGONIST takes the romantic-lead’s

family out on an excursion. The READER can-then
meet-and-evaluates the romantic-lead’s family.

 Meeting the romantic-lead’s family and

extended-family provide the READER with a
judge of the romantic-lead’s genetics.
Including intelligence, wealth/money skills,
and family-raising ability.

3. The READER observes the romantic-lead interacting

with small children. NOT infants. Toddlers through
to children. NOT teenagers???

 The romantic-lead should be a capable parent.

4. The READER visits the romantic-lead’s university.

5. The avatar-protagonist INTENTIONALLY gets-into

relationship-fights with the romantic-lead, SO THAT
the READER can observe-and-evaluate the romantic-
lead.

6. The avatar-protagonist has romantic-lead MEET the

READER’S women-friends, so that the READER’S women-
friends can evaluate the romantic-lead. This MEANS
that the avatar-protagonist’s women-friends MUST
have similar-personality demographics compared to
the READER’S women-friends???

7. The avatar-protagonist asks/interrogates the

romantic-lead about his past, philosophies,
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religion, and future-plans. Future-plans also
include discussions about the couple’s future-
family. The answers should be tuned-and/or-
acceptable to the READER. (A READER-personality
choice-fiction element could allow the romantic-
lead’s responses to be customized to the reader.)

8. In real life, there are various “soul” tests, which

involve the “feel” of the romantic-lead’s soul. How
can soul “feel” be described, beyond the “I felt
safe/comfortable in his presence,” and/or “He had a
certain air about-him.”???

9. In real life, the two individuals begin to “lean on

one-another” for life-activities and emotional
support. How can the READER lean on the romantic-
lead for life-activities and emotional support?
Perhaps the romantic-lead provides the AVATAR-
PROTAGONIST with life-activities-advice THAT the
READER needs. How can the romantic-lead lean on the
READER for emotional support? Perhaps the romantic-
lead breaks the fourth-wall, and confides directly
to the READER?

10. Wedding planning

11. Marriage planning. What does the couple

expect married life to be like? Lots of
discussions. Meetings? Informal contracts?
Prenuptial agreements? (From “Whom not to Marry”)

12. BUGBUG – As mentioned above, I am in the

process of writing this.

When married:
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 BUGBUG – As mentioned above, I am in the process or
writing this.

PHANTOM RIVAL

BUGBUG

In Robin Hobb’s “Assassin’s Apprentice”. Fitz’s rival,

Galen, becomes a phantom-rival to the READER, because
Galen interrupts the READER’S novel-reader experience by
flinging Fitz away from the READER’S expected “Farmer to
king” storyline, and turning the storyline into a less-
desirable one of Fitz recovering from a mental breakdown…
But, the no-longer-cliché plot is ultimately more-
enjoyable.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Apprentice)

In Peter Molyneux’s computer role-playing-game, Fable,

the villain (rival) knocks the player’s CHARACTER
unconscious, and steals ALL of the PLAYER’S hard-earned
equipment (held by the character, but EARNED by the
player). This creates a phantom-rivalry between the
PLAYER (not the player’s character) and the villain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(video_game) )

I have-not played Fable II, but in that computer role-

playing-game, the villain kill’s the player-character’s
pet dog… a simulated animal-personality which, by-that-
point, should have endeared itself to the PLAYER, as well
as providing useful game-play advantages. The death of
the player’s dog would create a phantom-rivalry
relationship with the villain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_ii)

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CREATING MEETING READER-EXPECTATIONS

PLOT

Readers have expectations about what plots are

“valid/kosher” plots. See the “Plots” section, “Plot-
expectations”.

BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END

Readers expect a story to have beginning, middle, and

end. As well as a climax and a denouement.

ENDING

Readers expect:

 A happy ending.

 An exciting ending.

NOVEL-LENGTH

Readers expect their novel to be between 200 and 500

pages, using a specific font and font-size.

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CAUSALITY

Readers expect cause-and-effect, and they expect any

important effects to have their causes explained. (From
“Writer’s Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by
Steven James)

CHEKOV’S “LAW” SHOULD NOT-BE BREACHED

"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle

hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it
absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it
shouldn't be hanging there." – Chekov’s Law
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekov%27s_law) (From
“Writer’s Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by
Steven James)

NO CLICHÉS

Clichés are NOT acceptable.

NO BREAKING THE “FOURTH WALL”

The reader is merely observing, and no mention of the

reader should be made in the novel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall) (From
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“Writer’s Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by
Steven James)

NO “DEUS EX MACHINA”

No “Deus ex machina” – A seemingly-unsolvable problem is

suddenly-and-abruptly solved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina) (From
“Writer’s Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by
Steven James)

FAILURE BEFORE A SUCCESS

Readers expect the protagonist to fail before the

protagonist succeeds. (From “Writer’s Digest”,
March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by Steven James)

THEME AND MORAL

Readers expect a “theme” and a “moral”. (From “Writer’s

Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by Steven James)

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ALL MYSTERIES “WRAPPED UP” BY THE END

Readers expect that all mysteries will be explained

(“Wrapped up”) by the end of the novel. (From “Writer’s
Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by Steven James)

CREATING READER-BELIEVABILITY

BUGBUG – What elements cause a reader to believe that the

events in the story are real?

REALISTIC PERSONALITY-TRAITS/BEHAVIORS,
CHARACTER-ARCS, RELATIONSHIPS, RELATIONSHIP-
ARCS

When characters act believably, the novel is more

believable. BUT, the novel then suffers on its other
design-requirements.

PRECONDITIONING THE READER TO A CHARACTE R-

PERSONALITY/BEHAVIOR

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If a character is going to make an important-AND-
unbelievable decision near the end of the novel, then the
character MUST(?) make a less-important-AND-similar
decision earlier-on in the novel.

PROVIDING THE PROTAGONIST WITH A REASON TO DO

SOMETHING NOVEL-WORTHY

Most real-life people do-not-ever do anything novel-

worthy, except accidentally and for only very-brief
periods of time. Novel-worthy activities include danger,
lifestyle changes, travel unhygienic tourist-locations,
trying to save the world, etcetera.

If real-people are tasked with novel-worthy activities

(such as “Saving the world”), they will only embark-on
the task for a short while, before they realize… “This is
a stupid thing for me to do. What about all of those
other people sitting in their living-rooms, watching
television? It’s now THEIR turn to save the world. I now
pass-on my job to nameless-person-X. See ya! End of
novel.”

Several common reasons excuses why a protagonists

persists with their novel-worthy behaviors throughout the
duration of the novel, are described in (“Plot &
Structure”).

 Winner-and-loser situation – The protagonist has an

antagonist. If the protagonist wins, the antagonist
loses. If the antagonist wins, the protagonist
loses. If the two cooperate, they both lose.
Magnify the losing-condition, to death or
imprisonment. (From “Plot & Structure”)

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 Professional obligation – Police-officers
experience this. So do military personnel. (From
“Plot & Structure”)

 Moral duty – (From “Plot & Structure”)

 Obsession – The protagonist is so-obsessed with a

goal, that they are willing to risk
death/imprisonment because of their obsession.
(From “Plot & Structure”)

 Physical location – Because of the protagonist’s

physical (or legal, or spiritual) location, they
MUST perform the novel-worthy tasks. For example:
If a protagonist is on a sinking ocean-liner, in
the middle of iceberg water, the protagonist MUST
produce enough courage to ride in a flimsy life-
raft. (From “Plot & Structure”)

For the reader to believe that the protagonist has the

necessary novel-worthy impetus, the reader must be
informed/shown early-on in the novel, that the
protagonist is in a fight-to-the-death, or that the
protagonist is a police-officer, or that the protagonist
is obsessed with delivering magic-golden-rings to
volcanoes. (From “Plot & Structure”)

DETAILS

Include details EVERYWHERE, in character-descriptions,

location-descriptions, back-story, historical context,
etcetera. (From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

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Include details that no-other author includes, such as
the location-histories in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of
the Rings” series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings)

NARRATOR BELIEVABILITY

If the narrator is ALSO a character in the novel, then

NARRATION-believability becomes a major issue. What would
the character-narrator know? And when? Is the character-
narrator writing about events in the distant past, or as
they happen? Would the character-narrator be skilled-
enough to delay talking about an event, to create more
mystery/suspense for the reader? (From “Characters &
Viewpoint”)

CREATING READER-INTEREST

“Reader-Interest” is when readers spend time to assuage

their curiosity. Reader-interest lasts longer than
“feelings”, perhaps 60 minutes??? Reader-interest causes
the reader’s mind to “collect more data”, for a period of
time.

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CONFLICT INTERESTING STIMULI

A cliché line is, “Stories are about conflict.” Rather,

“Stories are a series of interesting stimuli. Conflict is
only one potential interesting event.”

Simply speaking, what interests an unintelligent animal?

 Food
 Danger
 Sex
 Other animals of the same species
 Other sizable animals
 Danger
 A sudden noise
 A new object in the environment
 See my game-design discussions for more
enumerations.
(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerIn
teractiveFictionGameDesignBlog.pdf)

UNDESERVED MISFORTUNE

Topic from (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

“Underserved misfortune” is perceived by the reader as a

kind-of a “warning” (“Don’t buy a used-car from that
salesperson, ever!”), combined with “empathy”.

If the reader has had a similar undeserved misfortune,

does the reader’s experience help/hinder the author’s
effort to maintain the reader’s interest? A trite
example: Everyone has had a vending machine swallow-up
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their money, without dispensing food. So, the reader
thinks, if a vending machine swallows the character’s
money in the novel, and “it also happened to me (the
reader),” then doest the reader really care about the
character’s misfortune (“warning that the reader already
knows about” + “null-empathy of get on with life you
whinging character”)?

LEARN ABOUT A PAINFUL PART OF A CHARACTE R’S

PAST

Topic from (From “Creating Emotion in games”)

When a reader learns about a painful-section of a

character’s past life, the reader’s “I’m a friend (or
fellow villager), and I’m here to help” circuitry turns-
on.

 The painful past-event counts as a “warning” about

something that the reader should NOT do.

This warning can educate the reader about how to

avoid (in real life) whatever caused the painful-
event to the character. The painful-past-event
anecdote also educates the reader about what
happens during the painful-event. And, how to
solve-and-cope with the painful event.

The more-likely that the painful event is to

happen, to the reader, then the more interest that
the reader will show in the character’s painful-
event??? But, if the reader ALREADY experienced a
similar painful-event themselves (or someone they

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know experienced the painful-event), then does the
character’s painful-event lose potency?

 From a friends (and fellow villagers) perspective,

the painful past-event of someone in the community
(friends or villagers) is VERY-relevant for
friends/community stability.

SUSPENSE

Suspense occurs when:

1. The reader emotionally/intellectually cares about

what is happening… either in the plot-arc, the
protagonists, and/or the relationships.

2. The reader has expectations about what will happen.

Readers are almost-always prompted to expect
something to happen.

3. Those expectations are NOT met. The reader expects

that a couple will travel to Las Vegas and get
married. But they don’t.

4. Instead of the expectations being met, a different-

but-logical outcome occurs, which is more-
interesting to the reader than the reader’s
expectations.

5. This is repeated throughout the novel.

6. A chain of suspense (readers’ desires/assumptions

about the future) can be used synergistically.

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SEXUAL-RELATIONSHIP SUSPENSE

In a romance novel, sexual-relationship suspense (what

the reader wants to happen) centers around both-and-
independently physical-intimacy and emotional-intimacy.
These should be more-separated and coincident. Either
develop physical intimacy first, followed by emotional
intimacy, or vice-versa, or with twists (physical
intimacy with one person, emotional intimacy with
another). (From “Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

FORESHADOWING

Create suspense(?) about what is going to happen sometime

in the future?

Or perhaps what might happen, but which won’t really

happen.

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MYSTERY

Mystery occurs when:

1. The reader emotionally/intellectually cares about

what is happening… either in the plot-arc, the
protagonists, and/or the relationships.

2. The reader receives hints that something happened

in the past that somehow enlightens them (epiphany)
as to what is happening now, or what will happen in
the future.

3. Any of the reader’s expectations about what could-

have-happened are NOT met. The reader expects that
a couple got married in Las Vegas, but they didn’t.

4. The mystery is eventually answered, in drips.

5. The mystery is eventually answered in whole. As it

turns out, the reader could have guessed what
happened, but wasn’t quite clever enough. AND, the
mystery turns out to be more intriguing than the
reader could have imagined.

6. This is repeated throughout the novel.

SETBACKS

Characters accomplish “progress” in dimension/direction-

M. They then have a “setback”, which causes them to lose
“progress” in dimension/direction-M, causing some chaos
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in dimension/direction-N. The chaos in
dimension/direction-N lets the protagonist bypass
whatever is blocking (or setting-them-back) in
dimension/direction-M. “No direct path.” (Inspired by
“Writer’s Digest”, March/April 2013, “Go Organic” by
Steven James)

DIFFICULTY LEVEL, VERSUS BOREDOM

If a novel is “too difficult”, it will bore readers, and

they will stop reading… or not recommend the novel to
other readers. Conversely, if the novel is “too easy”,
readers also stop. (Borrowed from game design – See “A
Theory of Fun”.)

What affects difficulty?

 Character, location, and race names that are too-

weird – They’re too-difficult to remember.

 Making the reader think too-much – Making the

reader think too-much increases difficulty too-
much. (See below for, “Creating Reader-Thoughts”)

 Too-many characters – The more-characters, the

more-difficult it is.

 No illustrations – The fewer illustrations (and

maps), the more-difficult the novel is.

Reducing complexity:

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 Convert elements of the book into a “space” –

Simply exampled, include a map.

Typically, have different “movements” of the novel

take-place in different locations. Select
chapter/scene locations so that their space-
categorization is more-symbolic.

More complicated – If there are a lot of characters

in the novel, describe/illustrate their
relationships to the reader, so that the reader
perceives the characters as being in a relationship
web-space.

What affects boredom?

 “There are simply too many notes pages”, Emperor

Joseph II to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus_(film) )

 “I read this already” – If a reader has already

read a similar novel, they find the new novel more-
boring. From game designers: Computer adventure-
game players are particularly persnickety. It is
bad-form for an adventure-game designer to copy (or
re-duplicate) an adventure-game puzzle from ANY
prior adventure-games. A hyperbolized example:
Modern adventure-games DO NOT include mazes (like
“a maze of twisty passages, all alike”) simply
because of a classic “everyone-has-played”
adventure game, Zork, which did such a good job
with their maze 30 years-ago.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork)

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 WAY too-complicated – Something that is WAY too-
complicated is boring. Something that is merely
too-complicated is frustrating.

Make the reader think too much. (See below for,

“Creating reader-thoughts”)

TWISTS-AND-TURNS

BUGBUG – do this

DAY-TO-DAY MISCELLANY (ERRANDS, TELEPHONE CALLS

TO INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS) – THE OPPOSITE OF
READER-INTEREST

Day-to-day miscellany generally causes the reader to lose

interest. (???)

Does including ANYTHING that the READER does everyday

cause the reader to lose interest?

Errands, chores, short travel, and telephone-calls

to/from incidental characters is often ignored. They
don’t “advance the plot”. Sometimes they do.

 When do they make the world/protagonist more

real/realistic?

 When do they add empathy to a protagonist?

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 When do they tweak the protagonist’s emotional-mood
into a new mood?

 When do they point-out (“Show, don’t tell”)

something about the protagonist, protagonist’s
mood, world, plot, etcetera?

 When do they encourage a character arc?

 When do they turn the plot-arc to introduce new

settings and/or characters? “Hello, [protagonist].
This is Jill calling. Can you watch my child this
afternoon while I visit the department of motor
vehicles?”

 “Sorry, I cannot save the world from the evil

overlord today. My dishwasher just broke.”

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrations keep a person reading.

See what I mean?

NON-VERBAL WAYS OF CREATING READER-INTEREST

 Images – A sketch, or a three-D renderer like DAZ

Studio. (http://www.daz3d.com/)

 Maps

 Charts

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WORK IN PROGRESS…

CREATING READER-ENTERTAINMENT

Circuses are entertaining. Some movies are entertaining.

I do-not know what makes something entertaining. “Over

the top?” “Spectacle?”

WISECRACKING CARDBOARD-THIN VILLAIN

A WISECRACKING cardboard-thin villain is entertaining,

such as “The Joker” from the “Batman” series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(comics) )

CREATING READER-EMOTIONS

Novels – A “Relaxed drive through the country,”

alternating between emotional-“laneways”, and thinking-
“roads”.

Emotions are shorter-lasting than feelings. (10 minutes

of time?) Emotions are stronger than feeling. Emotions
affect a person’s intuition. Emotions hamper analysis???

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EMPATHY-EMOTIONAL EXTREMES

“Bombshell” – Provide a very-happy very-good scene for a

protagonist, and then wrench it away with very-sad very-
bad news. (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

DANGER

Put the protagonist in danger… but only AFTER the reader

has a relationship with the protagonist. Doing so before
the relationship is strong, merely creates tension-and-
adrenalin from the action.

THE FEAR OF IMPENDING DOOM (DIFFERENT TH AN

“DANGER”)

What if the reader knows that a traitor secondary-

character is plotting-against their favorite protagonist?
And this expectation of treachery lasts for half the
novel?

ACTS OF HEROISM

Heroic acts maintain the reader’s interest in the story,

and create more of an emotional-attachment to the heroic
character. Idea (From “Creating Emotion in Games)

Heroic acts include:

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 Danger – Always important. The more that the reader
cares about the protagonist who is acting heroic,
the better.

 To the author, getting a protagonist to act heroic

produces more “value” (but not always) than getting
a secondary-character or incidental-character to
act heroic. Why? The reader is ultimately supposed
to become emotionally-tied to the protagonists, not
the secondary-characters… and never the incidental-
characters.

 Is the heroic-act better viewed from the eyes of a

different protagonist? Witnessing a heroic-event
from the point-of-view of the heroic-protagonist
may not be as emotional, as witnessing the heroic-
event from another character’s eyes.

 How should the reader think about the heroic-

action? “You’d never catch ME [the reader] doing
that!”???

 Should the heroic-act be designed as a lesson for

the reader, so that they themselves might one-day
act heroically in a similar fashion? Lawsuits
against the author when someone acts heroically?

SELF SACRIFICE

A character sacrifices his/her life, or his/her health,

or a relationship, or an expensive object, for the

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purposes of helping a protagonist. Idea (From “Creating
Emotion in Games”)

 The sacrificing character should be protagonist???

If not, why try to create the sympathy for a
secondary-character or incidental-character? If the
sacrificing character is a protagonist, then they
SHOULD NOT be the current point-of-view protagonist
who is observing the self-sacrifice???

 The reader should understand (and feel) what the

self-sacrificing character is giving up. Which
perhaps means that the reader should have had-to
give-up a similar item in his/her own life…. Which
means that self-sacrifice means giving-up an
important outing/date with a friend or child.
Deaths are also common, since people have
experienced deaths of friends-and-relatives.

 Do the other protagonists observe-and-sympathize

with the self-sacrifice?

ANGER

Include “angry” swearwords in the narration and dialogue,

stimulating a classical-conditioning anger-response???
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning)

“FUN”

(Inspired by Brian “Psychochild” Green’s game-design

blog, http://psychochild.org/?p=1208)
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(MY SPECULATION)

 Games are “fun”.

 Novels are NOT “fun”.

 Playful poetry is sometimes “fun”.

 Children’s pop-up books are “fun”.

 The visual rollercoaster-rides in movies are “fun”.

EMOTIONS INDUCED BY THE PLOT-ARC

 See “A theory of fun” for some ideas about emotions

NON-VERBAL WAYS OF CREATING READER-EMOTIONS

 Images – A sketch, or a three-D renderer like DAZ

Studio. (http://www.daz3d.com/)

 Background music, and background sound-effects

(sounds of the forest, ocean-waves, etcetera) – If
the E-book software supports the audio. Perhaps
include a webpage-link to background music that
should be played???

This is more-relevant for audio-books

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 Font, font-size, text justification, title

font/size,

 Page color, page texture, page filigree

 In dialogue: Bold-face, color to indicate emotion,

background behind the line of text

UNUSUAL-VERBAL WAYS OF CREAT ING READER-EMOTIONS

 The style of language, such as incomplete/short

sentences.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CREATING READER-DELIGHT

“Delight” (or “Mirth”) is a very-quick, positive not-

quite-emotional hit.

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READER EPIPHANIES

 The reader solves a mystery in a “Who Dunnit”

novel.

 A sudden understanding of the gestalt.

 A sudden understanding of the “laws of reality”

that underpin the novel. The story about Archimedes
running-out of the bathtub naked, upon discovering
Archimedes’ principle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes%27_princip
le)

 Solving a puzzle, or mastering a system. (See “A

Theory of Fun”)

AESTHETICS CREATE “DELIGHT”

 Wandering-around good building-architecture for the

first time.

 Nicely-built machinery – Such as computer gadgets,

like the latest touch-screen mobile-phone.

 Poetry

 Spelling, grammar, poetic words, phrase cadence,

etcetera.

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 Cleverness – Some witty dialogue, for example. A
nice segue between scenes. “Craft”, as opposed to
“Art”.

PRIDE IN A SOMEONE’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 Pride in a student’s/child’s/friend’s
accomplishments. (See “A Theory of Fun”)

“WHAT IF” TWISTS

A “What if”-twist, is when a SINGLE aspect of SOMETHING

is changed (typically “flipped”), with consistent-
application throughout the novel. The “SOMETHING” is a
major law of physics, the outcome of a significant
historical-event, or a major change to Homo-Sapiens
psychology. (Or a major-change to the protagonist’s
psychology/history?)

For example: “What if Napoleon had conquered Europe?”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon)

The author then spends months thinking-about and

speculatively-modeling the consequences to the “What if”-
twist change.

 How would Napoleon’s unified-Europe affect the

language and culture of Europe?

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 Would the British Empire have collapsed soon-
afterwards?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire)

 Would a satellite French-nation now-exist around

the Mississippi? (Instead of the region having been
sold to the United States of America).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase)

 Etcetera.

WHY “WHAT IF”-TWIST SCENARIOS WORK

Readers enjoy the “Novelty” of the “What if”-twist, as

well as a hint of “The weird”.

Furthermore, many readers can easily imagine “What if”-

twist scenarios in their mind. They enjoy (“Delight” and
“Pride in someone else’s accomplishments”?) noticing how
the author did a better-job of predicting/estimating the
consequences of the “What if”-twist. How do the reader’s
predictions of the “What if”-twist differ from the
author’s? (“Competition”)

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HUMOR

Once comedy is used in a novel, it must be used

everywhere due to expectations.

Once a writer is labeled as a comedy writer, they must

write exclusively comedy.

Comedy can only be sustained throughout a novel using

sitcom techniques:

 Normal people are placed in normal situations…

which only seems to work for Romantic Comedies.
Perhaps the humor is embarrassment humor. (Rob
Reiner’s “When Harry met Sally”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Harry_Met_Sal
ly...)

 Normal people are placed in abnormal situations.

(Jim Henson’s “The Muppet Show”, kind-of.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppet_Show)

 Stupid people are placed in normal settings, and

create abnormal situations. (American situation
comedy)

 Abnormal people are placed in normal situations.

(BBC’s “Are you being served”, “Fawlty Towers”,
and “Keeping up appearances”.)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Being_Serv
ed%3F,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawlty_Towers,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_Up_Appearan
ces)

 Abnormal people are placed in abnormal

situations. (BBC’s “Red Dwarf”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf)

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HUMOR – ANACHRONISTIC ACCENT

In “The Princess Bride”, by William Goldman, the “Miracle

Max” character has a comedic grandfatherly Jewish-accent.
The accent is particularly-funny in the medieval context
of the movie.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film) )
(From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

I suspect that this humor-method “works” because:

 The grandfatherly Jewish-accent is funny in a

contemporary setting… by so cliché that it is no-
longer funny.

 “The Princess Bride” takes-place in a medieval

setting. If Miracle Max were to use a cliché
medieval-accent, he would speak “thee’s” and
“thou’s” everywhere.

 Replace the cliché non-humorous medieval-accent,

with a cliché humorous contemporary-accent, and the
new result is MUCH funnier.

HUMOR – GAUCHE ADVERTISING

In “The Princess Bride”, by William Goldman, the

reincarnation-wizard is named, “Miracle Max”. “Miracle
Max” (alliteration, superlatives, marketing-
simplification-message) is a gauche naming-style used for
advertising. When out-of-place in a medieval setting, the

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name is funny.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film) )
(Inspired by “Characters & Viewpoint”)

I suspect this humor-method “works” because:

 “Miracle Max” (or other gauche advertising-names)

are somewhat funny, even in a contemporary context.
(In a groaning pun-humor sort-of-way.)

 The anachronism to a time/location where gauche-

advertising is NOT supposed to have-existed,
augments the funniness above a mere pun-groan.

HUMOR – THE STRAIGHT MAN

Describe to the reader something that is supposed to be

funny. The reader must--KNOW that the-something is
supposed-to be funny. However, DESCRIBE THE
EVENT/SCENARIO in an UNFUNNY manner – dead-pan, straight-
man, etcetera.

The reader knows that the event/scenario is actually very

funny, and the reader expects to laugh. BUT, the scenario
is NOT portrayed/narrated as funny. (The scenario CANNOT
be portrayed/narrated as sad, or otherwise negatively.)

What happens?

I think… This type of humor changes “how” the

event/scenario is funny. The effect is like playing a
transverse-flute, but without blowing-across the air-
intake-hole. When a flutist DOES-NOT blow across the air-
intake-hole, the notes “click-out” in muted pings, as the

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flute’s keys are rapidly depressed and released. But, no
notes (other than semi-musical pings) are heard. Typical-
humor relies on the flutist blowing-across the air-
intake-hole, and producing sustained notes. “Straight
man” humor relies on the flutist merely-making music with
the semi-musical clicking of keys.

UNUSUAL-VERBAL WAYS OF CREAT ING READER-DELIGHT

 Rhyme-words respelling in mobile-phone text-message

speak – “You are alone now.” Is written as “U R a
loan ow.” Imagine an entire chapter written like
this! Him adage in in tire chapter writ in hike
tis!

 Multiple meanings for every sentence – “Puns” are a

simple-comedic form of multiple-meanings.

 The style of language, such as incomplete/short

sentences.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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CREATING READER-FEELINGS (AND MOODS?)

Feelings are long-lasting (up to 30-minutes).

Underneath(???) the reader’s emotions? Feelings affect
the reader’s perception, and information/data collection.
They affect how the reader analyzes incoming/existing
information, and the reader comes to a conclusion.

PACING AND TENSION

As the pacing of the action speeds up, the reader’s

“tension” increases:

 Use shorter sentences.

 Use shorter words.

 Use sentences and words that don’t exhibit much

pitch inflection.

 Describe things less-well, less-completely, and/or

even inaccurately.

Vice-versa.

“Tension” is typically upped before the novel’s climax.

The “climax” is a change in “movements” from a storyline
where “stuff is happening” to a storyline where quiet-
and-normalcy return… just before the ending of the novel.

 “Tension” near the end of the novel therefore

informs readers that the all-important “climax” is
about to occur.

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 “Tension” cannot be maintained for long.

 “Tension” cannot be used more than a few times in

the novel.

 Tension takes time to build-up, perhaps a chapter

or two.

 Tension HELPS READERS REMEMBER the climax, since

tension encourages readers to remember.

 It keeps readers reading… kind-of. Too-much tension

will cause them to stop reading the novel for a few
days.

 “Tension” heightens some reader-emotions (fear,

danger, urgency, uncertainty about the future, risk
of failure) and weakens others.

 There aren’t many pages left, are there?

As the reader gets near the end of the novel, they

realize that it will end soon… because there aren’t
many pages left. This increases the tension in the
novel, as readers realize that the story (plot-arc,
relationships, and character-arcs) must soon be
“wrapped up”.

As stated previously, E-books can fool the reader

because unreadable junk-text chapters can be
appended to the end of the E-book for free. In
paper books, several chapters of unreadable junk-
text cost too-much money to be worth it.

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DANGEROUS-SCENES AND THE AVATAR-PROTAGONIST’S

FRIEND-PROTAGONIST

In real life, whenever you were in a dangerous situation,

would you have-wanted your friend-along for comfort? For
example: Driving through a new city, for the first time.
Or tackling an airport, airplane flight, rental car, and
hotel-finding?

In a novel, does the READER want the avatar-protagonist’s

FRIEND-PROTAGONIST to tag-along during dangerous scenes?
Conversely, does the READER NOT-WANT the avatar-
protagonist’s children to be there?

SHOCK AT MISREADING A PERSONALITY

Idea (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

What happens when you (as the reader) think/conclude that

a secondary-character is a “nice” person… but part-way
through the novel, you realize he/she is very-much a
scoundrel. You (the reader) were hoodwinked by the
secondary-character’s personality-lie.

Can this be reversed? Perhaps an enemy throughout the

book turns out to be a very-nice person. They were-not
“misunderstood”, as per the cliché. They merely had their
reasons. For example: “The Shadows” aliens in Michael
Straczynski’s “Babylon 5”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5)

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This feeling is related to friendship and village-
coherence. In any friendship/village, it is VITAL that
you (the person) understand the personality-and-motives
of your friends and other villagers. Failing to do so is
a social-failure on your part.

“SHOW, DON’T TELL”

(MY SPECULATION)

“Show” leads to “visceral”. “Tell” leads to “Accurate and

rapidly-informed”.

Perhaps the phrase is somewhat incorrect?

Not a rephrase of “Show, don’t tell”, perhaps a co-

rule???: “The READER does-NOT care what the characters
are feeling (“show” = “more visceral” = “more feeling”).
The READER cares what the READER is feeling (“show” PLUS
something-else?).”

SEX SCENES

Social issues?

Two versions of the e-book? One without the sex scenes?

When protagonists are having sex, their personalities

temporarily change… or new elements of their
personalities are temporarily exposed. Their relationship
also temporarily changes. The temporary
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personality/relationship elements can further illuminate
the character to the reader, improving empathy. The
temporary changes can also enable the protagonists to
overcome obstacles in their personalities, relationships,
and plot-arc. (Think personality-shapes, as described
earlier.)

FEELINGS INDUCED BY THE PLOT-ARC

 Tension

 See “A theory of fun” for some ideas about feelings

(sometimes called emotions)

ANGST

Although a “negative” feeling, “angst” keeps some novel-

readers reading.

 Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone”.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(19
59_TV_series) )

 Exploring “the crevices of reality”, queasy (but

not dangerous?) places/events/life-situations that
no-one wants to ever encounter.

For example: “What is it like to be on death row?”

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SUSPENSEFUL SCENE

Use a “ticking timer” that the reader is aware of. When

the timer goes off, the protagonist will have fewer
“good” choices, or the protagonist will be injured. The
effects of the ticking-timer going-off are obvious to the
reader. Combine this with the reader “ROOTING-FOR” the
protagonist, and add TENSION. (From “Conflict &
Suspense”)

MAKING THE READER “FEEL ALONE”

Place the protagonist in a crowded/busy location, which

is normally crowded/busy. No protagonist-buddies. Have
the crowd slowly dissipate, until only the protagonist
remains. This creates “UNEASE” for the protagonist, but
NOT for the READER??? (My speculation) (From “Conflict &
Suspense)

FEELING OF ANTICIPATION

Begin revealing information to the reader, information

that the reader might wish to learn. Provide a realistic
interrupt in the novel’s narration, such as a knock on
the door. The interrupted-information is only partially
revealed (incomplete), or revealed so that the reader
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misinterprets it erroneously, or not substantially-
revealed at all. (From “Conflict & Suspense”)

FEELINGS OF ACHIEVEMENT-AND-SATISFACTION

(Inspired by Brian “Psychochild” Green’s game-design

blog, http://psychochild.org/?p=1208)

(MY SPECULATION)

How to create a feeling of achievement in a novel:

 I get a feeling of achievement/satisfaction when I

finish reading a “classic” novel, or an “everyone-
is-talking-about” novel.

 Finish reading a very-long series.

 Solve a mystery in a “Who-dunnit” before the author

reveals the murderer.

NON-VERBAL WAYS OF CREATING READER-FEELINGS

(MOODS)

 Images – A sketch, or a three-D renderer like DAZ

Studio. (http://www.daz3d.com/)

 Background music, and background sound-effects

(sounds of the forest, ocean-waves, etcetera) – If
the E-book software supports the audio. Perhaps
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include a webpage-link to background music that
should be played???

This is more-relevant for audio-books.

 Font, font-size, text justification, title

font/size,

 Page color, page texture, page filigree

 In dialogue: Bold-face, color to indicate emotion,

background behind the line of text

UNUSUAL-VERBAL WAYS OF CREAT ING READER-FEELING

(MOOD)

 Rhyme-words respelling in mobile-phone text-message

speak – “You are alone now.” Is written as “U R a
loan ow.” Imagine an entire chapter written like
this! Him adage in in tire chapter writ in hike
tis!

 The style of language, such as incomplete/short

sentences.

 Misssspellllings.

 Mistyoped wokrds.

 Missing punctuation marks especially periods and

commas

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 Homonyms – Use them incorrectly, “He eight too much

food.”

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CREATING MAINTAINING READER-INVESTMENT

TIME SPENT READING ABOUT A CHARACTER

If the reader has spent time reading about a character,

the character HAD BETTER NOT DIE. If the character dies,
the READER is harmed by the loss of the reader’s time.
HOWEVER, if a character (which the reader has “invested
in”) does die, this produces other EMOTIONS, and
introduces new STORY ELEMENTS. (From “Writing Magazine”,
March 2013, “Trigger Happy” by Adrian Magson)

CREATING READER-PAIN

“Reader-pain” is not-quite a “feeling”, and not-quite an

“emotion”. Reader-pain lasts for the duration of the
reading experience – the portion of the reading-
experience that is supposed to be painful. In some cases,
angst is also generated, lasting for 10-to-30 minutes
afterwards???
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Will readers put-down (for the night? Or permanently?) a
novel if the reader-pain persists more than a fraction of
a chapter?

PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO A CHARACTER THAT T HE

READER DOES NOT LIKE

Idea (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

If the reader is forced to endure a disliked-character

for too-long, then the reader feels “reader-pain”.

Flipping that around: When a painful character is

ditched, the reader feels a temporary “pain-relief
happiness/buzz”.

In Monty Python’s “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”,

“there was much rejoicing” when Sir Robin’s always sing-
chanting bard is eaten.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_G
rail)

PERCEIVING THE WORLD AS A CHARACTER THE READER

DOES-NOT-LIKE

Idea (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

If the reader is FORCED to perceive the world as a

character (protagonist) that they DO NOT LIKE, then this
creates “stress”.

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FROM COMPUTER-GAME DESIGN

 (See “A Theory of Fun”.)

 Prolonged periods of losing.

 Prolonged stress.

NON-VERBAL WAYS OF CREATING READER-PAIN

 Background music, and background sound-effects

(sounds of the forest, ocean-waves, etcetera) – If
the E-book software supports the audio. Perhaps
include a webpage-link to background music that
should be played???

This is more-relevant for audio-books.

 Font, font-size, text justification, title

font/size,

 Page color, page texture, page filigree

 In dialogue: Bold-face, color to indicate emotion,

background behind the line of text

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UNUSUAL-VERBAL WAYS OF CREAT ING READER-PAIN

 Rhyme-words respelling in mobile-phone text-message

speak – “You are alone now.” Is written as “U R a
loan ow.” Imagine an entire chapter written like
this! Him adage in in tire chapter writ in hike
tis!

 Multiple meanings for every sentence – “Puns” are a

simple-comedic form of multiple-meanings.

 The style of language, such as incomplete/short

sentences.

 Misssspellllings.

 Mistyoped wokrds.

 Missing punctuation marks especially periods and

commas

 Homonyms – Use them incorrectly, “He eight too much

food.”

WORK IN PROGRESS…

CREATING READER-THOUGHTS

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When a reader is “in thought”, they analyze more-
information than typically. Should a reader only be
encouraged into “thought” AFTER a long period of “reader-
interest”? Does a recent scene/chapter that encourages
“reader-emotion” then discourage “reader-thought”,
because emotions encourage (and distort?) intuition above
thought???

Introspection? Inspection? Analysis?

GETTING THE READER TO THINK

 Missing narration – The more-narration that is

missing, the more-difficult the novel is to read.

 Complex language – The more complicated the

grammar, syntax, and words, the more-challenging
the read.

 Complex setting, history, and/or back-story – The

more setting, history, and back-story there is in a
novel, the more-difficult it is.

“STACKING” PERSONALITY-TRAITS AND PERSONALI TY-

BEHAVIORS TO PRODUCE READER-THINKING DECISION-
POINTS

(From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

An “interesting”(?) or “reader-emotional”(?) situation

(decision-point?) can be created when:

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 The character has conflicting personality-traits,
and/or conflicting personality-behaviors, and/or
relationship-conflicts, and/or “personal gain”-
conflicts… in addition to time-stressed.

One of the character’s personality-traits might opt

for choice number-one, while a conflicting (perhaps
unexpectedly conflicting?) personality-behavior
might strongly-vote for choice number-two. A
relationship that the character is in would vote
positive on a slight-variation of choice number-
one. While the character’s own self-interest, or
morals, or ethics, or whatever, dislike all forms
of choice number-one.

Which choice does the character make? How does that

choice affect his character-arc (personality-
behavior), or relationship-arc, or the character’s
well-being?

How does the choice illustrate similar choices that

readers will face in real-life?

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EMOTION VS. THINKING CONFLICTS

Used in romance novels, the woman-protagonist has

emotions pulling her in one direction, and “logical”
thought pulling her in a different (but not opposite)
direction. (From “Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”.)

 This leads to decision points? “Do I follow my

heart, or my logic?”
o Which leads to questions of, “Who do I want
to be? Intuitive or thinking?”

MORALLY-COMPLEX DECISION-POINTS

Idea (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

In one “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode, Deanna

Troi is practicing for command, running a simulation on
the holodeck. In the simulation, there is damage to the
spaceship’s engines. Every-time Deanna Troi runs the
simulation, the entire spaceship blows-up twenty minutes
into the simulation. She cannot “solve the puzzle” at
all. The solution, is to send Geordi up the Jeffry’s
tubes, to the engine. There, he fixes the problem, and HE
THEN DIES from radiation exposure. Does Deanna Troi order
the 99%-chance-of-death of one crew-member based on a
hunch, that might save everyone on-board?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generat
ion)

This urge-to-thought might originate from “village

justice”. If people have to make a decision that
knowingly greatly-negatively affects one person, or the
other, then they are suddenly willing to put a LOT of
thought into the situation.
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MYSTERY

Mysteries that the reader knows that they are expected to

solve themselves. Prompting the reader to solve the
mystery puts the reader into “taking a test” mode… which
is sometimes fun, and mostly unpleasant. “Who Dunnit”
novels.

HIDDEN CHARACTER THOUGHTS-AND-MOTIVATIONS

In most novels, the thoughts of major characters are

exposed… because novels/text excel at “letting the reader
mind-read” characters. Competing movies/television
cannot-easily let the reader mind-read characters.

If the thoughts and motivations of major characters are

hidden, AND if readers are informed that they should
“read between the lines” and “look for clues”, then the
reader MUST think about character-motivations to better-
enjoy the novel.

Waypoints throughout the novel can help the reader

synchronize-and-correct their impression, about what the
READER thinks that characters are thinking-and-planning,
compared to what the characters are actually thinking-
and-planning at that point.

Typically, by the end of the novel, the reader will be

informed what the actual motivations of the characters
were.

Hidden character thoughts-and-motivations are used in:

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 Mystery novels – The protagonist sleuth (AND the
reader) CANNOT be allowed to “read the minds” of
the characters, or “the murderer” is easily
discovered.

 Political novels – In a political scenario,

politicians NEVER reveal ALL of their motivations,
OR their TRUE motivations, to rivals. Doing-so
would expose the politician’s plans, strengths, and
weaknesses, and lead to political losses.

 Metaorganism novels – Novels where the protagonists

are metaorganisms do-not need to expose their
metaorganisms’ thoughts to the reader…. Or to other
metaorganisms partaking in the story.

ARTISTIC ELEMENTS

Some artistic-elements encourage people to read:

 Missing narrative – Get readers to think-about what

is missing from the novel, as opposed to what
narration/characters are included in the novel. (“A
Theory of Fun”)

 Allegory and hidden-messages

 Historical figures (history personified) – Yes, but

including historical figures becomes cliché… and
they are often misrepresented.

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MAPS

Maps also keep a person reading.

“UFO quibbler”

NON-VERBAL WAYS OF CREATING READER-THOUGHTS

 Images – A sketch, or a three-D renderer like DAZ

Studio. (http://www.daz3d.com/)

 Maps

 Charts

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 Two-column text:

In the left column, This column shows what

write something about the other protagonist is
what one of the doing.
protagonists is doing.
This way, the reader
needs to alternate
reading between the two
protagonists.
If they don’t do
anything for awhile, Or, they need to read
then leave a blank. both text pieces at the
same time.

 Links to web-pages (like Wikipedia) with more

information about the topic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org)

UNUSUAL-VERBAL WAYS OF CREAT ING READER-THOUGHT

 Rhyme-words respelling in mobile-phone text-message

speak – “You are alone now.” Is written as “U R a
loan ow.” Imagine an entire chapter written like
this! Him adage in in tire chapter writ in hike
tis!

 Multiple meanings for every sentence – “Puns” are a

simple-comedic form of multiple-meanings.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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CREATING READER-COMPREHENSION

WHERE TO SQUEEZE-IN FACTOIDS

Information (factoids) can be squeezed into

“confrontation” scenes. (From “Plot & Structure”)

(My speculation:) In scenes where there is a lot of

action, activity, interesting-dialogue, reader-
attentiveness, and/or reader-emotion(?), the author can
squeeze-in a few factoids (exposition-like) without the
reader noticing.

FACTOID TRACKING

Every important factoid should be mentioned at least

three times, in three different ways.

Less-important factoids might only be mentioned once.

SUMMARIES

 Summarize what happened in the pervious few-

paragraphs using narration, protagonist thoughts,
or protagonist dialogue. This ensures that the
reader didn’t miss anything important.

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 In particular, summarize conclusions that readers
must deduct from smaller factoids. “The man was
holding a gun.” Followed by, “On the floor were
spent cartridges.” And “Another man lay
unconscious-looking down the hallway.” Summarize:
““Did you [just] shoot him?”, asked the
protagonist.”

CREATING READER-“ROOTING-FOR-A-CHARACTER”

BUGBUG – The reader decides to “root-for” a character,

the same-way they support a sports-team, or a player in
sports-team.

(My speculation) A liked(???) protagonist with: a goal +

opposition-person + chance of winning/losing + chance of
injury = “ROOTING-FOR”. Add a public-audience that the
reader television movie-viewer is aware of, to augment
the “ROOTING-FOR”. (Implied by “Conflict & Suspense”)

CREATING READER-“PERCEIVED DENSITY/LOUDNESS”

Often called “pacing”: The reader should perceive the

same “density” (or “loudness”?) of
experience/enjoyment/??? throughout the novel. (Or should
there be “quieter” section? How quiet?)

The following scenes tend to be “boring”, too-slow of a

“pace”, or not “dense/loud” enough:

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 Dialogue only (From “Conflict & Suspense”)

 Too-much exposition (From “Conflict & Suspense”)

 Character is alone (From “Conflict & Suspense”)

 Both characters in the scene are “on the same side”

and “in agreement”. No “conflict”. (From “Conflict
& Suspense”)

CREATING READER-XXX: “EMOTION” TRANSITION-

TEMPLATES

Below are some techniques (templates) that authors use to

create “emotions”… Rephrase that… to create and
transition-between Reader-XXX elements.

The transition-templates most-commonly begin with an

easy-to-create “feeling” or “mood”, and slowly build-up
to more-difficult-to-create “feelings” and “moods”, as
well as more-difficult-to-create “emotions”, “delights”,
and “thoughts”.

“Emotion” transition-templates could also be called

“emotion”-chains.

AWKWARD SITUATION -> ANGST -> PLANNING ->

DECISION-POINT -> TENSION -> EMOTION

(Inspired by “Plot & Structure”)

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The author creates an “emotion”-chain by:

1. The protagonist finds themselves in an undesirable

situation.

Hyperbole example: A mother gets a telephone call

from the police: “You teenage-child has been
arrested.”

2. The undesirable-situation creates a feeling of

ANGST in the protagonist. It also creates a feeling
of ANGST in the reader, assuming-that the READER
can imagine being-in the undesirable-situation. (IF
the READER has ALREADY encountered this undesirable
situation, then the READER will-not be as entranced
by the emotion-chain???)

3. The PROTAGONIST spends time NOT dealing-with the

undesirable-situation. Other life-activities may be
more important. The undesirable-situation continues
to surface into the READER’S awareness. The READER
soon-realizes that if the protagonist DOES-NOT deal
with the undesirable-situation SOON, then the
READER will experience ANGST for the rest of the
novel… something that the READER does-not want.

READER “ANGST” can be turned into READER “WORRY”,

if the author desires.

4. The PROTAGONIST decides to combat (deal-with) the

undesirable-situation.

The READER begins “ROOTING-FOR” the protagonist.

Both the reader and the protagonist are “in” the
undesirable-situation TOGETHER. (From “Plot &
Structure”)

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5. The PROTAGONIST sometimes formulates a plan to deal
with the undesirable-situation. This sometimes
involves research. The research might educate the
reader, providing reader-INTEREST.

The mother unpacks-and-sets-up her new car-GPS, and

types in the address for the police station… The
reader might-not know how to unpack-and-set-up a
GPS.

On a more-complicated note, the mother consults

with her family lawyer about options. Readers might
become interested in such tips, just in-case their
teenager gets into trouble.

6. Meanwhile, the READER formulates their own plan.

And/or double-checks the sanity/effectiveness of
the protagonist’s plans. This creates reader
“THOUGHT”.

7. The decision-point about “how to combat the

undesirable-situation” arrives. The PROTAGONIST
makes a choice, and acts on the choice. If the
protagonist would-behave with realistic psychology,
the PROTAGONIST would decide to combat the
undesirable-situation in the most-typical. most-
safe, least-exciting manner possible. Which is WHY
the PROTAGONIST has to be pre-loaded with a
personality that makes them chose the more novel-
worthy approach to combating the undesirable-
situation. The READER will have-to have-been
informed about the protagonist’s “pre-loaded
personality”, long-before the protagonist makes the
decision.

Hyperbole example: As it turns out, the woman is a

wanted fugitive for perfectly moral-and-

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understandable reasons… yet she cannot convince the
police/judge of this. Consequently, the PROTAGONIST
CANNOT visit the police-office, and simply pick-up
her child. Instead, she MUST break-into the police-
office at night, and free her teenager-child that
way.

8. The READER must be able to imagine themselves

undertaking whatever action/activity the
protagonist is planning on. If the action/activity
is designed/chosen properly, the reader will become
“TENSE”. (The reader’s “ANGST” will disappear as
their “TENSION” dominates.)

9. The READER then observes the protagonist acting-

upon the protagonist’s plan – whom the reader is
“ROOTING FOR”. The READER is made-aware of
different failure-points in the action/activity.
(As well as different success points.) The READER
feels “TENSE”.

Hyperbole example: The mother waits until sunset,

grabs a flashlight, drives to the police-office,
and parks a block away. There, she sneaks to the
wall outside the jail-cell, where her teenage-child
is held. The woman happens to have the requisite
explosives necessary to blow a hole in the wall,
and free her child.

10. It is here that the author can create an

unexpected twist/pivot in the now VERY-undesirable
situation. An occasional unexpected twist/pivot
creates reader “DELIGHT”.

Hyperbole example: As it turns out, the woman DOES-

NOT need explosives. Instead, she puts on a

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bracelet that allows her to walk through walls. As
it turns out, the woman is a super-hero!

11. The READER’S TENSION can be built-up, into

more-difficult-to-create emotions, such as “TERROR”
or “FEAR”.

12. If the protagonist succeeds:

 The READER experiences the “RELIEF” feeling.

They might-also experience “HAPPINESS” and/or
“JOY”.

 The author can take-advantage of the READER’S

“HAPPINESS”-emotion, to augment some
introduced comedy. Which then creates some
READER “DELIGHT”, perhaps “MIRTH”, or
laughter.

Hyperbole example: “Gee mom,” says the

teenager. “You could have just worn a wig,
and come through the front door. ”

 The READER stops “ROOTING FOR” the successful

protagonist.

13. If the protagonist fails:

 The READER experiences the “CRINGE” (?) pain.

They might also experience the “TREPIDATION”
emotion. Or, if the teenage-child died as a
result of the mother’s actions, the “SADNESS”
emotion.

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 The READER retrains his/her own mind, to
NEVER-EVER try to break-into a jail-cell
using a walk-though-walls bracelet.

 The READER begins “ROOTING FOR” the un-

successful protagonist???

14. If something else happens:

 If the author produces an unexpected,

believable, and more-enjoyable outcome, then
the READER experiences “DELIGHT”.

CAMARADERIE -> FOLLOW THE LEADER -> CONCERN ->

FEAR -> TERROR -> PANIC

(MY SPECULATION)

1. A group of friends, acquaintances, or coworkers

wanders through the wilderness. They are happily
chatting amongst themselves, getting to know one-
another, etcetera.

This creates READER “CAMARADERIE” and “COMFORT”.

2. All of the wild-birds go quiet.

The READER does-not consciously notice.

3. Most people in the group go quiet.

The READER may-not notice.

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4. Someone from the group EMERGES as a LEADER. He/she
tells everyone to stop and be quiet.

The READER suddenly “RESPECTS” the LEADER. The

READER notices, and becomes “CONCERNED”. The fear
of being hunted by a predator is innate.

5. A predator-animal might be glimpsed a few-hundred

meters away.

More READER-“CONCERN” and “EXPECTATION”.

6. The LEADER directs everyone to walk at a fast pace,

to a protected spot.

7. When the group reaches the protected location, it

reveals-itself to be poorly-protected… but the
poorly-protected location is all that the group can
manage.

The READER is “CONCERNED”. The characters are

“nervous”.

8. At dusk, the predator is seen.

The READER is “APPREHENSIVE”. They know what to

expect.

9. Everyone in the group tries to stay awake, telling

campfire stories, or whatever.

The READER FORGETS that the group is being stalked

by a wild-predator, and calms down. The READER
“RELAXES”.

10. When no-one is expecting it, the predator

attacks, and drags someone-off into the forest.

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READER “FEAR”.

If the READER was fooled into complacency/relaxing,

and they realize that they made a poor judgment-
call by relaxing, then the reader becomes “SCARED”;
they no-longer trust their judgment.

11. The group searches for the predator-attacked

person in the dark, and finds the dead-and-
dismembered person’s body.

The gore causes READER “HORROR”.

12. No-one can fall asleep.

How can the author get the reader into a “TIRED”

mental-state?

13. A few predator-animals suddenly attack!

Everyone runs!

The READER has “TERROR” and/or “PANIC”.

14. This sequence can be augmented: In the movie,

“Alien”, the android-character is shown to be the
potential predator. The movie-viewer expects that
the android will be trouble throughout the movie.
In reality, the android is relatively benign. The
alien growing in the injured crewmember’s stomach
is actually the real predator. Because the READER
DID-NOT expect this, and was fooled, they no-longer
trust their judgment. This causes the READER to
become “SCARED”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film) )

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UNEASE -> SQUEAMISH -> FEAR

(MY SPECULATION)

1. The protagonist (and perhaps the protagonist’s

buddy) wander into a village/town that they know
NOTHING about.

2. Everything in the village/town is a bit

queer/unusual to the protagonist and the READER.
The village/town looks-and-acts odd. The people in
the town are unfriendly or even hostile.

This created “UNEASE” for the reader, who has an

innate fear of being in unpleasant social-
situations that could lead to crime/violence.

3. A particularly-insane villager latches onto the

protagonist. More-so, the insane-villager could be
ALLOWED to latch-onto the protagonist, without the
unfriendly/hostile members of the town doing
anything to stop the pestering.

The READER feels “SQUEAMISH”. The protagonist feels

“fear”.

4. Night-time, when bad things happen. As it turns

out, the villagers have decided to do something
malevolent to the protagonist (and his/her buddy).
This involves tying them up, locking them up, rape,
and/or murder.

The READER feels “FEAR”.

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5. If the READER had thought that the village/town was
safe, and it turned-out to NOT be safe, then the
reader was fooled. They question their own
judgment.

This causes the READER to feel “SCARED”.

HAPPENINGS – CHAPTERS (AND PLOT-ARC)

POINT OF VIEW

 Stick to one protagonist’s point-of-view only… or

jump-between protagonists?

 From chapter-to-chapter, alternate point-of-view

between protagonists.

 Some chapters are just exposition, independent of

the protagonists.

 Some chapters are stories (mythologies, short-

stories read to children), told within the novel.

 Dream chapters

Some chapters will need-to contain points-of-view from

two or more protagonists, first protagonist A, then
protagonist B, then protagonist A-or-C.

 Since readers take reading breaks (reading before

bed-time) at chapter boundaries, if you don’t want

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a reader to stop in the middle of something
suspenseful/exciting.

 To avoid breaking the “rule” of one-point-of-view

per chapter, a second protagonist appearing in the
chapter could have their point-of-view included by
including their dialogue, or summarizing their
point-of-view in the next chapter, or even
rewriting the scene from the second protagonist’s
point-of-view in the next chapter, or by splitting
the chapter down the middle and switching to the
second protagonist.

TIME-SEQUENCE
 Time-forward for every chapter… for the most
part.

 Very-few protagonist flashback chapters.

 Exposition chapters describe past/current/future

events in almost any order, so long as they are
protagonist-independent.

CONSISTENCY

If a chapter makes a reader cringe, they may stop reading

part-way through the novel, and then never resume
reading.

The same-problem with boring.

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THE FIRST CHAPTER

 A marketing issue – Because when readers preview a

novel in a book-store (or online), they often begin
with the first chapter.

 Something exciting and meme-laden. The exciting (or

meme-laden) content might prevent/occlude the plot-
arc from being effectively introduced.

 Begin with the main protagonist – This is

expected/default behavior for a novel.

THE SECOND CHAPTER

 The protagonist who was NOT featured in the first

chapter, or with the first protagonist if
absolutely necessary.

 Introduce the plot. Or, if the plot is not of

primary importance for the novel, introduce the
relationship or character-arc.

UNDER-DAMPED HYPER-DIMENSIONAL OSCILLATOR

Since the first chapter is typically heavy on action (and

introducing the main protagonist), and the second chapter
is heavy on exposition (to introduce the plot) as well as
introducing the second-protagonist…

View the chapters as a spring???

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1. If one chapter has a lot of plot exposition, then
the next chapter had better-NOT have a lot of plot-
arc.

2. But the chapter AFTER the next chapter should NOT

spring-back to plot-exposition, but should bounce-
back in another mathematical-dimension… which is
why it’s extradimensional.

3. The bouncing between plot-arc, relationships,

character-arc, setting, as well as exposition-heavy
versus action-heavy versus thoughtfulness-heavy
needs to moderate itself as much as possible.
Oscillation also includes switching between
protagonists’ point-of-view. Otherwise, the reading
experience is flung from one extreme to another,
causing an uneven read, and ruining one of the
“consistent-experience” requirements for the
reader. This creates an under-damped harmonic
oscillator.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_oscillator)

The competing “Creating reader-XXX” elements of the

novel, MUST-ALSO be balanced. (???)

Typical scenes (and “dimensions”) in the under-

damped hyper-dimensional harmonic oscillator:
Action, Reaction (How the protagonist is feeling),
Setup (Build-up for the next scene), Deeping
(Deepen the reader’s understanding). (From “Plot &
Structure”)

4. BUT, some chapters absolutely require an overdose

of action, or an overdose of relationships,
etcetera. Which reinvigorates the oscillation.

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5. Is reading more-enjoyable if the oscillation is
occasionally reinvigorated? Perhaps. In first-
person-shooter and computer-role-playing computer-
game theory, the difficulty of any particular time-
slice of the game needs to: Begin easy, gradually
peak to difficult (with noise in the difficulty),
and then collapse back to easy. Repeating itself.
(“Swords & Circuitry”, by Neal Hallford and Jana
Hallford.)

6. Is a transition from chapter-(N) being plot-arc-

heavy to chapter-(N+1) being relationship-heavy
more-enjoyable than chapter-(N) being relationship-
heavy and chapter-(N+1) being plot-arc-heavy?
Etcetera. I do-not know.

PARALLEL (SUB-?) PLOTS

Parallel (sub-?) plots allow the author to “cheat” (and

squeeze more out of) the under-damped hyper-dimensional
oscillator. (Inspired by “Plot & Structure”)

CLIFFHANGERS

 Create suspense.

 The continuing-chapter of a cliffhanger chapter is

separated from the original by 3-to-5 other
chapters.

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WHERE TO BEING A CHAPTER

 Encourage some “missing narrative” between chapters

so that readers’ minds need to fill-in what
happened… Which means that a protagonist’s chapter
sequence will skip-over important plot-
arc/relationship elements.

NOVEL ENDINGS

 Endings are like goodbyes. Some emotions/feelings

are easily evoked: “Relief”, “Until next time”, or
“Tearful goodbye”. (Inspired by “Plot & Structure”)

 Some readers subconsciously(?) believe that by

reading the novel, they are “maintaining and
monitoring” the situation. After the novel ends,
the reader is no-longer watching! After the reader
closes the finished-novel, all-hell will break
loose in the unwritten pages. “Murphy’s Law” will
reign supreme! (From “Plot & Structure”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law)

 When readers finish the novel, they expect a “sense

of justice” for their own efforts… “I read this
ENTIRE novel and all I got was THAT unfulfilling
ending!?!” (From “Plot & Structure”)

 Place a “Sacrifice” choice in a decision-point, at

the end of the novel to illustrate that the
protagonist has changed… and to make the
protagonist more-likeable just-before the reader
closes the book forever – the protagonist
permanently liked by the reader. A “Sacrifice”

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choice in a decision-point also provides readers
with ideas for ways that the reader can change
his/her personality. (From “Plot & Structure”)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

I am thinking about omitting the

middle-section of this document from
my public notes. I would be able to
E-mail the complete notes to
interested people, of course.

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Anthro-alien fashion.

HAPPENINGS – SCENES (WITHIN A CHAPTER)

HOW, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO, WHY

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(From “Writing Children’s books for Dummies”)

 How
 What
 When
 Where
 Who
 Why

(MY OWN SPECULATION)

 How before/after (Prequel/Sequel) – How did this

change things elsewhere? What events led up to it?
 How technique – What technique/skills were used?
 What could – What could-have happened?
 Why didn’t – Why didn’t the character do something?
 What learned – What did the character learn?
 What not – What did-not happen?
 What think – What did the character think?
 Where who – Where did the characters come from?
Where did they go to?
 Who could – Who could have been there?
 Who not – Who was not there?
 Whom to – To whom did it happen?
 Why when – Why did it happen when it happened?
 Why who – Why were these characters involved?
 Etcetera

WHAT DOES A SCENE DO?

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What does a scene do? (From “Creating Emotion in Games”)

 Advance (or temporarily reverse):

o The plot.
o Character arcs
o Relationship arcs
o Contemporary history/events

More-specifically, a scene should:

 Re-emphasize to the reader:

o Old information that the reader should

already know.
 Particularly if it is relevant for this
scene.
 BUT, perhaps re-emphasize the
information a few scenes, or a few-
chapters, ahead of time.

o Somehow hint that the reader should be

feeling a specific emotion or feeling, even
if they are-not actually feeling that
emotion/feeling.
 About the general-state of “what is
happening”
 About the reader himself. “You should
be upset with yourself for not-having-
yet determined who the murderer was.”
 About a specific character
 About a relationship-metaorganism
 About a location or setting.

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 The scene reveals new (or incorrect?) information
to the reader about:

o The setting
o Back-story
o Missing narrative – What did the reader miss
between chapters?
o Contemporary history/events
o One or more characters in the scene
 Reveal different/distant personality-
aspects about the characters, sometimes
contradictory
 What the character has done
 What the character is doing
 What the character plans to do next
 And in the long-term
 What the character thought about
 What the character is thinking about
 What the character plans to think about
 Reveal what the emotional-state of the
character was
 Reveal the emotional-state of the
characters
 Reveal what the emotional-state of the
character will/might be
 Reveal what the character learned prior
to the scene, when the reader wasn’t
watching… especially what they learned
about other characters? About
relationships? About the world?
 Reveal what the character is-learning
during the scene… About other
characters. About the relationships.
About the world.
o The relationships between the characters

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 The same type of information that is
revealed about characters.
o Out-of-scene characters and their
relationships
 The same types of information

 Build-up (or dampen-down) an emotion or feeling in

the reader:
o About the general state of “what is
happening”.
o About the reader. “I am depressed with my
perception about who the murderer is.”
o About the characters.
o About the relationship-metaorganisms.
o About a location or a setting. “This coffee-
shop is a dive. A waste of time. A curse!”

 Educate (or confuse) the reader with real-world-

relevant information/knowledge/skills.

 Reinforce one of the novel’s themes

Everything that a scene does for the reader, it might

also do for the characters, and the relationship-
metaorganism between characters:

 Reveals new (or incorrect?) information to the

characters about… as per above.

 Build-up (or dampen-down) an emotion or feeling in

the characters, and their relationship-
metaorganism.

 Educate (or confuse) the characters.

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Random comment:

Scenes in MOST television-shows, movies, and novels

inform the reader about events, and with factoids.
They subconsciously (and occasionally obviously)
inform the reader about the emotional state of the
characters.

Scenes in most television-shows/movies/novels DO

NOT inform the reader about what the characters
know… It is ASSUMED that the reader doesn’t need to
know what the characters know, or that what the
characters know is the same as what the reader
knows.

To go one step further, the reader is-NOT informed

about what the characters know about other
characters’ knowledge.

This has theory-of-mind implications. Are people

less-or-more perceptive about people in real-life
than they are about story-characters?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind)

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INTERACTION TEMPLATES

“Interactions templates” are template-interactions that

employ one-to-four characters in a scene. They are
something-like “fill in the blank” books, but for scenes.
Each template has 10-to-50 lines of prewritten dialogue,
with fill-in-the-blank entries for character-names,
character-clothing, and character-activities. Of course,
templates are more-complicated than just filling-in-the-
blank.

Interaction templates are used for automatic story-

synthesis.

 The “interaction” specifies a template-location…

such as “This must occur inside.”

 The interaction specifies the number of “active”

characters within the “interaction”.

 Major-personality REQUIREMENT descriptors, and/or

personality-quirks are specified for the characters
that partake in the “interaction”.

 Objects (such as books) are sometimes required by

the “interaction”.

 The interaction-template is pre-annotated with

“What happens in the interaction, in the
characters’ minds? What is to be written into the
novel?”

 The interaction-template already details the

information that is to-be relayed to the reader
about the characters, their relationships, the
plot, the setting, etcetera. This is similar to
function-headers in computer-programming.
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 Interaction-templates include computer-program-like

object-property modifiers for the character-arcs
and relationship-arcs affected?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_(programming
) )

The specifics of the “interaction”-template are modified

to suit the location, characters, character-names, plot-
arc, character-arcs, and relationship-arcs.

NARRATION, VERSUS THOUGHTS-AND-OBSERVATIONS,

VERSUS DIALOGUE

What information is portrayed as:

 Description (Setting) – Description of the setting.

Protagonist-specific.

 Narration (Plot-arc) – What happens.

 Thoughts-and-observations (Character and

relationship development) – What the protagonist
thinks and observes.

o Verbal – The person’s internal verbalization.

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o Non-verbal word-flow – What the person
DOESN’T verbalize. Some people (and many
races) DO NOT verbalize!

Perhaps avoid using punctuation for

sentences, or complete sentences, or perhaps
display multiple concurrent columns, or
perhaps intermingle ideas together using
different fonts and text-sizes and colors and
let the reader try to disambiguate the
thoughts into coherent bits or not depending
upon their whims, or let it all just flow… oh
my, there’s a stream… I have to run, but I
don’t know what that symbolizes either. 

o Past, present, or future, and/or by location,

and/or by person, and/or by relationship –
Should a thoughts-and-observations section
try to limit itself to only past-events, or
limit-itself to only future-events, or limit-
itself to only thinking about one location,
or only thinking about one person? Or, if NOT
temporally-limited, limit a block of thoughts
to thinking about only one person, or
thinking about only one relationship?

 Dialogue (Plot-arc, character, and relationship

development) – What characters speak (or plan to
speak).

 Telepathic dialogue, between characters, in the

form of thumps or telepathic sentences.

 Dialogue directed at the reader – A protagonist

speaking to the reader.

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 Internal dialogue – What one protagonist thinks
another protagonist will speak to them, or how they
expect a conversation to occur.

 News, myths-and-mini-stories, educational

information – Information that has little to do
with the plot-arc, characters, immediate setting,
and relationships.

 Mis-assigned “content” – Have a character describe

what happened in dialogue (to another character),
instead of having the author narrate the activity.

Information is also portrayed using:

 Inference – Either make the reader think, or hope

the information gets subconsciously absorbed.
“Sally noticed that her pastry had gone missing.”
Either she ate it, or the other character in the
room ate it.

 Deduction – A new piece of information revealed in

the scene combined with previously-revealed
information, to produce a deduced factoid.

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INTERNAL MONOLOGUE (OR DIALOGUE DIRECTED AT THE
READER?)

When a protagonist spends several paragraphs (or pages)

just thinking.

 Use at moments of great emotional stress and

revelation. (From “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”)

 Use to have protagonist make a decision point???

Perhaps better to discuss decision-point choices-
and-predictions as a combination of internal
monologue, and dialogue, and text that the
protagonist reads as he/she researches a choice.

 Thought experiments – “Hey, I just realized that I

am in-love with the other protagonist. Am I really
in love? How would I know? If he/she dumped me for
another character, would I care? I don’t know. What
about if he/she dumped me for Chris, from the other
side of the office?” (From “Writing a Romance Novel
for Dummies”)

Thought experiments are kind-of perhaps “mis-

assigned content” regarding alternative timelines.

 Used to convey information (exposition) (From

“Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies”)

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY –

CONFRONTATION WITH MENIAL LABOR

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(From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

Viewed from Character-Y’s viewpoint, Character-X has a

very-short confrontation/argument with Character-A.
Character-A is a walk-in never-to-be-seen-again menial
laborer, such as a fast-food attendant or taxi-driver.

Later in the novel, Character-X re-encounters Character-

A, who now has a grudge against Character-X. Nervous-
comedy(?) when watched from Character-Y’s viewpoint.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY –

INCOMPETENT SALESPERSON

Person-A orders/purchases something very-large/expensive

from Person-1. Or, Person-A and Person-B are employing
Person-1 as a professional intermediary. Person-1
accidentally-and-stupidly delivers “the opposite” product
that Person-A ordered. Especially if “the opposite” is
ridiculous.

The reader (particularly a television/movie viewer) will

find this funny.

Why is this “funny”?

The resulting laughter is a social safety switch. If a

professional is SO-INCOMPETENT on an interaction that
he/she completely messes-it-up, Person-A and Person-B
SHOULD BE “very-very angry”. Instead, the “funny” portion
of their minds switch on, and Person-A and Person-B walk-
away saying, “WHAT a TOTAL moron! Can you believe that
guy!”

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From Person-X’s perspective, a television viewer, Person-
X has zero-chance of getting angry. The “funny” switch is
still tripped though! Consequently, Person-X merely finds
the entire event to be hilarious.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY –

MECHANICAL DEVICE

(For television.) Have a simple electrical/mechanical

device, like a toaster. The device works properly, or
doesn’t work properly. Operation of the device causes a
completely-unrelated device in the house to behave
abnormally, but with a reasonable explanation that is
discovered by the close of the television-show.

For example: Turning-on a toaster causes the shower to

flow, because of an electrical-short in the automatic
shower-sprinkler/massager. As it turns out, whenever the
shower had-been used, people were getting mildly-annoying
electrical-shocks, which they didn’t bother to
investigate.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY – PERSONA

CONFUSION

(From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

Character-X has two relationships, which require him to

display two radically-different personas to people in the
different relationships, Persona-1 and Persona-2. When

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Character-X talks to Character-1, Character-X displays
Persona-1. When Character-X talks to Character-2,
Character-X displays Persona-2.

What happens if both Character-1 and Character-2 are in

the same conversation, in the same room? And Character-X
must frequently-alternate between Persona-1 and Persona-
2.

Written from Character-X’s viewpoint, the scene is VERY

stressful. Written from Character-1 or Character-2’s
viewpoints, the scene is confusing. (“Why did the high-
paid business executive tell me to run to the fridge and
pull my bottle out? Oh, that was for his little-daughter,
who is playing underneath the conference table.”)

From Character-Y’s viewpoint, the scene becomes comedy.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY – SEX

SCENES

Watching sex scenes is embarrassing. To make a sex scene

funny, DO-NOT show the sex, even under-covers. DO-NOT
show the people naked, either. Have an accident occur
immediately-BEFORE sexual-intercourse, PREVENTING
intercourse. For movies/television, the accident could
simply-involve a collision between the peeping-tom
camera, and the television-set’s furniture or scenery.

This interaction template-family relies on a social-

safety “instinct”: An observing-person perceives the
imminent occurrence of a tense and socially-
embarrassing/awkward moment. The observing-person does-
not want to see people (that they like) be socially-

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embarrassed. How can the observing-person prevent the
embarrassment WITHOUT embarrassing themselves?

a. Normally, the observing person would “clear their

throat with a quiet-but-audible cough”. This is un-
funny.

b. An accident, such as knocking-over an empty water-

glass, or something that will “clank”. Because the
accident saves the impending embarrassment, the
accident becomes more-funny than it would normally
be. A “sense of relief” also occurs.

c. With some other form of comedy? Would the comedy be

funnier, if used to prevent embarrassment?

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY – THREE-

PERSON SCENE WITH LIAR

(For television.) Television often has humorous duos,

with a straight-man and a funny-man, like Abbot-and-
Costello. Three-people scenes are even funnier. Interact
a clueless-person, with a rushed-person, and throw-in a
liar. ALWAYS FUNNY.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – COMEDY – VILLAIN

CATCHES HERO, HANDS TO SUBORDINATE

In a VERY-CLICHÉ scene (IMPORTANT that it is VERY

cliché), the villain captures the hero. Rather than
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killing the hero himself, the villain hands-off the hero
to a subordinate, and tells the subordinate to kill the
hero. Sometimes, the subordinate is a machine. The
subordinate is always incompetent, and fails to kill the
hero, and the hero escapes.

Humor can be created by changing the nature of the

subordinate, so that the hero still gets away:

 The subordinate is forgetful, and merely walks-away

without ever attempting to kill the hero.

 The subordinate is so lazy, that he/she postpones

killing the hero until later, and never gets-around
to killing the hero.

 The subordinate is amicable, and lets the hero go.

“Here you go.  Let me untie you. Just pretend that
you wriggled-out of the bonds, and knocked me
unconscious… or something.” This is-now 2-times
funny, because in-addition to the subordinate
twist, villains (and villain subordinates) are
never amicable to the hero.

INTERACTION TEMPLATE-FAMILY – ROMANTIC DINNER

During a romantic-dinner, the avatar-protagonist’s

perception of the entire-world shrinks-down to the
romantic-lead (sitting opposite or beside her/him), the
table, and the food on the table. SO-TOO should the
woman-READER’S world! (How is this done?) (Observed from
“Harlequin Mills & Boon Novels”)

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In real life, romantic-dinners involve: Absolutely no-
worries for one partner. A no-worries drive/stroll to the
restaurant. A dark-but-pleasant restaurant. A loud-rumble
of cocktail-conversation and clinking-plates from other
people in the restaurant… or appropriate music. Good
food. Moderate alcohol (???) A no-worries drive/stroll
home.

While what I am about to describe is NOT a romantic-

dinner… I experience a similar-effect while reading a
good-novel, at night, with a small book-light, preferably
while it is pouring-rain (outside the house). I become
COMPLETELY absorbed in the novel. What is this feeling
called??? I have no clue. Computer-gamers experience a
vaguely-similar feeling/mood/effect called “Flow”. (See
“A Theory of fun”)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HAPPENINGS – DIALOGUE

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 Alternate between statements (about non-people),
statements (about people), statements about the
other character, statements about
preferences/opinions, statements about prior
happenings, statements about intended actions,
commands, interjections, yes/no questions, leading-
questions, and open-ended questions?

 When two characters enter into a dialogue, each

character should enter with a different agenda for
the dialogue. Two different-agendas “tack” (like a
sailboat) the dialogue in a direction that neither
of the characters is intending. The “tacking”
results in the characters semi-avoiding direct
answers – producing more-interesting dialogue.
(From “Conflict & Suspense”)

 When is a chain of dialogue too long? When should

the dialogue-elements be merged into a narration of
the gist of what was spoken?

 Three-or-more speakers causes problems with

dialogue-line attribution.

 Non-sequiters?

 Staggered response – “Do you like my coffee?”

“Yes”. “What are you going to do tomorrow?” “Oh, by
the way, your coffee needs a bit more tea in it.”

 From MMO game-designers, paraphrased: “Players that

DON’T plan to continue playing your game DON’T
complain. The ones that complain are the ones that
won’t leave, because they enjoy the experience.”
How does this transfer to conversations between

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people, and complaints about one-another’s actions,
as per relationships?

TOPICS OF CONVERSATION

What conversation-topics appear in typical conversations?

 Greetings and goodbyes

 The weather

 A retelling of what someone did since you last

saw them?

 What relatives, neighbors, and friends have been

up to

 Medical conditions – Never have conversations

with anyone over 49.

 Danger warnings – “Make sure to change your

car’s oil. I just changed mine. It was nearly
out!”

 Local geography – “You should check out the

waterfall just off of Highway X.”

 Whatever topic the speaker is interested in,

regardless of whether the listeners are
interested.

Should typical everyday conversation-topics be avoided in

a novel’s dialogue?

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What conversation-topics interest people when they are
behaving more-intelligently?

 Discussing feelings
 People’s personality and motivations
 Ideas
 Education – Learning something new
 Games – “Who dunnit?” novels are like linear
games, encouraging the reader to guess who the
criminal is
 Travel to new and exotic places
 Conflict
 Emotional conflict
 Experiencing new emotions
 Helping other people

CHARACTERIZATION

A character’s dialogue should reflect their:

 Character traits, character-behaviors, and

character-quirks – What character traits should be
emphasized to the reader? Are they highlighted
round-robin, one after another, or is one
character-trait overemphasized in any given scene?

Are new/changed character-traits/behaviors

emphasized? Assuming that the character’s
personality is slowly changing/maturing.

 Mood and emotions

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Are new/changed moods/emotions emphasized?

 The location – People speak differently in churches

than they do in a park.

 The character’s opinion and thoughts about whatever

character they are speaking to, as well as whatever
character is in the room.

QUESTIONS

If one character asks another character a question:

 Does the other character respond (as is typical in

real life) with a yes/no answer?

 Is the question answered with a one-word answer.

“Blue”.

 Is the response a lie? A misdirection? An

obfuscation?

 Or is there no answer?

 Is the question ignored, and a completely-different

question answered?

 Is the question only-tangentially answered?

 Is the question answered, but with understanding

about what information the questioner is really
seeking? Is the question answered, providing the

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questioner information that the questioner didn’t-
even realize that the questioner was looking for.

 Is the question answered, and immediately followed-

up with a counter-question?

 Is the question answered with a question? For more

information? To clarify the question? To answer the
question by bouncing it back at the questioner?

 Is the question answered, and then an extra

response added for free? Is the extra response
merely more detail? Or is it information that the
reader needs to know? Or is it information that the
questioner needs to know? Or is it information that
the person answering the question wants to reveal?
Or is it information that the person answering the
question thinks that the questioner wants to know?

 Is the question answered, followed by a response

that redirects the conversation? Is the redirected
information for the reader’s benefit? Is the
redirection-information for the questioner’s
benefit? Is the redirection-information for the
answerer’s benefit? Is the redirection-information
random? Or is the answerer merely speaking what’s
on the answerer’s mind at the time, not-caring that
no-one else in the dialogue actually cares about
the information?

 Characters should ask one-another “trick” questions

that extract information that the READER needs to
know, not what the CHARACTERS need to know. (From
“Conflict & Suspense”)

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“COLOR”

(From “Creating Emotion in Games”) You want characters to

speak interesting (and perhaps quotable?) lines.

 Begin with a boring statement, “The sky is slightly

cloudy.”

 Can this statement be spoken in a more-interesting

manner? “What a pretty sky!” Or “Look at that cloud
over there. It looks like sleeping fawn.”

 Can more-information be squeezed into the line?

“See those clouds. We’ll have rain-showers all-day
tomorrow.”

 Use a personality-trait, personality-behavior, or

personality-quirk to both make the dialogue more-
“colorful”, and to say something about the
character. “That cloud over there reminds me of an
ice-cream sundae,” for someone on a severe diet.

 How about saying something about the listening

character? “Can you recall your school-lesson about
the name of that type of cloud, over there?”

DIALOGUE “INTERESTING” TECHNIQUES

 Some techniques: Add color. Prompt action.

Splitting-up information. (From “Creating Emotion
in Games”)

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DIALOGUE “DEEPENING” TECHNIQUES

 Some techniques: Give your character some depth.

Emotions beneath the surface. Ambivalence. (From
“Creating Emotion in Games”)

WORK IN PROGRESS…

PARAGRAPHS AND SENTENCES

WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH?

What is a paragraph?

 A paragraph is a collection of related sentences.

Temporally-related and/or subject-related.

 Paragraphs are limited in length (both maximum and

minimum) for legibility. 1-sentence rarely. 2-to-8
sentences normally.

 Paragraphs are often time-synchronizers. If one

paragraph represents 20-seconds of time in the
novel, then the previous-and-subsequent paragraphs

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should also represent approximately 20-seconds of
novel-time.

 Paragraph-divisions interrupt “flow”, and “focus”.

(From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

 Paragraph-divisions to indicate changes in action.

(From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

 Noun-phrases and verb-phrases in a sentence can-

often be re-ordered within the sentence, without
significantly changing the meaning of the sentence.

 Noun-phrases and verb-phrases can sometimes be

relocated from one sentence IN A PARAGRAPH, to
another sentence IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH, without
significantly-changing the meaning of the
paragraph. Noun-phrases and verb-phrases CANNOT AS-
READILY be moved to other sentences in OTHER
paragraphs.

 Sentences in a paragraph can-often be reordered

without significantly-changing the meaning of the
paragraph.

Random paragraph comments:

 No pre-summary sentence at the beginning of

paragraphs. (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

WHAT IS A SUPER-PARAGRAPH

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MY SPECULATION

 A super-paragraph is a collection of paragraphs,

typically 2-to-8 (???) paragraphs.

 Super-paragraphs ARE-NOT specially-marked.

Some authors mark super-paragraphs with line-

breaks, but DO-NOT mark paragraphs with line-
breaks. Consequently, the authors “paragraphs” are
very-long, half of a novel-page in length.

 Paragraphs are often time-ordered within a super-

paragraph.

 Paragraphs within a super-paragraph can-often be

rearranged without significantly altering the
meaning of the super-paragraph.

 Sentences from a paragraph can-sometimes be moved

to other paragraphs within the super-paragraph,
without significantly-altering the meaning of the
super-paragraph.

My speculation: “Artsy” authors like long paragraphs.

“Geeky” authors prefer short paragraphs, or even a novels
written entirely as bullet-points.

MAKING A PARAGRAPH/SENTENCE MORE INTERES TING

 Inventing character background – In a particularly-

boring paragraph (or line of dialogue), is it

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acceptable to invent a factoid of character-
background?

For example: Fred’s official back-story notes that

he is a fisherman. Another character asks, “What
are you fishing for?” Fred asks, “Trout. I love the
flavor of trout. It brings back memories.” Oops. To
make the dialogue more-interesting, the author
invented a factoid, that “Fred likes the flavor of
trout”, with an implied “because Fred has some fond
childhood memories dealing with trout”.

 Inventing setting/location factoids – Just

duplicate the “Inventing character background”
bullet-point, above, but apply them to
locations/settings.

MICRO-INTERTWINING PLOT-ARC, WITH

RELATIONSHIPS, WITH CHARACTER-ARCS, WITH BACK-
STORY, WITH SETTING

 If a large segment of plot-arc (setting, back-

story, etc.) happens, should it be briefly
interrupted with relationship (or other)
information?

 Should back-story, myths, and news-items be kept

contiguous so that readers have a change to switch-
into “learning mode”?

 In scriptwriting, every scene should (a) explain

something about the characters, (b) demonstrate the
relationships between characters, and (c) push a
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character further-along in their character-arc.
(From “Creating emotion in games”)

To step-above this rule: Every scene is(?)

exclusively devoted to either plot-arc, character-
development, relationship-development, setting, or
back-story, etcetera. The “exclusively-devoted”
component is the most-important aspect of the
scene. BUT, the scene should also accomplish
secondary and tertiary tasks, which are less-
important, AND which the reader is EXPECTED to
overlook.

 Mini-cliffhangers within a chapter? Have a scene

devoted to an exciting element of plot-arc. Break-
away to someone’s thoughts about their laundry. And
then return a few-paragraphs later to the plot-arc?
This creates suspense.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

GRAMMAR AND WORDS

WRITING STYLE

Writing-style is collection of all of the style-choices

that authors make. “Writing-style” is often more-closely
associated with “Grammar and words” style-choices than
other style-elements (???)

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 Use a standard writing-style so that readers pay-
attention to the content, NOT the form. You most-
likely do-not want the reader to notice how-
different the novel’s writing-style is compared to
other novels. (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

 Extensive writing-style discussions are found in

(“Characters & Viewpoint”)

ALWAYS-REMEMBER THAT NOVELS ARE READ, NOT

SPOKEN… KIND OF

Some consequences of novels being read (not spoken) are:

 (MY SPECULATION) When a sentence is mostly-composed

of monosyllabic words, readers can easily/readily
create their own “meter” (syllable stress – volume,
pitch, duration, and tonality). Polysyllabic words
do not silently-read well, but they are better-
sounding when spoken.

Monosyllabic: “Some of the owner men were kind

because they hated what they had to do, and some of
them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and
some of them were cold because they had long ago
found that one could not be an owner unless one
were cold.” – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.
(From “Stephen King | On Writing”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath)

Polysyllabic: “The leathery, undeteriorative, and

almost indestructible quality was an inherent
attribute of the thing’s form of organization, and

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pertained to some paleogean cycle of invertebrate
evolution utterly beyond our powers of
speculation.” – H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains
of Madness. (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_M
adness)

 A novel’s (silently-read) sentences are longer than

sentences intended to be read-aloud.

 Readers mostly-skim the text, so write with this in

mind. (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

o Similar-looking words, or hard to OCR-words

should be avoided. (OCR = Optical character
recognition).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_charact
er_recognition)

o Minimize adjectives and adverbs… MY

SPECULATION – Adjectives and adverbs
amplify/diminish and/or “recolor” verbs-and-
nouns. When a reader is skimming text, they
DO-NOT-PERCEIVE the
amplification/diminishment and/or “re-
coloring” at all, even if they read the
words. Also include size-modification,
amplitude-modification, extension,
larger/smaller, stronger/weaker.

“Mike’s heart sank a little.”

 Do-not waste the reader’s time. (From “Stephen King

| On Writing”)

o Minimize words/syllables.

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o Passive-voice is more words. Minimize passive
voice.

o Only describe when necessary.

o Minimize adjectives/adverbs, since they are

also more-words.

o Attributed speech – “Said” and only “said”.

“Said” turns into an article-of-speech, like
“the” or “an”.

Nor are novels conversations:

 There is NO WAY for an author to observe an

individual reader’s face and determine if the
reader understood/comprehended the paragraph. Nor
is there any-way for most individual-readers to ask
the author questions. CONSEQUENTLY, NOVEL
WRITING/PROS/GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY MUST BE VERY-CLEAR
AND NON-AMBIGUOUS. (From “Stephen King | On
Writing”)

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY SKILL LEVEL

 Write at a skill-level that is more-advanced that

the reader’s WRITING-skill-level, but not so-
advanced that the readers have difficulty reading.

 Write at an 8th-grade reading-level to be a success.

(From “Conflict & Suspense”)

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MELODY

Find recordings of:

a) Gregorian chant
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_chant)

b) A Mozart concerto
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Moza
rt,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_piano_concertos
)

c) Bach’s “Inventions”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach
,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventions_and_Sinfoni
as)

All three use “melody” in different ways.

a) The melody in Gregorian chant runs from one note to

another.

Gregorian-chant melody is sung in a key, but

Gregorian-chant melody is NOT chord-restrained.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_(music),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_(music) )

b) Mozart’s music has an underlying and slow-moving

Gregorian-chant-like melody, called a “Chord
progression”. The Gregorian-chant-like melody is

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mostly “phantom”, heard-only in how it affects the
notes of Mozart’s audible-melodies. The notes that
Mozart uses in his melody often match the
underlying-and-phantom melody-notes, or are
consonant (good-sounding) with the underlying-and-
phantom melody-notes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_progression)

Mozart writes in a key, and he writes a melody

around a chord, based on a tonic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_(music) )

c) Bach’s “Inventions” have an underlying and VERY

slow-moving Gregorian-chant-like melody. The melody
is ENTIRELY “phantom”. Bach’s melody, very-complex
arpeggiations, dances-about the underlying-and-
phantom melody-notes.

Bach writes in a key. He writes an “arpeggiation”

around a chord tonic. The arpeggiation is chord-
and-key constrained.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpeggio)

While reading Stephen King’s (“Stephen King | On

Writing”) book, I noticed that Stephen King’s writing is
like Bach’s “Inventions”.

 Stephen King informs the reader about a goal-or-

destination in his plot. “Fred took a ride to the
grocery-store to pick up some food.”

 Stephen King OCCASIONALLY informs the reader of

details about progress to the goal-or-destination…
how the drive to the grocery-store is progressing.
“Fred turned right on Main Street.” A page later,
“Fred stopped at a red light, and watched some
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people cross in front of him.” Two pages later,
“Fred turned into the grocery-store parking-lot.”

These references to “what is actually happening”

are like Bach’s occasional audio-glimpses of the
chord’s tonic.

 In-between Stephen King’s description about the

progress to the goal/destination, Stephen King
weaves a “yarn”. On Fred’s drive to the grocery-
store, Stephen King lets Fred mind wander. “When
Fred was a child, he used to bicycle up-and-down
Main Street all of the time. It was there that Fred
met is life-buddy, Matt.” “The signal-light fell
down in a winter ice-storm. Matt and Fred tried to
swipe it as a souvenir, but they were caught.”
Etcetera.

This is analogous to Bach’s “arpeggiations”.

Most authors write stories in a manner similar to

Mozart’s concertos, not Stephen King’s Bach-Inventions.

 The authors set a goal/destination, but using a

slightly-different tact. “Fred DECIDED TO take a
ride to the grocery-store to pick up some food.”

 The authors FREQUENTLY-and-EXCLUSIVELY inform the

readers of details about progress to the
goal/destination. “Fred turned right on Main
Street. Fred stopped at a red light, and watched
some people cross in front of him. Fred turned into
the grocery-store parking-lot.”

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Then, realizing that this is boring-and-pointless
narrative, the authors trim the action down to,
“Fred RODE to the grocery-store, where he PURCHASED
some food.”

 All of the factoids that Stephen King would “yarn”-

into the goal/destination narration (about Fred’s
bicycle, Matt, the storm, and the attempt to steal
the signal-light) are either trimmed-out, or they
are relayed to the reader WHEN-AND-ONLY-WHEN the
reader needs the information. (I might be wrong
about this.)

Even-though I enjoy Gregorian Chant, poor-quality writing

is like Gregorian-Chant:

 The authors set a goal/destination. “Fred DECIDED

TO take a ride to the grocery-store to pick up some
food.”

 The authors FREQUENTLY-and-EXCLUSIVELY inform the

readers of details about progress to the
goal/destination. “Fred turned right on Main
Street. Fred stopped at a red light, and watched
some people cross in front of him. Fred turned into
the grocery-store parking-lot.”

 That’s it. No melody around a chord-fundamental. No

chord restrictions.

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TEMPORALITY

 Write in past-tense or present tense?

 How much passive-tense to use?

 Conversational tense – (Is this a tense?) “He

walked down the road... You know, the kind of
road you used to run-along as a child… Well, you
may not have, but I certainly did.”

FIRST PERSON???

 Write as an omniscient narrator (“Fred walked down

the street.”), or in first-person (“I [Fred] walked
down the street.”)

 BUT, if have first-person, then it’s impossible for

readers to identify the point-of-view protagonists,
if the reader loses sight of who is the current
first-person protagonist…

This can be rectified by:

 Only have one protagonist.

 Show an iconic portrait of the point-of-view

protagonist at the top/bottom of every page.

 CONVERSELY, when a chapter is written in the third-

person, it is still difficult for readers to
identify whose point-of-view is being used.

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 Requiring occasional/frequent observation
sentences beginning with the point-of-view
protagonist’s name. “Sally noticed Mark
yawn,” versus “Mark yawned.”

 Show an iconic portrait of the point-of-view

protagonist at the top/bottom of every page.

 Extensive discussions about first-and-third person

writing are found in (“Characters & Viewpoint”)

“ARTSY” VERSUS “GEEKY”

Everyone knows what a “door” is.

A “door” is a large piece of wood (600 mm x 1800

mm) on hinges, with a “door-handle”. It is inset
into a “door-frame”, to which said-hinges are
attached.

If the “door” is constructed of “glass” (or “Plexiglas”)

instead of “wood”, then a partially-descriptive adjective
is prepended before the word “door”, creating the name
“glass door”. Every-reader knows what a “glass door” is.

If the “door” is VERY unusual, and triangular-shaped,

with an angled-glide instead of hinges, then…

 If a “geek” is naming the new triangle-shaped door,

he/she will name the entity, a “triangle door”. Or,
if a particular person had invented such a door, it
might be named, “Wilson’s triangular-door” or even
“Wilson’s door”.
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 If an “artsy” person is naming the new triangle-

shaped door, they will realize that the new
creation is so completely-different from a “door”
that it should be called something different. THEY
(“artsy” people) DO NOT invent new words. To
compensate, they find a less-used similar-word, and
call the triangle-door a “portcullis”… after all,
no-one uses that word anymore, except computer-
game-playing “geeks”. Might-as-well re-use the word
“portcullis” for something more-useful.

A “door” is ALSO a “metaphor” for travelling between

rooms. “Rooms” are metaphors for ideas, or emotional
states.

 A “geeky” author will name the transition between

emotional-states as “getting mad”. There might-also
be a psychological term somewhere, like “Kasparov’s
Test” that they will substitute into the novel’s
text, if they wish to be more-specific. “Fred had a
Kasparov’s Test.”

 An “artsy” author will merely state that “Fred

passed through the doorway”, knowing full-well that
the reader will eventually “puzzle out” that the
character “got really-really mad”.

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WORD SELECTION
 Favor multi-syllable words, or mono/dual-
syllable words?

 Avoid using slang? Romance-novel writing guide

suggests this.

 Overused words

 Class-identifying words. “Floral vase” versus

“Jar of flowers.”

 Child-spoken words, idioms/slang, and grammar.

Versus teenager. Versus new-adult. Who uses the
most slang?

 Technical terms. How much/many, and how often?

 If the computer that the character is using is

an “Apple //e”, is it described as a “computer”,
an “older computer model”, or “a typewriter”?
This depends on the protagonist’s knowledge, the
reader’s knowledge, how long the
protagonist/reader would have to notice the
“Apple //e” label on the computer, and what is
important for the scene.

 Made-up words when the protagonist/reader

doesn’t know what it is. “The thingamajiggy”.
Or, “Indescribable-object A”.

 New words for things that there is no concept

for in English. New-and-unique series of
syllables/phonemes. Concatenated words. (“Blue-
laser disc” -> “BluRay”). Concatenated
syllables. (“Modulator-demodulator” -> “modem”).
Acronym. (“Random access memory” -> “RAM”)
Prepend a person’s name. (“Heisenberg
uncertainty-principle”) Use an unused English

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word. (“Moniker” is a “component object model”
term.) Use a foreign word or root. (“Femur”,
“Feline” from Latin) (idea from “How to write
Science Fiction & Fantasy”)

 Poetic word-selection assigned to one object in

the room, but implying a modification of another
object. (From the “Writing a Romance Novel for
Dummies”), a man is described as having “mink-
brown hair… and whiskey-colored eyes”. Is he a
marketing-weasel? Is he alcoholic?

 Gender-identifying words. “Pretty” (by feminine

writers) versus “Good looking” (masculine
writers).

 Intelligence-identifying words.

 Education-identifying words.

 Career-identifying words.

 Foreign-born identifying words… perhaps names of

places and foods.

 Select words to emphasize your own point of

view, “The dirty child…” versus “The wretched
slum-child…”

 Text-to-speech – E-books provide text-to-speech

functionality. Can an E-book successfully read-
aloud any particular word?

NAMES

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 Ordinary names for people… No “Xenon the
Wondrous”. Ordinary names are easier to
remember.

 If two characters are expected to marry, and

they are to somehow share last-names, make sure
their new names don’t sound inane… or perhaps
ensure that they do sound inane.

 Ordinary names for places.

 Or, odd names for people-and-places, which cause

the reader to ponder the origin of the names… If
you want to stimulate your reader that way.

 Ordinary names for races – “Horse” instead of

“Houyhnhnm”. Or “Horse-evolved”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyhnhnm)

 Ordinary names for currencies, “Dollars” or

“Credits”.

 Character-and-place names evoke a cliché –

“Fred” implies a boring character. “XXX-ville”
is a village.

THE USE OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

 Does the adjective modify the noun? Or is the

adjective meant to modify the noun’s container?

If an adjective is meant to modify the noun’s

container, then place the adjective in front of the
noun’s container! “The man’s weary arm” to “The
weary-man’s arm”, assuming that it is “the man” who
is “weary”. (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)
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Romance-novels authors seem to be diametrically-

opposed to Stephen King’s advice on this. Romance-
novel authors sometimes prefer, “The man’s weary
arm” to “The weary man’s arm”.

 Overemphasized/over-exaggerated words. It isn’t a

“big house”, it’s an “enormous house”. Or under-
exaggerated?

WORD-TYPES

 Avoid lots of adverbs and adjectives? Or maintain

the same frequency of use? And/or change this
during action.

 Merge (adverb + verb) to (more-specific-verb) or

(more-poetic-verb). Merge (adjective + noun) to
(more-specific-noun) or (more-poetic-noun).

IDIOMS

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom)

 “He sat still as a tree in a cyclone.”

 Idioms can indicate uneducated-but-intelligent

people who know what they want to say, but who
don’t have the proper lexicon to say it… Which also
implies flavorful yokels.

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SIMILES

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile)

 How much? How often? How irrelevant/distant to the

connection? (From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

CADENCE
 Sentences that can be read-aloud without
sounding awkward. Try speaking the sentences
with the E-book’s text-to-speech!

 Vernacular language, somewhat educated.

 Short sentences indicate faster pacing.

 Alternate sentence structures. Some passive,

some active, some with reverse-order phrasing.

 Syllable cadence – A “beat” to the duration of

the syllables? A pentameter (tone)?

 Noun/verb-phrase tonality flow

 Noun/verb-phrase duration balance

 Reversing subject/object phrases – “He walked

down the street,” or “The street, he walked
down.” (Awkward example)

 Word-length balance?

 A sentence, even a long sentence, (sometimes)

represents a unit of time to the reader. To make
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a paragraph fly by time-wise, combine several
smaller sentences together. To slow down the
time, split the paragraph’s sentences into
smaller sentences, and even divide the
paragraph… and then add some-more text.
Conversely, to make the time in a paragraph fly-
by, eliminate unnecessary text (descriptions of
action, thoughts, etcetera).

 Text-to-speech – E-books provide text-to-speech

functionality. Can an E-book successfully read-
aloud any particular sentence/paragraph?

 Accidental speech – “Tom looks pretty in that

dress over there… Wait! What did I say? I meant
TERRY looks pretty in the dress.”

WORD FLOW
 Avoid duplication of word when used nearby

CONCEPT FLOW

 “John knocked on the door. It was green. A red

flower swung from a pot nearby. John glanced back
down the walkway [on which sat the pot]. He
wondered if Cheryl had driven-off yet [on the
road].”

 In some scenes… Actions that take 10 seconds to

occur, should take 10 seconds to read.

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 Long descriptions of scenery only when the
protagonist (and the reader) would take the time to
examine the scenery/action.

 Specifically over-describing or under-describing an

action/object/scene in order to emphasize a
protagonist’s state-of-mind.

 Telling the reader to pull-up a memory from their

past. “Bob hugged his favorite toy, a Teddy Bear.
Didn’t you hug one as a child?”

FINE-TUNING THE SCENE/ACTION TO CREATE BETTER

PROS

 Rather than “walk up the hill”, the character

“trudges up the hill”. “Walk” might be a more-
appropriate description. “Trudge” has a distinctly-
different meaning, BUT, it is a less-often-used
word. (Higher word “perplexity” – See speech
recognition concepts)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_model,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perplexity)

 Stereotypically: Men don’t think about emotions,

even their own. Women do think about emotions. To
give emotions to your men, you must have women in
the scene, surmising-or-commenting on an emotion
that the woman thinks that the man ought to be
feeling (or thinking about)… This statement is a
tad rude.

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SYNTACTIC/VERBAL CLEVERNESS

 Use rhyme and impetus to imply one word, but veer

away from the word. Often-used to hide scandalous
words, especially in music lyrics. “Before him
stood a duck, on top of a truck, but he did not
think he was fucked unhappy.” (Not a good example.)

 Rhyme is common in young-children’s books. (From

“Writing Children’s books for dummies”)

Rhyme seems to disappear from adult literature.

However, rhyme-related verbal-cleverness remains in
some romance novels. I speculate that Romance-
novels are mostly-written and read-by “Artsy”-
minded people. Does this mean that rhyme (and
verbal cleverness) is verboten in science-fiction –
with “Geeky”-minded authors-and-readers? (My own
speculation)

 Puns

 Multiple readings of the same sentence, producing

different meanings.

UNITS

 Metric versus English measurement systems

 “Three days from now” versus “Next Tuesday”.

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 “Two kilometers away” versus “Fifteen minutes walk
away.”

 “Two kilometers away” versus “A short distance”

REWORDING

 Does substituting a word in a sentence, reordering

a sentence’s phrases, or merging/splitting
sentences cause the writing to be more
intelligible? Sound better-educated? More/less
poetic?

 Can a noun-phrase be replaced by a single-word

noun? Or verb-phrase? Or vice-versa? How does this
affect time-flow? Reader distraction at unimportant
information?

 If a noun-phrase is used instead of a single noun,

is the non-phrase being used to stuff-in more
description? “The man sat down on the velvety
chair. He ran his hand along its steel rim.” Is
this useful in the situation? How about, “The man
sat down on the chair,” and leave it at that? Or
“In the room was a velvety chair with a steel rim.
The man sat-down on it.”

 Does the elimination of an entire sentence help the

time-flow? Or prevent the reader from being
distracted by non-essentials? Or, should the reader
be distracted?

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 Missing narration – Sometimes, there is no point
saying that “Mary was talking to Bob in the living-
room. Mary walked into the kitchen, opened the
fridge, and pulled-out an orange. She returned to
talk to Bob.” Instead, “Mary quickly grabbed an
orange from the kitchen.”

ACCENT/DIALECT

Do protagonists have accents/dialects? Since protagonists

speak a lot, such text-based accents/dialects might get
annoying.

Could secondary characters have accents/dialects?

Perhaps, they speak enough so that the accent/dialect
would be recognizable, but not so much that it gets
annoying. But is the accent/dialect necessary to define
the secondary character?

Do incidental characters have an accent/dialect? With

only one or two lines of text spoken? Perhaps not.

Incorrect grammar? It stands out when used… which is not-

always good.

Non-word speaker-identifiers – “[Sigh]”, “Mmm,” or “Eh.”

How often?

Subconscious speaker-identifiers – ““I don’t know,”

answered John. He rubbed his nose. “What do you think?””
Does “He rubbed his nose” have any meaning that the
reader should pick-up? Is the reader’s quest to
understand these subtle cues important?

Favorite words – Do characters have favorite words or

phrases? Do they pick-up new favorite words/phrases
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throughout the novel? (While dropping the usage of old
ones?)

BOLDFACE

 People find boldface easier to read. Boldfacing key

sentences allows them to skim ahead.

 Boldface emphasized words and phrases. And/or

capitalize them… but capitalized words/phrases are
difficult to read.

 Italics are more-difficult to read. Avoid?

 Different font… to indicate excitement? Or

sensuality? Or a corporate logo?

WORK IN PROGRESS…

PIVOTS – CHOICE FICTION

WHAT IS CHOICE FICTION?

“Choice fiction”, such as “Choose your own adventure”,

“Fighting Fantasy”, and “Tunnels & Trolls” books, is

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different than linear fiction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_Your_Own_Adventure,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnels_%26_Trolls)

a) Every page (or paragraph) is numbered.

Illustrations, on a per-page (or every-few pages)

basis, are common.

b) At the end of every page (or paragraph), readers

have 2-to-4 choices. Each choice has an associated
page-number.

c) Upon making the decision/choice, the player flips

to the given page, and continues reading.

WHY CHOICE FICTION WORKS

 Providing decisions/choices to the reader greatly-

immerses the reader.

 While people rarely read choice-fiction (and

almost-always as an early-teen, reading a set
gifted to them for Christmas or their birthday),
the experience is memorable. (???)

 In alignment with my own goals – I intend to write

science-fiction (or fantasy). For reasons unknown
(to me), choice-fiction is almost-always oriented
towards science-fiction and fantasy readers.

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WHY CHOICE-FICTION DOES-NOT WORK

 Computer-games compete almost-directly-against

choice-fiction. Computer-games are (in general)
more-engaging than choice-fiction.

However, choice-fiction is MUCH-CHEAPER to author

(per hour of entertainment) than “adventure”
computer-games, their ideologically-closest
computer-game competitor.

 Because of choice-branching, a single read (or

“play”) of the choice-fiction causes the reader to
read (approximately) only-one-fifth of the text
.Four-fifths of the choice-fiction’s text is ONLY
seen by the reader when/if the reader re-reads the
choice-fiction, and tries different choices.

Since readers do-not wish to “waste” unused content

(that they know exists), they re-read the choice-
fiction novel several times, taking different
routes through the decisions/choices. These re-
reads RUIN the “choice” aspect of “choice fiction”.
It turns the choice-fiction novel into an
exploration of ALL possible realities, though.

 The choice-fiction protagonist MUST be a pass-

through for the reader’s personalities.

However, the protagonist’s personality-and-

knowledge can color the choices available to
reader.

 Flipping through paper-pages is annoying.

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WHY CHOICE-FICTION WORKS BETTER WI TH E-BOOKS

 While E-book illustrations still cost money to

illustrate, they are free to “print” (unlike paper
illustrations).

 Links in the E-book file eliminate the annoying

page-flipping.

 Since readers do-not have to see the “length” of

the E-book in terms of thickness of the book,
readers might-not mind “wasting” content as much.

 Choice-fiction E-books can be easily-written by

amateur authors, providing an infinite-number of
free choice-fiction E-books… Which means that
readers do-not mind “wasting” content as much…
Which means that readers will only read-through a
given choice-fiction novel ONCE. Which means that
their choices matter!

 “Fill-in-the-blank” choice-fiction-design can be

extended:

“IF YOU PICKED UP THE AXE on page 34, then

HIGHLIGHT the INVISIBLE-TEXT below to see what
happens!” (Note: This DOES-NOT work properly on all
E-book viewers.)

“Looking at the axe in the moonlight, you notice an

odd sparkle in the axe’s wooden handle. The sparkle
spells the word, “L A W R E N C E”.”

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 Double-columns of text can indicate that actions of
two protagonists are occurring at the same time.
The reader can make a choice for one protagonist or
the other.

 E-book choice-fiction can encourage/require the

reader to “do research” on the internet, to-which
the E-book is almost-always connected.

 If combat-pages are included (such as in “Melee”

and “Tunnels & Trolls” choice-fiction adventures),
then an accompanying E-book combat-rulebook can be
distributed for free, to the choice-fiction-novel’s
readers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_(game),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnels_%26_Trolls)

 Break-out solitaire mini-games are also possible,

such as simple solo-play card-games, dice-games,
search-through-the-internet games. The rules for
the mini-games can be included in an appendix.
Cards, game-maps, and game-pieces can be printed on
the reader’s printer.

 Other E-book features also affect choice-fiction:

Different-fonts, colored text, filigree, dark
backgrounds, etcetera.

 A choice-fiction author-tool could make choice-

fiction easier to design-and-write.

“ADVANCED” CHOICE-FICTION DESIGN

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 If a player is offered 3 choices, Door-A, Door-B,
or Door-C, they might be given the option to first
“investigate” no-more-than-one of their three
options. Example: “I listen to Door-B.” “You hear a
loud rumbling sound. Now, hurry up! Pick a door, A,
B, or C!”

 When talking to a secondary/incidental-character,

the page can allow the reader’s character to ask
the secondary/incidental-characters any 2-out-of-5
listed questions.

 Some choice-fiction includes fill-in-the-blank

choices, reducing the amount of branching in the
fiction.

For example: “Do you pick-up the sword or the axe?

(Write-down “sword” or “axe” on a piece of paper.)”
Four decisions later, one of the choices might be,
“IF YOU PICKED-UP THE AXE on page 34, then you can
chop down the tree. Go to page 935.”

 Dice can be rolled to include randomness. The dice-

rolls can be adjusted based-upon prior choices, or
“fill in the blank” choices.

Example: “Roll one die. IF YOU PICKED-UP THE SWORD

on page 34, then add two (+2) to the die-roll. If
you roll three (3+) or higher, then go to page 98.
Otherwise, go to page 103.”

 If the avatar-protagonist “picks up” an object, the

reader can easily write-down the object’s name,
remembering that the object is held/possessed by
the avatar-protagonist.

Objects affect/enable future choices.

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Objects can be given to secondary/incidental-

characters appearing in the choice-fiction. These
affect the behaviors/mood of secondary/incidental-
characters.

Objects can be purchased/sold from merchants.

Readers do cheat, but not that-much. (???)

 A choice page can include break-out combat-pages,

such as in the “Melee” and “Tunnels & Trolls”
adventure-books. The rules for combat are sometimes
complex-enough, that a separate rulebook is
required.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melee_(game),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnels_%26_Trolls)

 A map of the location/city is also possible, with

every notable-building linked to a page number. See
“Sherlock Holm’s Consulting Detective”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_Consu
lting_Detective)

 Choice-fiction can include an appendix of back-

story (or newspaper articles) with clues necessary
for solving the choice-fiction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_Consu
lting_Detective)

 Though a novel might be linear, a few choice-

fiction branches can be used to customize the novel
to the reader. “You are about to read a battle-
scene. If you wish to read the gory version of the
battle-scene, go to page 345. If you wish to read a
sanitized version of the battle-scene, go to page
367.”

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CUTTING CONTENT

“2nd draft = 1st draft MINUS ten-percent. Cut, don’t

expand.” (Paraphrased) – Stephen King (From
“Stephen King | On Writing”)

SYNOPSIS (SOMETIMES CALLED AN OUTLINE)

Create a synopsis (outline) of the novel:

 One synopsis-sentence per novel-paragraph.

o Order as shown in the novel.
o Order by protagonist or secondary character.
o Order by setting.
o Order by relationship.

 One synopsis-sentence per novel-page.

 One synopsis-paragraph per novel-chapter.

 One synopsis-paragraph for the entire novel.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Associated with the synopsis are:

 Tracking of characters’ locations within the

setting.

 Tracking of characters’ emotional state, what

they’re thinking about, what problems they’re
trying to solve (goals/objective).

 Tracking of characters’ relationship with other

characters, and their location within a
relationship-arc.

 Tracking of characters’ character-arcs.

 Tracking of newsworthy events that affect (or

might-perhaps-maybe affect) the characters

 Tracking of what each of the 10 (-to-20) different

virtual readers should be thinking at any point in
the novel.

 Tracking of “missing narrative”

 Tracking of which factoids are passed on to the

reader, and which ones are most-important

 Tracking of tension level

 Tracking of which scenes are meant to be memorable,

and what parts of the novel are used to build-up-to
and support the memorable scenes

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 Tracking alternative timelines (based on
protagonist decisions, secondary-character
decisions(?), and events beyond the characters’
control), and why they main timeline is more
interesting

 Tacking of how many character/location names the

reader will have tried to memorize by that point
in the novel

 What paragraphs are plot-arc, versus character

development/elucidation, versus relationship
development/elucidation, versus setting.

CUTTING TEXT BASED ON THE SYNOPSIS

Looking at the synopsis:

 Are any protagonists or secondary characters (or

incidental characters) unnecessary?

 Are any locations unnecessary?

 Are any novel-paragraphs or novel-chapters

unnecessary?

 Are any technologies described in the novel

unnecessary?

 What percentage of the novel does the one-paragraph

marketing-synopsis cover? Does it only describe the
first few chapters? Does its description cover the
entire novel?
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Are segments of the novel entirely ignored by the

one-paragraph marketing-synopsis? If so, then
should those segments of the novel be cut-out?

 Can any settings be merged together?

 Can any adjoining scenes both take-place in the

same setting?

EXPANDING FROM THE SYNOPSIS

Looking at the synopsis:

 Should any protagonists or secondary-characters (or

incidental characters) be added?

 Should any settings be added?

 Should the plot-arc be expanded?

 Should decision-points be added?

 Should science-fiction technologies be added?

 Should non-plot-arc material be added? Such as

education chapters? Or myth-chapters?

REDESIGNING FROM THE SYNOPSIS

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 See what pre-assigned personality-traits and
personality -behaviors (and personality-quirks) are
self-evident. Are new personality-traits/behaviors
appearing that were-not intended? Is a character
exhibiting too-many personality-traits/behaviors?
(More than the typical 3-to-5). Is a character
exhibiting too-few personality –traits/behaviors?
Perhaps redesign the character’s pre-assigned
personality-traits/behaviors, and then rework some
of the character’s dialogue and behavior.

 When are themes used? Is a specific them overused?

Are too-many themes appearing throughout the novel?
Too-few? Redesign portions of the novel to
emphasize only 1-to-3 themes?

REARRANGING FROM THE SYNOPSIS

 Balance memorable events throughout the novel?

(Should the novel begin with a memorable event, so
that potential-readers in a bookstore don’t give-up
on the novel after scanning the first few pages?)

 Balance/intersperse plot-arc, with characters, with

relationships, with setting, with educational
information, with factoids, with mysteries?

SYNOPSIS OF OTHER AUTHOR’S NOVELS

Try creating synopsis of other author’s novels to learn

from them.

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WORK IN PROGRESS…

BETA-TESTING

“Test early and test often.” – Computer-software test-

engineer quote.

As the author, read the novel from the point-of-view of a

major personality-demographic of reader, and write a one-
paragraph book-report about every chapter. How can the
chapter be fine-tuned so that every major reader-
demographic enjoys it?

Stephen King uses 5-ish regular beta-readers, to whom he

distributes the second draft of his novels. (From
“Stephen King | On Writing”)

Orson Scott Card mentions only 1 regular beta-reader.

(From “Characters & Viewpoint”)

Provide different versions (replace entire chapters) of

your novel to different people and see if statistically-
different ratings result.

Provide different last-chapters (or last 2-to-3 chapters)

to your novel, to see if readers prefer different
endings?

How many chapters-in do readers get before they stop

reading? How can E-book software provide this
information?
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POST-PUBLISHING FEEDBACK FROM ACTUAL READERS

Based on (only) one example that Stephen King provided,

1-in-1000 readers will E-mail authors with “feedback”.
(From “Stephen King | On Writing”)

I suspect that 30% of the E-mails that Stephen King

received were “Your horror-novel is evil-and-unwelcome.”

60% of the E-mails would be simple one-liners of “I loved

your novel” or “I wasted $25.00 on your novel.”

The remaining 10% of E-mails would be lengthy, deserving

attention, even if you do-not reply to the people’s E-
mails.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

MARKETING

TITLE

Is the title unique, evocative, and descriptive?

Does the title successfully point-out the sub-genre?

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ONE-PARAGRAPH DESCRIPTION

Can the novel be enticingly described in one paragraph?

If the novel is described in one paragraph, can the

description be written to avoid unfamiliar/odd person-
names, unfamiliar place-names, unfamiliar organization-
names, unfamiliar technology, and unfamiliar race-names?

Does your novel’s one-paragraph-description attract the

type of reader that will enjoy your novel? Can you write
several-different one-paragraph-descriptions, and have
your beta-testers rank/rate/score them? Then have the
same beta-testers rank/rate/score your novel? Which one-
paragraph-description has ratings that correlate-best
with the ratings that the same readers provide for the
novel?

The same correlation-statistics can be used for a novel

title and cover-artwork.

COVER-ART

Does the novel have a non-give-away scene that can be

professionally illustrated, and used as enticing cover-
art? Of course, the cover-art should be different than
the cover-art for other novels (ALL fantasy novels have
dragons and elves on their covers, for example.)

GENRE

Is the novel easily classified in a genre? If it is not,

then appropriate readers won’t discover the novel on
bookstore shelves.
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MAPS

Does the novel’s setting require an interesting map that

potential-readers will notice as the flip through the
pages?

IN-BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

Do the scenes, action, and characters produce a steady

stream of evenly-distributed illustrations for the novel?

Are any of these illustrations interesting-enough that

potential-readers will notice them while flipping through
the novel’s pages?

CHARTS

Can anything in the novel be turned into interesting-to-

look-at charts? Such as genealogies?

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MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Are there any memorable moments that would cause a reader

to recommend the novel to a friend? After the reader
finishes with the novel? While the reader is still
reading the novel?

Are there any memorable moments that would cause the

reader to re-read the novel 20-years later? The novels
that I have read 20-years later are: HP Lovecraft’s short
stories, J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”, Douglas
Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and (I
expect) J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_
the_Galaxy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

MEMORABLE MEME(S)

Does the novel have any memorable meme(s)? Isaac Asimov’s

Robot novels have memorable memes about the “Three laws
of robotics”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics)

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HAPPY ENDING

Does the novel have a happy ending?

Unhappy endings cause some readers angst, as the novel’s

protagonist live in perpetual unhappiness after the novel
finishes… perpetual-unhappiness in the readers’ mind.

HISTORICAL/EDUCATIONAL IMPORTANCE

Is the novel likely to be of historical-or-educational

importance? Such as Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, or
John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men)

LOCALIZABLE

Can the novel be translated-and-localized to other

languages and cultures?

AUDIO-BOOKS

Can the novel be recorded into an audio-book? Would the

audio-book be too long? Is the novel better-suited to

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being recorded as a radio-play, with recorded actors
speaking character dialogue, and without narration?

ILLUSTRATIONS

Are the illustrations in the E-book good-material for

images on the background of the avid-reader’s
computer/tablet?

Are the illustrations in the E-book good-material-for

(AND high-enough resolution for) a mail-order one-off
custom-printed T-shirt for the avid-reader? Don’t forget
to include your web-page-address in the image, for free
advertising.

MOVIE MATERIAL

Is the novel movie material?

CHILDREN’S VERSION

Could a children’s version of the novel be written and

illustrated?

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COMPUTER GAMES

Are tie-in computer games possible?

PEN-AND-PAPER ROLE-PLAYING SOURCE-BOOK

Can the novel’s world be turned into a pen-and-paper

role-playing source-book? Such as “GURPS Discworld”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS_Discworld,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld)

MUSIC TIE-INS

Is any music mentioned in the novel strongly associated

with the novel? George Lucas’ “move, American Graffiti”,
with its selection of pop-songs. Rob Reiner’s movie,
“Stand by me”, with the music soundtrack of pop-songs.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Graffiti,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_by_Me_(film) )

Do E-books ship with background music for the novel?

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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NOVEL SERIES

Important for science-fiction and fantasy novels that

employ unusual settings. Science-fiction with
archetypical settings do-not require as much setting
exposition, so they do-not need to be in a series… unless
protagonists continue from novel to novel.

If have a setting/back-story that requires extensive

exposition, then need to make a series so that book
number-one contains the most-basic setting/back-story
information. Otherwise, much of the setting/back-story
needs to be repeated for EVERY novel… causing regular
readers to skip large sections of your novel that they
already read in another novel.

But if the novels are in series, then things flow-better

when protagonists and secondary-characters continue from
novel-to-novel. Which means you as an author are locked
into a handful of characters…

Or, the descendants of the original protagonists can be

followed in subsequent novels. Or, their friends. Or,
their pets.

Or, the novels can follow different characters… but they

must be subdivided into “Beginner”, “Intermediate” and
“Advanced”. “Beginner” novels spend hundreds of pages
explaining the back-story and setting. “Intermediate” and
“Advanced” novels do-not. Recommend to readers that they
read at least two “Beginner” novels before proceeding to
“Intermediate” and “Advanced”.

Or, if design the characters and plot-arc such that if

readers don’t already know some of the back-story,
setting, and/or technology in the series, they can still
enjoy the stories.

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Or, target readers that thrive on “missing narrative”,
and who thoroughly enjoy being confused throughout most
of the novel.

If a first-novel’s new-and-unique setting attracts

readers who enjoy “Novelty”, then is it possible to build
a novel-series out of the first-novel? The readers that
seek-and-find “novelty” in the first book, might decide
to NOT read subsequent books in the series, because the
setting of subsequent books in the novel-series is no-
longer new-and-unique. (Idea from “How to write Science
Fiction & Fantasy”).

PLOT

Vary the “plot” of every novel in the series:

 “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” – Complete a military

objective, combined with defeat the villain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_IV:_A_New_H
ope)

 “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back” –

Protagonists hunted down, or entrapped.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_V:_
The_Empire_Strikes_Back)

 “Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi” – Rescue people,

including Darth Vader.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_VI:
_Return_of_the_Jedi)

 “Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace” – Protagonists

are running with an object/person, and chased.

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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_I:_
The_Phantom_Menace)

 “Star Wars II: The Attack of the Clones” – Defend

against a small “alien” invasion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_II:
_Attack_of_the_Clones)

 “Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith” – Become

the villain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_III
:_Revenge_of_the_Sith)

FUTURE-PROOFING

 Design and introduce a secondary character in novel

N, so that if you happen to write novel N+1, the
secondary character can become a primary character…
or the secondary character can return.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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A LIFE’S WORK

As a novelist:

 Realize that people tire of reading a specific

author. People also tire of listening to specific
musicians… as much as “The Beatles” changed their
music-style throughout their career, there is only
so-much Beatles-music that most people can stomach
before they decide listen for something different.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles)

 You only need to write so-many short-stories in

your life before a publisher will produce a single
“Best of” short-stories… Which means that as soon
as you expect a publisher to produce a “Best of”
short-stories for you, you might-as well stop
writing short stories, and branch-out into
computer-games, or novels, or harp music.

 You only need to write so-many novels in your life

before fans produce a “Best of” novels list. And
then 50-years later, you’ll be lucky if one of your
novels appears in the “classics” section of a
bookstore… Which means that after 10-to-20 (?)
novels, you might-aw well stop-writing novels, and
branch-out into movies or “How to write novels”-
books.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

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WRITING-GUIDELINES SPECIFIC TO MY OWN NOVELS

WHY I AM WRITING THESE “NOVEL-WRITING

GUIDELINES”

I was abducted by aliens in 200?-2009. Based on my

experiences, I wrote-up an alien-disclosure document,
which I E-mailed around, and posted on the internet. I
have received very-little feedback on my alien-disclosure
document. People either don’t believe it, or they haven’t
read it, or they cannot comment on it.

I have received some feedback on my “disclosure short-

stories”, appearing at the beginning of the disclosure
document. From metrics and direct/indirect feedback, I
know that people are reading the short-stories.

My future novel is NOT about alien-disclosure, though. I

have ceased work on disclosure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ALIENS, AND ALIEN-

ABDUCTION

WARNING: Reading about aliens, UFOs, and disclosure, is

potentially like taking the “red pill” in the movie, “The
Matrix”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill)

WARNING: Taking a serious-interest in aliens, UFOs, and

disclosure, sometimes attracts the attention of mind-
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reading sociologist aliens (and space-faring Hominids),
working for society-design-and-engineering firms-and-
organizations. Employees from the official non-
terrestrial disclosure-organization sometimes listen-in
on your alien/UFO/disclosure thoughts.

WARNING: A LOT of non-terrestrial “money” is also

involved in disclosure: Non-terrestrial nations,
corporations/firms, scientific-organizations,
philanthropic-organizations, and private-individuals, all
have interests in disclosure, not to mention non-
terrestrial militaries.

For more information about aliens, and alien-abduction:

 You can find “mainstream” alien/UFO information at

the following websites:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidentified_flying_o
bject, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufology,
http://www.disclosureproject.org/,
http://www.alienjigsaw.com/)

 To find more information about alien races:

1. Search the internet for IMAGES, using a

search-engine like www.google.com. Search
for: “Real alien”, “Alien photograph”, “Grey
alien”, “Nordic [alien]”, “Pleiadian
[alien]”, “Reptilian [alien]”, “Reptoid
[alien]”, “Reptiloid [alien]”, “Saurian
[alien]”, “Draco [alien]”, “Mantis alien”,
“Lion alien”, and “Chupacabra”.
(http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi)

2. Once you find an interesting alien

photograph-or-sketch, use the search-engine’s
“Find different/more sizes of this image”.
Many images are duplicated-and-displayed by
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people on their personal alien-
websites/blogs.

3. View-and-read the web-pages where the images

occur. The web-pages often have descriptive-
and-speculative information about the alien
race.

4. You can also perform a text (non-image)

search of the internet for the above-
keywords.

 To learn more about the war-in-space between

Hominids and “Reptilians”, search the internet
using a search-engine (like www.Google.com), for
“War in space between Pleiadians and reptilians”,
“War in space between reptilians and Pleiadians”,
and/or “Reptilian time war”. Try replacing the
Hominid sub-race name, “Pleiadians”, with “Nordics”
and/or “Lyrians”. Try replacing the meta-race name
“reptilians”, with “Draco”, “Saurians”, “reptoids”,
and/or “reptiloids”.

 I produced a small compendium of alien-photographs,

from images that I found scattered-about the
internet. My “Photographs of Aliens” document is
located at
(http://www.rozaknovelwritingguidelines.com/Photogr
aphsOfAliens.pdf).

 If you wish to read my alien-disclosure document,

find it using an internet search-engine (like
www.Google.com). The disclosure document provides a
counterbalancing alternative-viewpoint. It is also,
intentionally inaccurate, confusing, and
exaggerated, so that most readers will not take the
document seriously.
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The Hominid Empire Hegemony System is a

conglomeration of nations that resemble the Star-
Trek Federation, the Star-Wars Republic, the Star-
Wars Empire, the Star-Wars resistance, and/or
Firefly (the American “Wild” West).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Federation,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Republic,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Empire_(Star_
Wars), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Alliance,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series) )

WRITING-GUIDELINES SPECIFIC TO MY OWN NOVELS

 300-ish pages. Or, 100-to-150 page novellas?

 Targeted at Anthro/Furry readers – Because I like

Anthro and Reptilian characters, and because there
aren’t enough anthro novels.

Anthro/Furry readers are looking for:

o Anthropomorphic characters

o Novels with a higher social-IQ than is

typical for science-fiction and fantasy
novels. Furry readers already have plenty of
children’s-oriented furry videos and stories,
targeted at lower social-IQ children.

Higher social-IQ furry stories (in general)

cannot devote many pages to setting, or back-
story, or history, without failing on the
social-IQ and Anthro-personality aspects.
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 Or perhaps, targeting science fiction readers who

like very-alien settings – Anthro characters cannot
be used for these readers – since to such readers,
anthropomorphic-characters represent “children’s”
literature. Hominid characters can be included.
Primate, Reptilian, Saurian, Shark-evolved, Fish-
evolved, Squid-evolved, Grey, Insectoid, and
Arthropod-evolved characters are possible though…
Which potentially leads to science-fiction similar
to Larry Niven (adult, science-fiction-reader
social-IQ) and Star Wars (teenager, science-
fiction-reader social-IQ).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars)

 My own agendas

o De-glorify war

o Antislavery

 Science fiction – Technology isn’t the important

part; the effects of technology on people, via its
effects on society, are more important than the
gadgets.

 Miscellaneous

o Discuss the issues that arise from a

multiracial society. (With completely-
different alien-races living together.)

o Emphasize how different alien-races think

differently.

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o Discuss cultural aspects of different alien-
races.

WORK IN PROGRESS…

HOW COULD MY NOVEL-WRITING GUIDELINES BE

TURNED-INTO A SOFTWARE-APPLICATION?

How could all of these ideas be incorporated into a

computer software-package?

WORK IN PROGRESS…

REFERENCES, FURTHER READING, AND SOURCE-

MATERIAL/IDEAS

REFERENCED AS FOOTNOTES

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 My own computer game-design observations,
“Multiplayer Interactive-fiction Game-design Blog”.
(http://www.CircumReality.com/RozakMultiplayerInter
activeFictionGameDesignBlog.pdf).

 “Characters & Viewpoint”, by Orson Scott Card.

Writer’s Digest Books. Copyright 2010.
(http://www.writersdigest.com)

 “Conflict & Suspense”, by James Scott Bell.

Writer’s Digest Books. Copyright 2011.
(http://www.writersdigest.com)

 “Creating Emotion in Games” by David Freeman. New

Riders Publishing. Copyright 2004. (Computer game-
design and novel-writing are related.)
(http://www.freemangames.com/idea/5_1.php)

 “Eberron Campaign Setting” by Keith Baker. Wizards

of the Coast. Copyright 2004.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberron_Campaign_Sett
ing)

 “Harlequin Mills & Boon Novels”. A few romance-

novels from Harlequin Mills & Boon that I am
reading.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mills_%26_Boon)

 “How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy” by Orson

Scott Card. Writer’s Digest Books. Copyright 1990.
(http://www.writersdigest.com)

 “Plot & Structure” by James Scott Bell. Writer’s

Digest Books. Copyright 2004.
(http://www.writersdigest.com)

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 “Should I stay or should I go?” by Lundy Bancroft
and Jac Patrissi.Copyright 2011. Berkley Books, New
York. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkley_Books)

 “Stephen King | On Writing, A memoir of the Craft”

by Stephen King. Scribner. Copyright 2000.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King)

 “Swords & Circuitry: A designer’s guide to computer

role-playing games”, by Neal Hallford and Jana
Hallford. Prima Publishing. Copyright 2001.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Hallford)

 “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” by Raph Koster.

Paraglyph Press. Copyright 2005. (Computer game-
design and novel-writing are related.)
(http://www.theoryoffun.com/)

 “Whom not to Marry”, by Father Pat Connor.

Copyright 2010. Hachette, Australia.
(http://www.hachette.com.au/)

 “Writer’s digest”, magazine.

(http://www.writersdigest.com/)

 “Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies” by Leslie

Wainger. Wiley Publishing Inc., Copyright 2004
(Which I am reading, because romance novels are
completely-orthogonal to science-fiction novels,
and fantasy novels… novels that I typically read.)
(http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Writing-a-
Romance-Novel-For-Dummies.productCd-
0764525549.html)

 “Writing Children’s Books for Dummies” by Lisa

Rojany Bucciere and Peter Economy. Wiley Publishing

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Inc., Copyright 2005.
(http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Writing-
Children-s-Books-For-Dummies.productCd-
0764537288.html)

 “Writing magazine”, magazine. (https://www.writers-

online.co.uk/Writing-Magazine/)

 I will read and incorporate-notes from a few more

“How to write novels” books, when I get around to
them.

NON-FOOTNOTED REFERENCES

 “Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet” by Stacia Kane. Book.

Copyright 2007-2010. (http://www.StaciaKane.com)

 “The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy: Volume One”

by Darin Park and Tom Dullemond, edited by Tee
Morriss, and Valerie Griswold-Ford. Dragon Moon
Press. Copyright 2002.
(http://dragonmoonpress.com/)

 “The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy: Volume Two”

edited by Tee Morriss, and Valerie Griswold-Ford.
Dragon Moon Press. Copyright 2004.
(http://dragonmoonpress.com/)

 “Dungeon” magazine dungeon-adventures. Wizards of

the Coast.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_(magazine) )

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 “Writer’s Forum”, magazine. (http://www.writers-
forum.com/)

 www.AbsoluteWrite.com – Writing webpage.

 www.Accrispin.blogspot.com.au – Writer’s blog.

 www.DailyWritingTips.com – Writing webpage.

 www.DeviantArt.com – Story archive.

 www.Elfwood.com – Story archive.

 www.FictionFactor.com – Writing webpage.

 www.FictionPost.com – Writing forums.

 FictionWriting.About.com – Writing webpage.

 www.FurryWritersGuild.com – Writing webpage.

 www.Gamasutra.com – Game-designer’s and game-

programmer’s resources.

 www.GameDev.net – Game-designer’s and game-

programmer’s resources.

 www.MythicScribes.com – Writing webpage.

 www.MythicScribes.com/forums - Writing forums.

 www.ProcrastinatingWritersBlog.com – Writer’s blog.

 www.RaphKoster.com – Game-designer’s blog.

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 www.PsychoChild.org – Game-designer’s blog.

 www.SFWA.org – Writing webpage.

 www.TVTropes.org – Writing knowledge-base.

 www.WritersDigest.com – Writing webpage.

 www.WritersDigest.com/forum - Writing forums.

 www.WritingForums.com – Writing forums.

 www.WritingForums.org – Writing forums.

 www.WritingWorld.com – Writing webpage.

 www.WritersWrite.com – Writing webpage.

 Various Computer game-design books. I cannot recall

which.

 Extensive science-fiction and fantasy novel-reading

experiences.

 Extensive science-fiction and fantasy movie-viewing

experiences.

 My own imagination, thinking, and first-principles

thinking.

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NOVEL-IDEA OUTLINE:
GENETIC MIGRATION
Novel-idea copyright 2013 by Mike Rozak

I am temporarily including this novel-idea in “Novel

Writing Guidelines”. Please, DO NOT use this novel-idea
for your own novel or story.

OVERVIEW

The novel has four main characters:

 Avatar-protagonist – Anthro-alien. Generic

personality, similar to the READER’S personality.

 Best-friend – The best friend of Avatar-

protagonist, since childhood. Best-friend is
modeled after the READER’S best friend from grade-
school, middle-school, and adulthood.

 Best-friend’s-daughter – The young (5-years-old)

daughter of Best-friend. Used as a surrogate for
Best-friend, by Avatar-protagonist, when Best-
friend is living on a distant planet.

 Undecided – Perhaps an allied-Reptilian.

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The novel has four mini-plots and plot-fragments:

 Relationship – Friendship with Best-friend – The

novel begins, illustrating the strong friendship
between Avatar-Protagonist and Best-friend. When
the two travel to distant planets, Avatar-
protagonist takes-care of Best-friend’s-daughter.
Best-friend’s-daughter becomes a surrogate (“voodoo
doll” in a good way?) for Best-friend.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_doll#Myths_and
_misconceptions)

 Adventure – Genetic Migration – To ensure the

safety of a society’s genes, 10%(?) of the
society’s population must ALWAYS be expats, and
reside on other planets. Avatar-Protagonist is
legally-forced to migrate to another planet for 5-
to-10 years. The adventure consists of the travel
to her expat planet, and her experiences with the
odd planet/culture.

 Drama/Warfare – Mediator/Negotiator – Avatar-

protagonist is a mediator/negotiator by training.
When she arrives at her expat planet, she is given
the job of “interfacing” with allied-Reptilians in
the neighboring city.

 Warfare – News stories – Avatar-protagonist watches

the news about the ongoing war, and wonders how
Best-friend is doing.

OUTLINES

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RELATIONSHIP – FRIENDSHIP WITH BEST-FRIEND

Chapter 1 – Shopping mall, meeting Best-friend

 Avatar-protagonist is waiting for Best-friend.

 She has an unexpected “Genetic migration” space-
travel letter, which will legally force her to move
to a distant (and random) planet to ensure that the
nation’s genetic diversity is NOT imperiled in the
event of a war.
 War mystery: All that is shown on television about
the war is 5 minutes (out of 45(?) minutes) of news
discussing conflict. No books on the war. They’re
out of stock? Or is there no war? Or is there
censorship? What about online information – always
modified.
 The “Genetic-migration” letter is NOT a sure-thing.
Avatar-protagonist is merely warned that in 3-to-6
weeks, she has a chance of being given 2-days
notification before she flies-out.
 She must purchase supplies. One carry-on, and one
1/2 x root-2 x 1 meter trunk.
 Best-friend shows-up with Best-friend’s daughter.
 Is friend’s child an endangered species?
 Are children at school in synthetic bodies? Very
science-fictiony.
 Somehow discuss/relate childhood friendship… How?
Not much time. Which means that need to
reference/rely-upon the READER’S childhood
friendships.
 Best-friend received similar “Genetic migration”
letter a few weeks ago. Or a few weeks later?
 Discuss possibility of war. Gone for 5-to-10 years
and return.

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 Best-friend does NOT want to disrupt daughter’s
school-and-life.
 Avatar-protagonist and Best-friend make a deal.
 If Best-friend migrates, then Avatar-protagonist
will look-after Best-friend’s-daughter.

Six weeks later

 Best-friend is forced to migrate. Avatar-

protagonist is NOT.
 Handover of Best-friend’s-daughter to Avatar-
protagonist.

Two weeks after that:

 Avatar-protagonist receives ANOTHER “Genetic

migration” letter.
 She IS legally-forced to migrate.
 Avatar-protagonist must take Best-friend’s-daughter
with her, to the new planet!

BUGBUG – More

Best-friend’s-daughter acts as surrogate for Best-friend

 Throughout the novel, Best-friend’s-daughter is

treated as an emotional surrogate for Best-Friend
by Avatar-protagonist.
 Perhaps flashbacks/memories of Best-friend are
evoked when Avatar-protagonist interacts with Best-

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Friend’s-Daughter on the “Genetic migration”
planet.

Reunion

 Does Avatar-Protagonist ever get in contact with

Best-friend by mail?
 Does Avatar-Protagonist ever get to meet-up with
Best-Friend, and return her daughter?

ADVENTURE – GENETIC MIGRATION

Space-port – 8 weeks into the novel

 Lots of people, from lots of races, all looking

confused… if you could perceive their facial,
gesture, and odor emotes properly.
 Cannot read the text of signs
 Cannot read tickets
 Beeper that points to proper location
 Urination “hallway”
 Bunk-bed sleeping quarters
 Picture-only magazines
 High-tech surveillance/security devices
 People (or large two-legged unintelligent-animals?)
being led-around with collars

Flight
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 Enter through the rear of the spacecraft.
 Get a 10 second glimpse of the planet immediately
after takeoff.
 The rear has a sandwich kiosk. You NEVER see any
actual working people. They claim that they are
avoiding the ever-present sleeping-gas that is
everywhere, especially in the rooms.
 The sandwich kiosk (intentionally?) barely
accommodates carnivores, particularly the carrots
and lettuce on sandwiches of high-protein bread.
 In the front is a sitting room with television.
 Rooms along the side.
 Enter, lie on the bed, get a massage (complimentary
from the bed), and sleep most of the trip.
 Remember, your carry-on luggage-item goes in a
special compartment in the event of gravity loss.
 No smoking is permitted.
 Enter through a long hallway, or a transit
elevator.

New city

 BUGBUG

Enrolling Best-friend’s-daughter in school

 BUGBUG

BUGBUG – More odd things about planet/society

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DRAMA/WARFARE – MEDIATOR/NEGOTIATOR

Somewhat like elements of the Julius Epstein’s movie,

“Casablanca”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film) )

Co-occupation of a planet with allied-Reptilians.

 Avatar-protagonist flies into new city

 As professional mediator/negotiator
 New-city not far from border where allied-
Reptilians co-occupy planet.
 Meanwhile, planet also has villages of
“primitives”? Another race. Low-tech. Not too-
bright.
 Avatar-protagonist gets into trouble trying to
prevent allied-Reptilians from arresting someone, a
“primitive”?
 Political/legal games
 Criminals versus indentured servants
 Different strategies
 Trip to allied-Reptilian side
 Avatar-protagonist might end up being arrested,
because she “circumnavigated the law”
 Allied-reptilians could force Avatar-protagonist to
be deported from planet because inflammatory
 Or, a scandal/tension between the two cities.
 Growing personal-relationship with other allied-
Reptilian person?

WARFARE – NEWS STORIES

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Avatar-protagonist watches news-stories about the ongoing
war. Wonders about Best-friend, and the future of Best-
Friend’s-Daughter.

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