Development - Even More Developing the Picture of the Creative Process

29 February 2012, Development - Even More Developing the Picture of the Creative Process

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Aksinya, the heroine of my novel, Aksinya, is a troubled person.  We are seeing how I used the creative process to make the initial picture then the initial scene for the novel.  Within that initial picture, we see a demon and now a young woman.  Through her ancestry, she is an aristocrat and indeed a Russian princess.  That last part is not revealed until near the end of the novel.  We also have a basis for her afflictions.  She perceived that she was unloved by her mother, her step father, and to some degree by her brother and sister.  Still, she loved her family enough to call a demon (give up her soul) to protect them.  This in itself is revealing.

I was writing yesterday about her acquisition of sorcery.  We discover in the novel that she was trained by an Orthodox priest and learned Latin and other languages.  She was given a decrepit guest house and there found texts about sorcery.  Sorcery texts, we discover, are written in Latin.  The language of sorcery, we find, is Latin.  Aksinya has learned Latin perfectly.  She studied the books of sorcery and perfected the use of sorcery.  At the dawn of the novel, we discover a person grounded fully in the art of sorcery.  This is also something I wanted to present in a novel.  Too many novels about magic have incompetent sorcerers.  I wrote a novel where the sorceress was entirely competent--perhaps the most capable sorceress of her time.

In addition to the design of the character, I also had to design the means of the magic.  I used classical sources for that part.

We'll continue to explore the concept of the main character for the novel Aksinya, tomorrow.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.