Announcement: There is action on my new novels. The publisher renamed the series--they are still working on the name. I provided suggestions as did one of my prepub readers. Now the individual books will be given single names: Leora, Leila, Russia, Lumiere', China, Sveta, and Klava--at least these are some of the suggestions. They are also working on a single theme for the covers. I'll keep you updated.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.
The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:
1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
All novels have five discrete parts:
1. The initial scene (the beginning)
2. The rising action
3. The climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement
The theme statement of this new novel is: An agent of the organization becomes involved with a vampire girl during a mission, she becomes dependent on the agent, and she is redeemed.
Once we are clear on the rules for the vampire character, we may move to the agent character. The vampire is a regular vampire--the rules are the classical rules for vampires. There are some clarifications, but that is about it. Now, an agent is a different type of character.
In general, there are two types of agents: covert and overt. Most people are familiar with James Bond as an agent character--James Bond is an overt agent and not a covert agent. A covert agent is never revealed and no one knows she is there. An overt agent is obvious and may even carry an ID. For example an MI-6 or MI-5 agent from Britain or a CIA or OSI agent from the USA. A covert agent is not known to other agents or other members of a group.
In my novels, I have gone to a lot of trouble to design a British covert agency that I named "the Organization." It is loosely based on MI-19 which was the foreign language and interrogation branch of the MI structures in World War II. The organization is a true covert group who provides covert shares to MI-6 and MI-5. In the organization, there are operatives and agents. The operatives support the agents and usually don't go on missions. The agents are always covert and go on missions. Since I developed this group for my novels, I used it in this vampire novel too. I'll get into more details.
With this theme statement I am ready to tackle the novel. The next step was to flesh out the characters and the setting.
More tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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