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.
Covert operations are those that no one knows you are doing. Overt operations are those that everyone can guess you are doing. An overt agent is like James Bond. James Bond was originally developed as a covert agent, but he really became overt--any agent who is recognized in any way by the enemy has a blown cover. Most MI agents are overt. They don't care if the enemy knows who they are. Their operations don't necessarily depend on them being completely under the radar, but still in the open. This is true for CIA and FBI agents. Usually, we refer to covert agents as undercover agents. The amount of undercover can vary. For example, the most covert of agents are those who are assigned to embassy staffs to listen and report. They may be a secretary or a go to boy. They have a job, that ensures they are near the ambassador or an ambassadorial secretary, but it is unknown that their actual role is intelligence gathering. They gather information on the words spoken by the target not translated to the ambassador, etc. They are able to gather information because no one realizes that they understand the language or that their job is intelligence gathering.
This kind of work isn't that exciting, but it is critical. The other type of covert agent is those who infiltrate an enemy organization or group. There isn't as much scope in writing about such agents except in very specific circumstances or novels. For example, if you want to write about the covert operations of the British, your infiltrating agent is either a British citizen from the culture in question or is a turncoat from the other culture, society, or government. The problem of being a British citizen from the culture in question, from a covert standpoint, is that it is too easy for the enemy to discover. From the other standpoint, a turncoat is difficult to develop as a pathetic character. People are not attracted to that type of character.
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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