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.
I'm not giving this series up quite yet. I'll review some of what I've already described and tie it together.
Holding to a single point of view (POV) while writing a scene is critical. If you don't think it is, your editor will continuously remind you. So you need to hold to a single POV throughout the scene and usually through out the novel. Your POV should be the protagonist. By this, I don't mean you should use first person. In fact, don't use the first person in novel writing unless there is s specific reason to do it. If you are confused, go back through my blogs--I give many reasons for not using the first person and when you should use the first person. Use the third person and stick to the protagonist POV.
Now, in the newest novel I am writing, I have some scenes where the protagonist is not present. That means the protagonist POV is impossible. What is possible is to use the third person, and therefore, not declare a POV or to judiciously use a POV of one of the characters in the scene. Generally, I try to not declare a POV. Sometimes you need to get into a POV, but remember this: it is better to not have a POV if you can get away with it. I've written about POV a lot in the past--just review some of those entries. As you build your scenes, you will find that you can write many novels in a sequence of scenes with input and output sequentially through the entire novel. Not every novel can be written this way, but most should be. This is the scene method of writing.
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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