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.
Let's look at developing characters. Characters in novels are about as real as conversation in novels. Whoa--how can that be and what does that mean? First, have you ever read a transcript of a conversation--any conversation? A court reporter or an official transcript is always filled with incomplete sentences, filler words (uhm, like, uh, you know, etc.), filler sounds (smacking lips, clicking teeth, sighs, etc.), unfinished thoughts, unfinished sentences, you name it. When an author sits down to write a conversation, they don't write a real conversation, they write the mind's eye idea of a conversation. In a real conversation, the body language and facial expressions, the nonverbal and the verbal language and vocal expressions all produce the communication--or lack of communication. You can't do that in a novel. You have great tools--these are tools you learn to use well as an author, but they cannot convey a real conversation in any way shape or form.
An author doesn't write a real conversation--an author writes a conversation on paper that appears to be a real conversation. Now, technically, if you acted out the author's conversation, you should have a very nice cohesive piece of a play or a human interaction that passes for real, but that's the trick. It isn't real--it's a cohesive, developed, hopefully intellectual, play that furthers the theme, plot, and storyline, but that isn't real. It should sound real, it should read like real, it should seem like it is real, but we all know real people can't converse that way. The same applies to character development.
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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