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.
The past I developed for the vampire, Valeska/Heidi and that I reveal in the new novel I'm writing provides an overall view of the life that created Heidi. Valeska was her Polish name, given and used by her vampire master, while Heidi was her given name. In Heidi, we see a tortured soul who lived to harm. She was abandoned to a nanny who abused her and then began abusing other children early in her life. She caused great harm to others. She took up sorcery at the seduction of a family friend, a business friend of her father's. At fifteen, she was a sorceress of some power and the lover of the man who seduced her into sorcery. She didn't like the way he abused her, so she murdered him. The murder using sorcery is what brought her to the attention of a coven of vampires. The sorcery happened during a full moon and the vampires were hunting. The scent of freshly spilled blood drew them to her, and her beauty and evil drove them to make her one of them.
This is my conjecture concerning vampires--since they can't harm cross-bearers, they seek out evil. Heidi's own thought is that vampires exist to frighten people from evil. In any case, she was an evil person who was made a vampire. Her own actions brought about her experience although she began life like many, she became something entirely different than most. The focus is on the fact that she was evil and that she freely admits that she was evil. This revelation, in the novel, comes in time and conversation. You learn with George Mardling about Heidi the vampire. This is the point of the revelation of a character and the author's development of the character. Notice also, I could have written a novel about the vampire, Heidi. I didn't. Her past and the revelation of her past is more important in the context of the theme of the novel than a novel about her past.
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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