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.
This is another reason I don't like single word themes. For example, if you say, my novel has a "love" theme, what exactly does that mean? If you say it has a "true love" or "first love" theme, you are getting closer to some meaning--still obscure. When I write that my novel has a redemptive theme, that can mean many different things.
Classically, a redemptive theme means the protagonist is redeemed from some great evil in their life. For example, the evil businessman who cheat his clients comes clean and repays what he did wrong, or the woman who prostetutes herself realizes her actions are wrong and becomes an upstanding member of society. In my novel, Aksinya, the protagonist, Aksinya, called a demon from hell to help her save her family. Her family was killed anyway, and Aksinya's redemption is from the demon and her own demons. These are classical redemptive themes. Less classical, but just as important, in my mind, are redemptive themes where people are saved emotionally and mentally. I have used these types of redemptive themes before--they can be much more powerful than a classic redemptive theme. For example, the man who has turmoil over some terrible event in his life and overcomes the turmoil and the event, or the woman who is traumatized by abuse and overcomes that to help others. I have used this as a theme in my novels as well. Many times this is a good subtheme. For example, in my novels Shadow of Light and Shadow of Darkness, the protagonist has to overcome (be redeemed) from her fear that her parents hate her and believe she is evil. The novel is very complex in this regard, and the desire for people to make their parents happy is a very strong redemption theme.
You can see, a redemptive theme is a classic theme and one that has great potential to many audiences.
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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