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.
You can't write a novel in a day--even a well outlined novel can be completely messed up if the author doesn't understand the idea of tension and release. In other words, you can have all the five parts of a novel, listed above, and still not produce a good novel. The reason is this: a novel is a collection of scenes and not just a singular entity. Each scene needs to be approached as I have been describing them to you: input, setting, tension, release, output. All of these are necessary, but the most important is tension.
What I do is this--I imagine my characters in powerful emotional and action oriented scenes, then I try to make those scenes happen. Sometimes they fit in place, and sometimes they don't. When I start any scene, I take the input and setting (they are givens), I try to visualize the output, and then I visualize or develop the situation in the scene that will build tension. Each scene must be like a miniature novel (or a short story) in that it has its own climax (tension) and falling action (resolution). For example, one scene I was keen to include was a revelation scene where certain important people realized who the vampire was and unfairly attacked her. I imagined a great emotional blowup that led to a physical altercation where the agent had to rescue the vampire because she would not defend herself--until the agent was attacked. This scene wouldn't fit in the novel properly--so I discarded it. What replaced it, was even better.
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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