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.
Here is my proposed cover for Valeska:
In real life, where is truth? This is usually a very difficult idea to evaluate. Anyone who has lived very long knows that there is truth, but especially today in a pluralistic society, it is very difficult to define truth that gets more than a 50-50 agreement. There are some things that do hit very high. For example, if you ask people if they believe in God--that gets in the 90s. If you ask people if there is truth, you might get in the 50s. I'm really not trying to give you a philosophical or a theological conundrum--I do believe there if truth, and I believe people can know it. The problem is the expression of truth (what is truth) and the proof (how can I know it is true). This is a similar problem in writing.
Some might imagine that writing is about telling or revealing or showing truth. That isn't what writing is about at all--writing is about entertaining. If a little truth gets sprinkled along the way so much the better. The problem is abut truth and about truth in the writing itself. In many of my novels, I don't want the reader to know the entire truth about a character or an event--the novel is shrouded in mystery because it is supposed to be a mystery. As I mentioned before, in writing almost all novels are or should be character revelation (the revelation of a developed character). This entire idea assumes the reader doesn't know everything about a character and the character is slowly revealed during the novel. The same is true for the events of the novel. If I gave a synopsis at the beginning, and you knew the outcome at the end, would you read the novel? Novels themselves are a revelation of both the characters and the events. This is the "truth" of the novel--if you like. This truth is what the author revels through the writing. Like truth in the world, the world of the novel becomes real and is powerful through the design of the revelation.
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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