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:
I wrote before that your theme should be unique--the reason was primarily to focus your writing on something new that is sellable. Ultimately, unique can also mean entertaining. Let's think about this. People are looking for something new and interesting. New can interesting is generally unique. New and interesting can mean entertaining. Many, if not most, of the writing ideas I pass on to you are for the specific purpose of allowing you to produce an entertaining result. For example, I use and advise the use of unique themes because they can be the most entertaining. I advise and use pathetic characters (characters who produce emotion in your readers) because people generally find them to be the most entertaining characters. I advise and use unusual characters because they are generally entertaining characters. I suggest a revelation approach to characters and the storyline because everyone likes a little mystery.
Literally everything I discuss here goes back to entertainment--because novels are all about entertainment. So when I write that you should make an entertaining theme, what does that mean? Let's look at the theme for my latest novel, Valeska. The theme statement is written above.
The first character and the protagonist (usually the protagonist should be the subject of your theme statement) is an "agent for the organization." An agent is an exciting and therefore a potentially entertaining type of character. The character and the organization are both mysterious and will require some degree of revelation. Compare that to this protagonist: a businessman who works for a national bank... I'm not telling you that "a businessman who works for a national bank," can't be an entertaining character, but it ain't very unique and it ain't very exciting to begin with. You better get the rest of the theme statement moving for such a character. You can imagine other bland or exciting protagonists. I'm just advising you, that if you start with an exciting protagonist, you will help to make a potentially entertaining theme statement.
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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