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 my newest novel, Valeska, is this: 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:
Look at my rules three through five:
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
I've discovered that you can't redo creativity. I have lost relatively little of my novel writing. I have one of the best laptops in the business (a ThinkPad). I've used ThinkPads for years--almost from the first one. I have a very light one with great portability, and I have lost almost no initial writing. The more modern software has also helped prevent the loss of writing. For an author, the equipment is critical to prevent loss of data because for creativity there are no redos.
Once you get something on paper the first time, generally that was your only real opportunity. The few times I have had to rebuild or recreate a scene or especially a conversation have been gross failures. The recreation was never as good as the initial writing. Unfortunately, I have lost a few blog entries. You can blame any poor writing in my blogs on redos :-). I admit that I take a completely journalistic approach to blogging and an entirely different approach to writing fiction. However, the problem is the same in both--the first blush of creativity is the best.
This means you must not lose any of your writing. I use the Windows Briefcase to manage my files. I have to admit, Windows Briefcase was awesome in XP and reliable but less well done in later versions. However you manage your writing files, you need to have multiple copies on multiple computers or separate drives in separate places. I update files onto a server which backs up the data daily to multiple hard drives. I also keep Briefcase files on another older ThinkPad. The point is this, my writing is a valuable part of my life and my profession. I can't afford to lose any of it.
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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