Announcement: I received the proofs and a three-day deadline to give comments. One of my regular prepub readers and I went through the three book. I was able to correct some second edition issues in Aegypt. The proposed cover and info can be found at www.ancientlight.com. I'll keep you updated. I should have three new books out soon.
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:
The purpose of a novel is to reveal the protagonist and usually the protagonist's helper, the author needs to place them in circumstance that allows them to reveal themselves. The means can be conversation, exploration, discovery, other's conversation, confession, accidental discovery.
I like to write in scenes that move from input to output to the end of the novel. I like the scenes to follow in order of time and from place to place. I have written using other time and scene concepts, but I usually stick to the scene method I just described. There is a very powerful tool in scene development I'll call the concurrent scene. A concurrent scene can take place at the same time as a regular scene only the Point of View (POV) is different. For example, if you are writing in the third person and your protagonist is the normal POV, a concurrent scene might take place in the third person with another character's POV and not include the protagonist.
These type of concurrent scenes might be designed by the author for plot revelation or for character revelation. I've given an example in the past of a plot revelation example from Dana-ana. In this scene, the antagonist is discussing with his henchmen what they are going to do to Dana-ana. The scene is a conversation and it is powerful because Dana-ana is digging through the garbage for lunch while they are plotting her demise. This is an example of a plot revelation--it gives the reader a POV that is different as well as information that is not available to the protagonist or protagonist's helper.
The type of scene I am focusing on is a concurrent scene that is all about character revelation. It should not include the protagonist and will include a discussion of the protagonist--or at least will allow the writer to reveal information about the protagonist. It will be a concurrent scene because it will be out of the normal POV and out of the normal time sense and place sense of the novel. This isn't esoteric, it simply means the scene might not directly follow in the input/output sequence of the rest of the scenes, and the place may not be a normal place introduced in the novel. I'll give an example.
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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