Announcement: We are in the countdown phase for the publication of my new novels. The date on the internet is 1 September. We will see how close we come, or if the publishers meet the deadline. My Aegypt novels will be titled Ancient Light, and the next two books will be called Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness. These were the original titles. They will be released individually and as a 3 in 1 volume. The proposed cover and info can be found at www.ancientlight.com. 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:
What is truth? I don't know what writers in the past (Victorian era) would have thought about this question and their characters. Characters were revealed in a much different manner. The authors provided a narrative and omniscient view that gave an unconcealed and god's eye view of the characters. This is not the way of writing today. If you want an unconcealed and god's eye view of the characters, write juvenile or young adult fiction. In the world of adults, the point is to determine, what is truth.
Characters have secrets like real people have secrets and for children, it might be appropriate to hang everything out, but for adults, there are secrets. Everyone has secrets--this is a rule of reality. The great author lets us understand and wonder about their character's secrets. There are unresolved issues and unresolved problems and nothing ends in a clean solution. One of my favorite authors is Jack Vance. In Vance, no one wins an argument. This is an observation I've made more than once in real life--no one really ever wins an argument. We want to think you can, and when you are young, you imagine you could win an argument, but the reality is very different than fiction. This is something every new and less experienced author needs to understand very well. We, as authors, are in the business of entertainment. Everything else is not as important as that simple fact. Entertainment means that sometimes people win arguments--not often, but sometimes. If, in your world, your character always wins arguments, you might have juvenile novel or a novel for young adults--or you might have a novel with a unique character. This is something you need to understand about your characters. A unique character might win every argument, but you better write this so well that it wows your readers. Such a character must impress everyone who reads the dialog with the idea that that character might really win every argument in real life. This is a very difficult thing for most authors to accomplish. I would advise against it--unless you really do have that skill. Since most young authors think they are beyond amazing, I suggest you not even try. Beyond amazing is proven by publication. This is one way you know you can write--a little.
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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