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:
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.
Here is more of the example revelation conversation. It is from my novel Warrior of Darkness, yet unpublished, but part of the Ancient Light novels. Here is the third part:
Niul gazed at her for a moment, “Very
well, I’ll tell you a bit. I was born in
Armagh .
My mother and father owned a farm.
They were stanch Catholics and the troubles hit them hard. The Brits bivouacked on our land for months. In spite of that we were able to take in the
orchard crop that year. I think they
still have the farm and live content, but I haven’t seen them in years. In Armagh I
had my first taste of a woman and of the magic.
They came in the same wrapper for me.
I was always good in school. She,
my first, wanted a young man with patience and wisdom. Because of the studies, I went to Queen’s
University and studied Gaelic History and Language. I took a Masters and was awarded a Doctoral
degree in the same. I taught for a
while, but the time required for the magic became too great, and the PIRA
approached me and told me they would pay me for that alone. I was happy to spend my time in study
especially in the study of magic. I am
very good at it.”
Klava plucked at her napkin, “I know. What about your lover?”
“When I exceeded her in ability, she
stopped contacting me. I didn’t love
her.”
Scáth smiled.
Klava cocked her head, “What do you intend
to do now?”
“I originally planned to begin the process
of recursing a bag and the items.”
Klava smiled, “But you found this was
impossible.”
“How did you know?”
“I told you not to try. You must give it up. Right now, you know your trust in the world
is no longer as strong. You can no
longer fully trust in the world.”
“Then what am I trusting in?”
Klava laughed, “Isn’t it obvious. You are now trusting in me. You shouldn’t. You are foolish to, but you cannot stop
believing that I am much more than I seem.
I don’t have any stink of magic on me.
I purified your cursed items. I
confounded your most powerful spells. I
stopped the PIRA bombs. I sit here with
my servant whom you have identified as the living dead. You can no longer go on trusting in the world
because you have found a being who does not play by the rules of the world or
of magic.” She glanced at him sidelong.
Niul put his chin in his hand.
“You had sex with me, and you wonder what
this means. You know it was not like the
sex you had with any other woman. You
know the event was monumental in your small world and you suspect in the larger
world. You collapsed my world and
brought me to this state—I had to beg you.
Now you can no longer trust in the world alone, and you can’t make the
magic work.”
Niul frowned, “What should I do then?”
“Your trust is misplaced. The reason I am who I am. The reason I can do what I do is because of
the Dagda and His Son.”
“Ha, you would have me become a Catholic
again then.”
“You have no other hope. Just as Scáth follows the Dagda and I follow
the Dagda, your only hope is to stop trusting in me and trust only in Him.”If you didn't get it yet, Niul is a magic user. His materials and spells were ruined by Klava's actions ad power. A magic user must put full trust in the world--a trust in anything else makes their magic impossible--this is classic magic theory according to P.E.I Bonewitz and James Frazier. When a magic user places their trust in anything else, they can no longer make their magic. This is Niul's problem. The "parting shot" from Klava makes this point.
For the reader, this is a setup. Using scene development, the next scene should be Niul attempting to use magic or attempting to understand the circumstance of his trust issue. This is indeed what happened in the next scene. In this case, the revelation conversation "reveals" these characters, but also sets up the next scene and events in the novel. The conversation also reveals something about magic and much about Klava.
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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