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.
Exploration is another means of revelation. Exploration can take place within a scene or outside the scenes. The idea of inside the scenes or outside the scenes is an important concept I haven't written about for a while. Within a novel, there are events occurring that the author shows and those she does not show. You can picture this like a stage play. Some parts of the play appear on stage and some parts occur off stage. The playwrite reports "onstage" those events, important to the play, that occur "offstage." The same hold for novels, but to a much greater degree. For any novel, all kinds of events and action is happening "offstage," and many of the "offstage" events are not directly reported by the author of the novel. The author must be aware of these "offstage" events and work them in the fabric of the novel. For example, most novels follow the point of view (POV) of the protagonist. The other characters weave in and out of this POV. The author must understand the actions and lives of the other characters sufficiently to logically develop the world of the novel. In other words, the world of the novel can't be static outside the POV of the protagonist. All the other characters go along with their lives, and that part of the world of the novel, moves along outside of the scenes and POV of the novel. The author must integrate the parts of the world she creates with the parts of the world she creates and shows in the scenes. This builds depth and power in any novel--plus any novel without this consideration will be a facile work. Exploration as revelation can act "onstage" or "offstage" in a novel.
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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