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.
My yet unpublished novel, Dana-ana is an example of discovery because it is a novel wholly about discovery. Valeska is a novel, also about discovery, but the readers know many of the secrets of Valeska at the beginning. The comparison is between a novel where the readers know the secret (Valeska) and a novel where the readers are as in the dark as most of the characters (Dana-ana).
Dana-ana is a novel whose protagonist has a great secret. It is a secret she can't share with anyone at all--she is prevented from sharing anything about her secret. Dana-ana is about a girl in the modern world who lives life as if she were an Anglo-Saxon woman. She acts like she is living in the Anglo-Saxon world of almost 1500 years ago. Even those who befriend her can't figure her out. Is she mentally ill? Is she deluded? Is she under some coercion? Why won't she conform to the modern world? Why does she see all aspects of her world from the point of view of an ancient society?
All these questions would be academic, except that the person Dana-ana can speak ancient Anglo-Saxon. She also know Latin and ancient Norman French. She knows things only an Anglo-Saxon should know and acts in ways only an Anglo-Saxon would act. You can see the mystery here, and the reader is as much in the blind as the other characters. Only Dana-ana knows why she is the way she is and she will not or cannot tell.
This is a true discovery novel--it is a novel where the readers and the characters slowly learn more and more about the protagonist, but until the end and the climax, they have no real idea who is Dana-ana. You can see the power of this type of novel. The use of discovery in this type of novel is critical to the novel and the entertainment in the 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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