Announcement: My editor sent a round of emails last night concerning the back cover materials. That included the book teaser and the author bio. They looked good. They also sent the covers for the individual novels. I'll put up the covers when I can. The proposed 3 in1 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.
Sources of data are important. In the "real" world sources are critical--that's why many of the classes I teach deal directly with sources and the source of material. What makes a source "good?" Expertise isn't always a good indicator--look at Dr. Oz. He spouts all kinds of unproven information for the purposes of selling a product. There is an indicator for "real" life and for writing--whenever someone has a stake in the concept, their opinions can't usually be trusted. Therefore, if a scientist is receiving money to prove some idea, it is likely that idea will never happen--on the other hand, if a scientist is paid for success, there is a high likelihood of success.
Real results always trump intellectual ideas. That is, something that is tangible and provable immediately (like building an aircraft) is easy to understand and trust while something that is intangible and easy to confuse the uneducated and politicians about (like global warming) is not easy to prove or trust.
In your writing, the use of sources in the writing and to support the writing is very important. I think it is very important for writers to understand the basis of source material, but that is not a popular or well understood topic at all. If you understand the strength and power of sources, you can present strong evident truth (in the context of your writing) to your readers. That is, you can give them sources in your writing that they can trust and that they can distrust. If you understand the concept of source material, you can provide a degree of the "real" to your readers. That is, you can give them an experience of history, culture, and technology that is based in truth. I'll explain the concept of sources in the next few posts.
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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