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.
There are three ways to know truth: the scientific method, the historical-witness method, and logic. Once you determine the primacy of witness for the evidence, then you can begin to determine the truth about something that happened in history. Evidence comes in many varieties. Some of the best evidence are videos, photos, and recordings. As long as these can be corroborated as accurate and the individuals identified on them, they can be near perfect records of the past. Unfortunately, they only have existed for a little more than a hundred years (photos a little longer), and they are easy to fake--especially now. Photos and recordings don't usually give a story--only a part of a story. They tend to be incomplete in ways other evidence is not. Videos are good, but they also have a problem of reference. When viewing a photograph, have you ever wished to see more? Have you wanted to see behind the camera or at another angle? When viewing a video, have you wondered what was going on outside the video? What was going on behind the scenes? Recordings have the same problem from the standpoint of sound--just what is that sound outside the reference of the scene? Where is the recording being made?
The important information for photos, video, and recordings is context. Context is critical. The context for all of these either comes on the record itself or in words attached to the record. For example, the caption on a photo, the identification or introduction of a recording or video, or the document attached to the recording or video. In every case, it is the words either attached or part of the record that gives context and brings understanding to the record. This documentation is the greatest basis for all evidentiary records.
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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