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. The three tests used for all documentary evidence in history are: the bibliographical test, the internal test, and the external test. We covered the bibliographical test and the internal test. The external test evaluates the document in terms of other evidence. So, when we compare other documents of the same witness to our document, we are looking for similar or different information. We can also compare other evidentiary evidence. For example, there is a dedication to Pilate on a stone in Caesarea Maritama. This provides external evidence of the existence of Pilate. You really didn't need any--there are too many documents in antiquity that name him, but the additional archeological evidence bolsters many points. In antiquity, there is literally very little hard evidence of many people and events. The corroboration by multiple sources makes the evidence near irrefutable.
That is the point of the external test. When we compare documents or other evidence and documents, we only consider a document to be wrong if there is overwhelming evidence from another source of a similar witness. So, a primary document that passes the bibliographical test always trumps any secondary or tertiary source. Likewise, an archeological source isn't necessary, but it always proves another source. It is highly unlikely that archeological evidence would disprove any source--it can only prove a person, place, or thing (event) occurred. It can't do otherwise. A documentary source, on the other hand, proves events, people, and places. We use these tools to prove history.
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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