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. Let's see how we can use these tests.
If a document passes the bibliographical test, it is considered accurate and a historical document. The next step is the internal test. First, we look at the witness. If the witness claims to be primary, that is accepted automatically (unless another better source contradicts it). A primary witness automatically trumps any other document of a lessor witness. Next, you look at documentary claims. If the document claims to be history--it is automatically considered history--that is unless another source of equal or better bibliographical claim is available. Or if the document is not primary or secondary, then claims that can't be verified can't be accepted without some proof. Here is a great example, the Torah (first five books of the old testament) claim to be history; however, the witness is tertiary until Moses comes on the scene. Once you have Moses, who claims to be the author (and must be accepted unless an equally old and accepted document claims otherwise), the document is primary or at worst secondary (someone could have told Moses about his family). The problem with the historicity of the Torah before Moses, is there is no primary or identified secondary witness. This makes the document tertiary at best. It is no better than a modern history book.
The value of the early parts of the Torah (specifically Genesis), isn't historical in the sense of the other writings of Moses, but rather, as literature and to know about the thinking of the Hebrew people at the time. It has great value as a historical document, but it can't be used to prove any historical event--unless you can show corroboration with other historical evidence. Christians, Jews, and others need to understand this about the Torah--it is very valuable as a historical document, but until Moses, it is only a tertiary witness. It has the same authority, in history, as a history book. After Moses, the witness is primary--that makes it a very credible and irrefutable historical source--unless you can prove with another document (or evidence) that Moses was not a primary witness. What about those pesky miracles?
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
No comments:
Post a Comment