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.
The way people think about the world is rooted in their religious (spiritual) view of the world--no kidding. There are four stages in religious thinking (religions):
1. Animism - gods in everything, man is fated
2. Pantheonic Paganism - gods rule certain things and both man and god are fated
3. Mysterium - gods rule and man can know god through rituals and education
4. Gnosticism - god is there and man can be like him through knowledge
I'm writing about how animism affects a culture and society's thinking. In animism, the gods make everything happen. It means that fire occurs, not because of some understandable scientific process but because of the whims of a god. It means that things occur because of a god or gods and not because of natural phenomena. The entire world of the animist is based and occurs because a god makes it happen. Therefore, before a person can do anything, they must appease and work with the gods. If you read my novel The Second Mission, you can see how this works to some degree. The Greeks would not kindle a fire on their own--they had to get the fire from the local temple, which received their fire from Olympus, which renewed their fire from a shield and the sun at the summer solstice. A hearth fire was never allowed to go out, and before the fire in a home could be reinvigorated in the morning, an alpha symbol and the proper prayers and libation had to be made. Likewise, before the fire could be prepared for the evening, an omega and the proper prayers and libation had to be made.
Every action in an animistic culture requires a prayer and a sacrifice, usually a libation. Every act was considered to be under the control of the gods (fated). The word for human fate in the Greek is pathos. Pathos is also the word for uncontrolled emotion especially uncontrolled sexual energy. In Greek thought, a person who had uncontrolled emotions or action was fated. In the animism world view, humans can't make decisions and they can't control themselves. The move from animistic thinking to pantheonic paganism comes with literacy. As a culture gains literacy (and basic civilization), they begin to need different and new gods.
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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