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
Paganism comes out of animism with the development of literacy. When a culture becomes literate, it also gains the means to express new ideas that are completely impossible without literacy. For example, there is no way for a preliterate society to express something like love. Without a written word, it is impossible to express ideas that are not fully concrete. Words like "love" can't be expressed without a means to write it. In a preliterate society, it is impossible to express ideas that are not specific. For example, if I say the word chair, a literate person sees the word in their mind--there are too many types of "chairs" for a person to imagine a chair without the word. In a preliterate society, the word chair can only bring up a specific "chair" and not a general word "chair." It is much worse for a word like love--how can you imagine a word as complex as love without a written word, "love?"
A literate culture also begins to develop new concepts that require new words. For example, words for music, writing, art, metallurgy, etc. The pagan culture also needs new gods--gods who represent these new words and ideas. In animism, there are gods in everything. In paganism, gods fill very specific niches in the culture. Gods fulfill the place of very critical ideas: love, music, metal, etc. Thus, we see in the Greek culture Apollo (the sun god) becomes the god of music and the sun. The goddess of wisdom (Athena) leaps fully armed from the mind of Zeus. The goddess of love (Aphrodite) is birthed of sea foam from the Aegean. The Greeks need a god of metal and a god of literature and a god of weaving. These gods come directly out of the development of civilization. There is more, animism means there are gods in everything. Paganism makes everything more specific.
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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