Announcement: My new novels should be available from any webseller or can be ordered from any brick and mortar bookstore. Information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.
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 you remember the mathematical proofs you had to do in geometry, you know how to develop a logical proof. You start with definitions. It looks like this:
1. Define the terms
2. State assumptions
3. Produce proof
4. Logical conclusion
Thoughts and emotions are part of the real world, but not part of the physical world. No one can empirically know thoughts or emotions--yet. Science is still working at trying to decode thoughts and emotions from the mind. Will they succeed? Who knows? The ancients quickly grasped that you can't ever know another's thoughts or emotions. The reason should be obvious. Even if you tell me, you are sad. How do I know you aren't lying to me. If you tell me your thoughts, how do I know you are telling the truth. All thoughts and emotions are hidden in the mind of the owner. You might ask: are thoughts are emotions real? The ancient Greeks concluded that thoughts were part of psuche (spirit) and emotions part of sarx (flesh). They called emotions pathos (fate) and the thoughts a part of the human mind. They also acknowledged the human pnuma (eternal spirit). Their view of the human being was a little more complex than this, but this is good enough for our investigation.
The ancient Greeks noted that thoughts and emotions can't be known except through logic. Thoughts, emotions, and the connection to the gods are hidden in the body. They do not reside in the physical world. They can only be approached through logic. You might ask, how can we use logic to know thoughts and emotions? Now is the time to get out your Socrates. Socrates used dialog to tease out philosophical ideas (the connections to the gods and the world). The Greeks thought that you could use logic (dialog--logical argument) to know thoughts, emotions, and philosophical ideas. I am calling philosophical ideas the connection to the gods because the Greeks loosely conceived that the pneuma (eternal spirit) in a person could be understood in the same way emotions and thoughts could be understood. Thus, Socrates' dialogs were used to understand through logic the connections of humans to the real world that could not be seen empirically (physically).
To understand how this works, I'll describe how the Greeks thought you could know emotions and thoughts through logic.
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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