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:
Then came The Moon Stone. Novels prior to The Moon Stone were all about character revelation. The focus was on the people. The mystery was the people. Look at Oliver Twist or Jayne Eire. The revelation and the revealed mystery was simply the people in the novel. The authors had devised the concept of plot revelation, but in The Moon Stone, the revelation was an object and not necessarily the people. Now, don't get me wrong, an important part of The Moon Stone was the revelation of the people, but this new type of novel brought into play a new idea--the idea of a mystery outside of human revelation.
This is what mystery novels are--they are a revelation of an event or a thing rather than the revelation of a person. All novels solve or resolve some kind of mystery, but a true mystery novel solves or resolves a problem based on a thing or an event (robbery, murder, secret, lost item). The Moon Stone is considered the first "mystery" novel in English. It would not be the last, by any means--the idea that an event or a thing could be revealed sparked the imagination of many writers and readers.
Note, that there are other types of revelation or solutions. The revelation of a character's life is the standard form a novel. The revelation of an event or item is the standard form of a "mystery" novel. We just defined two genre of writing. There are other forms of revelation and each has its own genre.
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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