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: while on assignment in Gdansk, Poland, 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:
I haven't started writing yet, but I have a theme statement for my next novel: a girl in a fascist island nation will do anything to escape--a young cargo ferry pilot not following the rules crashes on the island.
This theme statement lends itself well to each part of the development of a novel. Note, there is a setting, a initial scene, protagonist, protagonist helper, antagonist, and the climax is obvious. Let's talk about each.
An impersonal antagonist has become a very normative theme in many modern novels. This impersonal antagonist is usually an evil government. Some writers give the "evil government" a personal face. George Orwell did this in 1984 and in Animal Farm. Aldous Huxley did the opposite in Brave New World and left the antagonist impersonal. In the Hunger Games, the evil president is the personal protagonist.
For now, I wish to leave the antagonist impersonal--this many times can make a more powerful novel. Many modern people feel they are under attack from an impersonal "government." Your readers will likely resonate with this kind of antagonist. My intent is to take modern socialism to an extreme in the novel. The USSR provides the best model from the 20th Century for this kind of extreme. In the USSR, everything belonged to the state--the people supposedly had ownership, but as the Boston Commons showed the modern world, what an individual doesn't own will not be taken care of. Socialism allows a government to control everything about the lives of a people. For example, the most private of property is the human life--if the state claims ownership of your person, you not only have no rights, your value to the state is now what you can provide it. This is why homosexuals, the mentally retarded, and others were killed by the Nazis in World War Two--their value to the state was zero. In a free society, everyone has value because they have life. Being a human confers value intrinsically. In fact, the US Constitution asserts that under natural law, all rights are conferred by God and not by government. Humans have rights based solely on their life. My antagonist, "evil" government will be this type of fascism based on the Nazis and the USSR.
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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