Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you informed. More 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 26th novel, working title, Shape, is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry and rehabilitates her.
Here is the cover proposal for Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer. Lilly is my 24th novel.
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| Cover Proposal |
I'm an advocate of using the/a scene input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any novel.
Scene development:
1. Scene input (easy)
2. Scene output (a little harder)
3. Scene setting (basic stuff)
4. Creativity (creative elements of the scene)
5. Tension (development of creative elements to build excitement)
6. Release (climax of creative elements)
I can immediately discern three ways to invoke creativity:
1. History extrapolation
2. Technological extrapolation
3. Intellectual extrapolation
Creativity is like an extrapolation of what has been. It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect). Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.
One of my blog readers posed these questions. I'll use the next few weeks to answer them.
3. Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme
4. Evolving vs static character
5. Language and style
6. Verbal, gesture, action
7. Words employed
8. Sentence length
9. Complexity
10. Type of grammar
11. Diction
12. Field of reference or allusion
13. Tone
14. Mannerism suggest by speech
15. Style
16. Distinct manner of writing or speaking you employ, and why (like Pinter's style includes gaps, silences, non-sequitors, and fragments while Chekhov's includes 'apparent' inconclusiveness).
Moving on to 3. 3. Change, complexity of relationship, and relation to issues/theme
I'll repeat:
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
Fifth, what are their actions. Tags and IDs--what habitual actions do they make. All humans have habitual motions or actions. They can be as simple as touching their face in some way or touching their hair. They can stammer or stutter. You certainly don't want to over do this, but such tags and IDs increase the depth of a character. Additionally, certain types of characters are more susceptible to repetitive behavior or speech patterns. There are also types of speech patterns that fall into this category of actions that you only want to allude to. For example, the horrible speech patterns adolescents develop before maturity--those annoying "like," "um," "oh," "yeah," and etc. These are usually not included in any conversation, but might be alluded to or even included in the actions (speech patterns) of some characters.
I've written about conversation before. Conversation in a novel is not "real." A real conversation is filled with all kinds of verbal and nonverbal junk an author can't and shouldn't try to include in written conversation. Written conversation resembles the conversation in a play or a movie more than real life. An author has much more control of the conversation than a playwright or a movie director does. The reason is an author can focus the conversation on words or actions as desired. The movie or play can't control what the viewers are seeing as well. In a movie, the director might focus on a body part or an action, but then the words might lose their strength or meaning.
Back to actions or gestures. These are the habitual movements of the character. They are especially powerful in conversation, but can also be used in the narrative. They are part of the depth of the character. Many times they are very subtle, but by mentioning them, the author can powerfully develop a character. That's the point, more complexity to the characters. These actions and gestures can be considered small flaws in a character--the most important flaw is the telic flaw in the protagonist.
More tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic
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