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.
Here are my rules of writing:
1. Entertain your readers.
2. Don't confuse your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
Creativity is work and not an act of divine providence, random fate, or abstract accident. Creativity is hard work that is equal to the effort expended on it. If you wish to write (or be creative in any way): study, put lots of effort into it, and work hard at it.
The question then is how do you work at creativity? I think their are three parts to creativity: inherent creativity, learned creativity, and fostered creativity.
Embedded in the following questions is the way to learn creativity. Basically, to learn creativity, you must practice being creative. Without the spark of inherent creativity, this will be impossible, but if you have any touch of creativity, doing the above will bring out your creativity.
1. Do you like art (1)?
2. Have you created quality art (3)?
3. Do you like music (1)? (all kinds not just one type or another)
4. Have you written any music (3)?
5. Have you written any lyrics (3)?
6. Do you play any instrument (2)?
7. Do you like to sing (1)?
8. Do you sing in parts (2)?
9. Do you like to read (1)?
10. Do you like to write (2)?
11. Have you written any poetry (3)?
12. Have you written any stories (3)?
13. Have you written a novel (4)?
14. Have you written a book (4)?
15. Do you get great ideas (2)?
16. Have you ever successfully implemented your great idea (3)?
17. Do you like plays, musicals, opera, or ballet (1)?
18. Have you acted in a play, musical, opera, or ballet (2)?
19. Have you written a play, musical, opera, or ballet (4)?
We've looked at inherent creativity and learning creativity--now I want to move to the third aspect of improving and proving creativity--fostering creativity. In the learning of creativity, we saw that experience and work in creative pursuits led to the learning creativity. Fostering creativity is similar.
I wrote this before: the creative process, as Socrates and Aristotle asserted is cathartic. I also learned the basis of this from Mr. Martin (my High School English teacher). You must fill your mind with all kinds of good and powerful information, emotions, sensations, and experiences. When appropriately filled, you let it all out on a page of white paper, or in my case into an ether construction that looks like a white page--Plato would be proud. An artist must be very careful that every input does cause his imagination to expand and become filled. Experiences that exhaust you; exhaust your imagination. Experiences that bring out your emotions, enhance your ability to express, on a page, those emotions. Encounters in silence and unique or dramatic visual experiences build up your imagination. Based on my own prejudices and understanding, here is what I think fills and empties (these are experience based and not logic based, so don't get all worked up about the examples):
| Filling | Emptying | |
| Contemplative process: | Creative process: | |
| | Reading | Writing |
| Imaginative contemplation | Making a video | |
| Playing or singing | Writing music | |
| Reciting a poem | Memorizing a poem | |
| Studying | Studying for a test | |
| Writing essays and technical papers | Writing fiction | |
| Reading a fiction book | Reading a nonfiction book | |
| Watching a contemplative movie | Watching TV | |
| Listening to well developed music | Listening to anything you might hear from an elevator or from the enclosed car next to you | |
| Work | Leisure | |
| Listening to intellectual conversation and debate | Listening to social conversation | |
| Participating in intellectual conversation and debate | Participating in social conversation | |
| Looking at a photo or a picture book | Reading all the words in a photo or picture book | |
| Watching people | Interacting socially with people | |
| Reading a newspaper | Writing for a newspaper |
| When my brain is filled with good stuff, I write. I write every day after lunch. Wait--you said, you should write in a cathartic moment after all the good things fill your mind. Can that occur if you have a set schedule for writing? Yes. I work in the mornings and I write in the afternoon. Notice that work is something that fills up my imagination. I want to get done with my work so I can write. My work is mostly study related; I listen to conversational radio and contemplative music in the morning, and I am ready to write in the afternoon. |
I'll write more about how to spend your time in developing creativity tomorrow.
The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: Please elaborate on scene, theme, plot, character development in a new novel creation....ie, the framework, the development, order if operation, the level of detail, guidelines, rule of thumb, tricks, traps and techniques. To what extent do you outline the historic context, culture, mannerism, speech, dress and thought process of the main characters, in a historic novel...in order to maintain integrity, and gradually (help) reveal attributes of a character in the story, or otherwise clarify the plot, scene, transition, tension or resolution?
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonorhttp://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.
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