Announcement: We are in the countdown phase for the publication of my new novels. The date on the internet is 1 September. We will see how close we come, or if the publishers meet the deadline. My Aegypt novels will be titled Ancient Light, and the next two books will be called Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness. These were the original titles. They will be released individually and as a 3 in 1 volume. The proposed cover and info can be found at www.ancientlight.com. I'll keep you updated.
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 number one skill you need as a writer is the ability to read. It would help if you could act at least a little. Like when you read to your kids or grandkids. Do you use different voices for each character? Do you act out the story? This is the way you need to be able to read. It would help if you could make even the lousiest piece of writing sound interesting. This is the point of great literature--the author makes the writing sound great. If you take some of Shakespeare at face value, the writing is terrible, but Shakespeare made the writing great by the way he put it together and the words he used. Learn to read and read a lot. I mentioned what you should read. Perhaps it is worthwhile to evaluate what to read.
Like I said, find the best in your genre. If you write science fiction, I'd suggest Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, Frank Herbert. early Robert Heinlein. If you write historical fiction, I'd suggest Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, Dickens. Hey, I think most modern historical fiction authors aren't worth reading. I haven't read many I think know what the ancient world really was like. If they don't understand the world they are writing about, they can't be very good writers. Shakespeare isn't very good for history either, but that's another question. He understood the details that he could know, he just didn't have very good sources. You don't have that excuse.
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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