05 July 2025, Writing - part xxxx100 Sister of Darkness
Announcement: I
still need a new publisher. However, I’ve taken the step to republish my
previously published novels. I’m starting with Centurion, and
we’ll see from there. Since previously published novels have little
chance of publication in the market (unless they are huge best sellers), I
might as well get those older novels back out. I’m going through Amazon
Publishing, and I’ll pass the information on to you.
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.
Today’s Blog: To see the steps in
the publication process, visit my writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus two 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.
4a. Show what can be
seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
6. The initial scene is the most important scene.
These are the steps I use to write a novel
including the five discrete parts of a novel:
1. Design the initial scene
2. Develop a theme statement
(initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action
statement)
a. Research as required
b. Develop the initial
setting
c. Develop the characters
d. Identify the telic flaw
(internal and external)
3. Write the initial scene
(identify the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action
movement)
4. Write the next scene(s)
to the climax (rising action)
5. Write the climax scene
6. Write the falling action
scene(s)
7. Write the dénouement
scene
I finished writing my 31st novel,
working title, Cassandra, potential title Cassandra:
Enchantment and the Warriors. The theme statement is: Deirdre and
Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult
mysteries, people, and events.
I finished writing my 34th novel
(actually my 32nd completed novel), Seoirse,
potential title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment. The
theme statement is: Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector and helper at
Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately,
Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
Here is the cover
proposal for the third edition of Centurion:
|
Cover Proposal |
The most important scene
in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the
rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel,
working title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel,
working title Detective. I finished writing number 31,
working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior. I just
finished my 32nd novel and 33rd novel: Rose:
Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse: Enchantment and the
Assignment.
How to begin a novel. Number one thought,
we need an entertaining idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea with a
theme statement. Since I’m writing a new novel, we need a new theme
statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy,
infiltrates the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s
administrative clerk, learns about freedom, and is redeemed.
For Novel 32: Shiggy Tash finds a lost girl
in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization gives her for her latest
assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and needs someone or something
to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.
For novel 33, Book girl:
Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they are both attending Kilgraston
School in Scotland when Morven loses everything, her wealth, position, and
friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to befriend and help her
discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family and existence.
For novel 34: Seoirse is assigned to
be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses
and schoolwork; unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
For novel 35: Eoghan, a Scottish National
Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem in Loch Lomond and
The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and accidentally
releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and Aine desires
a new life and perhaps love.
Here
is the scene development outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
Today: Let me tell you a little about writing. Writing
isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime. Writing is a habit and an
obsession. We who love to write love to write.
If
you love to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well. We
want to write well enough to have others enjoy our writing. This is
important. No one writes just for themselves the idea is absolutely
irrational and silly. I can prove why.
In
the first place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only
purpose. Writing is the abstract communication of the mind through
symbols. As time goes by, we as writers gain more and better tools and
our readers gain more and better appreciation for those tools and skills—even
if they have no idea what they are.
We
are in the modern era. In this time, the action and dialog style along
with the push of technology forced novels into the form of third person, past
tense, action and dialog style, implying the future. This is the modern
style of the novel. I also showed how the end of literature created the
reflected worldview. We have three possible worldviews for a novel: the
real, the reflected, and the created. I choose to work in the reflected
worldview.
Why
don’t we go back to the basics and just writing a novel? I can tell you
what I do, and show you how I go about putting a novel together. We can
start with developing an idea then move into the details of the writing.
Ideas. We need ideas. Ideas allow us
to figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw. Ideas don’t come fully
armed from the mind of Zeus. We need to cultivate ideas.
1. Read novels.
2. Fill your mind with good
stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about.
3. Figure out what will
build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.
4. Study.
5. Teach.
6. Make the catharsis.
7. Write.
The development of ideas is based on study and
research, but it is also based on creativity. Creativity is the
extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new
form. It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the
history, science, and logic (the intellect). Creativity requires
consuming, thinking, and producing.
If we have filled our mind with all kinds of
information and ideas, we are ready to become creative. Creativity means
the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a
new form. Literally, we are seeing the world in a new way, or actually,
we are seeing some part of the world in a new way.
The beginning of creativity is study and
effort. We can use this to extrapolate to creativity. In addition,
we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.
With that said, where should we go? Should
I delve into ideas and creativity again, or should we just move into the novel
again? Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we know, will result in
a new novel. I’ve got an idea, but it went stale. Let’s look at the
outline for a novel again:
1. The initial scene
2. The rising action scenes
3. The climax scene
4. The falling action
scene(s)
5. The dénouement scene(s)
As I promised, I cleaned up the
breadcrumbs for Bookgirl. I’ll likely go
back to give you more of this novel, but for now, I’ll go over some events and
writing I’m working on now. T be clear,
I’m writing Bookgirl, but Centurion was released in a revised edition
and because my publisher went out of business, I’ve independently republished
the novel. It’s basically the same novel
with some small improvements from my studies of history and my improvements as
a writer, but that said, it’s still the same novel.
I didn’t change any of the events and made
only minor changes to reflect my knowledge of some historical points. As I wrote, they are very small. For example, I’ve become more and more
convinced with my studies that metal was much less available than I even
thought it was at when I wrote Centurion over forty years ago. Wow, it’s been that long. For that reason, I got rid of any common
reference to metal where it could not be supported by historical evidence. In the metal weapons and armor of the
Legions, this didn’t change much at all, just a little in their personal
equipment, as from bronze to wood bowls and such. In addition, the use of metal pots and such
would be only available to the very wealthy and in commerce—even then, only an
inn or a wealthy and successful business could afford any kind of metal container. Everything else would be wood, ceramic (fired
pottery), or unfired pottery. Even for
common cooking this would be true except in an inn—that’s why inns were so popular
for food preparation in the ancient world to about 1750 or so.
Another small change I made in Centurion
was to make almost every piece of dialog contain contractions for common
speech. I’m not certain why I didn’t
write it that way before. My editor didn’t
even recommend it. It might have been
the times and the style. In any case,
the reading of the novel has improved and has a better more modern feel.
I also got rid of all the saids. I hate said.
This wasn’t hard to do since I had already not included many in the
original novel, but I was very happy to place stronger and better words or tags
for the dialog.
I also made sure the text for the Aramaic
terms was consistent and fixed it in the lexicon. There was only one real change to the text of
note and that was in the John the Baptizer scene where Ruth is immersed in the
Jordan river. My studies have led me to
the knowledge that first Century baptisms must be very similar to the mikvas. In this regard the baptizer would not touch
the person and would only be present to explain and ensure all the items, like
hair, was completely immersed. A mikva attendant
uses a stick to push the hair below the water.
I also know the mikva must be accomplished in the nude, and so would all
early baptisms, but because this would be a great difficulty in the society and
culture of the times, I left Ruth and the others clothed. I just didn’t mention they were clothed any
differently. One of the main reasons for
the development of female deacons in the early church was likely the baptism of
women. That solved the cultural
difficulty.
Centurion is available now in a revised
edition. The publisher is supposed to be
still working on the Amazon page. The
many great reviews for the work and the information on it didn’t transfer to
the new page. I’ll probably have to take
a hand in that, next. What I wanted to
report on is the development of the audio book.
I’ll get to that, next.
I actually picked a very good reader. His only pronunciation issues have been some
of the Latin words. Most of the words,
and especially the Aramaic ones have been correctly pronounced.
If you can’t tell, I’m going over every
word of the audio in the novel. I’ve
received some of the chapters, up to chapter 10 actually. The earlier ones haven’t been fixed yet. I’m wondering how they fix these—do they go
back through and pick a certain point or do they blend it into the text. I would have thought they would have had to
do it by sections.
In general, I like the way the reader is
reading the text. The dialog is especially
well done. I’ve been reading books to my
kids and grandkids for years, plus I’ve done many stage plays and other reading
events. I’m hyper critical about the way
the reading is done, but I have few complaints, as I wrote, with this reader. I haven’t been a great fan of the audio book,
so I haven’t listened to many, but I understand its very popular for now—eventually,
the reading function of computers and software will make audio reading unnecessary. That technology is almost here. The problem is the lack of emotion and the
lack of discernment in the autoreaders also, these computer readers tend to
sound like computers—if you know what I mean.
I’ll put out Centurion as an audiobook
and see how that does. I’m not certain I’ll
do that with any of my other works, but Centurion has been the most
popular—I might as well start with it.
I’d like to publish some of my other
previously published works. I’d really
like to publish Aegypt, and the entire Ancient Light Series. That would be fun. I haven’t given up looking for a new
publisher, but the current business is discouraging because of the types of
crap I think most publishers are looking for.
I’m not sure the normal type writers can ever get published today, but
we shall see.
I’ll give you more about writing in
general, next. Perhaps about Centurion
or Aegypt.
I actually am very impressed with the
quality of the audio work by the reader of Centurion. I’m not certain how he is getting the proper pronunciations. He may be using the internet to find the
correct pronunciations and relying on common information on English
pronunciations for those words that appear to be more common English. What is surprising is that the reader has
made some mistakes with a couple of words that I would consider common English,
for example double consonant verb tenses for example hopping or hopped. These should be pronounced with a short o,
but a couple of times the reader has pronounced these with a long o. I would have considered this common English
knowledge. A can’t blame the reader, I’m
just point out you have to listen carefully to the readings and ensure the
proper pronunciation. The difference
between hope and hop are significant. I’ve
only seen a couple of these, but it is consistent enough to remark.
As I wrote, the main difficulty is with
the Latin words. Centurion is all
about the Roman Legions, so I used many original and less common Latin words. I haven’t checked but I suspect the words in
English might be incorrectly pronounced on the internet. Latin has set rules for pronunciation based
on the vowels and consonants and is not like English at all. Or I should write, Latin is more consistent
than English.
Aramaic is also interesting. The primary problem with pronouncing Aramaic
is the accents and the vowels. This is
one of the main problems with foreign words: the accents fall differently than
in English words and the sounds of the letters are not the same as
English. As I wrote, the reader is very
good about this and except for a couple of small (or large in context)
pronunciation issues, the words are mostly right on. I should remark, two real problems were the
pronunciation of the word Adonia and that of Abenadar. Adonia is the casual name of God in Aramaic
and Hebrew whie Abenadar is the name of my protagonist in Centurion. Both are pretty important in the context of the
writing.
I haven’t heard the redos of the chapters
yet, but I’m expecting them soon and by the time you read this, the audio
version should be on the shelves or at least mostly complete. I’m not intentionally slow. In fact, I get back to the publisher within a
couple of days—I just need to hear and compare each audio of each chapter with
the original manuscript.
I’ll keep you updated on the audio
version, but in conclusion, I’m impressed with the reader and the
pronunciation. I consider Centurion
to be one of the most difficult novels for a reader (audio artist) to properly
read. It’s written in English with
Aramaic and Latin strewn throughout the novel from tip to stern, so to
speak. It isn’t easy for an audio reader
to read properly, and I think my reader, Mr. Cesar Brazil is doing a fantastic
job reading the work and especially making the dialog and excitement of the
novel come out. Plus, he has a very
pleasant voice that fits the narrative.
It will be interesting to hear the more intimate portions of the novel
and readings.
I guess I should move on to Aegypt
and future publications, next.
I’d really like to republish Aegypt. That novel was the basis for an entire series
(Ancient Light) of eight novels as well as my Enchantment series of novels. The Ancient Light series was so named by my
publisher, and the second and third novels in this series were on contract to
be published as Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness. Aegypt was the novel that started it
all. How’s that?
I wrote Aegypt as a mystery/horror
novel well before the Mummy movies came out in the 1980s. I shopped it around to the usual publishers
at the time, but had no buyers. Then the
Mummy movies came out later near the end of the century and blow me away, they
had a protagonist who was a Foreign Legionnaire with a reanimated Mummy. The entire plot and point of the Mummy movies
was different, but I’ve always been a little skeptical how the business kind of
magically got my ideas and then used them—too many coincidences.
In any case, Aegypt is about the
budding French Foreign Legion founded in Tunisia. My protagonist is the vice-commander of the
real Fort Saint in Tunisia, a Foreign Legion post. He notes an unusual foundation in front of
the Fort with strange and not common hieroglyphics like pointing fingers. In the end, an archeological team, called by
the vice-commander, Paul Bolong, discovers two tombs under the foundation of an
Egyptian temple. Then really bad things
begin to happen.
Ultimately, in Aegypt, we find that
two Egyptian goddesses were entombed in the tombs below the Egyptian
temple. These goddesses are the Goddesses
of Light and Darkness. Paul Bolong is
able to capture one of the goddesses, the first tomb that was opened. She is the Goddess of Light and claims to be
a goddess from the tomb. The story is
very complex and a great mystery. In the
end, Leora, the Goddess of Light and Paul Bolong defeat Leila, the Goddess of
Darkness and that begins an entire series and idea for the novels I write and
wrote. That’s why I would like to have
this novel republished, and I want to look at publishing other novels in the
series. I’ll write about that, next.
I developed the world of Ancient Light
over eight novels and many years. In Goddess
of Light, I bring into play the continued fight of Paul and Leora against
the Goddess of Darkness. In this novel, the
Goddess of Darkness uses the power of the German government and French
sympathizers to attack Paul Bolang and Leroa.
This is one of the major plots in the novel. In addition, Paul disappears and Leora must
follow in his footsteps to find him.
The travels of Leora in Sister of Light
allow me to bring in Paul’s mentor from Oxford, and the new graduate
student Tilly into Leora’s life. In Sister
of Light, Leora must confront the archeological world, the Germans, and
find Paul. Eventually, we discover that
Paul has been working with the British government and the French government to
confound the Germans search for relics for the Goddess of Darkness. That’s ultimately the mystery that is solved
by the novel.
This is an interesting interwar years
novel between World War I and World War II.
The interwar years are mostly forgotten in writing and in history, but
they are very important. This novel
touches on many of the issue from the USA to Europe and the growth of Nazi
(National Socialist) Germany. This is a
great add to historical fiction. It was
on contract when my publisher went out of business. That’s why, after Aegypt, I’d like to
get it published. I might do it myself
if I can’t get a publisher.
I’ll look at Sister of Darkness,
next.
My descriptions of the Ancient Light
novels might not be as clear and concise as I would like them to be. I’m mostly providing freethought stream of consciousness
ideas in this blog, but I’ll try to be more clear. My point isn’t necessarily to give a review
of the novel, but instead to hit the high points of the ideas in the novel to
explain how I created them, that is the ideas as well as the novels.
Aegypt is about the reanimation of two Egyptian goddesses with
one good and one evil.
Sister of Light is about Leora Bolang, the Goddess of Light
and her life as the wife of Captain Paul Bolong, as they oppose the Goddess of
Darkness during the runup to World War Two.
Sister of Darkness begins with the opening volleys of World
War Two. The Germans are tasked with attacking
the Bolong family who live in the south of France. They want the Osirus Offering Formula which Leora
discovered in Sister of Light.
This Offering Formula is part of the powers the Goddess of Darkness can
wield over the living and the dead in the world. The Goddess of Darkness can use parts of the
Offering Formula even if it isn’t entirely in her hands, and she has been using
it to influence Hitler and the Germans.
In addition, the Goddess of Darkness has reanimated her soldiers and
advisors from the original tomb. In Sister
of Light, Leora found that the original tomb had been explored and everything
removed by the Germans. This included
the mummies and special items in the tombs.
Leora, with the help of the British, soon
to be Special Air Service and Bruce Lyons, escapes with her children to
England. There she and we meet an
entirely new concept in the worldview of Ancient Light.
I’ve written before that I write in a
reflected worldview. This is how two
Egyptian goddesses might exist in the world, and how magic and miracles might
happen. If there are Egyptian goddesses,
there might be Celtic, Gaelic, and Anglo-Saxon gods and goddesses—indeed there
are. At an embassy party, a Steward of
the Royal Household introduces Leroa to Britannia, the goddess of Britain. Britannia is a bound goddess, which means she
is restricted to a place, Britain. Leora
is an unbound goddess, she is not restricted to a place, but has powers limited
to her specialty, which is light and life.
Sister of Darkness is a complex novel, but to simplify, the
Goddess of Darkness is able to kidnap Paul and Leora’s oldest daughter
Lumiere. Lumiere has powers of darkness
and might be the incarnation of the current Goddess of Darkness. The Goddess of Darkness was physically
defeated and her physical body irradicated, but her soul lived on because there
always must be a Goddess of Darkness and a Goddess of Light in the world.
The Goddess of Darkness wants to educate
and control Lumiere in training her to become the next Goddess of
Darkness. Paul and Leora join with the
British Air Service to infiltrate Vichy France and Germany.
I need to point out that all of the Ancient
Light novels are at heart historical fiction very strong historical
fiction. Although they have some
supernatural basis and information, which is also historical, the historical
nature of the places, people, and events are strongly woven into them. Thus, we find one of the most accurate and
historical accounts of the Germans in Vichy France as well as the Reichstag and
German operations in Berlin during the war.
Paul and Leora are in Berlin to support the Allies as well as do what
they can to harm the German war effort.
Paul and Bruce Lyons become the face and the headquarters group responsible
for the orders and information to the French forces fighting for Hitler in the
Soviet Union.
I should point out that at the end of the
novel, Paul and Leora are unable to rescue their daughter Lumiere. They assume she has been killed, but she wasn’t. When Paul, Leora, and Lumiere collectively
defeat the Goddess of Darkness, Lumiere escapes and heads toward the Soviet
Union after the remnants of the Goddess of Darkness. She wants to prevent the Goddess of Darkness
from influencing Stalin or others. That
leads to the next novel, Shadow of Darkness.
There’s more.
I want to write another book based on Rose
and Seoirse, and the topic will be the raising of Ceridwen—at least that’s my
plan. Before I get to that, I want to write another novel about
dependency as a theme. We shall see.
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
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