Writing Ideas - Description 101

3 July 2013, Writing Ideas - Description 101

Announcement: My novels Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness are about to be published. I write this blog about 2 months prior to its publication. I just heard that the proofs will be here soon--likely before the end of the week. My publisher also wants to put the entire set of novels based on Aegypt on contract--that's 5 more novels for 8 total. They also want to put my other novels on contract. The release schedule should be one novel every 2 months. 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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

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.

Description is a necessary part of writing. I return to Arlo Guthrie Jr.'s advice that whenever you introduce a character you must provide a 100 to 300 word description that defines the physical characteristics, not necessarily internal characteristics of the character. Internal characteristics must be developed through showing us the character--don't even think about telling us what they think. Tell us what they look like--you can skillfully slip into this description something about the person's character. Telling is necessary in setting the scene and then letting the character loose in the novel. This is not a break from the rule of showing and not telling. This is setting the scene.

Character description example from Aegypt www.AegyptNovel.com:

Mr. Audrey.” Paul clasped the Englishman’s hand as he dismounted.

Lionel Audrey was a medium-height man with thinning brown hair. He wore a heavy wool suit, but he had removed the coat. Perspiration salted his brow and made his face glisten. Audrey
looked young, but his eyes were surrounded by wrinkles. He squinted out from under his thick glasses as if the glass wasn’t the right prescription, or as if he sought to penetrate further than just the surface. In spite of this impression, Audrey’s attitude was breezy and facile. He didn’t speak; he lectured in an arrogant Oxford accent.

You can see how this gives life to the character and sets him apart from everyone else in the novel. When Audrey is reintroduced and mentioned, there are many characteristics that can be used to refer to him that brings the character back into the minds of the reader.

Likewise, you must set the scene. Tell us about the weather, the environment, the feel of the place, and what it looks like.

Scene setting from Aegypt www.AegyptNovel.com (place description):

The sun rose like a flame. The horizon boiled with the vigor of the lifting sun, and across the scorched rock and sand, the wind sang along with the moving light. Shadows moved in its wake
across the already hot plain. Paul already felt the sweat on his back and neck. The still air in the fort left the perspiration warm and heavy under his clothes, and he longed for the morning wind to make its way to him.

Without warning, a swirl of air touched him, but it wasn’t any relief. The breeze was hot and filled with the acrid dust of the Chott Djerid depression. He could feel it in his lungs, and he lit another cigarette to wipe the vile taste away. Below him, the wind-born dust swirled in tiny dust-devils around the diggings. The desert itself seemed to be trying to cover over the
gaping wound there.

The Tunisian workers were already stirring, ready to enter the cooler depths of the pit, ready to dig for the gold they hoped to pilfer under the noses of the archeologists, and they would. Paul had seen it happen too many times before. Their culture was different. The Englishmen wouldn’t or couldn’t understand that.

Paul took a long drag on his cigarette, nearly burning it back to his fingers. The sun stood like a flaming ball precariously balanced on the horizon for a moment, and Paul wondered briefly whether it would go forward or fall back.

He looked down at the diggings. The shadows wavered crookedly across the dark opening. Paul fancied he could see the essence of the ages spilling out of that black hole. It lingered in the waste as if the ancient plain were as timeless as the secrets hidden under that dull and
shifting surface.

This tells us a lot about the time, day, weather, and scene. This allows the reader to fall into the narrative and see what is happening. We also discover something about what is going on without telling the reader--we show the reader. We pull it from the knowledge of the main character without telling.

See more writing secrets at www.ldalford.com.

For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel, http://www.centurionnovel.com, www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, thefoxshonor, aseasonofhonor.

Scenes - Scene Setting, Contemporary Time

8 November 2012, Scenes - Scene Setting, Contemporary Time

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

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.

A scene outline is a means of writing a novel where each scene follows the other with a scene input from the previous scene and a scene output that leads to the next scene. The scenes don't necessarily have to follow directly in time and place, however they generally follow the storyline of the protagonist.

A storyline outline is a means of writing a novel where the author develops a scene outline for more than one character and bases the plot on one or more of these storyline scenes. This allows the scenes to focus on more than the protagonist. This is a very difficult means of writing. There is a strong chance of confusing your readers.

Whether you write with a scene outline or a storyline outline, you must properly develop your scenes. All novels are developed from scenes and each scene has a design similar to a novel. Every successful novel has the following basic parts:

1. The beginning
2. The rising action
3. The Climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement

Every scene has these parts:

1. The setting (where, what, who, when, how)
2. The connection (input)
3. The tension development
4. The release
5. The output

There are lots of approaches to scene setting. That means there are about a million plus ways you can set a scene. The main point is you have to clearly get across the where, when, who, what, and how.

There is no reason why time should confuse your readers.  Time is a really important and obvious setting your must set properly.  One of my pet peeves is when it is difficult to tell when an author intends for a work to begin.  I mean in every time sense. 

You might set the scene properly in terms of the time of day, but miss entirely that it is the summer of 1918.  The fact that it is the summer of 1918 is critical to the reader. 

Let's talk about contemporary novels where the author imagines the absolute time is not important.  I think that in this case, time is even more important.  A novel that is contemporary today is passe' tomorrow.  And that's the point.  If you set significant markers in your writing, your writing isn't contemporary anymore, it is fixed within a setting.  The setting is significant.  This is the point.  You must place your work in a setting of its time.  If the time is now, it needs a setting.  If the time was 100 years ago, it needs a setting.  Set the time.  This is a necessary component of any scene setting.

So, how to set the time in the scene. I'll get to more of that tomorrow.

My Notes: once you have a theme, you need to begin to visualize your plot, focus your theme, and define your characters. More tomorrow.

I'll move on to basic writing exercises and creativity in the near future.

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.

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.centurionnovelthesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor, http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Rules of Writing, Characters of Centurion, more on Scene Outlines

27 August 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Characters of Centurion, more on Scene Outlines

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

Here is the list for the use of storylines. In other words, whose storyline should you chose to follow in the plot:
1. Protagonist - presumed
2. Tension
3. Revelation
4. Antagonist or protagonist's helper


The presumption is that you will write your scenes with the protagonist's storyline as the primary intersection with the plot. At some points you might want to write a scene that does not include the protagonist's storyline. The question is then, when should you consider these different storylines.


Let's look back at how to use a scene outline. In a scene outline, each scene has an input and an output. Each scene has a setting and tension and release development. So in writing a scene, I begin with the input and write the setting. I introduce the characters and set them in motion. The characters take the input from the preceding scene and continue through the tension and release until the end of the scene. The output of the scene becomes the input for the next scene.

Since I'm using Centurion as an example, I'll show how this works in the novel. The initial scene has an assumed input. This assumed input is that Abenadar's mother, Naomi, has been deserted by her Roman ambassador husband. She is pregnant and living outside of Nazareth. The setting is the well at Nazareth. Naomi goes to the well at noon and meets another pregnant woman. I should tell you that culturally, women did not go to the well at noon. They usually went in the cooler hours of the day--morning or evening. The fact that both went at noon means they didn't want to meet other women. The tension in the scene is that Naomi is pregnant by a Roman and being shamed by the people and that Miryam is pregnant and also being shamed. The output is that Miryam offers to visit Naomi. The next scene input is a visit from Miriam to Naomi. The setting is Naomi's shack. The tension is the reason Miriam is pregnant and the coming birth of Naomi's child. The output is about birth and midwives. The input of the next scene is the birth of Naomi's child. The setting is Naomi's shack. The tension is the birth of the child and about the birth of Miryam's child...and so on. Each scene provides an input from the previous scene and an output to the next scene.

Using a scene outline, every scene is directly connected to every other scene. The progression is logical in time and events. However, there are times when scenes don't connect directly and when they might not fall into the same sequence in time and space. I'll write about that tomorrow.

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that 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/.

Development - Rules of Writing, Characters of Centurion, even more on Storylines

21 August 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Characters of Centurion, even more on Storylines

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

The primary means of writing a good novel is the use of scenes and a scene outline.  Scenes and a scene outline can be enhanced through the use of storylines to reveal characters.

Every character has a storyline. A character's storyline begins when they are born.  It is basically their entire life story and experiences from birth to death--and in some novels beyond death.  The storyline is what happens to a character.  Let's take a character from Centurion as an example.  Ruth is Abenadar's lover.  She is the woman he rescued from an abusive customer.  We don't know anything about Ruth until she is introduced in the novel.  The initial description and the initial scene are her debut, but we know she had a life prior to that point in the novel--I just didn't show it to you directly.

In later scenes, we find out a lot more about Ruth.  We find out about her birth and family and the death of her parents.  We find out that she was left without anyone or anything on the streets of Jerusalem.  All of this is her storyline.  In the novel, we see parts of her storyline--that is, when she is on stage (in a scene), we see her storyline played out, but when she isn't on stage (in a scene), her storyline is still going.  We just don't see her when she is not in a scene. 

When an author writes, the storyline of every character is critical to the writing.  Even the storyline that the readers don't see is important.  For example, when we see Abenadar in a scene at the Legion headquarters, the assumption is that Ruth is at their house either working on domestic things, at the Inn, or shopping.  Except that I, the author, show you what she was doing during the day, you rarely get to see any of that part of her storyline.  Still, even the parts of her storyline, you don't see are important.  More, tomorrow.

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that 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/.

Development - Rules of Writing, Opposing Symbols

26 July 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Opposing Symbols

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here are my rules of 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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

Sarcasm and satire are very powerful writing tools.  They are driven by symbols and generally, those symbols are opposite to their literal meanings.  We recognize this in sarcasm and irony.  The writer makes a statement that is literally the opposite of the intended meaning.  Satire and irony are evident in great essays.  Johnathan Swift was considered a master of this form of writing.  His essay A Modest Proposal suggested the Irish eat their own children to survive the great Irish famine.  It is quite clear from his writing, that the modest proposal is irony and satire.  The symbols of the writing mean precisely the opposite of their literal words.

Authors many times miss the ability to properly use irony, sarcasm, and satire.  They are not the usual tools of the modern writer.  They are the tools used in Aksinya.  Aksinya is a novel about a girl who calls a demon to save her family.  The irony is that the demon can't save her family--they die anyway.  A further irony is that we discover near the end of the novel, that the demon himself delayed his arrival so that Aksinya's family would be murdered.

Again irony, the demon who was supposed to obey Aksinya instead temps, controls, and commands her.  And where Aksinya is supposed to be a novel about a demon and a girl, it is instead a novel about how a girl is redeemed from the power of her own sin and temptation.  The use of symbols through irony, sarcasm, and satire allow such an opposite theme.  That is the point I made yesterday: nudity, nakedness, sensuality, and sexuality can become incredibly powerful symbols that through the adept use of irony, sarcasm, and satire can be used to present a redemptive or even a theme opposite to nudity, nakedness, sensuality, and sexuality.  In fact, the contrast itself can be instructive and useful.  Don't be afraid to use these tools in your writing and especially the symbols.

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that 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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Rules of Writing, Historical Symbols

20 July 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Historical Symbols

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 website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here are my rules of 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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

Yesterday, I wrote about the details of historical writing.  I didn't mention levels and symbols, but I should before we move on to the details of culture.  I wrote that bathrooms and other household facilities were a focus of the history in my novel, Aksinya.  Of course, bathrooms and household facilities was not the only focus of the history in the writing.  I used primary historical sources and information for all the history in the novel and followed my own recommendations for study and writing, but bathrooms and household facilities were a large difference between the historical world in the time of Aksinya and today. 

The bathroom and other household details became the baseline for levels in the writing and for the contrast of today's culture and Aksinya's culture.  How, you might ask?  If you go back a look at Aksinya, one of the key scenes is when she needs to go to the bathroom, which is outside.  She decided not to use the chamber pot because there would be no one to empty it (her family and all the servants were murdered by the Bolsheviks), and she didn't want to have the demon empty her chamber pot--that was too embarrassing a thought for a person from that age.  She has to go to the outhouse for her family's mansion.  If that doesn't show a huge cultural and historical difference, I don't know what does.  Aksinya has an accident (outhouse type) while going to the outhouse building--an accident that the demon becomes directly involved in.  The demon has to take her to the "bathroom" attached to her room and prepare a bath for her.  He has to take care of her soiled clothing etc.  Like her own sexuality, this incident reveals a pattern of actions by the demon that embarrass then help Aksinya.  These actions become part of the process of tempting her. 

Additionally, the outhouse, bathroom, and the bath provide symbols that relate directly to Aksinya's issues and the demon's infiltration into her life.  In the bath provided by the demon, Aksinya sees her reflection in the mirror and recognises the loss of her hair (given as a surety to the demon).  She sees her own ugliness (she thinks she is ugly).  The bath becomes a symbol for her inferiority and insecurity.  There is a bath scene with Natalya and there we see Natalya hiding the evidence of her abuse.  The bath itself becomes a symbol throughout the novel for secrets and the hidden issues of Aksinya, Natalya, and the demon.  It is no accident that Aksinya and Natalya reveal their inmost thoughts in the bedroom and in a bed rather than in the bathroom.  In the bathroom is solitude of sorts and privacy, in the bedroom there is revelation and honesty.  Which we discover later is the unseen turning point of the novel--the bedroom secret tryst between Ernst and Natalya that drives Aksinya over the edge.  The power of symbols that drive levels of storyline, plot, and theme in a historical novel should be the historical points.  Tomorrow, culture. 

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that 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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Publication - Advertising Ideas, Blogging the Point

19 December 2011, Publication - Advertising Ideas, Blogging the Point
Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, 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.

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, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here is the list of ideas for advertising--there are more and I'll add to the list as we go along.  I'm certainly not an expert in all these, but I've dabbled in all of them.  I'll try to relate my experience and the degree of that experience to you.

1.  Have a website for your novel.
2.  Write a blog.
3.  Advertise.
4.  Literary awards.
5.  Book cards.
6.  Contests.
7.  Interviews.
8.  Blog tours.
9.  Press releases.
10.  Speaking and teaching.
11.  e-mailing.
12.  ...

So, the point of blogging is to get your ideas into the wild and to show off your writing.  You want to build readership and expand the network of those who read and are interested in your writing.  This helps you, your novels, and your publisher.  About how to really expand your network and your blog readers--I'm just figuring that out.  I'm not certain if that result is time based or effort based.  In other words, does it really help to go to many other blogs and become an item across the blogosphere or does time and longevity build your readership better?  Perhaps a mix between the two?

My problem is that I don't have time to go looking too much.  I work a full time job and write and blog--among other things.  Blogging can't become my life, but I do hope I touch others with my blogging.  Just as I hope I touch others with my writing.

If you write, blogging is a great idea.  Make sure you keep writing. 

I'll move over to advertising tomorrow.

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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Publication - Advertising Ideas, more Blogging

15 December 2011, Publication - Advertising Ideas, more Blogging

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, 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.

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, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here is the list of ideas for advertising--there are more and I'll add to the list as we go along.  I'm certainly not an expert in all these, but I've dabbled in all of them.  I'll try to relate my experience and the degree of that experience to you.

1.  Have a website for your novel.
2.  Write a blog.
3.  Advertise.
4.  Literary awards.
5.  Book cards.
6.  Contests.
7.  Interviews.
8.  Blog tours.
9.  Press releases.
10.  Speaking and teaching.
11.  e-mailing.
12.  ...

The more you blog, the more potential attention you will receive for your blogs.  One a day seems to be a reasonable maximum.  One a week seems to be a reasonable minimum.  Most readers are looking for continuity in ideas, familiar concepts, and reliable delivery.  It's kind of like your newspaper--when you can't find it on your driveway in the morning, you get irritated.  Or, for the non-newspaper crowd, it's like your favorite Internet news site--you expect new news every day.  When you don't get the new news every day, you are unhappy.

You want to make your readers happy (that's one of my rules for writing--entertain your readers).  The same is true for a blog.  I'll admit, I don't do as good a job as I should--I could do better.  I could put in pictures to illustrate my points and give links all over the place.  The problem is that I don't have time.  If I didn't work a job full time, and I wasn't trying to write novel number 22, and I wasn't a businessman with business and life to take care of, I could give more to this blog and to you.  As it is, I come home very late some days, relax for about 15 minutes, get a glass of wine, then produce three blogs.  This is the first--its focus is mainly on the elements of publishing and marketing.  The second is a repost that still requires reformatting and editing http://www.ldalford.wordpress.com/.  The third is another blog on writing that tackles specifics of the skill of writing novels in scenes http://www.novelscene.wordpress.com/.  I try to make it short and sweet.

I'll write more about blogging tomorrow.

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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Publication - more Book Information

30 November 2011, Publication - more Book Information

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, 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.

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.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  To see the steps in the publication process, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/. 

Author Central also allows you to enter more information on your novels.  I give an example from my novel Centurion, www.CenturionNovel.com.  You can add:

A Review
I have a couple of reviews up.
A Product Description
Hauntingly compelling, Centurion gives life to Abenadar, the man who was entrusted with the controversial and potentially explosive crucifixion of Christ. A longing heart. An unlikely friendship. Love...and the bitterest of betrayals. The son of a Galilean concubine-a Jewess-and a Roman ambassador, Abenadar suffered disapproving stares in the village of Natzeret, but so did the boy Yeshua, son of Yosef and Miryam. Perhaps it wasn't unusual the two became fast friends. As Abenadar rises through the ranks of the Roman Legion to assume the rank of Centurion, he finds love with Ruth, a woman he rescues from the streets of Jerusalem. She believes the prophet Jesus is the One-the Messiah-everyone has been waiting for. Abenadar is dubious. He's seen too many messiahs.and they all died on Roman crosses. But what if Jesus is telling the truth? As advisor to Procurator Pontius Pilate and a Roman, Abenadar has a duty to uphold...but it may cause him to lose everything.

From the Author
I was always intrigued by the statement of the centurion at the foot of the cross: "Surely this man was the son of God." Perhaps my interest was because I served in the military and felt that my life was something like that centurion's. In any case, I always wanted to know more about this military man and his statement. When I read Wallace's book, Ben Hur and Douglas's The Robe, I was left with more questions than answers. I wanted to delve deeply into the centurion's life and know exactly who he was.

I began research into the centurion in the 1990s. Already, I knew his name. In Christian legend, it is Abenadar. He was said to be a man of mixed Roman blood. In early 1995, I wrote a short story about Abenadar. The main character was the woman who lived with him and the setting was their house following the crucifixion. Already I had begun to flesh out Abenadar. I made him a man of mixed lineage: Roman and Jew--otherwise Pilate would not have given the job of the crucifixion to him. He had to speak the languages of the people--again, otherwise Pilate wouldn't have trusted him with the job. The woman who lived with him had to have been a woman of the streets--no other woman, other than a slave, would be able to associate with a Roman of mixed blood. He had to be competent. He had to be divided somewhat in his mind, but not his loyalties. The picture of Abenadar began to build. The picture of the woman he lived with began to come into focus. In the short story, I made both of them rougher than they ended up eventually, but that story was where the novel began.

I started writing the novel, Centurion, while I was flying in Europe in 1995. The first few chapters flowed. When you write a book about the life of a man, you need to start with his beginning, and the beginning of the centurion's life was fundamental to his character. To be a member of a Roman Legion, he had to have a Roman father. To know the languages of the people, he needed to have a Jewish mother. Since the Romans, at the time, were attached to Herod the Great's court in Jerusalem and there was a connection with Tiberius in Galilee, it was easy to build the character of both the centurion's mother and father. She became a local bride to the Roman ambassador. Her home town was one of the largest in Galilee, Nazareth. From that, it wasn't difficult to construct a possible interaction between Mary, the mother of Jesus and the mother of Abenadar.

The next step was the most difficult for me. I had to build the entire life of Abenadar. I chose to begin with his great step into the Legion. That was the real beginning of Abenadar as a military man. Years of research was poured lovingly into this portion of the book. It was a necessary and fulfilling step to build up the man who was to become the centurion at the foot of the cross. In the novel, the history about the Legions and about training, promotions, leadership, and structure is exact and exciting. At the same time, I laid the foundation for his loss of faith and his return to faith. He was, after all, a Jewish man in the Roman Legion.

Abenadar moved up the ranks to finally reach the position from which he would be called to play his greatest role in history. He wasn't a man divided. He wasn't incompetent. He wasn't weak or foolish. He was one of Pilate's favorites and yet a man of mixed lineage. I had not given up on his wife, or rather the woman who lived with him. The why of her existence was coupled with his. It had to intertwine. She had to be Jewish too, but able to live with a Roman Centurion. She had to be a woman of the streets. I chose to make her a woman who desired nothing but a home and stability. She had not lost her innocence in spite of her forced harlotry. She became a much less rough character than I first envisioned. She became the Centurion's link to Jesus the prophet, the man he must eventually crucify.

So, in a nutshell, there is a part of the journey I made to write Centurion. It took a while and it was difficult, but when the manuscript was finished, it was whole and the men and women in it were whole. It let me understand just who was this man, Abenadar, the man who crucified Christ and who stated "This man was surely the son of God."

From the Inside Flap

From the Back Cover
He was the son of a Galilean concubine--a Jewess
and a Roman ambassador...

Step into the first-century life of Abenadar, who grew up among the people of Natzeret. He and the boy Yeshua, son of Yosef and Miryam, live in different realms, but both feel out of place. Perhaps that's why they defended each other ...and later became friends.

Follow Abenadar's rise through the ranks and units of the Roman Legion in Palestine until he becomes one of the lead Centurions in Jerusalem. When he accidentally rescues Ruth, a prostitute, and redeems her for himself, he becomes connected to the rumored prophet, Jesus. Ruth believes Jesus is the Messiah they've been waiting for. Abenadar is dubious. Yet, as part of the Roman Legion, he must follow the orders of Pilate--to crucify the prophet. If he does, will he lose Ruth's love?
And what if Jesus is telling the truth?

About the Author
The about the author is the same as my usual bio, so I won't bore you with that.

These show up on the product page for your book.  Fill these in and make sure you get the word out about your book.

I'll give you more about Author Central tomorrow.

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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Publication - Manuscript more in depth editing

9 November 2011, Publication - Manuscript more in depth editing

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, 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.

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.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  To see the steps in the publication process, go to my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/. 

You have the formatted manuscript in hand from your publisher and now you are going to make the in-depth editing as the final step to publication.

The first point is you know you have a good if not great novel.  You know this because someone is actually willing to take a risk on the publication of your novel.  If it wasn't good, no one would have taken a chance on publishing it.  Good, that's out of the way.

Second, it needs work.  Your publisher wouldn't send it back to you (except for a final check) if there weren't editorial questions.

Third, all novels can be improved.  There isn't a novel around that could not use a better turn of phrase, better description, clearer writing, etc.  You can't fix every problem in you novel, and after the novel is released in print, you will no longer have an opportunity to tweek it.

Fourth, there is every reason to keep changes to a minimum.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  On the other hand, you want it to be the best you can.  If you are making the writing less wordy, less long, and less confusing, then you are allowed to make all the changes you wish.  If you are adding clarity without revealing too much--go ahead.  If it sounds better, then make the change.  Just keep the changes to a minimum.

In editing A Season of Honor, I was on a roll from The End of Honor and The Fox's Honor.  The novels are a series that are stand alone works, but editing one after the other allowed me to tune the connections between the novels.  My publisher is very good about edits, so there wasn't any problems, but I did have a few changes.  I tried to keep them to a minimum. 

Your prepublication readers are a chief source of help for editing.
 
Tomorrow, more editing in depth.

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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Publication - more Information, covers

1 November 2011, Publication - more Information

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, 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.

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.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  To see the steps in the publication process, go to my writing website www.ldalford.com and select "production schedule," you will be sent to www.SisterofLight.com. 

I gave you the list yesterday.  This is a good list because I took it right from one of my publisher's emails.  Do you remember the post where I told you about covers?  Well, I'm going to give some more about covers to you.  Here is the recommendation from my publisher:  "It is also helpful for me to know, as I kick off the cover design process on your book with our design team, what you are thinking re: characters, mood/tone, setting of your book. If I have not already done so (either with istock or shutterstock), please go to www.shutterstock.com (it’s free to look), and email me the photo numbers of 5-6 photos that say, to you, “These are the characters, setting, and mood of my book.” The photos may or may not work for a book cover, but they give our design team an inside peek at what you are thinking, and speed along the cover process."

I recommended that you design your own cover--look back a few weeks and see that post.    As I mentioned, your publisher will want some cover ideas from you.  Even if you give them a "great" cover idea, you need to be ready to accept their advice and recommendations.  They know the market better than you do, and they have expert cover designers who can put together something very eye catching and marketable.

If you look at the secret pages of my book sites, you can see my proposed covers and my publisher's recommended covers.  In some cases, I put two together.  All you need to do is give your publisher's cover designers a good start--they'll figure out the rest.
 Tomorrow, I'll tell you what to expect about the cover.

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.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Marketing Materials

30 August 2011, Marketing Materials

Marketing a novel is more difficult in my mind than writing a novel.  I'd like to just spend my time writing, unfortunately, before your novel is published, you have the burden of finding a publisher and after your novel is published, you have the burden of following your publisher's marketing instructions.

Marketing is a very important part of writing a novel.  The first thing after writing your novel is get your marketing stuff together.  Marketing information is critical to your writing and it forms the basis for the inner and outer cover and other future marketing materials.  Here is the outline of what is required.  I'll start with the long form information and continue to the short form.

Title of Work:

Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon

Author(s) Name:

L. D. Alford

Type: Either Screenplay or Book

Book

Length: Either # of words for books, or # of pages for screenplays

121,475 words

Keywords and Market Focus:

Genre:

Author Bio: Approximately 120 words

Synopsis:  Approximately 500 Words

         

Registration: WGA, ISBN, or Library of Congress, Write the number.

Other Information:  If you have more work, a website, anything interesting and professional, especially any awards or recognition.

Short form information: 

Reviewer’s quotes.

1.  No more than 3 sentences about the content of your manuscript.

2.  One sentence about successful works similar to yours.

3.  No more than 2 sentences about yourself. (use 3^rd person)

4.  No more than 2 sentences that include “other,” i.e. any reasons, relationships, or other factors that might make your work more attractive.

Tomorrow, I'll start filing in the information with commentary.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 10 Practicum

One of the readers of this blog asked these questions after reading the previous posts.  He kindly allowed me to quote him and answer the questions here.  I think this will be very helpful.  I will give my answers in italics to set them off.

"Enjoyed your 'Zen of Writing'; particularly the (5) rules thus far. Curious, how many primary sources, and how strictly do you adhere to primary source docs, when developing story outline & details? Almost exclusively where they exist.  For example, my yet unpublished Civil War/Civil Rights novel Antebellum http://www.antebellumnovel.com/, is almost completely based in letters and correspondence from two periods 1860 to 1865 and 1965.  I supplemented it with personal accounts of soldiers from the 1860s.  Only to get the locations and the architecture right did I use modern information and other tertiary source documents.  The elements of the secondary source documents are very strong in the novel as well.  I actually wove them into the storyline.  And, how much 'knowledge' do you a......ssume your audience has, when you're trying to provide sufficient historic context, events, culture,etc, to help bring out both the historic, cultural & descriptive authenticity (& consistency) in your writing? I actually assume my readers know nothing about the period, culture, and times.  I think this is obvious in Centurion http://www.centurionnovel.com/ where I lead the reader just as I lead Abenadar into the knowledge of the Legions.  In that book, I had a convenient means to introduce the readers--the main character was learning along with them.  Plus, the contrast between Abenadar's culture and the culture of the Romans made both easy to convey--it gave a reason to explain them.  In spite of this, many times only the details of a culture are shown, but when they are important, they are explained--they are necessary to be explained so you don't confuse your readers (one of the rules).


I explained much of this above, but I will answer in the context of the example below, because I think it is a good one and helpful.  For example, let's say, you're writing a military adventure, in sub-Roman Britain, early fifth century, detailing the Romans leaving Britain. Would you assume, the reader is a student of Roman history, or not?  Not at all. And, if not, how would you go about communicating the historic context, in a subtle but cohesive manner? For example, let's say, your goal is to communicate the following:

1. The Roman Empire legions are leaving Britain because the Romans needed troops to face increasing barbarian attacks on the Rhine and Danubian.  Most likely a conversation between two characters who would be in the know.  I could also use a letter to or from a major character.  Even more exciting a battle scene that transitions to an interrogation of a Roman or a Germanic soldier and results in a letter requesting more troops in Germania.

2. Say, you hint at signs of decay in Roman rule in Britain. And, you're in the forth quarter of 4th century; urban and villa life had grown less intense; decline of military Roman culture, maybe hint at rarity of Roman coins, culture, etc. (minted past 402 AD.  Have the lady of a house or a slave make a comment about the fact the markets won't take Roman coins any more--perhaps part of a scene in the marketplace.  Or show the contempt the Britons have in the marketplace for a Roman slave, children, or lady.

What literary vehicle or scene, would you use, to set up such a story?  That depends on the plot and the theme. Would you choose a high ranking Roman soldier in a Garrison, in formal military correspondence w/ his Superiors in Rome, communicating the state of affairs, the Roman strategy, garrison efforts, difficulty at obtaining supplies, etc; or, avoid giving (broad) historic context, and instead, use private dialogue w/ a peer at the military garrison to (simply) hint at decay in Roman rule, or maybe, private letter back home to wife, to convey the above?  The choice of theme and plot determines specifically these details.  For example, if I was writing about the redemption of the Britons, I would choose a young man who had lost everything to the Romans and wanted to remove them from his land.  The plot might be one where he learns to pity the Romans more than hate them--that would drive the entire plot.  On the other hand, if I wanted the theme to be about the Britons' lack of culture and society, I might pick a Roman and his Briton bride whose lives would contrast as he had to leave her.

And, however you do it, precisely how do you outline, map or track the storyline 'facts' that are being revealed, over various pages of the novel, to confirm you've provided sufficient info, and ensure both historic & storyline consistency?  For the non-historical parts, my prepub readers are critical. Stated another way, what writing tools (spreadsheets, word documents, reader boards, white boards, character or journey maps) might you use, to track how well you are developing or convey (authentic) info to the reader in the most precise, but subtle manner...ie. "immersing yourself in the world you're creating"?  You can see some of the examples of the documents I use in the secret pages for each book on my website http://www.ldalford.com/.  In fact, many of them have pictures and data that I mined for the novels in them and that I hope will be in the final published books.  These aren't comprehensive, but they are what I put up from my base files.  I could put up Megs of data if I were to put up the whole of the info and notes from one novel.  I use four basic files to keep everything straight:
1.  A file of the names, places, descriptions, and basic knowledge from the time.  This includes the characters I made up as well.
2.  A file of in depth knowledge I mined and need for parts of the novel.  Includes quotes and sections of books as well as pictures, maps, and charts.
3.  A file of notes for inconsistencies and issues that need to be addressed in the novel.  Especially those further on.
4.  An outline of the scenes in the novel."

I hope this answers these questions in sufficient detail.  In the next post, I will give some examples from my books.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 6 The Voice of the Times and Culture

I'm not certain there is any writing that is easy.  All writing is difficult, but I think historical fiction may be the most difficult.  First, it requires a lot of research and especially primary and secondary source research (real research) that is if you intend to write good historical fiction.  Second, you must immerse yourself in the culture and understand it from the point of a participant.  Third, you have to be able to find the voice of the times and culture.  The voice of the times and culture is the point of immersion and research.  Fourth, you have to be able to write well.  The fourth point is beyond the scope of this series, but is is a critical point.  Many of us have read literature today that is crippled by the inability of the author to write well.  Many popular books are missing the spark of good writing and makes you wonder why they were published to begin with.  But back to the third point...if you can't capture the voice of the times and culture, your historical fiction will not be historical fiction, it will be a modern novel set in a historical period.  That simple observation has been my greatest experience with writing that claims to be historical fiction today.  Most is not historical at all, but rather modern fiction set in a historical period.  When you find modern issues and modern ideas along with historical infidelity in a historical novel, that writer has not taken the three required steps to write about the times.  So how do you find the voice of the times?  That is a function of immersion and knowledge, but the precise point is that you have to subjugate your mind to the mind of the times.  Now comes the difficult point.  To have the voice of the times and culture means the ability to convey that time and culture to your readers in the modern world.  I personally use many genre crossing techniques to allow a modern person to see the times and culture through the eyes of the modern world.  The normal technique in historical fiction is the one from my novel Centurion http://www.centurionnovel.com/.  Centurion uses the typical model of simply a novel from the viewpoint of the people of the times.  There are no tricks and there is no ability or basis for comparison with the modern world.  The novel unfolds as a normal piece of historical fiction writing.  In The Second Mission http://www.thesecondmission.com/, I use time travel as a technique to move the reader into the past.  This method allows the writer to make comparisons and to convey the period through the eyes of a modern person.  It also allows comparisons with a future world or ideas.  This is a complex method and requires the author to be strongly consistent in immersion and research.  If the comparisons aren't there, then their is no purpose in using this technique.  The third method I have used (by no means the last) is using a fantastic means to pull people from the past into the present.  Aegypt http://www.aegyptnovel.com/ takes place in 1926 and pulls a being from the 18th Egyptian dynasty (1539 to 1295 BC) into that place and time.  The comparisons here and the power in the novel is the ability to see the world in the French Foreign Legion in Tunisia in 1926, the period of great archaeological discoveries in Egypt, plus the comparison of the world from the eyes of a person from classical Egypt.  And that ultimately is the power of historical fiction.  It allows the author to present the past as it was and lets the reader see the differences in the times and culture.  Tomorrow, I'll expand on this.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 5 Religion

I've been writing about historical immersion as a means to prepare to write historical fiction.  The major points I've made have been about the tools to get historical information (primary and secondary sources) and getting rid of cultural and social prejudice.  I've been using examples mostly from ancient Greece, and articulated in my book The Second Mission http://www.thesecondmission.com/.  Today, I want to focus on religion.  As with all cultural and social mores, we imagine the world was always the way it is for us today.  We imagine our way of thinking and our ways of doing are the ways everyone lived and existed in the past.  The truth is very far from that.  Even today, people think much differently depending on their culture and society.  One of the most important, if not the most important issue in all cultures is religion.  Religion forms, focuses, and directs a culture.  This is especially true in the ancient world.  In a pagan worldview, which includes both animistic and pantheonic paganism, the culture understands the world and its forces only through the gods.  There is no conception of natural forces or nature.  In animism every thing that has force or life (plants, animals, heavens, clouds, the sea, bodies of water,...) has a god in it.  The god sustains and produces the forces in nature.  The god must be placated lest something bad happen.  So whenever a creature is killed, the god within (or in charge of) the creature must be placated--thus all killing required sacrifice to appease the gods.  With literacy comes pantheonic paganism.  In this form of pagan worldview, the gods take on new meanings and responsibilities, but are still the focus of all the power in the world.  Everything goes from the gods and the cause of all action in the universe is due to the gods.  The new functions of the gods are related to civilization itself: wisdom, writing, music, metallurgy, war, love... With literacy new ideas spring fully armed from the minds of men.  In the Greek worldview, men are fated (pathos) and the gods are fated (chronos), and the fates or both are not pleasant.  The world revolves around the gods and fate.  This is the center of the Greek universe.  It is a universe where no one will make a move without a word from the gods.  It is a world where everyone believes and those who don't, don't live long.  The religion is forced and enforced.  It is not coercive, it is obvious to everyone.  Even the Greek philosophers did not disagree on this most basic view in Greek thought.  They played on the edges of the whys and wherefores, but they did not dispute or disagree with any basic point of the pagan worldview.

Therefore, if you want to understand any culture well enough to write about it, you must begin to understand its view of religion.  You can't hold a people's religious view in contempt.  You can't judge it from within.  You can only look at it within the context of their culture.  It is a foundation and a center point of the entire culture, so you can't ignore it either.  Many modern writers completely ignore the religious views of the culture they write about.  They make their characters like modern thinkers who ignore religion or who parrot some non religious worldview.  Their characters miraculously understand the world from a modern world view based in cause and effect.  They assume that modern ideas infuse especially the thinking men and women of the past.  This is a completely false and foolish idea about the past and about history in general.  Religion drives the world--it especially powers the ancient world.  The modern wars driven by Islam and secular Communism should warn us that the modern world is driven by much more religion than many would like to admit.  In your immersion, you must learn much more than what the people ate (we saw religion played a huge role in Greek food) or what they did (look at the architecture of the Greeks, based on temples and the gods).  You have to learn how they thought and why their thoughts became the reality of their culture.  Only then can you start to understand enough to write about their history.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 3 Historical Information

What goes through the mind of a person who does not sit to eat or who doesn't have furniture?  Historical literature generally won't tell you because two things get left out of historical writing--especially ancient writing.  The first is the mundane.  You would be hard pressed to determine the rules of baseball from a movie or book about baseball.  The reason is that the basics of baseball are assumed to be understood within our culture.  The mundane doesn't get written down.  You could point to a book of baseball rules, and there would be your source for some of that information, but not all.  For example, you couldn't gather from a book of baseball rules, the seventh inning stretch or the playing of the national anthem or "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  In the modern era, much of this data is available from various sources, but in the paucity and the economics of the ancient world, these details are rare.  The second part that gets left out of historical writing is what everyone knows but may be unique.  A great event like a battle or an earth quake or the movement of an army.  These are great events and unique, but they might not be written down because everyone in the time knows about them.  Those events that get written are the ones that were important to the writers and to their audience.  Those that were saved in history are the documents that were important to those who came later.  So you have to do what you can with the information you have.  The big point about writing about time of antiquity is that you have to immerse yourself in the worldview of the people and understand where they were coming from.  This is much harder than it sounds.  The first problem is cultural prejudice and the second is moral prejudice.  Both have to give way to immersion.

For example, almost every culture in the world prior to about 1830 was fully slave based.  This is not a debatable fact.  It is.  The ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Anglo-Saxons, Norman-French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, do I have to list every nation in antiquity?  I could.  They are all slavery based even up as far as 1830.  In fact, the word "slave" comes from the word for Slav, because the Greeks and Romans claimed Slavs made the best slaves.  During the time from antiquity to the 19th century, slavery had gone from the province of the middle class to solely that of the wealthy and then very wealthy.  By the 1860s, in the US, the rate of slave ownership was 8% in the south.  In ancient Greece the ownership of slaves was about 100%.  The point I'm making here is to understand a slave based culture, you have to first of all recognize that it is slave based, and second, you cannot see it through modern cultural blinders.  When you write about the culture, the existence and expectations of slavery must be part of the writing.  Because it is so nominative to the people in the culture, it must seem normative in your historical writing.  Almost no one questioned the existence and ethics of slavery in any culture until the 18th century.  Your writing must acknowledge and report on the existence of slavery just as you might write about eating or sleeping or any other subject within the culture. 

After all, that's the whole idea, to understand the culture like a person from that culture so you can bring out the nuances of the society and times.  If you don't understand, what their lives are like, you can't begin to understand their history or write about them.  Tomorrow, I'll look more deeply at this subject and give more details.

Centurion reader comments

Google alerts found this for me about Centurion www.CenturionNovel.com at http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=30030 "So I finished reading "Centurion" by L.D. Alford a while back. If you want to know how legionaries trained, how they rose through the ranks, and how they actually fought, this book gives a good account. Apparently, the author visited Rome, Jerusalem, and other places to learn first-hand what was required to make a legionary.


Most members of R.A.T. probably already know most of the information outlined in the book, but despite my decades of interest in the topic of Rome's legions, I've only just now, within the last year, begun taking time to research. So this book was good for me, a newbie to the Roman way of training, using and disciplining troops. I really enjoyed it."
 
I really appreciated the comments by this reader.  I wanted to point out some information that most wouldn't know.  Because research for the novel came almost exclusively from ancient primary sources it has more basis than almost any other work of historical fiction on the subject of the Roman Legions in the first half of the first century.  There are few technical histories that cover the Legion in this degree of detail or understanding.  Not to mention, that as the reader implies, the novel is fun because it shows you how the Legions trained and doesn't tell you, like a technical paper would. 
 
Centurion www.CenturionNovel.com is a compendium of information gleaned from ancient works in mostly Latin and Greek.  Archeology and other historical information went into the work to round out the knowledge of daily life during the time.  If you are interested in the Roman Legion or the history of the Levant during the first century, this is a book you should read.  You can read about my other novels and writing at www.LDAlford.com.  I also write about modern military aviation at www.WingsoverKansas.com.  Check out the Military Aviation Adventures there.