Announcement: There is action on my new novels. The publisher renamed the series--they are still working on the name. I provided suggestions as did one of my prepub readers. Now the individual books will be given single names: Leora, Leila, Russia, Lumiere', China, Sveta, and Klava--at least these are some of the suggestions. They are also working on a single theme for the covers. I'll keep you updated.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.
The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:
1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
All novels have five discrete parts:
1. The initial scene (the beginning)
2. The rising action
3. The climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement
The theme statement of my newest novel, Valeska, is this: An agent of the organization becomes involved with a vampire girl during a mission, she becomes dependent on the agent, and she is redeemed.
Here is my proposed cover for Valeska:
Look at my rules three through five:
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
Immersing yourself in the world of your writing means that you are living in the world you are writing about. Obviously, you shouldn't be delusional about it, but you should be imagining the world of your novel. You should be imagining the world of your novel when you are not writing about it.
I get ideas for my current novels all the time and under many different circumstances--this is because I am imagining the world of my novel and what is happening in the world of my novel. I imagine many things that I don't write about directly. I imagine many events, people, and things that don't appear directly in my novels. The point is that when I am writing a novel, I immerse myself in the world of my novel. In this way, the novel seems real and fresh. I expend imagination as I need to, but I don't want to waste any imagination. I write down plot points or important ideas and pieces of conversations I don't want to lose. When I imagine a conversation or a scene, I don't imagine the whole--I leave that for the writing, but I do imagine enough to put some notes on paper.
In the past, I've imagined whole scenes and then forgot the details. It is better to have an idea for a scene, make some notes, then later write the scene. The energy of the scene is from the initial inception. Later redos are like trying to write something you lost--a terrifying and horrible experience.
More tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
No comments:
Post a Comment