23 August 2014, Writing Ideas – Vampire Novel, part 50, in the Past, Developing Characters Rising Action
Announcement: My new novels are supposed to be released 1 September, so we are heading toward home plate. The title of the series is Ancient Light and is based on my novel Aegypt. The next two novels will be Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness. They will be published individually and as a 3 in 1 book. The initial cover is already developed, and you can see it at http://www.ancientlight.com. I’ll keep you updated.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel, and on 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–start with https://ldalford.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/daemon-installment-1-the-incantation/.
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 creative process I used to put together the 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/.
Here are my four rules (plus one) 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.
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 new novel, Valeska, is: An agent of the organization becomes involved with a vampire girl during a mission, she becomes dependent on the agent, and she is redeemed.
The past I developed for the vampire, Valeska/Heidi and that I reveal in the new novel I’m writing provides an overall view of the life that created Heidi. Valeska was her Polish name, given and used by her vampire master, while Heidi was her given name. In Heidi, we see a tortured soul who lived to harm. She was abandoned to a nanny who abused her and then began abusing other children early in her life. She caused great harm to others. She took up sorcery at the seduction of a family friend, a business friend of her father’s. At fifteen, she was a sorceress of some power and the lover of the man who seduced her into sorcery. She didn’t like the way he used her sexually, so she murdered him. The murder using sorcery is what brought her to the attention of a coven of vampires. The sorcery happened during a full moon and the vampires were hunting. The scent of freshly spilled blood drew them to her. Her beauty and evil drove them to make her one of them.
This is my conjecture concerning vampires–since they can’t harm cross-bearers, they seek out evil. Heidi’s own thought is that vampires exist to frighten people from evil. In any case, she was an evil person who was made a vampire. Her own actions brought about her troubles. Although she began life like many, she became something entirely different than most. The focus is on the fact that she was evil and that she freely admits that she was evil. This revelation, in the novel, comes in time and conversation. You learn with George Mardling about Heidi the vampire. This is the point of the revelation of a character and the author’s development of the character. Notice also, I could have written a novel about the vampire, Heidi. I didn’t. Her past and the revelation of her past is more important in the context of the theme of the novel than any novel about her past.
More 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/.
- Aksinya Cover Proposal
ldalford 