The difficulty of opening a story

[MWagner]

As far as openings go, I think the best advice here is to get it down and then tweak/delete/marinate as needed - for agents, not for lazy readers.

The problem is that not only are agents trying to put themselves in the shoes of 'lazy' readers when they read a submission, but going through dozens of submissions a week from an endless slush pile may make them even more impatient than a typical reader.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

The result is that those chapters have never felt as though they flow so well as later ones.

I always feel much the same about my opening chapters. And, if you'll all indulge me in a topical analogy...
I think of it as an Olympic middle/long distance event. It takes me a while to hit my stride, to settle into that pace and find my rhythm. I might go too fast or too slow, blow the technique, or just not have that in-depth knowledge of some of the characters that (for me at least) comes through writing about them (those little quirks that aren't planned and I only learn about as the characters go about their business). There's also that pressure in the back of my mind as the start gun goes: can I deliver? Can I tick all the boxes for an agent/reader?

I've pondered a few solutions to the problem:
1) Starting before the beginning of the novel is one option: either writing about the characters, world, or both before the main event begins. The chapters/short story never has to see the light of day, but if you feel it's good enough then you've got something you could potentially give away via your website or mailing list.

2) Ignore it. Just accept that it's going to need re-doing and get the story down then go back to it (my favourite option so far!).

3) Write the opening from another character's perspective (may not always be possible, I know). I've never tried it, but it seeing things from a different viewpoint might highlight some of the key elements in the scene(s).

I'm going full-on Epic next year, and I'm actually trying option 1) at the moment. Kind of. I ended up starting 20 years before the main story, so hardly any of the main characters appear. I have, so far, found it very useful from a world-building point of view. So the beginning of the novel may not feel quite so much like a tricky opening and more like picking up the story some time later. Er, that's what I hope anyway.

I agree though, it is incredibly frustrating, particularly when you can see the quality in later chapters but don't feel the beginning quite matches that standard.

 

[Jennifer L. Carson]

This is absolutely the way forward, and it applies equally to novels where you chuck the reader in at the deep end (a technique i almost always use, as the reader then has to invest time and emotion into the book) or where you let the reader have an easy time.

Me, I prefer not going for the deep end, partially as I put down a few too many books these days because I'm being asked to invest emotion before I'm ready to, but I think that's a matter of author skill than an inherent flaw.

I agree with The Big Peat in this case. I'm getting insulted by TV shows that literally start with an explosion then you see "Three hours/days earlier..." I'm not a gnat; I don't need to know the middle or end first because I'm gonna die in 24 hours. I don't have the attention span of a three-year old, so treat me like an adult. I think this instant-gratification thing is getting to be too strongly emphasized in fiction writing. Yes it is absolutely doable and yes it can be spot on the right thing to do, but Brian's writing an epic fantasy...emphasis here on epic for my point. The doorstopper fantasies have a following that is used to giving the author room to develop the plot, the world, and the characters. Tad Williams's Memory Thorn and Sorrow series was a huge success. It took 13 chapters before our hero lad left the castle. Many chapters of his scurrying about and avoiding work. And he'd coming out with another novel in this line so even though the original four are old, it's still going. (Cute side note: I learned about because he was on one of my panels at Silicon Valley Comic Con. When he announced it, I swear to god, a girl in the front row literally, yes literally, squealed, threw her hands to her mouth, and wiggle-hopped in her seat). Lord of the Rings took me three months to read the first 100 pages, just poking at it, then three days to read the rest. Granted, you don't want THAT level of intro, but the point is, your epic fantasy audience can be patient. In fact, I prefer some level of it. A NY Times best selling author has told me that the second chapter is for world building.

So what's the first chapter for? IMHO, it's for character building. I think we are evolutionarily engineered to respond to other people, so hooking us with solid characters is a great first move. I think this should be done, not by chucking them in the deep end per say, but by showing us a little of what is ordinary for that person's character. For example, I just read Court of Thorn and Roses and it starts with a gal hunting for food for her dependent family. She does this all the time. It's showing the ordinary. Then you throw in a little twist, something out of the ordinary, in this case a really giant wolf came by, a wolf, is not unexpected in the forest setting, but tension is amped up by just how unusually large it is (and other minor details). She shot it. A few chapters later we learn this wolf was fae and her world turns upside down. After she shoots the wolf, she skins it, goes home, we meet the family, and we spend a little time establishing her world as it exists at that point.

I think a plot driven story with bad characters is harder to pull off than a character driven story with weak plot. Engaging characters can go a long way to pull the reader along. And it doesn't have to be really horrible twisty stuff to engage. In fact only a little off normal can work quite well. When I was reading Twilight, I though to myself, "This is the worst first 100 pages writing-wise that I've ever read," and then I read the whole series. As maudlin as that story was, it was character driven and it carried the weight of the whole story against many negatives. You don't have to like the overly moody types in your reading, but for those who do (of which I am one), Twilight did a very good job representing that type of character. And it starts with her world changing (a change for the character) but in a very normal way, a move (which is like a wolf in a forest, atypical, but not outside the expectations).

As with everything, you have to figure out audience. No book appeals to all, so no one bit of advice can serve all fully. In the case of Brian's work, if it's epic fantasy, then he has to appeal to and engage epic fantasy readers. This is a different task than appealing to whatever crowd it is that likes those TV shows that start with "Three days earlier."

 

[Jennifer L. Carson]

I had an appointment to go to earlier so I didn't finish reading this forum. Am doing so now...

To Phyrebrat, I say, "Here, here!"

It's all very pompous, isn't it? I would have missed out on some great books if I'd needed the reading equivalent of a sugar hit on page one.

And to the Big Peat, "Seconded."

Its probably better to say that if an author asks me to think before I have invested emotion, they'll lose me.

Basically, if an author kicks me off into the deep end - a fight scene, some complicated new magic system, some great and unclear event, too much philosophising on a multitude of things, whatever - and they end up confusing me before I've grown to care about the characters, I'm probably gone.

Hi Ratsy and Gonk the Insane,

I don't like the first 1000 words of my book.

can I deliver? Can I tick all the boxes for an agent/reader?

My personal thoughts liking you your work and delivering for agents/readers are that you write your first book for yourself. If you write it till you love it, you have a much better chance of other people liking it. At least, that's how I approach it when I sit to write. I don't need agents, editors, and readers armchair quarterbacking while I get the first draft down. Ratsy, work on it till you love it, that's a nice place to be in. And yeah, sometimes we need help to get to that place, which is why this place is so great.

And Gonk, those sound like good ideas on overcoming a block to writing an opening. I particularly like the change POV one as an exercise.

 

[James118]

This happens to me as well. Just like a roller-coaster, after the initial "Woah!" (hopefully that's what the reader will think after the first page ) you have to slime uphill until the next big thrilling plunge.
But I'm also keenly aware that when this extreme up-and-down happens

Yeah, pacing is a key part of any narrative. It can just be a slog when you're in a trough that has very little meat on its bones in the outline. Because then I've gotta let the characters meander for a bit and see what happens, and then perhaps go as a far as rewriting the whole scene months later to better incorporate all the juicy bits I teased out during the aimless first few drafts.

 

[CWScott]

I lost track of how many times I re-wrote my opening paragraph, as well as the first chapter. My first chapter has lots of action, but I took my time getting there. I don't like to start with action or conflict, but not sure how else to get that hook. For my next book the first sentence will start with action, and slowly feed tidbits of character and world building.

I like prologues, but are they still frowned upon? The last book I read had 3! But I enjoyed them.

 

[The Big Peat]

*blinks* 3 prologues? What madness is this? What book too?

I think prologues are still frowned upon, possibly unfairly.

 

[HareBrain]

*blinks* 3 prologues? What madness is this? What book too?

I'm pretty sure one of Steven Erikson's Malazan books had three prologues (or one prologue split into three different POVs and times/settings). But then "madness" sums up the entire project.

 

[Zebra Wizard]

A prologue would be such an easy solution to making an interesting opening without sacrificing the pacing to the main story. It is a shame they are frown upon, But i do understand why.

I rarely if ever, remember anything from a prologue once the real story gets going.

 

[Martin Gill]

just the opening paragraph

I'm soooo the opposite. I've got a massive backlog of cool opening lines and paragraphs, just not enough time to make them all into something.

 

[Jennifer L. Carson]

I like prologues, but are they still frowned upon?

But i do understand why.

A prologue would be such an easy solution to making an interesting opening without sacrificing the pacing to the main story. It is a shame they are frown upon, But i do understand why.

I like prologs, too. I don't know why they are so frowned upon. If you know why Zebra Wizard, please share! I need enlightenment. Also want to know who and how many frown upon it? I was moderating a writer's workshop at WorldCon last year and absolutely loved a prolog one of the guests had. One of the pros at the table was vehement against them. Is this a writer vs reader thing or do readers hate them too? Is it widespread or just a vocal few in the industry?

 

[HareBrain]

I don't mind a good prologue, but they are easy to do badly -- to infodump background or to compensate for a weak chapter one. My first reaction on encountering a prologue is usually to feel a bit annoyed that I'm expected to get invested twice in a short space of time, and possibly (the first time) in characters I'll never see again in the whole novel.

I have come across prologues so good that they overcome this -- the one to Tim Lebbon's Echo City springs to mind (in my opinion it was the best thing in the book). But they're not common, and I guess agents see so many bad ones they've fallen into a default prologue-hating setting.

 

[The Big Peat]

My guess would have been the emphasis on fast starts goes against them too.

I think I've made this point before but if you read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, it seems to go against every rule we're told for starting books.

edit: I suppose the first chapter isn't a prologue but it sure feels like one.

 

[HareBrain]

My guess would have been the emphasis on fast starts goes against them too.

I've seen prologues that act as fast starts, being full of action and followed by a slow first chapter. So maybe those ones were allowed to survive because they fulfilled that function. (I'd much rather have had the slow first chapter as a start, though.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

I don't know why they are so frowned upon.

The standard industry argument is:

1. Too often they are used as nothing more than infodumps to explain the story that follows
2. Readers often skip prologues

However, it's a case of "do what I say, not what I do" - prologues remain common in all the genres I read. But - they are usually done well, as a primer or even excerpt of what is to follow.

 

[Zebra Wizard]

Alot of the prologue I have read, involve characters that will never (or much later) show up again. making it feel a bit of a waste of time. Just as you finish the end of the you get a sense of the characters, the current timeline. Then bam you are 10-500 years later and end up shoving it all to one side to start getting comfortable again with the "real" storyline. I felt this way with all of brandon sanderson's prologues for example, and there were many more before.

But it get me going and continue with the book, though I can't remember one that was important.

I often hear that if it's backstory then introduce that later down the line rather than putting it in a prologue.

This thread as made me think about how I personally consume books. And I will often go through stages where I just don't want to pick up a book because of how long it would take me to read and to get me going, and just to cater to my own issue. Maybe I should focus on making the first chapter just as comfortable and easy to read as possible (as Big Peat mentioned)

 

[Cory Swanson]

To go back to phyrebrat's point about catch 22. It is something that has been bothering me. Most of the time, the true greats are breaking all these 'rules.' Not that I have mastered much of anything yet, but I feel like I'm getting fed a course on churning out pulp and not in writing something truly great.

It's like, do I write Justin bieber music or do I try to write like Beethoven? Bieber sells, but Beethoven is objectively great. The way you guys talk about pacing is frustrating. I feel like you all have no patience. Yes, that is the audience that buys this stuff, but even the greatest stuff in this genre breaks these rules.

Just venting a bit. I suck at writing intros and I have a lot to learn. And I think I have gotten better by reading through what you all say. But you will miss a lot of great writing if you have no patience.

 

[Steven Sorrels]

I think it's interesting that many industry people say "We hate prologues", but don't recognize that many authors just rename it Chapter 1 and move on, or completely ignore the advice to great effect. GRRM did this with ASoIaF, in that none of the main characters in his prologue mattered past the next chapter, but they set up the world in a brilliant way.

Honestly, I say "You do you", and just make sure to show as much as you can, while telling very little.

 

[Jennifer L. Carson]

But you will miss a lot of great writing if you have no patience.

So true. One of my favorite books from college was Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness novella. Not only is it a slow start...nothing actually ever happens, yet it's one of the greatest books I've had the pleasure of reading for tension and suspense.
In fact, sometimes action bores me. My favorite parts in my book aren't the action scenes, they are the one-on-one conversations where souls are laid bare. I like intense personal interactions over swordplay, explosions, chase scenes or what have you. So when I choose for personal reading (over work stuff), I don't look for intense story-driving actions in chapter one. Little things and little actions here that add up later are okay by me, so long as I like the people I'm with.

I have three favorite first paragraphs that have stuck with me for decades. They are from Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone, and Joan Didion's Los Angeles Notebook. Hmmm...I think I'll start a thread on favorite first paragraphs...

 

[Stephen Palmer]

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."