We writers spend so much time over openings. This post over at the Mad Genius Club made me think about openings.
There is the first paragraph,which has to sparkle so much it grabs the jaded editor and then it has to grab the fussy reader, browsing through the bookstore. (How important is the first paragraph when a reader can download the whole novel instantly, often for free?).
But the real challenge is the opening chapters.
These opening chapters have to set up the world which is harder for speculative fiction writers because even a Dark Urban Fantasy writer’s world has different rules from the one we live in. Holly Lisle has some tips on getting to know your world here.
I tend to let the world grow as I write. I trust myself to do this because I’ve done a lot of reading on sociology and anthropology. In fact the real art is not to introduce too much world building. The writer reveals only what the reader needs to know, as they need to know it.
These opening chapters have to introduce the characters and make the reader CARE about them. This is terribly important. If your reader doesn’t care why would they keep reading? This is where Holly Lisle talks about bringing characters to life.
There’s a saying, have your character save the cat – meaning have them do something likable. I’d say, even if the character is doing terrible things, the reader will like them if they are doing these things for a good reason. So make your character’s motives powerful, make these motives something the reader can identify with.
Rather than constructing characters, I tend to throw them into conflict and see what they do. This way I get to know the character as the reader gets to know them. This has the added bonus of putting the character is danger which raises the Worry Factor as I call it. The more your reader is worrying about the character, the more they are going to want to keep turning the pages.
These opening chapters have to introduce the conflict. If you throw your characters straight into trouble, then you’ve already introduced the conflict. By the end of the first two chapters (depending on the complexity of the plot) the reader should have a good idea what the driving force of the conflict is. Holly Lisle covers conflict here, both internal and external conflict.
So this is why opening chapters are so important. I often find that I’ve started too late and have to go back to write more before the original opening. Do you struggle with beginnings?
Struggle with openings? Why, no, of course not! I’ve only written seven or eight different starts to my trilogy…
LOL, Satima. I’ve been known to start a book, write 300 pages, then go back and write a whole new book before it. That is how much I rewrite beginnings!
Yes, that’s how I look at it, Satima. It’s never wasted. It all helps you get a grip on the world and the characters.
One of my fresh starts was of that ilk. At least I have a goodly serve of book two to return to!
Does it matter if the conflict at the beginning of the book, isn’t the one that gets resolved by the end? If the initial conflict becomes swamped by something much larger? I sometimes wonder if I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul. If the initial conflict becomes trivialised by ensuing events, does it still require a resolution?
See my problem isn’t introducing conflict, it’s resolving them all in a satisfactory manner.
I couldn’t go back and write a prequel to my series, because the titular heroine is created in the first book.
You created your heroine in the first book, Chris? Is she a clone or a vat human, or a cyborg????
Sometimes you have a character who starts out wanting one thing then, as the book progresses, they grow as a person and discover that their inner need was not what they thought it was and their motivation changes.
As a reader I can accept this, if it is foreshadowed.
She’s a drone, completely robotic, designed solely for sex. But when that’s taken away and she’s forced to adapt, she finds new things inside herself. And people have to start thinking about her in a new light. This is pretty well sorted by the end, (man/sex-drone romance-style).
The directional shifts are mainly quest related.
As long as the change in direction is logical … I guess it is something that a reader could tell you.
Hi Rowena,
I’ve got something together on landforms and mapping. You’ll have to give me somewhere to send it. Might be too much for a normal post but it’s divided up so you can throw the second half away if you think it’s irrelevant.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
Silly me. I forgot you didn’t have my email.
rowena(at)corydaniells(dot)com
Looking forward to seeing it.
cheers, R
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