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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2014 8:42:19 GMT -5
You know, I recently rewrote the opening of my WIP to something with more immedate issues at the fore, and I think the book'll be better for it. I'd had it as an exposition scene, but it turned out to be the springboard to the plot. I dunno why it took me so long to recognize it. I've wanted to start the thing with something that would propel the plot out of the gate because that was the common wisdom. I kinda kicked and screamed that it didn't need to be that way, citing the books tuat ease into it, but I think I was in denial because I couldn't figure out a good way to do it. Now that I found that super secret passage that had been hidden from me all this time, it's like I had a rotting tooth fixed. Taught me a lesson. Sometimes you just have to keep searching. YMMV. Enormously so. I've read action-driven books that use enough weapons to conquer a small country in the first sentence, and which I enjoyed. I've read action-drivel books which I have thrown against the wall (pre-kindle), including the seventeen murderous rogue ninjas riding on wild white tigers. I've read books that needed just one single chapter of ten pages to explain the history of their world, and which bored me to tears. And I love History. I've read books which opened with a huge infodump, and which made me want to read the rest of the book to see how all this would play out and to discover the answer to several things I didn't understand immediately. Some of them contained more infodumps, which not only were interesting stories in their own right, but also added several layers to what I had already read. All of this matters to me as a reader. None of it matters to you as a writer, because you don't know who you're writing for except yourself. So, whatever floats your boat. Unless you're writing with the main goal of making mucho dinero. In that case, study the market. Find a popular niche. Steal with your eyes how the bestsellers are doing it. Follow every trope to a T, and maybe add a twist — nothing too outrageous, mind you — of your own. Read all Russel Blake's posts and put in the hours. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 21, 2014 14:56:46 GMT -5
You know, I recently rewrote the opening of my WIP to something with more immedate issues at the fore, and I think the book'll be better for it. I'd had it as an exposition scene, but it turned out to be the springboard to the plot. I dunno why it took me so long to recognize it. I've wanted to start the thing with something that would propel the plot out of the gate because that was the common wisdom. I kinda kicked and screamed that it didn't need to be that way, citing the books tuat ease into it, but I think I was in denial because I couldn't figure out a good way to do it. Now that I found that super secret passage that had been hidden from me all this time, it's like I had a rotting tooth fixed. Taught me a lesson. Sometimes you just have to keep searching. Starting with a springboard to the plot seems key, to me. But that doesn't have to be an action scene. A lot of books in my genre start with the MC having a knock-down, drag-out with a minor baddie. Like the first words of the book are, "I palmed my blades and skirted the security guard's still-steaming corpse. The vamp across the alley bared its fangs and lunged ..." It's sort of starting to feel cliche that so many being with this sort of thing. |
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 21, 2014 15:08:51 GMT -5
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but if you can have SOME kind of tension present, great. And if it can be related to the plot, even better. And if the reader can understand what's going on right away and be "into" the story, even better. etc...But, yeah, the opening chase scene device has been worn to death.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 21, 2014 16:41:13 GMT -5
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but if you can have SOME kind of tension present, great. And if it can be related to the plot, even better. And if the reader can understand what's going on right away and be "into" the story, even better. etc...But, yeah, the opening chase scene device has been worn to death. Yeah, tension is good. It's just so hard to define what will strike readers as adequately ... tense. Tensioned? Tensiony? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2014 18:36:38 GMT -5
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but if you can have SOME kind of tension present, great. And if it can be related to the plot, even better. And if the reader can understand what's going on right away and be "into" the story, even better. etc...But, yeah, the opening chase scene device has been worn to death. Yeah, tension is good. It's just so hard to define what will strike readers as adequately ... tense. Tensioned? Tensiony? Tension doesn't always have to come from frenetic action. Ah, the subtle waft of impending doom… |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 21, 2014 18:50:35 GMT -5
Yeah, tension is good. It's just so hard to define what will strike readers as adequately ... tense. Tensioned? Tensiony? Tension doesn't always have to come from frenetic action. Ah, the subtle waft of impending doom… Yeah, it seems like a separate thing to me. The current beginning of my WIP is a bit more "actiony" than Nolander's beginning, but there may actually be less tension, since the MC is in a calm, happy state of mind. |
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Post by shawninmon on Apr 22, 2014 13:16:20 GMT -5
What's that writerly phrase for taking a scene from the middle of the book and putting it at the beginning? Whatever it is, that's what I tend to do. I love to look for the emotional heart of the book, pull a page or two of that out and use it at the beginning. I never call it a prologue, since it's not, and since many people are prejudiced against them. I just start in the middle of that pivotal scene,then write toward that moment somewhere in the middle of the book. That helps me to hook the reader into the story (why is he crying and saying goodbye to the love of his life in the first two pages of the book?) and then I feel the freedom to stretch my wings a bit at the beginning, believing they will give me a little leeway then.
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Post by scdaffron on Apr 23, 2014 10:22:30 GMT -5
What's that writerly phrase for taking a scene from the middle of the book and putting it at the beginning? In medias res (Latin for "in the midst of things") en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res(I remembered something from English class!  ) |
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Post by shawninmon on Apr 23, 2014 13:25:41 GMT -5
What's that writerly phrase for taking a scene from the middle of the book and putting it at the beginning? In medias res (Latin for "in the midst of things") en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res(I remembered something from English class! ) That's it! Thank you! I've been going back and re-reading things that I was assigned in high school (which would be a looooong time ago - 1975-78) and I have noticed this as well. I really love the book Giants in the Earth by Hans Rolvaag, but when I recommend it to people they glance through it and say "No thanks!" It's an incredible, densely layered story where a lot of stuff happens, but it doesn't happen fast or all at once. The ultimate effect is quite moving, though. |
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