McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Characteristic Entry Action vs building on the mundane

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Suilan:

--- Quote --- Actually, to use the quoted example: If you were reading Spiderman, and it started with a nerdy kid getting left behind by the bus, what would make you interested in that nerdy kid?
--- End quote ---

It says "Spiderman" on the cover, so you know that this is probably the kid who is going to be spiderman, or someone spiderman is about to rescue, or perhaps he is to be the antagonist. Either way, you know he is more than an ordinary nerdy kid.

You don't have to start your novel with a car chase or battle or some such action scene. If you do, you are promising the reader a novel full of action action action and nothing but action, and if you don't keep up this pace, you will disappoint your reader.

Look at the beginning of Storm Front. Harry is in a very ordinary situation: receiving mail. BUT something is not quite ordinary about this: a) it's probably bad news, b) the mailman asks if Harry is serious about his sign saying wizard. When long ago I discovered this novel (no recommendation, I was just browsing first pages at amazon to find something to read) I was immediately hooked. A good beginning (first chapter) must set the pace, the tone (Storm Front is funny right from the beginning but Harry sounds also a bit desperate), the scene (Chicago, office of a wizard P.I), introduce the main character and a few supporting characters, but not too many, and get the plot on the road.

It's probably better not to compare book openings with movie openings, because in the movie much relies on the main actor's charisma. Luke Skywalker and Toby Maguire, they are both kind of cute. In a novel, you can try to describe your character as handsome and charismatic, but the reader won't believe it until he sees the character in action, sees other characters around him admire him, hears him say witty things, or do heroic or helpful things, make decisions either right or wrong, etc.
 
Like AverageGuy said, Luke starts out wanting something. The audience immediately wonders if he will achieve what he wants, and anticipates -- since we already know about the intergalactic struggle -- that Luke will probably get a lot more excitement than he is hoping for a lot faster than he suspects.

Adam:
I appreciate all the advice here.  I'm getting good ideas, and the advice is helpful.

Thus far I have, in the first chapter:

[*]Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.
[*]A little character history is discussed.
[*]Bad Guy's goons/pawns disrupt normalcy by attacking the protagonist.
[/list]

The reason for the attack is of course part of what he has to figure out during the story.

meg_evonne:

--- Quote from: Adam on May 06, 2008, 04:18:57 PM ---I appreciate all the advice here.  I'm getting good ideas, and the advice is helpful.

Thus far I have, in the first chapter:

[*]Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.
[*]A little character history is discussed.
[*]Bad Guy's goons/pawns disrupt normalcy by attacking the protagonist.
[/list]

The reason for the attack is of course part of what he has to figure out during the story.

--- End quote ---

Idea sharing time:  When I lived in a small town.  *glaring at everyone as my present town is 50,000 and yes, that is small but Grinnell was really small!*  My family got a kick out of playing a country western song about, "You know the earth must be flat, because hen people leave they never come back."  Might be useful and different in an opening....  OR not!

Suilan:

--- Quote --- Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.
--- End quote ---

That sounds like an ideal point in the character's history to start a novel: on the verge of a new life with the old one still visible for the reader.


--- Quote ---A little character history is discussed.
--- End quote ---

Without having read your opening, this makes me wary, especially the word "discussed." The first scene is usually NOT the place to write about the character's history or, worse, to have any sort of flashback. The reader first want to get involved in the here and now of your story.

And the word "discussed" makes me think that two people talk about the character's history, is that correct? Dialogue is never a good place to tell the reader about the character's past UNLESS the characters are really talking about present concerns but refer to past things in an unobstrusive way, so that the reader can guess something about the character's past.

Perhaps that is what your reviewer meant when he said you need more action in the first scene. It is not the place for the character to reminisce, but to either think of/dream about the future, or to act in the present. There's time to introduce more about the character's past in the second chapter -- after the main plot has already started.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Suilan on May 06, 2008, 07:29:17 PM ---Without having read your opening, this makes me wary, especially the word "discussed." The first scene is usually NOT the place to write about the character's history or, worse, to have any sort of flashback. The reader first want to get involved in the here and now of your story.

--- End quote ---

They do ?

There are rather a lot of SF/F books that open with a scene-setting prologue; it's a very easy thing to do badly, but that does not mean it can't be done well.  Cherryh's Cyteen does it brilliantly, for example.

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