Opening Scene...

[DianthasProphecy]

Honey, we must be kindred spirits. That is basically how I envisioned them in my head. I didn't have many details, but sensuality was not a part of their personalities. They follow blindly and kill without remorse. I'm researching old folklore and legends of Vampires now. They weren't always seen as sexy, or whatever, and that's what I want to go with. I mean, I'm sure at some point there will be some romance with one of my MC, but it will not be the center of the story. The books I grew up reading weren't "mushy". I don't want a book I write to be "mushy" either. I appreciate romance as much as the next girl, but dang! It's just getting ridiculous.

(My fave movies are Hellraiser and The Lost Boys for goodness sake. Well, and The Notebook, I'll admit. I've forced my husband to watch that one a lot!)

 

[JCFarnham]

I'll admit I didn't particularly read much of this thread passed page one, but what I like to do in an opening scene, is basically cut the crap and start with flat out action. You coooould have a character wake up and do the morning routine, or you could cut straight to getting into work and... being set on fire [or you know ... whatever it is people do these days haha]

If I don't start with action I like to start midconversation. Yeah, I'll probably get laughed out of here for confusing readers or something but I've always liked reading books which don't panda me and just cut to it you know?

 

[tjwell01]

An opening scene needs bring the reader into an active moment to keep the eyes stuck to the page. No dragging internal narratives. The scene can be any part of the story. Opening scenes work great for flashbacks, but only if you do it right. Give a glimpse but not the whole pie into your protagonist using tantalizing physical details like his body language, depending on your POV. The scene should be a microcosm of either a sliver of the story or the protagonist's theme.

 

[gavintonks]

Best advice I was given you are competing against a video game for the persons time so make every single word count.

 

[gavintonks]

What I did as well is I went to a book store and opened every book in the genre I was writing and read the first chapter, this way I had a reasonable idea of what is being published.

 

[Starrynight]

Reading your post thought I'd offer an opinion, setting and chracters and what their story is introducing them and creating them in the readers imaganation. I try to do that with my stories.

Starrynight

 

[balthore]

Just a thought...your "vampire" chars sound a lot like what are called "Thrallings" (at least that is a term I've used before). Someone totally committed to their Masters wishes and will do anything asked of them, very often without emotion or care for their own safety.

As for an opening...I'm somewhat struggling with that myself. I've written a prologue for my story dealing with historical events that my story is based around. I'm just not sure I like it.

It is a struggle getting that opening that grips your readers. The best books seem to do it effortlessly, but we know it isn't an easy thing to do.