Breaking rules

[Charles T. Forests]

I've really been trying hard not to put any action in my first chapter for fear of breaking writing rules. But I cant help it everything keeps leading me to it. Is there any examples of authors doing anyway? Or do you think its could get away with the taboo?

 

[Charles T. Forests]

Or just add a prologue?

 

[pmmg]

Um....that's not a rule.

Blood on the floor is a much more common beginning than not, and many will tell you not to begin with a boring day in the life of opening.

My advice is always, start at the moment everything changes.

 

[Insolent Lad]

I very much like to drop the reader into the middle of ongoing action. Explanations can come later.

 

[Charles T. Forests]

I very much like to drop the reader into the middle of ongoing action. Explanations can come later.

I got told you shouldn't do it because it means no one can get invested into the character properly

 

[pmmg]

Well...its true that there are many stories that start off with action, and the stakes are not really present, so its action for no reason.

But...many stories also successfully pull this off.

Opening a story is not easy feat. You've got to do a lot of lifting, present the characters, present the world, present the conflict, win the readers trust, and not give it all away. Or...find a way to win trust and push off some of that for a later scene.

Pulling all that off is more art than science, and something you just need to develop a feel for.

Ultimately, you got to give me a reason to care. Showing me some character is a bad-ass does not make me care.


The easiest way to comment on it is to see the opening you have and offer direct commentary on that.

 

[Mad Swede]

I've really been trying hard not to put any action in my first chapter for fear of breaking writing rules. But I cant help it everything keeps leading me to it. Is there any examples of authors doing anyway? Or do you think its could get away with the taboo?

Opening a story like that is called in medias res, (latin meaning into the middle of things) and there is nothing wrong with that as a story telling technique. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey start in medias res, and it was a literary practice of which the Roman poet and critic Horace thoroughly approved (read his Ars Poetica to see his approval, expressed in hexameter verse!).

So I should ignore anyone who tells you that it's bad practice, because they don't know what they're talking about.

 

[ThinkerX]

The rule of thumb is you have one page to grab the reader's attention enough to make them keep reading. You do that by setting up a compelling crisis or situation within the first few sentences.

 

[MudDobber]

I've really been trying hard not to put any action in my first chapter for fear of breaking writing rules. But I cant help it everything keeps leading me to it. Is there any examples of authors doing anyway? Or do you think its could get away with the taboo?

I would say write what feels appropriate for the scene. Robert Jordan's first chapter of The Eye of the World in the Wheel of Time series has some serious action near it's end, and the chapter is about 50 pages if I recall.

 

[skip.knox]

> fear of breaking writing rules.
The rules aren't the problem. The fear is.

You might ask yourself why you are afraid, what you fear. It's ok if you can't answer that yet, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Anyway, as others are saying here, there really are not any rules, just people who like to make proclamations that they dress up as rules. Don't worry about those yet. Best to make mistakes and then try to correct them than it is to be frozen in place because you're so worries about making mistakes in the first place. After all, you cannot correct a mistake until you've made one.

 

[JBCrowson]

If you read The Hobbit, there's a whole chapter that talks about hobbits in general and one or two famous hobbits from history in particular, before there's any action. That is an exception compared to more recent fantasy writing. Whether we like it or not we live in the social media age. The age of the soundbite, the browsing flick through multiple possible items that compete for attention. In that context writers have to capture the attention of a potential reader much more quickly now than they used to. Action is one of the easier ways to do that.

People like me who prefer a slow burn are a dying breed I think, certainly a shrinking minority.

 

[JBCrowson]

> fear of breaking writing rules.
Best to make mistakes and then try to correct them than it is to be frozen in place because you're so worries about making mistakes in the first place. After all, you cannot correct a mistake until you've made one.

Not only can you not correct a mistake you haven't made, you can't learn from it either. I would imagine there are a bunch mistakes all (or the vast majority of) writers make as they learn their craft. Write early and get them out of the way I say.

 

[Charles T. Forests]

If you read The Hobbit, there's a whole chapter that talks about hobbits in general and one or two famous hobbits from history in particular, before there's any action. That is an exception compared to more recent fantasy writing. Whether we like it or not we live in the social media age. The age of the soundbite, the browsing flick through multiple possible items that compete for attention. In that context writers have to capture the attention of a potential reader much more quickly now than they used to. Action is one of the easier ways to do that.

People like me who prefer a slow burn are a dying breed I think, certainly a shrinking minority.

In the hobbit he also breaks the rule of adding to many characters in a single chapter but Tolkien was awsome at breaking the rules. Unfortunately I'm not that talented I'd talk my self in to jail lmao

 

[JBCrowson]

In the hobbit he also breaks the rule of adding to many characters in a single chapter but Tolkien was awsome at breaking the rules. Unfortunately I'm not that talented I'd talk my self in to jail lmao

I'd be willing to bet there was a point early in his career as a writer, when Tolkien was not that hot either. From what I've read, he spent many years developing the ideas and setting of middle earth, with numerous rewrites of stories and sections before he came up with the version we know and love.

 

[Malik]

Or just add a prologue?

No.

That is not what a prologue is. Especially in fantasy.

Oboy, I get to do this again.

Prologues are only necessary for epic fantasy. Anywhere else, they're performative, superfluous bullshit.

I said what I said.

What makes epic fantasy "epic" is that the characters' actions change the world. That's it. That's the definition. Without world-changing consequences, it's not epic. It could be high fantasy, or low fantasy, or sword and sorcery, or sword and sandal, or romantasy, or whatever. All of those are perfectly awesome and valid, and you don't necessarily have to stick to it. My first novel is sword and sorcery; the second is epic fantasy. The third in the series (coming this summer!) is contemporary mil-SF, but let's not get off-track right now. Suffice it to say, it's complicated.

Because the world changes in epic fantasy, the world is a character. It interacts with the other characters, and it follows an arc just like every character. It's different at the end than it was at the beginning.

The prologue is the world's walk-on scene. It's not a history of the world, and it's not a chapter of endless exposition. It's the world, just doing its thing, before your characters f*** with it. When your MCs join the story, you don't tell their entire history back to when they were in a bassinet (I hope). You just show them being who they are, and let the crowd figure it out after that. You drop hints along the way, flashback, long talks around the fire about their childhoods, whatever.

The best example of this in the past 30 years is the opening to A Game of Thrones. Whether you read the novels or just saw the show; the opening scene/chapter, with the White Walkers, sets the whole story up. Because of the prologue, you know the White Walkers are real. Knowing that they're real throws all the political gamesmanship into sharp relief, because they don't know the world is in danger, but you, the reader/watcher, do. Skip the opening and watch the rest of the show or read the novels, and it's a completely different story until like Season Five and Book II. (III? I forget.)

If you're not writing epic fantasy, you don't need a prologue. Don't do it. And please, don't make your prologue a pile of slow-moving bullshit you made up and are proud of. Prologues have a bad-enough rep, already.

You don't have to start in situ but for the love of a merciful God, don't call your swimming-through-molasses first chapter a prologue. Please.

Thank you.

 

[Malik]

I'd be willing to bet there was a point early in his career as a writer, when Tolkien was not that hot either. From what I've read, he spent many years developing the ideas and setting of middle earth, with numerous rewrites of stories and sections before he came up with the version we know and love.

He wasn't a writer. He was a linguist. He wrote the books as a way to ensconce the languages he'd created; a hell of a lot more fun to read than dictionaries in Dwarvish and Elvish. (Although it could be argued The Silmarillion is effectively that.) Tolkien was a terrible writer. Do not ape him. No one will read it.

 

[Charles T. Forests]

No.

That is not what a prologue is. Especially in fantasy.

Oboy, I get to do this again.

Prologues are only necessary for epic fantasy. Anywhere else, they're performative, superfluous bullshit.

I said what I said.

What makes epic fantasy "epic" is that the characters' actions change the world. That's it. That's the definition. Without world-changing consequences, it's not epic. It could be high fantasy, or low fantasy, or sword and sorcery, or sword and sandal, or romantasy, or whatever. All of those are perfectly awesome and valid, and you don't necessarily have to stick to it. My first novel is sword and sorcery; the second is epic fantasy. The third in the series (coming this summer!) is contemporary mil-SF, but let's not get off-track right now. Suffice it to say, it's complicated.

Because the world changes in epic fantasy, the world is a character. It interacts with the other characters, and it follows an arc just like every character. It's different at the end than it was at the beginning.

The prologue is the world's walk-on scene. It's not a history of the world, and it's not a chapter of endless exposition. It's the world, just doing its thing, before your characters f*** with it. When your MCs join the story, you don't tell their entire history back to when they were in a bassinet (I hope). You just show them being who they are, and let the crowd figure it out after that. You drop hints along the way, flashback, long talks around the fire about their childhoods, whatever.

The best example of this in the past 30 years is the opening to A Game of Thrones. Whether you read the novels or just saw the show; the opening scene/chapter, with the White Walkers, sets the whole story up. Because of the prologue, you know the White Walkers are real. Knowing that they're real throws all the political gamesmanship into sharp relief, because they don't know the world is in danger, but you, the reader/watcher, do. Skip the opening and watch the rest of the show or read the novels, and it's a completely different story until like Season Five and Book II. (III? I forget.)

If you're not writing epic fantasy, you don't need a prologue. Don't do it. And please, don't make your prologue a pile of slow-moving bullshit you made up and are proud of. Prologues have a bad-enough rep, already.

You don't have to start in situ but for the love of a merciful God, don't call your swimming-through-molasses first chapter a prologue. Please.

Thank you.

Mine is a epic dark fantasy novel but it was a joke I really don't like prologues

 

[Malik]

Damn. Half an hour wasted. Hey, have fun.

Also, NOBODY likes prologues. Cheers.

 

[ThinkerX]

The original version of my 'Empire' series had prologues in most of the books, which went over like lead balloons. In the final (?) editions, just two of the six books had prologues. Both introduced characters/situations that had major effects on the MCs and the worlds they were on.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Hello, and welcome to Scribes, Ovius. There are a whole lot of guidelines to writing and opinions to stretch beyond poor, frozen little Pluto. But, with all of that, there's only one Rule. And I'm going to tell you what it is.

C'mere.

No, closer, I only bite with permission.

There. Can you still hear me? Excellent. Here it is.

Writers write.

That's it. That's the whole thing. Writers write. Everything else is process. They say don't start in medias res. We always do. How? We know how to make it work. You get the reader asking questions. If you do it right, you can make them sing. "What's this? What's this? There's conflict everywhere! What's this? What's this? Suddenly I care!"

They say to avoid having character names start with the same letter. The Books of Binding is a long-running series with about 500 named characters. You go find me more extra letters than I'm currently using and I might consider it.

They say to avoid scenes that introduce a bunch of characters all at once. Challenge accepted. First book we have a council scene that turns into a bar fight in a FMC's dining room. So far, it's pretty popular.

Writers write. It's really hard, unforgiving, and the pay is crap, but writers write. Nothing is off the table. Everything is in your toolbox. All you need to do is get in there and get to it. You won't know what you can or can't do until you dive into it. And Yoda can stick it in his little green ear. There is a great deal of try in writing. It's how we grow. Now, get busy. You've got a story to write.