Do you start your story with a bang?

[MichaelSullivan]

I was commenting on another post about sample size and it made me think about the fact that in today's environment most people will "sample" before they buy (either via Search Inside the Book, reading a few pages in the bookstore, or an ebook sample).

For this reason it is important to really hook your reader. I think that many new fantasy writers start off by setting a stage when (IMHO) they should start off with some action. Here are two examples:

In the year of the Exnox, before the reign of the One-Handed King, when Asifar was still a province of Tripidia before the first of the Haglin Wars that decided the fate of all the inhabitants of Estifar, a boy was born to the tribe of Grangers and his name was Firth. It was in the wet season the Grangers called Kur that the boy was born into the house of Janicy, who were known for their hunting skills. All Grangers were known for hunting as well as archery as their ancestors came down from the Ithinal Mountains to…

Verses

The axe came down at his head and Firth dove to the side to avoid being cleaved in half. Trevor was supposed to train him, not kill him, but before Firth had gained his feet, his master was swinging again.

Which would get you to read more?

 

[Guy]

I always start my stories in the middle of some action.

 

[mythique890]

I'm a fan of starting with a scene rather than exposition, but I think you have to be careful. There's a quote by an author about walking in to a movie in the middle of a car chase, but you don't care if one car is all of the sudden engulfed in flames, because you don't know who is in it, and if they're good or bad. More importantly, you don't know if you even like or relate to that character. Anyways, that's not the quote, but it's the main idea. I think action is definitely better, but make sure you go at it in a way that isn't over the top and, most importantly, furthers your story.

I thought your second opening was great, because while it didn't paint the grand picture that the first one did, it immediately gave a sense of character for both Firth and his trainer. It hooked me in two sentences when your other opening had me skimming by the end.

Of course, I think in the fantasy genre especially, you are going to find readers who prefer the grand picture. I'm not one of them.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

I have an approximate 5-10 page rule. I usually start with fast paced conversation that gives at least some grasp of the characters and I feel immediately engages readers with character, but then it slams into action--if not sheer violence, at least obvious magic or the such. Usually after the big bang, it drops back to more character and the characters trying to figure out what the hell just happened. There's a lull with only some danger while I set up what I otherwise would have set up without the big bang. For the record, I'm totally against exposition. If you need to get down some basics on world etc. put it a) in character relevant discussion and action so that it still feels like you are building character and tension--the info should slip in organically and almost unnoticed. I believe this most strongly with foreign world building. Give the readers a little credit. If you can just mention in passing the things that will build this world without ever stopping to discuss it, you should be able to make your world unfold and keep the reader. Like one of the first lines in Incarnate , slated to publish in the spring, is something like, "the only sound was the subdued trammel of corgeb slaves running errands for their ailif masters." I have just established a) this is a slave culture b) corgeb are slaves c) ailifs are masters. The only extra cues I gave that will drop out after this point are the words "slave" and "master." After this point, with a few more cues, it is a given that corgeb are slaves and ailifs are masters, so I don't have to keep pairing those words. All of this is set in the senses of the main character pov of the afternoon around her. I even introduced two foreign words, which I drop like NYC party girl drops names.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

My WIP starts with... well, not violent action, but conversational action (an argument in the royal council between two dukes, about how to react to foreign aggressors). Starting amidst action doesn't have to mean a fight, a chase, or someone in dire peril. It just has to mean something that makes you think, What's going to happen next?

That's one thing Robert Jordan did really well in the Wheel of Time. The prologues of all the books are about something happening to some character, and then the first chapter starts with the whole wind-flowing-over-the-land thing, before it ends up flowing past the POV character for that chapter, who we stick with. It's a great form of introducing us to the setting, without tedious pages of historical context.

 

[Devor]

Which would get you to read more?

To be quite honest I'm not sure I'd prefer either opening sentence. I may be in the minority, but I want, in the opening sentence or two, to get a feel for the writer and the voice that's going to be in my head for the weeks I'm reading their story. Both the lengthy description and the sudden mid-swing sentences seem clunky to me in that regard.

If we're going to find an aphorism - "open with setting" or "open with action" or "open with character" - I would say to open with mood. Pick a single characteristic you want to get across and find a telling way to express it. I'll point to the seven Harry Potter novels as an example of opening sentences that are perfectly normal, thank you very much.

That said, I do think the opening chapter, taken as a whole, should have more action and character than world-setting. But you can take a page or two to get there.

 

[Thursday]

I think it works best if there's an intro or preface chapter that has the action and then the actual book can start with background. That way both needs are met but the reader is pulled in immediately.

 

[TWErvin2]

Something should be happening pretty early in the story. Starting with something already going on, rather than try to establish character or especially setting, generally works best. What often doesn't work/fails miserably is: Showing a normal day in the life before things go wrong.

The best way to get the necessary background and backstory is through context and/or providing it when it's needed.

Of course one can find exceptions to what I've suggested, but maybe that's why they're exceptions. But that does prove that anything can work, especially if done extremely well.

 

[Chilari]

I gotta say, the first opening paragraph there bored me. If I picked up a book in a bookshop and read that on the first page, I wouldn't make it to the second sentence. And there's more to it that simply that it's exposition. That is the main problem, but also, it's written in a dry style, and contains terms that mean nothing to me. I don't know what Exnox means or who the One-Handed King was or whether the Grangers are a family, kin group, cultural group, social class, or what. It's irrelevant.

Yet at the same time, I'm not so sure that starting in the middle of action is the way to go. There should be activity - as in, someone is doing something - but action as defined by battles, chases, explosions, etc is not what I like to see. As Mythique said, starting in the middle of action leaves the reader wondering why they should care about the characters. My personal preference is to start in a moment of relative peace: right before or right after some form of action. The battle is over, or the character is waiting for it to begin. This gives you a chance to introduce the character and show how they act in tense moments - are they planning their next move, waiting patiently for the time to act, afraid of what they might soon face? It gives me a chance to get inside their head and establish their voice, while still having something going on, even if it isn't exactly a big bang.

Then, once the first challenge has been faced and overcome (or fled from, or hidden from, or the danger has passed, etc), I start to feed in other elements of the story and get to the core conflict.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

I gotta say, the first opening paragraph there bored me. If I picked up a book in a bookshop and read that on the first page, I wouldn't make it to the second sentence. And there's more to it that simply that it's exposition. That is the main problem, but also, it's written in a dry style, and contains terms that mean nothing to me. I don't know what Exnox means or who the One-Handed King was or whether the Grangers are a family, kin group, cultural group, social class, or what. It's irrelevant.

It should bore you - I was using it to illustrate a point - it wasn't meant to be indictive of my writing style or what I suggest people do - I guess I wasn't clear enough in my post.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

A hook is something that grabs the readers attention and gets them interested in what might come. To start in the middle of a fight, or battle, doesn't really do this. If you are flipping channels and come across a battle scene, you don't know who is who and honestly have no preference to either side, does it matter if someone is in a life or death situation...no. I have no attachment to a character in the first sentence, paragraph, or usually even the first few pages. Hooking a reader requires a reason for them to put some trust in you that you will provide an interesting story. If you start with the bang, I honestly wouldn't be upset if the main character gets killed in the bang. I don't know them, and if they die, I won't know them, and you have saved me hours of reading to find out there isn't much there.

Maybe some examples will work:
Robert Asprin - Another Fine Myth (Book one of the series):
ONE of the few redeeming facets of instructors, I thought, is that occasionally they can be fooled. It was true when my mother taught me to read, it was true when my father tried to teach me to be a farmer, and it's true now when I'm learning magik.

The first line sets up the character, and what to expect. The character (Skeeve) is making it clear he is trying to fool his instructor. Then goes on to justify why he thinks he can get away with it.

No battle, no bang, just a situation that is meant to draw you into the story.

Orson Scott Card - Enders Game
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and tell you he's
the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."

He does use a bit of a trick with this book with the faceless, nameless dialog at the beginning and at other key points. Still, no bang, just a very strong hint that someone has decided someone is 'the one'.

Charles de Lint - Moonheart
Sara Kendell once read somewhere that the tale of the world is like a tree. The tale, she understood, did not so much mean the niggling occurrences of daily life. Rather it encompassed the grand stories that caused some change in the world and were remembered in ensuing years as, if not histories, at least folktales and myths.

No bang, not fight scene, but the first line does draw interest, the tale of the world? Like a tree? They are questions that I expect will be answered in the story. A question, not a bang.

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter book 1
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

In this one, many people are familiar with, we have a statement of what Mr and Mrs Dursley are, and what they are against, of which she plans on breaking shortly, and this all but tells us that it is about to change.

JRR Tolkien - The Hobbit
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

And here is Tolkien, introducing us to a hobbit, who lives in a hole, but a very comfortable one.

Roger Zelazny - Nine Princes in Amber
It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me.
Something is ending, which means something else is beginning.

Jennifer Roberson - Sword Dancer
In my line of work, I've seen all kinds of women. Some beautiful. Some ugly. Some just plain in between. And--being neither senile nor a man with aspirations to sainthood--whenever the opportunity presented itself (with or without my encouragement), I bedded the beautiful ones (although sometimes they bedded me), passed on the ugly ones altogether (not being a greedy man), but allowed myself discourse with the in-betweeners on a fairly regular basis, not being one to look the other way when such things as discourse and other entertainments are freely offered. So the in-betweeners made out all right, too.
This one sets up the main character, giving a insight on what he thinks, and a set up for what is about to happen. Needless to say it involves a woman.

Does a story need to start with a bang? NO! Can it, yes, but too often that bang tricks the writer into thinking it will be captivating to be in that life or death situation with the character they know and love, since it's their creation, but forget that the reader doesn't know the character, or care if they die.

A hook is something that will hook the reader, so it has to provide something of interest, some type of promise of what is to come, or what to expect. If you start in the middle of an action scene, what are you promising?

 

[Amanita]

A very interesting topic.
I have great trouble with my own beginnings, therefore this is very helpful to me.
In my own story, I've discovered, that the ordinary day in the main characters life really isn't the way to go. (After rewriting it for the third time or so, I got bored with it myself.)
Therefore I can't give advice on things I would do, but I can talk about the stuff I like to read.

If the story is about war or a certain aspect of war, beginning with a scene that highlights this aspect can be a good way of getting me into the story. In this case, I don't need to know about the characters beforehand because it's the situation and not the characters that really matters more. There's enough time to get to know them later. The same goes for any other kind of high-action story, such as one that tells the story of an assasin or dragon hunter or anything of that sort.
Stories that are more character-driven, where the plot mainly revolves around the main character's situation and the changes he or she is about to face are a different matter. In such as story, I don't think that starting with strong action (that might be quite rare in such a story) is the way to go. If done well, beginning with the "ordinary day in the character's life" can actually work in this case, but the "ordinary day mixed with unusual things happening" is better.

This is probably different for every reader, but I'm mainly interested in the themes and ideas within a story, not in the answer to the question if the main character survives or not. Therefore a book that is supposed to grip me needs to hint at themes I'm interested in at the beginning. If the book is for example about "princess X doesn't want to wear a dress but fight with a sword", it doesn't matter if there's action at the beginning or not, I'm not going to buy the book. (As long as there's no very good reason to do so despite of it.)
As demonstrated in the first example in this thread, a big no go is the use of too many unfamiliar names and terms in the first paragraphs. This is something that has kept me away from some works here in the Showcase as well. I know the problem that the everything is perfectly clear to the writer (and have trouble with this myself) but when reading something from someone else's world, this kind of thing is really difficult.

 

[ScipioSmith]

As for 'day in the life' beginnings, surely it depends on what sort of life the main character has. A day in the life of an assassin might be a quite entertaining way to begin.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

I think what many people tend to miss is the term hook. I guess if you are fishing for whales, or large sharks, then hooking would be something drastic and strong. For most fish, hooking is a slight tug to 'hook' the fish, not tear the hook through it's mouth and leave you with nothing and one very annoyed, not to mention injured, fish. Setting the hook is only the beginning. After you hook the fish it can move a bit before you start reeling it in. So if we hook the reader, then bring them into the story at a pace that flows naturally, providing more and more as they are brought completely into your story. Trying to pull a fish out of the water and into your hands in one massive jerk doesn't really work. Same goes for readers, only you take the damage from it, not them.

 

[mythique890]

Hm. I think that's a really good analogy, LD. I never thought of writing a story that way, and I know just enough about fishing to get what you mean. I will think about this a lot in next few days.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

I guess I wasn't making myself clear enough. I was citing two very different examples (neither of which I would suggest) but just showing some polar opposites to illustrate a point. My point was...that you have a very short period of time to get someone's attention and if you spend those first few pages on too much background you're likely to lose people.

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I guess I wasn't making myself clear enough. I was citing two very different examples (neither of which I would suggest) but just showing some polar opposites to illustrate a point. My point was...that you have a very short period of time to get someone's attention and if you spend those first few pages on too much background you're likely to lose people.

I agree. I think most folks posting in this thread are agreeing. I think the suggestion is that there's more than one way to get someone's attention in those first few pages. It doesn't have to be an *action* "bang" - but those first few pages do have to hook the reader into wanting to read more.

That means that if you're targeting an action oriented audience, an action scene in the first pages is ideal. Other audiences might be hooked better by other types of scenes. But whatever sort of scene you use, it should hook the reader's interest - because they're only going to give you a few pages worth of their time before they go check out some other book instead.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

That means that if you're targeting an action oriented audience, an action scene in the first pages is ideal. Other audiences might be hooked better by other types of scenes. But whatever sort of scene you use, it should hook the reader's interest - because they're only going to give you a few pages worth of their time before they go check out some other book instead.

Which reader's interest should I try to hook? I don't know if there's a definitive answer. For my part, I think I'd just prefer to write something that would hook my interest. My novel starts off with a scene of political discussion among dukes, having an argument about whether to attack a neighboring nation. There's conflict and tension, which hopefully is enough.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

And where does the story lead? What is to come? And can some hint at that future be worked into the early part of that discussion? The discussion by itself might be interesting, but if it also implies of a larger problem that is coming, then you have a reason to read past whatever the initial interest is.

I would expect that you have some form of target audience in mind, and those are the people you want to convince your story is worth reading.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

And where does the story lead? What is to come? And can some hint at that future be worked into the early part of that discussion? The discussion by itself might be interesting, but if it also implies of a larger problem that is coming, then you have a reason to read past whatever the initial interest is.

This is the prologue, so it's really more setting the stage, although it does end with a death and with the uncertainty of impending warfare, as well as establishing one of the core character conflicts in the story. Some of the characters in the prologue figure in the plot later, but the four main characters are not introduced until chapters 1 and 2.

I would expect that you have some form of target audience in mind, and those are the people you want to convince your story is worth reading.

I haven't actually given my "target audience" much thought. Mainly, it's people like me.