blog From First Word to Last, Part 1: Beginnings

I enjoyed this article.

"In late, out early" has a little more depth and significance than what you've written here—but in this context, it's also great. Making worlds and characters feel real requires giving the impression they both existed before the story starts. The issue is like the problem with starting a written history, say of the Roman Empire or the American Revolution. Where do you start? With every starting point, there's a wealth of info, events, personalities that came before and greatly affected that starting point, so maybe you should start the history earlier? But that could go back and back forever. In fiction, going back too far will often sap the energy of the present experience for the reader, but giving the impression that there was a "before" is also very good. The character didn't just spring into existence at the beginning of the first page. The character and world are in the midst of an ongoing stream of history; particularly, the character is in the midst of a personal history, and her present will have been greatly affected by what has occurred before the start of the story.

 

"Instead, a great opening scene starts in the middle of a sequence of events."

Beyond simply the backstory or a lengthy personal history, a character's "now" at the beginning is really in the middle of a sequence of more recent events. This is the part of the article that struck me most.

So for instance if I start a book with an apprentice mage cleaning the muck from the stable...well, he's there for a reason. Perhaps he's being punished for something that he did the previous day. Perhaps he and his master received notice that the King's retinue would be stopping at their remote inn, for respite from long travels, and he's found himself mucking out a stable that has been neglected for many months, heh.

Either of these two scenarios could also introduce some hints about the main story, whether plot or character arc or both. Would we need to first have a scene with the apprentice doing something bad (on the previous day) and then being told to muck out the stable? Would we need to first have the apprentice and his master sitting at a late breakfast, receiving a surprise messenger who tells them the King will be stopping by tomorrow? No, probably not, and starting in the middle of this sequence of events can introduce questions for the reader, hooking the reader into a mode of discovery about what's happening.

 

It took me years to realize that those first lines/scenes often came along and take final form after I'd written much of the rest of the story. I've been a big fan of working backwards of late, knowing where my story ends and then finding my way to the beginning of the tale and each character arc. I've crafted dozens of first lines and paragraphs for everything I have ever written and in the end, no matter how much I liked them at the time, they changed.

They're so much fun to come up with though.

> What do you think makes a story succeed on page one?

At their best, first pages offer a succession of well thought out lines and paragraphs that give us the setting/world, the main character(s), the genre and the tone, and they kept us asking questions. Prologues are often the subject of a lot of debate but, for me, they're fine so long as chapter one is just as appealing/attention getting when it does begin.

You've nailed most of it in the blog. Personally, I'm not a fan of high action from the word go (unless that truly is the everyday world of the character) Something subtler and less frantic to welcome me in is more appealing.

Off the top of my head is Victoria Schwab's understated opening line from 'Darker Shade of Magic', "Kell wore a very peculiar coat."

It's all there in six words: our main character, action ( I assume if Kell has a need to wear a peculiar coat, theres a reason for it and I'll find out what that is soon) and it gets me asking the questions. . . how is the coat peculiar? what is he doing? Where is he? All of which are answered in rapid succession in the lines that follow.

A great first page can also set up a quick and unexpected twist. Who thought chapter one of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card would conclude for the main character as it did after reading page one?

> What do you think makes a story fail on page one?

By the end of page one, you should be able to answer the who (main character) and have some sense of the what (scene goal/action) when (setting/time of day etc) where (scene location) and why (some hint at the character's motivation). Usually when I am stuck, I download the samples of dozens of books on Kindle or go to the library and read just their first pages. If, regardless of genre, it makes me want to continue through the chapter, (and this happens even in genres I never read) I know there is something in that first page I should be looking at as a writer.

In the example I gave above, the coat is not only peculiar, it's important! It better be. I don't want to hear about clothing right off unless it truly matters. So many of us love describing the clothing, (we've invested time in dressing these characters after all) but often it comes with little thought as to why they are wearing what they have on or if it's important enough to include. It should matter. Climate, social engagement, combat etc. if it isn't part of the scene/story, it's not needed. This is especially true on page one.

> Have a great hook? Let’s hear your opening lines!

So, still in progress and since I work from end t beginning, it may change, but here is the original opening line I first thought of for the WIP fantasy novel I'm writing ( it was actually the initial inspiration for the entire tale)

"No one, as far as I can tell, has ever left the Bewildering Pine and returned."