My Beginnings are Begging for me.

[Addison]

It sounds weird, and possibly childish, but there it is. I gave my first few chapters to one of my school's professors to read over. He says its good, introducing character and all that, but it started slow. He asked me what he said was a stupid question, which was "Do you, or did you, have other ideas for a beginning?" And it was a stupid question. I did and do have lots. He says to find the fastest one, the one that pulls the readers into the story the fastest, and use it.
While I agree with that I'm still having some issues.
The biggest one is each of my fast beginning ideas is screaming to be the one. They're pushing and shoving to the front screaming their heads off. I know I should just write them all out and pick the best one, I'm just looking for any other advice or experienced tips.
Second is how the beginning can affect the rest of the story. I don't mean what's written, I mean the pace. I think that if you start off fast then the reader will expect the rest of the story to be just as fast, or more. So, possibly or definitely stupid question, is there a difference between the beginning's fast pace and the part of the beginning which pulls in readers? If not, or so...whichever, how do you differentiate so the rest of the story will be a smooth transition?

 

[Addison]

....Here's a random question. Why doesn't my post show where I've indented?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Starting off fast doesn't mean you have to continually ramp up the pace. You're providing a hook which often are best when fast paced.

How far along into the story are you? Often I find my best beginnings are already written. There just hidden, lying several (or 50) pages back from where I started writing.

 

[The Unseemly]

Well, it's not necessarily the case of "being fast", just making the book interesting, and dragging your reader into it. And usually, the tried and tested method of making a book interesting is, indeed, "being fast". You really don't want the beginning to be drawn out and have nothing interesting happening; simply having descriptions of characters/landscape/stuff that can be explained as the story progress'. Have something interesting happen, and do it within the first 5 pages (sort of).

Of course, it is not to be said the beginning has to "be fast". I've seen other books, such as Life of Pi, were for the first 100 or so pages is just explanations of stuff, other little "side stories", and viewpoints or interesting information about the real word. Though Life of Pi doesn't belong to my favourites, I am aware that it had international success, so there you go.

How the beginning effects the rest of the story... usually this depends on what the story is. In the beginning, your establishing characters and the conflict which usually has effects on the choices of characters in the future, but I wouldn't stress over it too much. When you've finished the book, you can always go back and re-do the beginning to match the rest of the story.

EDIT: Eckh... Ninja'd.

 

[skip.knox]

You've answered your own question. Write them out. They may *seem* fast while they're in your head, but you gotta get the ponies on the track before you really know.

As for indenting, forget about it. Double space between paragraphs. Only way to go in most forum software.

 

[ndmellen]

skip the intro, for now, and continue writing the story. YOU already have a strong grasp on what happens in the begining. As the remainder of the story fleshes out, it can help to define the path of what the info should be...Just an option that has helped me.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

Interesting questions. I can only tell you what works for me as a reader. I really dislike a book which starts with some huge action scene and then goes into the slow buildup. If your story needs to start with massive action (perhaps your theme is how the aftermath of war affects your characters), then fine, but I dislike being manipulated too obviously. If the action scene is only there for excitement and is disconnected from what follows, I'd say that's not the kind of 'fast' opening you want. Plus, I'm not going to care what happens to the characters until I've had time to get to know them. [Caveat: I know a number of people here enjoy a high-action opening, so it's a matter of personal taste.]

But frenetic action is not the only kind of fast opening. The kind that really draws me in is the intriguing type, that raises my curiosity. One book I read recently opens with the main character trapped in rubble underground and covered in a strange kind of dust. Instantly I want to know: where are we? what happened? and what's the dust all about? Then there's my favouritest ever opening line: 'Kaiku was twenty harvests of age the first time she died.' Wait, what? The FIRST time...? So if there's something unusual or mysterious about your world/plot/character, start with that. Or even some trivial little mystery - someone is late for a rendezvous, something is out of place, why are there extra guards on the castle walls. That sort of thing.

So I would say - look at your various openings, and ask yourself which one is the most intriguing. You can always post them here for people to comment on.

 

[TWErvin2]

It may not be how you want to start the story. Maybe consider which beginning would be the way the reader would want you to start a story--if you have an idea of your target audience.

 

[Addison]

Okay I'm going to take the first....one or two paragraphs, or first scene, from each beginning and post it. Whether on Showcase or in my portfolio I don't know yet. I'll get it done some time this afternoon or tonight. I need feed back.

In everyone else's opinion, would you say that you have one page, five pages, or fifty pages to get the reader hooked? I've heard all three suggested. Personally I think it's somewhere between one and five. Seven at most.

 

[Addison]

Hi! I know I said I'd post them, just not sure how to yet, but I will.

But recently I thought of something. As I seem to be having a foggy lense on my MC, what he looks like (sometimes he turns into a she) and all that, what about a 2nd person narrative?

You're probably thinking crazy, stupid, "train-wreck waiting to happen". But think about those "Make Your Own Adventure" books. They're written in the second person and it's broken into numbered clips where your choices lead to different numbers. i don't know if I'll do the number-connection thing. But writing in the second person could help make the reader feel more involved in the story.

I believe the term for this type of post is, according to my brother, "spit-balling". So if anyone wants to spit-ball back, go ahead.

 

[TheokinsJ]

I'm having a similar problem with my beginnings, however I believe all you have to do is hook the reader. This can be done by simple characterisation or good writing, you don't have to necessarily begin the book with an epic sword fight or car chase or whatever, it just needs to draw the reader in, and hook them to your book. The way I look at it, a good question to ask is "Does anything important happen in the first 50 pages?", if the answer is no, then rewrite and redraw your ideas. Don't delve straight into the action if you don't want to, your proffessor may be good but at the end of the day, writing is like wine, it is an acquired taste. People like reading some stuff, they dislike others, give your opening chapters to more than just the one person, give them to three or four people and ask their opinions. If the majority say it's slow, then by all means rewrite the chapters, and rewrite them anyway just for interest's sake, and give a copy of both the fast and the slow to each person, and ask their opinions on which they liked better. At the end of the day, all you need to do is get feedback and rework, hope this helped!