Story beginnings are an art form all their own. They have to ensnare the reader, set the tone, make promises about the whole story, and start building connections between the reader and the characters. Tall order, right?
Well, since one of the worst things in the world is a blank document with a line blinking mockingly at me, I have to get something out to start, whether it's the best line/spot to open or not. The perfect opening can wait until revision.
That's not to say I don't try to make the opening interesting and relevant in the first draft. In my serially-published fan fictions, I don't even have the chance to write the entire story and then edit it before posting. I just start.
Here are a few of my beginnings to compare:
"Holding her breath, Charlotte carefully aimed her rifle. The surest shot was right through the sorry creature's brain. That way, it couldn't even survive long enough to notice and attack her. So, she stayed quiet, watched the motion of its head, and...
With a sharp bang, her gun spat out its bullet, and the bit of metal buried itself in the creature's grey-green forehead. The monster fell to the ground dead long before the buzz faded from Charlotte's ears."
— The Long and Winding Road (original version)
"I just manage to get the door closed behind me before I can be impaled by a rapier."
—Piracy Cruise Lines
"She awoke with asphalt grating her back. No warm light touched her face, and a look straight ahead to the sky confirmed the sun wasn’t out. Nor were any clouds, nor were stars. Only a vast black canvas hung above her.
Something seemed off about that."
—Chasers
"'Can you see anyone over there?' my brother starts, voice even more hushed than usual.
Taking a step onto the white path, I cringe as gravel scratches the blisters on my feet. As if standing on a sign of civilization wasn’t bad enough in itself. I do get a better view of the field from here, though. Maize in neat rows, dipping in the breeze, beckoning poor, starving souls towards them."
—Mayflies
As far as Dead Man's Hand goes, I felt like starting with the quote "Adrian had come to the conclusion that Nietzsche must have been a complete sociopath." But that would open the story with nothing but a while of reflection, and I know that I'm prone to putting the book down after a few paragraphs of that. Instead, I think I may start with Adrian procuring one of his cards for the round.
What kind of openings do you like? How long will you go on reading before you decide whether the book is worth continuing or not?
I know that most professional writers would consider this blasphemy, but to me, the beginning of a story doesn't matter *that* much. I like to give books a chance. If the cover description interests me enough to pick it up, then I'll read at least a couple of the chapters, and I rarely ever give up on something completely. I can only even think of one movie I turned off before it was over. So I'm probably not the best judge of what makes a good beginning (especially since I've started so few stories that I don't have much experience with it). I pretty much go with anything.
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of advice with chapter beginnings, and that's to give them variety. It's really preaching to the choir, though, since you never seem to have any problem with it, whereas I'm the one who starts every chapter with "I wake up, wondering where I am, before the realization that I'm in the Hunger Games hits me." (Seriously, never do what I did and start, like, 5 chapters in a row with the main character waking up. I'm trying to branch out a bit.)
I like all the ones you've got, but TLWR's is my favorite. I think because it's got lots of description? Idk. Dead Man's Hand's opening intrigues me, and like I said, if I was interested I'd stick through a few paragraphs of reflection, but I don't know if that holds true for everyone.
Yeah, my 2YN course is really giving a lot of lecture on beginnings, and I always buy books, so I would be really upset if I started reading and didn't like it. Honestly, I'll usually only put a book down that quickly if I can't stand the writing style, but the philosophical rambling wasn't attractive, either.
DeleteHaha, just imbue it with psychological meaningfulness somehow, and it'll work out.