In reading the chapter of Russell Banks' new novel yesterday (thanks to TM for the referral) I noticed the emphasis on weather and setting. I wonder if most writers have a "go to" when beginning a book or story" weather, atmosphere, character description, time period, dialog, a street scene. Many of my stories begin with someone driving in a car. This is sort of odd since I rarely drive. But maybe in my dream life, which is where most of this process comes from, I am quite the driver.
Where do you "go to" to get comfortable in a story? Do you find you begin with similarly-set scenes from project to project?
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I tend to start with some sort of "grabber"...which might be a part of what keeps me from writing more fiction. Good and natural startling things are relatively rare.
I don't usually have any sort of specific location, but I always have to start with dialogue to get a story under way.
Since I basically write my story from page one onward, I don't usually know what people might say until I find my way into the story. People think while they drive, and I guess I'm thinking too. And as for a grabber, I never seem to stumble one.
I try to open with short paragraphs and at least one line of compelling dialogue--or I just drop the "F" bomb right away.[Actually I think I've only done that once.]
John McAuley
I put the F*** in the first graph of my would be novel. One of my readers wanted me to get rid of it but I felt it established the central character too well to give it up.
That's the thing about the F bomb; properly used it can be very effective. When overused it has about as much power as a mouse fart--or can be as annoying as fingernails on a chalkboard. [I.m.h.o. of course.]
John McAuley.
Hey, pattinase. I'm back. Bel Canto is, indeed, sublime.
So anyway. I once read that editors and agents hate books that open in the following:
1) driving a car
2) a dream
3) deep in their head thinking about their situation
As for myself, I will often begin a story long before I sit down to write. A line will pop into my head and grow until I am forced to give it birth.
Hi Patti,
I seem to always write in first person, so before the story starts, I rumble around in the protag's head for days or even weeks, then the beginning just comes and I write it down. It may not remain the beginning but I have to start somewhere.
In shorts, I try to give a strong sense of the protag in the first sentence or two.
In novels, I want the reader to get a sense of the protag within the first 100 to 300 words.
Terrie
I guess starting with someone in the car serves two impetuses: action and a chance for explanation or recollection. It probably does get overused. Note to writing myself: get out of the car; note to my regular self: start driving the car. Hi Terrie, nice to hear from you. CBB-I too begin long before I sit down, but not too long because I have begun to forget some voices.
since i'm almost always writing detective stories, i feel i need to start in the case, somehow. i tend towards not starting "at the beginning" but rather at some point where i can grab the reader (hopefully) and drag them into the rest of the story.
Clair-That's an interesting point. Do writers approach non-crime stories differently? I did a bunch of those first and I always felt a bit more at sea, wondering what the story was about until nearly the end.
Patti: I forgot to mention that I'm sure you made a good choice keeping the first 'graph the way it is. [ Half a dozen trips outside in the sub-zero wind is chilling my noggin from the inside out and making more forgetful than usual.]
John McAuley
John: She was a lit fiction writer and they're in a whole other place.
Patti: Michiko Kakutani was not impressed with the Russell Banks book. I have "Cloudsplitter" on my TBR pile.
"Bel Canto" was a delight.
Oooh, Donald Maass gave us a list of scenes he HATES - I think driving in a car is one - anyplace where people are sitting and talking, exchanging info - he loathes it - and God help you if they're driving tea.
Anyway, great question! I've evolved and become more confident with my openers - used to start with a "bang" (a gun or the sex kind, either, or), but I just start with showing the character in their ordinary world just before they receive the call to action - just before everything changes (and all for the wrong) a more quiet opening, but hopefully one with stuff that makes you wonder/want to know more about the MC.
Josephine. It was such a nasty review. Does an author deserve respect for his body of work from a reviewer? Should she call his book cheesy? It really bothered me.
Patti: I've winced many a time reading MK's reviews, but I guess the point she's trying to make is when the great literary lions falls short of the excellence they proved capable of in past books, she's feels justified in chastizing them.
Just saw your comments on my review of "Chesil" and thanks for stopping by. I was going to pass on it until Nathan Bransford talked it up, and was glad I over- looked certain reviews that were critical about certain aspects, which you mentioned in your comment.
"Saturday"? You're a much more forgiving reader than I am - the first 5 pages was as far as I got. Overall, I prefer most of McEwan's earlier books to what he wrote after "Atonement."
Terri: I think that's the best approach to take on an opening. They say there are no new plots under the sun, so it seems all that's left in order to stand out in a huge pile of published books or MSs is to give the reader a compelling character unlike anyone they've seen before.
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