Miscellaneous

Katrina update: Donation to Red Cross (check). Donation to Habitat for Humanity (check). Contacted my college to offer assistance to students displaced by the hurricane (check). Wrote congresscritters (snail mail, check).

Reading: Finished Kim Harrison's DEAD WITCH WALKING. It was a fun and fast read, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Watching: Still enjoying the new series PRISON BREAK. Almost died laughing last night when the hero's cellmate demonstrated that the best way to cover the sound of breaking through the wall was to launch into the ballad "Eres Tu" which caused the other prisoners to protest at high volume. As someone who was a very impressionable age when that song made the Top 40, I sang it along with him.

Tonight we get the season premiere of HOUSE. Looking forward to the new season, especially with the addition of tightropegirl to the writing team.

Starting in the wrong place

Lesson #2. If your story starts out slowly, they're not going to keep reading till you get to the good stuff.

Another common beginner mistake is to start your story in the wrong place. We don't need to learn the life history of each character, or to watch as the author carefully maneuvers each one onto the stage. In F&SF I've noticed a tendency to open with an infodump showing all your worldbuilding. It may be fascinating to you, but it slows the action to a deadly crawl.

Ask yourself "Why is today different from all other days?" If you can answer that question, then you are starting your story in the right place.

Consider these story openings:
- A stranger rides into town
- A shot rang out
- John receives a letter with a treasure map

A perfect example is MaryJanice Davidson's UNDEAD AND UNWED which opens with the line:

The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.

It's not only a great first line, it's the right place to start the book. We know that this is the moment that is going to transform the character and kick-off the action.

Using my own work as an example, DEVLIN'S LUCK starts when Devlin arrives in the city and asks for the job of Chosen One. This is the moment that launches the story, as the reader starts wondering: Who is this guy? Why is he here? If the Chosen One is supposedly a champion, then why is it that everyone is treating him with either pity or contempt?

It's the classic "a stranger comes to town" opening, so beloved of classic westerns.

We didn't need to see his long journey to reach Kingsholm, nor the events that led him here. I don't need to tell you what his childhood was like. All of the vital details can be layered in via backstory. The trick is to hook the reader from the very beginning so they'll keep turning the pages because they want to know who this man is, why he is there and what is going to happen to him next.

I've read many opening chapters that are perfectly pleasant and technically competent. But there's nothing in there to grab me, nothing to entice me to keep turning the pages. You don't have much time to catch the attention of an editor or agent, so you can't afford to waste pages on a slow start.

For a homework assignment, put your critical thinking cap on. As you're reading a book or watching a movie, pay attention to where the story starts, and whether your attention was grabbed right from the beginning or if you had to struggle to get into the story. When you find a story that you feel started in the wrong place, think about where you would have chosen to begin the story if you were writing it.

In tomorrow's mini-essay, jennifer_dunne is up at bat with mistake #3.