Tag Archives: novel

Old Books

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Captain GreyI recently received a bunch of letters from a group of fifth graders whose teacher read them Captain Grey. This book, my first historical novel, was published in 1977. That’s to say it was written some thirty-seven years ago. I have strong memories of how and where I wrote Captain Grey, but in truth, I have few recollections of the book’s details, other than the general plot. The kids’ letters name characters, and recall incidents, which I’ve long forgotten. What a pleasure to know they enjoyed the book so much. In that sense, I think the book belongs far more to them, now, than to me. Still, it’s lovely to be reminded that old books are always new books to new readers. In this sense the books I once wrote have a kind of eternal youth, which, I can assure you I have not. Can you hear my sigh? I am envious of my old books!

Starting out

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dark and stormy nightContemporary readers raised on TV, film, and video game narration don’t give the writer much slack in the opening of a novel. The impact of those other forms of storytelling has been enormous. Compare today’s fiction to virtually any Victorian, or even early 20th century fiction, and you will be struck by how different is the pacing of a book’s first pages. I used to joke that my youngest son (now 23), raised with the modern mix of narration, thought the perfect plot was three explosions connected by a chase. 

I believe it was Madeline L’Engle who referred to the first words of a novel as “an opening door.” I’ve also heard those words called “the hook.“ Years ago I read the memoir of a man who (in the 1930s) was a contract writer of a popular book series, when a series numbered fifty volumes. Virtually all plots of the books were pre-formatted, but he still spent a huge amount of time on the opening page. “If I couldn’t hold them on the first page, I’d never hold them.” Then, there’s always “It was a dark and stormy night,” the opening words of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s (1830) novel, Paul Clifford. 

One of my readers wrote to me, “I read your book, True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  It was boring at first, but by the second page it got good.” 

Whew!