Contemporary 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!
3 thoughts on “Starting out”
LOVE all things Madeleine and appreciate the many doors she opened for my family as we read together. I’m excited to swing wide those portals for my grandchildren now, with both Meg Murray and Charlotte Doyle as able guides on our adventures.
Enjoyed meeting you and hearing your corny squirrel stories at the TX Monthly bash. And keep planting those seeds of hope! c:
Enjoyed meeting you, too!
‘Starting out’ is appropos for me, in that I’m at that point. Well…not really. Been putting together our books since last year, and we are currently beginning #3 in the series. Pretty blistering pace (I hear from knowledgeable sources in traditional pubbing-world.) As teacher of 30 years, I found it remarkable that folks used to race to news stands to get Dickens’ latest installment of “Great Expectations”..long, toothy tomes that took so much audience investment. Now, you’re right: They want “Slam…Bang…Thank you, ma’am, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” And you better give them that. I’m one of the fastest-growing demographics right now–the Indie writers. Our books, Grandpa and the Truck, hope to get market share and we’ll be one of OOIDA’s Landline mag’s “Cool Gifts” for Nov., going out to 200,000 truckers and their families.But we’re not just for truckers…we teach lots of things (geog. figures prominently as kids learn other-than-GPS knowledge of America, while tracking the big rig’s movement across America.) So, I like your books and your website; I salute your success; and I hope to emulate some of what you do…