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How to Start a Novel

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Re: How to Start a Novel

#21

Post by Joker_vD »

GuB-42 wrote: post #16
Joker_vD wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kinda amusing that this particular opening line is considered terrible in English literary tradition. I would argue that it's the rest of the sentence that makes it a terrible opening — it keeps going on about the weather while most people presumably would rather start reading about the main character and his actions at this point already, — but the line as quoted is perfectly fine on its own.

Well, I don't know many stormy nights that are not dark... I am not a writer but usually, the idea is to limit repetition, especially in the opening line.

Please notice that the line is not "It was a stormy and dark night". Or is "On a bright sunny morning, in downtown New York" also a bad opening?

Re: How to Start a Novel

#22

Post by huachimingo »

jeffwass wrote: post #15

Trying to think of a catchy or clever novel opener can be a major discouragement from just getting the pen to the paper and formulating that first paragraph. It can be much easier to start your writing a bit further in, where you have a rough idea of a scene, and letting the characters and the action work themselves. In fact, this is a good way to create bridges through tricky parts, where you know the current scene,…

Ray Bradbury did this with Farenheit 451. He did a small demo with all the key aspects and then made the novel.

You can do a lot of these small "demos" or short stories and save them for a future novel. Or instead write them together and make an anthology, like the Poe stories.

We need more anthologies.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#23

Post by Tycho »

jeffwass wrote: post #15

Trying to think of a catchy or clever novel opener can be a major discouragement from just getting the pen to the paper and formulating that first paragraph. It can be much easier to start your writing a bit further in, where you have a rough idea of a scene, and letting the characters and the action work themselves. In fact, this is a good way to create bridges through tricky parts, where you know the current scene,…

The idea that an author would just sit down and write a novel starting from the first line seems alien. Like a film not getting made because the director obsesses over the opening shot. Seems like a detail that should fall into place only once much of the groundwork has been laid.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#25

Post by FlyingSnake »

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's opening line from One Hundred years of Solitude was enough for me to pick up the book. Personally, I feel that this is one of the best openings of any book I've read.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#27

Post by shantnutiwari »

yoz-y wrote: post #14
shantnutiwari wrote: post #5

A lot of writing advice focusses on writing the perfect first line/page/chapter, because that's all editors/agents will read. And so I find many books have great openings, but get boring in 2nd chapter. So if Im in a store, I always start browsing a book after the 1st chapter-- that gives me a better idea of what the book will be like. And this advice-- open a book with a "killer" opening isnt always true. When I was…

A parallel with software would be shareware games. Often the first free chapter was the best the game would ever get. John Romero advocated for "finishing the first level last", in order to make it best. Music also felt like this for me (in games), e.g.: the opening themes to Doom, Tyrian, Raptor are very memorable.

What I loved about Half-life demo-- it was a completely new level not in the original game--but it still had all the main things that made the game fun (aliens, marines, puzzles etc).

For music -- I guess you do need a killer opening, as people will change the channel (or click away) (unless you are already very famous).

Re: How to Start a Novel

#28

Post by flybrand »

huachimingo wrote: post #22
jeffwass wrote: post #15

Trying to think of a catchy or clever novel opener can be a major discouragement from just getting the pen to the paper and formulating that first paragraph. It can be much easier to start your writing a bit further in, where you have a rough idea of a scene, and letting the characters and the action work themselves. In fact, this is a good way to create bridges through tricky parts, where you know the current scene,…

Ray Bradbury did this with Farenheit 451. He did a small demo with all the key aspects and then made the novel. You can do a lot of these small "demos" or short stories and save them for a future novel. Or instead write them together and make an anthology, like the Poe stories. We need more anthologies.

Vonnegut does this a lot too - toying with an idea over and over again until he feels it is fully explored.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#29

Post by throwaway284534 »

Semi-related, I don’t understand how authors can pour so much work into a book and let it be published with a mediocre cover and backmatter. The old saying is just the opposite. A bad and cliche cover is the real death sentence for a book. And the summary on the back, that’s almost more important than the first chapter! Do authors and publishers really believe that smattering reviews on the backside would somehow impress a reader? “I love this book” says New York Times. Okay…? What’s the pull?

IMO the backside of the book should be written in the style of the novel rather than a marketing pitch. Let the reader get a glimpse of the story from the main character’s perspective in their own words.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#30

Post by wintermutestwin »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #25

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice Gabriel Garcia Marquez's opening line from One Hundred years of Solitude was enough for me to pick up the book. Personally, I feel that this is one of the best openings of any book I've read.

Maybe it is from all the years I have spent trying to trim my overly verbose writing, but "was to remember" grates on me as a needlessly inflated way of saying "remembered."
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