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How to Start a Novel

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Re: How to Start a Novel

#31

Post by FemmeAndroid »

throwaway284534 wrote: post #29

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 imp…

Unless you're talking about self publishing, most authors don't get a strong say in how the book looks. That's up to the publishers. And it's my understanding that publishers really do believe those pull quotes really do affect sales.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#32

Post by zikzak »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #30
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."

I agree but the author might be implying that this was not the first thought and that creates dramatic tension. What triggered the memory? Was he recalling it on purpose to inform his next move? Was he forced to remember because the leader of the firing squad also figured in the memory but he didn't realize it at first?

Re: How to Start a Novel

#34

Post by playdead »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #30
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."

I'm unsure if you've read this novel, but the translation "was to remember" actually works well here, and was probably a deliberate choice. The cycles of time are a major theme in the story.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#36

Post by omarhaneef »

surfingdino wrote: post #8

A more useful advice would be on how to finish the damn things.

Perhaps you have trouble with endings? One way around this is to take the big, dramatic opening and make it your ending. Then work back from what happened before. Once you have worked your way to the beginning, you can write it.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#37

Post by zuzzytel »

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

And here is an advice from Anton Chekhov: “My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.”

Re: How to Start a Novel

#38

Post by samkater »

Tycho wrote: post #23
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.

Related to your point, George C Scott apparently didn’t want to film the opening scene of “Patton” because he thought the movie wouldn’t live up to the scene. It really gets at the heart of what the whole movie is about and I can’t imagine it without that opening. Apparently they filmed it at the end of filming.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patton_(film) (The opening scene under “production” - sorry on a mobile device)

Re: How to Start a Novel

#39

Post by jeffwass »

throwaway284534 wrote: post #29

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 imp…

Traditionally-published authors usually have little say in the layout of their books. I’ve heard of cases where authors have absolutely hated the cover artwork chosen by the publishing houses but were unable to sway opinions.

It’s part of the process of going with a traditional publisher. They do the marketing for you, as compared to self publishing, and therefore you have to accept their ‘marketing’ decisions, including cover design.

Re: How to Start a Novel

#40

Post by bprieto »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #30
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."

The Spanish original is "había de recordar", and "was to remember" is a good translation. It's meaning is different from just "remembered", as it implies a causality. It wasn't a random remembrance that just happened, it was some memory that was brought by the proximity of death.
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