Of Dubious Worth
I guess anyone can get anything out of seminars, workshops, classes, etc. But yesterday a friend called up, who had paid good money to attend a writers' workshop. This friend is getting back to writing after having recently retired--wrote a lot years ago, then it dried up when job and family took over, and now that the household is down to one, and the job is gone, is feeling out writing again.
But.
"We were told that the two best openings are establishing the setting and mood of the protagonist, or else sudden high action. Is this true?"
Argh. I blathered and hemmed and hawed, first laying down all the conditionals (what works for one may not work for another; if you have a strong voice, anything goes; what is your audience) but this is what I said: in my experience the two toughest openings are the in medias res and the info dump.
The info dump is the easiest to write. I mean not just as openings, but also as transition, or POV intro within chapters: wherever it is, it's basically the main character sitting and ruminating his or her history or philosophy at the reader.
When I read reviews by ordinary folks either here on LJ or at Goodreads or on various forums, I see a fairly consistent pattern in readers not being able to get past such an opening to a story or book, and skimming it if encountered inside the book. Except maybe coming down after a long sequence of fast and high stakes action--what Bickham called a sequel. The writer is already invested or wouldn't be telling the story, but it's a real uphill climb to get readers to invest in a block of data with no actual story anywhere in sight. In fact, in workshops, this often turns out to be the chapter that everyone says to lop off, "Your story doesn't really begin until chapter three. Start there."
The in medias res opening has the opposite problem: tons of story, all right, but thrown at the reader fast and furious before there's a chance to invest in the characters. To even find who the protag is.
I qualified that with the caveat about strong styles and voices--Pratchett, for example, could do anything to open a book and I'd be hooked. Wodehouse often opened books with Bertie sitting and reflecting, but from the first sentence the humor is so rich that I'm there, turning the pages.
Yes? No? How about the rest of the readers out there, do you agree, or have I fallen behind the times yet again without realizing that I am not only old but moldy?
But.
"We were told that the two best openings are establishing the setting and mood of the protagonist, or else sudden high action. Is this true?"
Argh. I blathered and hemmed and hawed, first laying down all the conditionals (what works for one may not work for another; if you have a strong voice, anything goes; what is your audience) but this is what I said: in my experience the two toughest openings are the in medias res and the info dump.
The info dump is the easiest to write. I mean not just as openings, but also as transition, or POV intro within chapters: wherever it is, it's basically the main character sitting and ruminating his or her history or philosophy at the reader.
When I read reviews by ordinary folks either here on LJ or at Goodreads or on various forums, I see a fairly consistent pattern in readers not being able to get past such an opening to a story or book, and skimming it if encountered inside the book. Except maybe coming down after a long sequence of fast and high stakes action--what Bickham called a sequel. The writer is already invested or wouldn't be telling the story, but it's a real uphill climb to get readers to invest in a block of data with no actual story anywhere in sight. In fact, in workshops, this often turns out to be the chapter that everyone says to lop off, "Your story doesn't really begin until chapter three. Start there."
The in medias res opening has the opposite problem: tons of story, all right, but thrown at the reader fast and furious before there's a chance to invest in the characters. To even find who the protag is.
I qualified that with the caveat about strong styles and voices--Pratchett, for example, could do anything to open a book and I'd be hooked. Wodehouse often opened books with Bertie sitting and reflecting, but from the first sentence the humor is so rich that I'm there, turning the pages.
Yes? No? How about the rest of the readers out there, do you agree, or have I fallen behind the times yet again without realizing that I am not only old but moldy?