Craft 5: On Openings and Hooks

[harmony_bites]

Back when I discovered fanfic in Trek, the only depository of stories was on a text-only unmoderated archive, Trekiverse. At first, I devoured stories indiscriminately, but most were crap. I soon realized that if the beginning bored me, it wouldn't get any better. So I'd skip to the next story after glancing at one paragraph, sometimes one line if

Comments

[clare009]

Another good lesson. I'm avidly following this series as if it were a scheduled writing class. :)

[harmony_bites]

lol. I'm glad its useful. I've found pulling out the old manual and rooting for parallel (or even contradictory) points to be useful for myself. Its good to be reminded--or in some cases learn something new since I've hunted for new material on the internet among others.

[argosy]

Very interesting. This piece of advice was my favorite:

HINT: The opening of a story should always consist of three things: 1) a CHARACTER, in a 2) SETTING, with a 3) PROBLEM. It might not be your lead character, or it might be. It might not be the main problem of your story, or it might be. And there must be setting

So of course it made me think about MY openings. (Which I think for the most part are pretty good.)

Draco Malfoy, unarmed, stared at the three wands pointing in his direction and couldn’t bring himself to care. And then I establish were at Grimmauld place pretty quickly, so not bad I think. ;)

Also I like the idea of making the endings of scenes strong too. This is what makes you wanna turn the page and makes the reading go by quicker (a "button" in screenwriting.)

Good stuff. Keep it coming. :)

[harmony_bites]

So of course it made me think about MY openings. (Which I think for the most part are pretty good.)

I think so too. See, most of these "lessons" I think the good authors know instinctively--we're all readers after all. But we often have a few problem areas--and I think there's something about beginning that does cause some sort of giddiness that brings out the mucho adverbs and saidisms and exclamation points and italics...

But this often is a problem too--I think our of sheer nerves in getting going. King says he thinks most bad writing comes out of fear and I agree.

Also I like the idea of making the endings of scenes strong too. This is what makes you wanna turn the page and makes the reading go by quicker (a "button" in screenwriting.)Good beginnings lures a reader in. Strong middles mean they keep reading even after putting down your story after a scene or chapter break. Strong endings make a lasting impression that means someone will rec it. Agents say that's really how books become bestsellers--word of mouth. There's only so

[wolf_moonshadow]

*Grins from ear to ear*. . . *Winces in pain as Wolf discovered grinning from ear to ear is anatomically impossible* I’m always thrilled when you post your writing tips. They’re always so useful, and they force my brain to think of different ways to write or say something. We’ll just have to start calling you Professor Harmony. (I’ll check and see if there is a spare office near Snape’s for you.)

I absolutely agree about the importance of an opening line. When there is so much fic to choose from, a dull opening is a killer. Harry Harrison said once in an interview that at the first publishing house he worked at, they trained their new house staff by giving them a picture, and having them write just the first paragraph of a story inspired by it. Those who wrote the best openers got the next contracts. (Then there are those of us who can’t get past ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’)

[harmony_bites]

We’ll just have to start calling you Professor Harmony.

Nah, just your fellow student sharing her notes.

Harry Harrison said once in an interview that at the first publishing house he worked at, ... Those who wrote the best openers got the next contracts.

I can well believe it. That's something every editor I've read or have spoken to hammers. They don't read bad stories--they put them in the outbox with the rejection letter if the author included postage and an envelop, or just in the trash. They also don't read good stories with bad beginning. So if you have this great idea on page 5, but don't get them from the beginning--well, they're never going to get to it.

With one story I read recently part of me wanted to leave a review that said "you realize this is deadly dull until about nine paragraphs in until you actually have Snape and Hermione speaking to each other?"

But I really just don't have the guts. Or the ability to be that cruel.

[snarkyroxy]

Aww... thanks for mentioning one of my stories. :)

I have a soft spot for that one-shot, I will admit. Hehe.

[harmony_bites]

You're not the only one;-) It was one of the first really good HP stories I ever read so... And still a fav.

[wonderfulwrites]

Here by way of, er, not sure anymore. But this post caught my attention.

I groan when I read stories that give exposition in huge chunks during character thought right at the beginning of a story. It doesn't make the fic bad and a lot of times I think it is the sign of a newer writer, but I hate wading through the memory of the final battle and how Snape was exonerated, etc. just to get to the meat of the matter. I don't mind knowing the hows and whys of the final battle and who lived and died, but it would be more interesting and easier to digest if it were discussed in dialogue later on or incorporated into the story in some other way. Half the time I end up just scanning it to get to the story.

Also, I won't contest that opening lines are very important, but my favorite opening line of all time is from The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley ("The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."), which is a deadly boring book that I couldn't finish. Some writers start off with a bang, but then the story fizzles out as you

[harmony_bites]

t right at the beginning of a story. It doesn't make the fic bad and a lot of times I think it is the sign of a newer writer, but I hate wading through the memory of the final battle and how Snape was exonerated, etc. just to get to the meat of the matter.

Dear God yes. Make them stop...

Some writers start off with a bang, but then the story fizzles out as you go along.

True, and as Lukeman said, some go for the intensity right at the start, and find that all the harder to sustain. Certainly stories good at the start sometimes go off the rails, and some get better, and I think with fanfic we tend to be a bit forgiving and skip down to see it it gets better.

[wonderfulwrites]

...I think with fanfic we tend to be a bit forgiving and skip down to see it it gets better.

Absolutely. I do a lot of scanning of fanfic in hopes that it will get better. Sometimes it isn't until the 3rd or 4th chapter that I will slow down and actually read it.

I'm enjoying these post about craft. Mind if I friend you?

[harmony_bites]

Sometimes it isn't until the 3rd or 4th chapter that I will slow down and actually read it.

It depends though sometimes on my mood--and I that the longer I'm in a fandom, the more discriminating, and thus more impatient I get. So you certainly don't want to try a reader's patience to much. And if you're trying to sell...

Mind if I friend you?

Not at all--feel free.