Merc Fantasy and In Media Res

[spaceoperadiva]

I saw Violette Malan's The Sleeping God recommended by somebody here on good ole lj and so I picked it up because it sounded like my kind of book

Comments

[greatsword]

To my mind, starting quickly means engaging the reader quickly. This is why I like stories that start by hooking me on the characters, rather than just dumping me into an action scene. It's also why I don't like stories that start with the antagonist.

I imagine this is somewhat personal taste. I do like to see conflict early, but it doesn't have to be the main conflict. Doc Sidhe, for example, starts with a fight - but against an opponent that we never see again. The real conflict in that scene is primarily internal.

[hafoc]

I started in the middle with Flanker. In fact, his story dodged around a lot in its chronological order. But there are reasons. :D

[spaceoperadiva]

I was also deeply in love with Flanker the character very early on as well as engaged by the setting. It's not so much the starting in the middle of something that's giving me hives. It's that she's started in the middle of something without giving me a lot of reason to care that something is going on.