Some of you might be wondering why I like talking about film when this is a blog focused on writing. The reason is simple, without writers there would be no stories to make films of. Everything that is seen on the screen begins on the page as a character, a description, an original thought transcribed in to physical being by a writer. Before the Joker blew up a hospital on the big screen he did it first in ink.
The opening of a story is important. It sets the tone and introduces characters and plot and setting. Authors spend hours on their first paragraph; agonizing, rewriting, deleting, rewriting again, revising. The opening is what the reader reads first and if it doesn’t engage them they may just put your story down. There are a few rules of openings that help to make them pop to the reader.
Start your story in the action. If you’re writing action start in the middle of a gunfight. Drama? Start when your character’s spouse asks for a divorce. You can even start in mid conversation. The phrase “in medias res” is Latin for “in the middle of,” which is a great place to start a story. Not all stories have to begin at the beginning; they can sometimes employ a frame structure or a 2-1-3 structure where the middle comes first, followed by the beginning then the end.
Next, don’t overload your opening with back story. The back story is more effective when it is sprinkled throughout the story. No reader wants to read an info dump about your character or setting within the first few pages of your story. They want to be hooked.
One of the best tools that I have ever used to help better my openings is imitation. Take the opening paragraph of a story and imitate the paragraph’s tone or style or cadence or even syllables and punctuation. The beauty of this exercise is that it is short, just one paragraph, and you are mimicking some of the most effective portions of a writer’s work.
My story starts in the middle of a grocery store at four in the morning. It starts in the middle of the action and in the middle of the story. Not quite as exciting as the rooftops of Gotham city, but I’m not writing about crime fighters in costume.
Today you get two quotes; explaining why some writers are eccentric.
What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window. ~Burton Rascoe
The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ~Agatha Christie
Good theories this applies the same in novels. The first 2 chapters have to captivate me or I will put the book down. Dark Knight was good from beginning to end. It was sad that joke died in real life he did an outstanding job portraying the villan.
ReplyDeleteA lot of times movies inspire my writing too because I'm so interested in the writing process behind film-making. I agree that both books and movies need to start with something gripping or else it's easy to get distracted.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if I'm not totally engrossed in a movie or book in the first ten minutes, I start working on other things, or move on to the next one!
ReplyDeleteRaymon is generous. I give novelists one page. If their first page isn't fantastic, this probably isn't going anyplace good.
ReplyDeleteI have started a story mid-sentence, but never mid-action. I will have to give this a try.
ReplyDeleteAnd who knew- I totally agree with Agatha Christie! I do my best thinking in the suds of a sink full of dishes. Great quote.
Love the quotes at the end. They really add to your post. I really like the content of this particular blog, I found it really interesting.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Nolan is truly an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI've waited as many as 100 pages for a novel to start, and it was painful.
ReplyDeleteI will often start the same book a dozen times and never get past 50 pages. You have to hook the reader in.
ReplyDeleteI really like your tip about mimicking another writer's opening paragraph. It makes sense to pick a book that really reels you in and find out why. That first paragraph or two must be great. I've also gotten bored by a story that didn't catch my attention and never gone back to it. I think you've really hit on something here.
ReplyDeleteYou give a great piece of advice here. I like that you mention to sprinkle the backstory throughout the piece. You don't want to overload the reader. I have to be careful with this in my writing.
ReplyDeleteI also love how you start your story in a grocery store at four in the morning. It sounds interesting! I want to read it already! Haha!
I haven't seen "Inception" or "The Dark Knight" yet, although I do own the DVD still in the wrapper (I bought it for $4 on Black Friday). You're right. Writing and movie-making go hand in hand. It takes a team to build a movie, and a screenwriter's job is the most important because no storyline=no movie.
ReplyDeleteYep I agree with your two quotes. Sometimes the best stuff is written while you are not thinking of writing. Look at the Harry Potter books for an example. I think I read that she is richer than the queen now, right?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love your quotes. Second of all, I hate it when a book has a back story dumped all up front. I feel like I have to memorize the bio for a quiz later or something.
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