a question about the opening scene of a WIP What is acceptable?

The beginning needs to draw the reader into the story, so they keep reading. Think of your favorite books - how do they begin? I agree with Isaac, post it in SYW and ask for feedback.

I think my favorite opening line is from Stephen King's The Gunslinger:
"The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed."

How could you not read on after this one?

Inner monologue is used to support action. Just IM - and a full page and a half of it - and no action sounds like a cheap way to disguise backstory. Why don't you start with action and fill in the details as we go?

Backstory. It's like having to read the entire instruction manual of a new gaming console; heck, let's plug the thing and play!

-cb

Some of this depends on POV. If it's a first person piece, the narrative will be the MC's voice, interpretation of witnessed events and reaction to events.

Beginning a story with action isn't a requirement, but it does need to hook the reader's interest. That's what I'm striving for, and I'm writing first person. There's no action for a few paragraphs, it's commentary which provides the hook (I hope).

Here's my first sentence - "Meth heads have the worst tasting internal organs."

It's commentary, but hopefully it's interesting enough to lead the reader to the next sentence, paragraph, etc.

Barrett said:

"Meth heads have the worst tasting internal organs."

Click to expand...

LOl I would read it just to see who had bad enough taste to want to eat a meth head.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with starting a story with IM. In fact, the whole IM vs. Action thing is not really the issue, IMO, and neither is more correct than the other. The real key is to make sure whatever you start with is interesting and, as someone said, hooks the reader immediately. If, for the first page and half, your MC is thinking about something, write what he/she is thinking in an interesting way that pulls the reader along, and you're good to go.

In one story I'm writing, for instance, the first couple of pages are my MC sitting by himself in a room, thinking about the bug he just tried to kill. Not a lot going on there, right? But my first line is "I think I just saw the ghost of an insect." And it goes from there (and ties into the later parts of the story in an unexpected way).

So, as long as you're not doing the equivalent of a "when last we left our hero..." and you make sure to tell what you need to tell in an interesting way, there's nothing wrong with starting your story with one character in their head, or even no characters. Heck, look at the first chapter of most Douglas Adams books. He gives the backstory of the universe for several pages before we even meet the MC. :>)

As long as the reader wants to hear those internal musings, they'll read on. So the musing have to be leading somewhere or offering something intriguing or interesting. If it's description or explanation, you'll lose the reader. If it's an inner monologue by a fascinating narrator talking about something compelling, they'll stay with you.

I think it depends. The main character of my current WIP is autistic and doesn't talk. The first few pages of the novel are her trying to slip out of the house while her mother sleeps. No dialogue at all.