Things NOT to do in the opening paragraph(s)?

Bukarella · Jan 11, 2010

My first chapter is ugly. I don't like ugly things, so please help me make it non-ugly.

We are talking a complete make-over, we are talking chopping and cutting, we are talking about starting the whole thing from scratch.

I hear there is a fun list of things not to do, so I'm curious about it. Do you follow certain rules? Do you have some rules of your own? I need guidance. Anyone wants to hold my hand through this scary process? :e2cry:

bclement412 · Jan 11, 2010

Make sure you don't overload us with backstory and do not do a lot of telling. We don't need all your MC's past revealed in one paragraph-- drag it out, make us wonder/curious. Good luck!

virtue_summer · Jan 11, 2010

Don't make it boring. Everything else is debatable.

EclipsesMuse · Jan 11, 2010

No info-dumps. No un-needed information

Bukarella · Jan 11, 2010

virtue_summer said:
Don't make it boring. Everything else is debatable.

true dat.

I am still curious though. :tongue

For instance, I saw someone here say that too many novels start out with pain or weather. Now, I will gladly consider that! I hope it's more clear what I'm looking for.

I get that the rules are meant to be broken. On the other hand, if I decide to break a rule, I want to be aware of it.

bclement412 · Jan 11, 2010

Oh and don't start with your MC waking up. Major no-no in my opinon, as well as many agents.

EclipsesMuse · Jan 11, 2010

There's a lot of conjecture over the rules. Some say don't start with a description. Don't start in the middle of a conversation...

I say if you can catch the reader's attention and keep them interested, then what you are doing works.

Edit: One rule that I do beleive in is: Start in action. Trust me. My first draft did not start in action. Whole first scene was completely useless.

Bukarella · Jan 11, 2010

bclement412 said:
Oh and don't start with your MC waking up. Major no-no in my opinon, as well as many agents.

yeah... about that... :gone:

backslashbaby · Jan 11, 2010

No waking up. No dreams. Anything too dramatic may backfire because we don't care about the character yet. Watch how you do dialogue if you open with it. Flashbacks had better be incredibly good if they are in there so soon.

I had a few boring-ish observations in mine. My beta's reaction led me to wait on that stuff until the reader is oriented in the story, character and setting better. Everything early needs to be tight.

ETA: saw your post up there

Sorry! lol.

kaitie · Jan 11, 2010

The best advice I always see is start where the story starts. I think the big mistake and the boring of it comes in when people start somewhere before the story (i.e. waking up) because it's a start to a day or something. Actually, I suspect a lot of that comes from movies, which often start out this way. Try to look through and pick out the first point of conflict. It doesn't have to be major conflict, but just something that causes a problem.

Maxinquaye · Jan 11, 2010

Don't start with a bang. Readers don't care about the bawling screaming character - yet. For what it's worth, I start pretty slow.

My first WIP started with a boy walking out of an elevator door, the second with the mc sitting on a train, and a third with the mc taking a female friend up into the hills with beer to tell her he's leaving.

So, how do you start? Like you start anything - with tension and conflict. It doesn't need to be visceral and BIG. It can be as simple as a character going to get water in the middle of the night. As long as getting the water meets with obstacle, tension, etc and reveal character.

That's how you get the reader interested.

KTC · Jan 11, 2010

i think, for me, the one thing i should not do in an opening paragraph is write.

OctoberLee · Jan 11, 2010

Don't start with "it was a dark and stormy night." Then again, it worked for Bulwer-Lytton. And Snoopy. And now there's a whole bad writing contest based around it...

One thing I like when I read a novel is not really knowing what I'm getting into. Like, getting a taste of the guts of the story at the very beginning and not understanding it makes me want to learn more.

Here's a couple of killer opening lines from novels I like that might give you a couple of ideas (I stole these from my blog (and their respective authors of course)):

"I dreamed I went to Manderly again." -Rebecca

"Quentin did a magic trick. Nobody noticed." -The Magicians

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. " - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." -A Tale of Two Cities

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." - Pride and Prejudice

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

AryaT92 · Jan 11, 2010

^ Agreed.

dgrintalis · Jan 11, 2010

Don't have the MC look in a mirror so you can give the reader a laundry list of physical descriptors.

Michael_T · Jan 11, 2010

dgrintalis said:
Don't have the MC look in a mirror so you can give the reader a laundry list of physical descriptors.

In fact, don't give us any descriptions unless they are necessary to the meaning of the story. If on page 125 you want to show off your prose skills and spend 400 words describing a mountian valley, go for it. But the first chapter is not the place. "mountain valley" will be just fine...

Caitlin Black · Jan 11, 2010

Damn, I have my MC start out in pain as he's waking up. That's a double no-no. Then again, that's where the action starts, and the book is somewhat about the sleep world, so now I'm confused and will just edit it and see what happens when I submit it.

JonSwift · Jan 11, 2010

Start when the first disruption of the main character life begins, then ruin their life however you like, and see if they can get themselves out the mess you've created for them. I tend to want to begin with action rather than doing it and then have to revise it so I do. But for Pete's sake, whatever you do, make it interesting.

Miss T · Jan 11, 2010

If it works, it works. The thing with weather, pain, and waking up is that they're all common and a little obvious, so if you use one, you'd better have a reason.

Ehab.Ahmed · Jan 11, 2010

I don't know, but I read somewhere that you should start with your MCs normal life then disrupt it with your first conflict. The reasoning behind that is to give the reader an idea of what the MCs are possibly going to lose. I find this tip logical, but maybe it's a no-no, too.

ChainsawLicker · Jan 11, 2010

Well, I'm good. I don't think there's any rule about talking about a pair of moldy boots.

Raphee · Jan 11, 2010

No dreams.
No looking in mirrors.

Start with character, conflict, hopefully leading to micro tension. (Now if I can make this work in my own WIP.)

HelloKiddo · Jan 11, 2010

Do not attempt to "intrigue" the reader by confusing us. I've read books that go on for pages and I have no idea what's going on. Like this:

The delivery man was scheduled to be here five minutes ago. Where is he? If that package isn't here by 6:00 it'll be my neck on the chopping block.

I considered my options if the guy doesn't show. I could run. Leave the country. Change my name.

No No. I'm ahead of myself. Just calm down. He'll be here.

Blah blah blah for four pages. WHAT is happening?

And then it's even worse when after four pages the author just dumps the answer on you:

Just when I was about to start running a white van swerved around the corner and pulled up in front of me.

"Here ya go sir," said the poor sod making the delivery for Tony. "Sorry I'm late. Was nearly killed on the way here. Van got shot up good."

I opened it. Thank God. Fifty G's of pure Colombian cocaine. White gold.

That is so lame after four pages of confusion. We wanna know where we are on page one. Intrigue can be done well (like anything) but is often done poorly.

Exir · Jan 11, 2010

Raphee said:
No dreams.

Crap. My opening paragraph is about a 10-year-old girl and her talking shadow.

Maxinquaye · Jan 11, 2010

One of these days I am just going to HAVE to write a story set during a rainweather night, featuring a maid and a hunting party...

Things NOT to do in the opening paragraph(s)?

Always learning

Questing

Questing

~~~~*~~~~

With great power comes

That cheeky buggerer

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Destroying something beautiful

'Tis true, she is a monstergirl

Physicist posing as a novelist

Wild one

figuring it all out

Drifting Silently

Oh snap, it's onomatopoeia!

In debt to AW

bemused observer

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking

That cheeky buggerer

*