Beginnings

sunandshadow · Jul 31, 2006

I'm trying to follow the advice I was given to find examples of stories which are like the one I want to write and analyze them to get a better feel for what sort of structure I should be trying to make. But I discovered an odd thing. Only half of them had beginnings which made sense to me, either showing the initial incident then expanding to describe the situation which gave that incident meaning, or showing a main character and then having the initial incident happen to them, or describing the situation as a whole and then narrowing down to show a main character. The other half seemed to begin with a mini-story which was irrelevant to the plot and theme of the main story. Can it ever be structurally sound to start with an irrelevancy? It seems rash to decide that half of a group of published and popular stories have badly-chosen beginnings, but I don't see how I could possibly call them well-chosen...

TwentyFour · Jul 31, 2006

I have the same problem, just write the story you want to write then get some good editing from Beta Readers and other writers.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

sunandshadow said:
I'm trying to follow the advice I was given to find examples of stories which are like the one I want to write and analyze them to get a better feel for what sort of structure I should be trying to make. But I discovered an odd thing. Only half of them had beginnings which made sense to me, either showing the initial incident then expanding to describe the situation which gave that incident meaning, or showing a main character and then having the initial incident happen to them, or describing the situation as a whole and then narrowing down to show a main character. The other half seemed to begin with a mini-story which was irrelevant to the plot and theme of the main story. Can it ever be structurally sound to start with an irrelevancy? It seems rash to decide that half of a group of published and popular stories have badly-chosen beginnings, but I don't see how I could possibly call them well-chosen...

Can you give some examples of pubished novels with badly chosen beginnings?

Siddow · Aug 1, 2006

One thing I've found when looking at published novels for structure is this:

Look at new authors.

The authors who have been around for several best-sellers can get away with a lot more front-loaded crap.

Evaine · Aug 1, 2006

I once read an American classic called, I think, Dr Arrowsmith - I forget the author. It started with a wagon train going across the prairie and a feisty, and really interesting woman driving one of the wagons.
Then the story proper started, and she turned out the be the hero's grandma or great grandma, and was never mentioned again.

NeuroFizz · Aug 1, 2006

Just jump in without too much analysis. Once you get to "The End" you can go back and reconsider your beginning. If you agonize about it as you write the rest of the story, you will end up changing the beginning several times, wasting a lot of time. The best beginning may not jump out until you've finished the story.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

Siddow said:
One thing I've found when looking at published novels for structure is this:

Look at new authors.

The authors who have been around for several best-sellers can get away with a lot more front-loaded crap.

I'd say the opposite. The majority of novels by new writers have the openings they do because new writers all seem to think there's a certain kind of opening they have to do in order to get published. Trust me, as an editor these things soon start looking all the same.

New writers really need to pay far more attention to established writers. Established writers are not "getting away" with anything. They've simply learned how to write good openings that don't mimic every other opening out there.

FloVoyager · Aug 1, 2006

Imho, the best thing to do is read what you want to read, because you'll enjoy it more and pick up the good in it without really trying. And write what you want to write, because then your heart will be in it and you'll do your best work. You can always edit later, if you really need to change something. Just my thoughts.

C. L. Richardson · Aug 1, 2006

As I always say, a good author can make anything work if s/he goes about it the right way.

I agree with the person who said write what you want and edit later.

maestrowork · Aug 1, 2006

Does the beginning hook you, or do you want to put the book down?

I think that's the question you want to ask, and try to examine what the author did right or wrong.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

beginnings

FloVoyager said:
Imho, the best thing to do is read what you want to read, because you'll enjoy it more and pick up the good in it without really trying. And write what you want to write, because then your heart will be in it and you'll do your best work. You can always edit later, if you really need to change something. Just my thoughts.

I think you have it. The idea is not to follow some rule that says this kind of beginning is good, or that kind of beginning is bad, but to write an opening and a beginning few chapters that you like. You may get it wrong, but any opening that keeps readers reading is a good opening, and not all readers want jump in the middle of the action openings. They can get old when every book by every new writer seems to open this way.

The beginning of the book should pertain to the story, but this leaves a lot of maneuvering room.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

Book

Evaine said:
I once read an American classic called, I think, Dr Arrowsmith - I forget the author. It started with a wagon train going across the prairie and a feisty, and really interesting woman driving one of the wagons.
Then the story proper started, and she turned out the be the hero's grandma or great grandma, and was never mentioned again.

Just "Arrowsmith." Sinclair Lewis wrote it, and won the Pulitzer with it, though I think he refused the award. . .or did he refuse for another novel?

At any rate, the opening was probably the best thing about "Arrowsmith," in my opnion. I can't remember reading another novel that had so many characters, inclduing the protagonist, that I can't imagine anyone wanting to spend time with.

sunandshadow · Aug 1, 2006

NeuroFizz said:
Just jump in without too much analysis. Once you get to "The End" you can go back and reconsider your beginning. If you agonize about it as you write the rest of the story, you will end up changing the beginning several times, wasting a lot of time. The best beginning may not jump out until you've finished the story.

Oh actually I know where I want to start my own story, it's got a really obvious initial incident - a character unexpectedly wakes up on another planet. The only question is whether I want to put him waking up on the very first page, or whether I want to have a little prologue showing him in his normal life, or showing the setting he's about to get dropped into, first. I was analyzing the examples for the middle of the plot, which is what I have the most problems with. I just randomly noticed this strange thing about the beginnings and wondered what other people thought about its acceptability.

Evaine's example is exactly what I was talking about. I didn't list the one I was studying before because I didn't think anyone would recognize them, with the exception of Pride and Prejudice which has one of the 'good' beginnings. What's an example of an irrelevant beginning most people will be familiar with... How about Disney's Beauty and the Beast? It's beginning introduces the village, which is irrelevant to the main plot, the romance between beauty and the beast takes place in the enchanted castle instead. It characterizes Belle as being a daydreamer with ambitions to move somewhere more cosmopolitan, but her important traits in the main plot is open-mindedness; if anything her initial strong rejection of Gauteu is contradictory to her latter open-mindedness. The real initial incident of Belle's father finding the enchanted castle and getting in trouble for picking the rose doesn't happen until several minutes into the movie.

sunandshadow · Aug 1, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
I think you have it. The idea is not to follow some rule that says this kind of beginning is good, or that kind of beginning is bad, but to write an opening and a beginning few chapters that you like. You may get it wrong, but any opening that keeps readers reading is a good opening, and not all readers want jump in the middle of the action openings. They can get old when every book by every new writer seems to open this way.

The beginning of the book should pertain to the story, but this leaves a lot of maneuvering room.

Well, but there are so many options to choose between, so many decisions to be made in writing a story, I like to at least know what other people think are good patterns and rules of thumb. I don't follow rules slavishly, but if I have no rules at all I just feel lost and unable to decide anything. Also, I think people subconsciously have a set of rules about how fiction ought to be put together, and any kind of subconscious prejudice is dangerous, it's much better to bring it to the conscious level where you can analyze the rules and see if they are right or wrong for a particular project.

Soccer Mom · Aug 1, 2006

Write the opening you want to write. If you want to write the scene of the MC on his home planet and think you have a good way to do it, then do it. Worry about whether or not it belongs later. I frequently find myself chopping off my beginnings because they don't belong. But I think writing them somehow helps me work my way into the scene.

That's my .02. Go ahead and write it.

moth · Aug 1, 2006

I agree with whoever said there's no magic formula for story beginnings. Each story is different, so each one will have a different type of beginning. You may not discover your perfect beginning until after you've finished and are starting to edit (as others mentioned upthread), but there's not a thing wrong with that.

Cat Scratch · Aug 1, 2006

sunandshadow said:
What's an example of an irrelevant beginning most people will be familiar with... How about Disney's Beauty and the Beast? It's beginning introduces the village, which is irrelevant to the main plot, the romance between beauty and the beast takes place in the enchanted castle instead. It characterizes Belle as being a daydreamer with ambitions to move somewhere more cosmopolitan, but her important traits in the main plot is open-mindedness; if anything her initial strong rejection of Gauteu is contradictory to her latter open-mindedness. The real initial incident of Belle's father finding the enchanted castle and getting in trouble for picking the rose doesn't happen until several minutes into the movie.

I'm not sure what you mean by irrevelant, becuase I feel that the background of Beauty and her town and Gaston have EVERYTHING to do with the story, why she falls in love with the beast, why the townspeople set off to kill him, how alienated Beauty feels, etc. It may not include the inciting incident to the story, but it's certainly relevant. And necessary, as it introduces what the character wants, and conflicts she is already struggling with, both of which eventually get resolved.

kilamangiro · Aug 1, 2006

For (relatively) poor beginnings I would have to nominate "To Kill A Mockingbird."
Not the opening lines about Jem breaking his arm and Boo Radley and Dill, but the next two pages which give us (IMO) needless backstory and history we could either do without or be told in snippets throughout the novel. It's not that its a bad opening, just compared to the rest of the book it's a let down in that one could easily skip it all and be no worse off.

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town." Now that is a beginning and for me it is the start of possibly the most perfect narrative i've ever read.

I'm not sure what my point is. Maybe that beginnings aren't so important as you think.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

beginnings

Cat Scratch said:
I'm not sure what you mean by irrevelant, becuase I feel that the background of Beauty and her town and Gaston have EVERYTHING to do with the story, why she falls in love with the beast, why the townspeople set off to kill him, how alienated Beauty feels, etc. It may not include the inciting incident to the story, but it's certainly relevant. And necessary, as it introduces what the character wants, and conflicts she is already struggling with, both of which eventually get resolved.

That's the way I feel about it. I think far too much emphasis is placed on only including things that move the story forward, and that are immediately relevant. These are not bad things, but they can make for formulaic, cookie cutter reads when overdone.

Relevancy can come later, and setup can be as important as anything else.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

kilamangiro said:
For (relatively) poor beginnings I would have to nominate "To Kill A Mockingbird."
Not the opening lines about Jem breaking his arm and Boo Radley and Dill, but the next two pages which give us (IMO) needless backstory and history we could either do without or be told in snippets throughout the novel. It's not that its a bad opening, just compared to the rest of the book it's a let down in that one could easily skip it all and be no worse off.

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town." Now that is a beginning and for me it is the start of possibly the most perfect narrative i've ever read.

I'm not sure what my point is. Maybe that beginnings aren't so important as you think.

There we can disagree. I think the opening to Mockingbird is a good one, and makes for much better understanding of the characters. I don't think this is the kind of information that could be effectively told in snippets. It would lose it's meaning. And I do think it's all information the reader needs to know.

I have some problems with the way Mockingbird is written overall, but I'd never say it had a bad beginning.

I do think beginnings are important. I just hate the notion that a beginning must be in media res (Though I think in media res is good advice for first time novelists), or that every line of a book must move the story forward. If either of these things were true, many of the most successful writers out there would never have been published.

mistri · Aug 2, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
That's the way I feel about it. I think far too much emphasis is placed on only including things that move the story forward, and that are immediately relevant. These are not bad things, but they can make for formulaic, cookie cutter reads when overdone.

Relevancy can come later, and setup can be as important as anything else.

This is why I don't take part in many critiques. Critique groups can be fantastic. On the other hand, many seek to stifle out anything that isn't fully explained upfront just for the sake of making a comment. (I know, I know, the best groups won't do this, and it's not as if you have to take all advice offered).

I write my beginnings quite quickly the first time (and without much worry), just to get over them, then I look over them again when I get to the end of the book. Knowing how the entire book goes make it much easier (for some reason) for me to decide the best way to begin it.

PeeDee · Aug 2, 2006

The In Medias Res method of starting a novel is very much like what they tend to do at the beginning of James Bond movies, where the credit-song ends and immediately, Bond explodes out of a building and shoots at random bad guys, and saves the day!..........and then we begin our story.

I don't like this. I'm okay with it in James Bond movies, but I am not okay with it in books unless it furthers the story. If it's just a random scene to introduce the character, then it feels a bit sloppy.

I'm generally okay with beginnings (well-written, mind you) that meander a little bit. I think of the novel as a triangle, with it starting off wide and open and narrowing down to a point at the end. This doesn't necessarily mean that you start off with a hundred pages of non-linear character study (Good Lord) nor does it mean that your novel necessarily ends on only one storyline, with only one narrative.

(An aside: Some novels are actually diamond shaped, where it starts off with one singular narrative, expands into chaos, then narrows down into conclusion. For that matter, some novels are inverted triangles, starting off with a point and expanding into a chaotic ending. So my analogy isn't good for much.)

maestrowork · Aug 2, 2006

I don't think you need a James Bond or Jurassic Park (some incident that speeds things up, but utterly has nothing to do with the main story or characters) beginning for all stories. However, when I start reading a book, I need to know who the main characters are soon, and what the story is about. I don't need it to start with a bang, but give me some direction and plot movement. Don't spend the first chapter describing the town and people eating soup; and if you do describe the town and people eating soup, don't end the chapter on people eating crackers. Give me a reason to read on, and not just "oh, I like the characters."

I do believe, now that I've done it a few times, we should start the novel as close to the inciting incident/start of the main story as possible.

PeeDee · Aug 2, 2006

maestrowork said:
I do believe, now that I've done it a few times, we should start the novel as close to the inciting incident/start of the main story as possible.

My disclaiming of James-Bond-Boom beginnings is almost in contradiction to my current rule-of-thumb which is "Start by setting your character on fire." Except that that's relevant to my story.

The first chapter of my story is directly relevant to the main plot. Actually, most of the chapters are. I think that there are places in a novel where you can wander off from your main story, wander off from the action and the driving plot, but I do firmly believe that the beginning is not the place for this. It doesn't mean you have to start off with a Wham-Bang beginning, but it does mean that, like Maestro said, I don't want a Byzantine description of Our Town, complete with people eating soup with crackers.

Birol · Aug 2, 2006

How does start with an irrelevancy advance the story? If it's irrelevant, what is it doing anywhere in the book?

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