Waking up

Marian Perera · Jun 25, 2007

Does anyone feel that there's a problem with starting a story by having a character wake up? I'd written such an opening for my novel - the character was severely injured and wakes up to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings - but I thought I'd read somewhere that this kind of opening was cliched or otherwise unpopular. I could rewrite it, but I was wondering what other people thought on this topic.

reenkam · Jun 25, 2007

I've done it a couple times. People might say it's cliche or boring, but sometimes I think it's the best way to start. Not every story can start with action and at least when someone wakes up the reader finds out information as the character does.

Robin Bayne · Jun 25, 2007

One of the most common pieces of advice I hear is "Don't start your story by having your character wake up."

Even if you do it well, that kind of opening might not make it past the editor or agent's quick opening scan.

Danger Jane · Jun 25, 2007

I haven't started a novel with a character waking up; I've started a few scenes that way in my day. I'd say that like anything, if done well, it's doable. But if it's poorly written, readers (like agents) will see the cliche a lot more clearly, and be a lot more averse to it.

Tallymark · Jun 25, 2007

I think what's more taboo is having the story start with a dream, and then the character wakes up (and we learn that the first few pages didn't really happen). Starting with dreams is usually a big no-no. Starting with waking up doesn't sound so bad as long as its interesting and there's a reason for it...if they're waking up and brushing their teeth and trotting off to work, not so interesting. If they're waking up because a ninja has just burst into their bedroom--now something is happening!

I'd be careful not to let it transform into an info dump, though (probably why a lot of people say don't do it). it would be easy to have him wake up and, whilst taking in his new surroundings, think extensively about the last stuff he remembers happening, which delays the current action and comes across as feeding information.

mysterygrl · Jun 25, 2007

Having a character wake up in your first chapter has been done so many times by so many writers. (Miss Snark said "dream" and "waking up" openings are an automatic yuck for her.) That said, if you can approach it in a really fresh way and cut to the chase fast, it might work. But the bar is set very, very high.

Why not start with your character already awake and trying to figure out his surroundings?

Marian Perera · Jun 25, 2007

mysterygrl said:
Why not start with your character already awake and trying to figure out his surroundings?

I think this is a very good idea. After all, the story can't start until my character wakes up, so he might as well be awake when the story begins, trying to work out where he is. I also had him waking up from a nightmare of the attack that put him in that situation - so I might as well eliminate two of the problems that agents have with that opening and just start with the character awake. Thanks!

josephwise · Jun 25, 2007

There's a reason people warn against wake-up beginnings, whether there's a dream involved or not. Typically, when we wake up, the conflict has yet to begin.

So, it depends. If your character wakes up, has cereal, goes outside, talks to the neighbors...that's not an advisable beginning. But if your character wakes up half-drunk, in a dark room at a party, and he doesn't see his wife anywhere...there's conflict.

Even in that case, though, you might focus on him noticing his wife is missing, rather than the actual act of waking up. It's easy enough to mention in the second or third sentence that he had just woken up.

I'm sure editors and agents see a lot of dull wake-up beginnings, but they wouldn't necessarily shy away from a wake-up beginning that involves heavy conflict. In fact, better advice is to ALWAYS begin with conflict of some kind. Do that, and cliches don't matter.

Jamesaritchie · Jun 25, 2007

Opening

The problem with opening with a dream, or with a character waking up, is that there's an excellent change an agent or editor will stop reading right there. It's been done to death, it's usually boring, (Why not open with the scene where the hero was injured), and you see it twenty times per day.

Marian Perera · Jun 25, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Why not open with the scene where the hero was injured

The injury is only important in that it leads him to be rescued by people who are going to use him to further their aims, like Paul Sheldon's car crash in Misery. That's one reason I don't want to start with it - the real conflict can't begin until he wakes up and realizes that he's alive but a prisoner.

Jamesaritchie · Jun 25, 2007

Injury

Queen of Swords said:
The injury is only important in that it leads him to be rescued by people who are going to use him to further their aims, like Paul Sheldon's car crash in Misery. That's one reason I don't want to start with it - the real conflict can't begin until he wakes up and realizes that he's alive but a prisoner.

The injury is important because it's what starts the whole process.

reenkam · Jun 25, 2007

Everyone keeps saying that waking up is cliche and in tons of books, but that it'd never get passed agents and editors......

I personally can't think of any books that start this way, actually.

Marian Perera · Jun 25, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
The injury is important because it's what starts the whole process.

That's true, but I'd prefer the readers' first questions to be, "Who rescued him? If they saved his life, why is he locked up?", rather than, "What happened to the bandits who attacked him?" I want the focus to be on his being alive but a prisoner, rather than on the attack. That way, the conflict will start out with tension and mind games and escalate to the physical, rather than starting out physical and then scaling back.

Kristin Landon · Jun 25, 2007

My instinct is that a character at the beginning of a book should already know what's wrong—what's going to be driving her out of her comfortable life and into the story. The reader has to be shown, somehow, what this problem is, but it often slows things way down if the MC has to discover it first.

Even a few sentences amounting to "Everything was fine that lovely morning" gives a flat, airless feeling. At this point in the story we don't know the MC and don't care about her enough to be shocked simply because she is. Better if she already knows something that, when we figure it out, shocks us.

lkp · Jun 25, 2007

Queen of Swords said:
That's true, but I'd prefer the readers' first questions to be, "Who rescued him? If they saved his life, why is he locked up?", rather than, "What happened to the bandits who attacked him?" I want the focus to be on his being alive but a prisoner, rather than on the attack. That way, the conflict will start out with tension and mind games and escalate to the physical, rather than starting out physical and then scaling back.

Then why not start with the "rescue"? After they've locked him up, he can piece back the events between the injury and the rescue if he needs to.

In general, I don't understand why people would want to begin a book with someone waking up. Since the point is, the character wakes up and then something happens or he does something, why not just begin with the something happening?

If you can find it, the crapometer where Miss. Snark evaluated book openings was really illuminating for me. With a whole bunch of first pages together, it was easy to see how banal any first page is that starts with a person waking, a person dreaming, a person standing around in the scenery, or a person getting a phone call. And I think most agents read queries in a bunch

Marian Perera · Jun 25, 2007

lkp said:
Then why not start with the "rescue"? After they've locked him up, he can piece back the events between the injury and the rescue if he needs to.

Well, what happens is that the main character is on a journey far from any civilized places when a pack of brigands ambush him and stab him in the gut. But they're immediately attacked and slaughtered in turn by some people who are far more dangerous. The main character doesn't know any of what happens after the stabbing, because he's dying of shock and blood loss. His rescuers then take him to a secret settlement where they heal him and save his life - and lock him up. So I thought it might be a bit jarring to have him suddenly attacked, before the reader had a chance to connect with him as a character. And the rescue happens while he's unconscious. That's why I wanted to start after he comes to, though as mysterygrl suggested, I'll start with him trying to figure out where he is rather than with him waking up.

lkp · Jun 25, 2007

Ahh, I see. I thought he woke up and then someone rescued him. In that case, I think you have your solution. Good luck.

Ziljon · Jun 25, 2007

I start each day by waking up. Yesterday, however, I woke up in a pool of blood...

Novelhistorian · Jun 25, 2007

I personally can't think of any books that start this way, actually.[/quote]

Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka.

reenkam · Jun 25, 2007

Novelhistorian said:
I personally can't think of any books that start this way, actually.

Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka.[/quote]

one so far....and is that supposed to be a good book? (i haven't read it)

DamaNegra · Jun 25, 2007

Waking up could be fun if you wake up to this. That would sure make an interesting start

Claudia Gray · Jun 25, 2007

The "waking up" scene is greatly overused and makes a lot of agents groan. That said, I've read it used in many books and often to good effect; it's all in the execution. If you can accomplish the same mood and setting without it, do without it. If there's no other way, make it as original as you can, and good luck!

Saanen · Jun 26, 2007

Queen of Swords said:
Well, what happens is that the main character is on a journey far from any civilized places when a pack of brigands ambush him and stab him in the gut. But they're immediately attacked and slaughtered in turn by some people who are far more dangerous. The main character doesn't know any of what happens after the stabbing, because he's dying of shock and blood loss. His rescuers then take him to a secret settlement where they heal him and save his life - and lock him up. So I thought it might be a bit jarring to have him suddenly attacked, before the reader had a chance to connect with him as a character. And the rescue happens while he's unconscious. That's why I wanted to start after he comes to, though as mysterygrl suggested, I'll start with him trying to figure out where he is rather than with him waking up.

Honestly, that sounds really interesting and unusual. If I picked up a book that started with a guy being attacked and then saved by even more dangerous people, I'd keep reading. I'm not 100% sure I'd keep reading if it started as a guy wondering where he is and what's going on--hey, those are my questions. I want them answered.

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 26, 2007

The very first line of my story is my female character waking up because the telephone is ringing. She's getting some really bad news. The person who murdered her husband is now out of jail--Straight into the action this way.

Elodie

Marian Perera · Jun 26, 2007

Saanen said:
Honestly, that sounds really interesting and unusual. If I picked up a book that started with a guy being attacked and then saved by even more dangerous people, I'd keep reading.

Now you've got me wondering if there's any way I could start with this scene. Maybe that's a topic for another thread - whether it's a good idea to start with someone being viciously attacked before the readers have had a chance to emotionally connect with that character. My other concern about doing so would be that it gives away the surprise of who has actually rescued the main character. He wakes up in a locked room that is always kept dark, even when people enter to leave food for him, and he soon suspects why they won't show him their faces. When he challenges them on it and they finally light a lamp so he can see their faces, it's a pretty tense scene. That tension would be lost if he saw them in broad daylight. Though maybe he could be rescued at night.

I'll have to think on this. Thanks for the idea.

Waking up

Marian Perera

starting over

reenkam

aka cupcake

Robin Bayne

~writes for Him~

Danger Jane

Tallymark

mysterygrl

Marian Perera

starting over

josephwise

Jamesaritchie

Marian Perera

starting over

Jamesaritchie

reenkam

aka cupcake

Marian Perera

starting over

Kristin Landon

lkp

Marian Perera

starting over

lkp

Ziljon

Tortilla di Patate

Novelhistorian

reenkam

aka cupcake

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

Claudia Gray

Saanen

Elodie-Caroline

Marian Perera

starting over