How many of you write multiple prologues or first chapters to your novel before you plunge further in? I've written three versions of the prologue of my novel to see which would work best - I'm still trying to figure out which does.
Multiple beginnings
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I certainly don't go over and over the opening chapter at the time of writing if I know where I'm heading with Chapter 2 etc and the rest of the story. I will revise and edit as normal after I've finished, although some folks do edit as they go.
However, if I understand what you mean to be that you have decided the prologue or chapter isn't going or leading anywhere - fair enough, re-start.
However, if I understand what you mean to be that you have decided the prologue or chapter isn't going or leading anywhere - fair enough, re-start.
goatpiper said:
goatpiper said:
I don't exactly write multiple beginnings, but I do sometimes spend as much time on the beginning of a short story or novel as I do on the rest of the story all told.
I tend to know the beginning I want, but I don't know exactly how I want it, and I don't know the voice I want it told in. If I get the opening right, which can mean the first page, the first ten pages, or the first chapter, the rest of the story is usually pretty easy. But getting the opening right takes a lot of hard work.
If I'm writing an actual prologue, I usually write it last, after the the entire book is written. I generally use it for infomation that happens well before the actual story takes place, sort of a setup (not an information dump). However, I usually spend no more time on chapter one than I do on any other chapter but I also have to do a lot more editing on it than the rest too.
I tend to have a terrible time getting beginnings to work right. I'm back to fussing with the novel I'm currently trying to fence, having put it away for about six months, and with four distinct 3-4 chapter beginning sections, all of which have something to recommend them, none of which I'm entirely happy with. The rest of the thing, about 80% of it, I continue to be happy with, even looking back from some time-distance removal. But the start is killing me, and killing my chances of ever seeing the thing published.
Maybe if I blow something up, right in the first paragraph, and scatter brains and blood all over the place . . .
bird
Maybe if I blow something up, right in the first paragraph, and scatter brains and blood all over the place . . .
bird
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I went down several paths before I came across the right one, but it wasn't exclusive to the beginning. I have a lot of backstory too. Great for reference material.
I re-write the first chapter over and over again until I get to the point of saying, "Right, Nichola, you're just putting off the hard work. Get on with it or you'll never be an author, you'll just be stuck in a cycle of fiddling with chapter one forever."
Sometimes I change it a lot after I've gone on to the rest of the story. It doesn't work, or I can't get it just right. And sometimes--more typically--I feel really comfortable with my beginning, and it works just right the way I did it. My beginnings flow right when I don't sit and agonize over how to start. I'm getting better at not agonizing and just going.
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I frequently toy with the starts of my novels for days, or even weeks, searching for the right path to take and trying to find the perfect voice, tone, and pace. It's kind of like packing for a trip--what I put in the suitcase varies depending on where I'm going and what I plan to do when I get there. The start is my suitcase and I find it hard to move on until I get it nailed down to some degree.
But that doesn't stop me from changing things down the road. Sometimes the trip doesn't go as planned, and the detours can be significant. If what I packed to launch the trip doesn't work anymore, I can augment or replace it with new stuff.
Beth
But that doesn't stop me from changing things down the road. Sometimes the trip doesn't go as planned, and the detours can be significant. If what I packed to launch the trip doesn't work anymore, I can augment or replace it with new stuff.
Beth
I spend a ton of time on the first chapter, it seems. Once I have the first chapter, the rest seems to fall into place as the characters take over.
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I don't have multiple beginnings or keep writing the opening chapters. I will, however, rearrange, cut, move or rewrite the beginning during revision. I've been known to cut out 15,000+ words to find a new beginning...
Well, my big 'breakthrough' with my prologue was the realization that it wanted to be written in present tense - something I'm not very comfortable with, but I'm now having fun with it. Neal Stephenson pulls off the present tense with lots of style, but I rarely find it useful. It also provides me with a very distinct separation between my two main characters - the prologue is the pov of the 'bad guy', and I've now decided that the interludes I've planned from his pov will be present tense - very cool, actually. Rest of the novel will be typical past tense.
But I still need to figure out some of the details in the prologue.
But I still need to figure out some of the details in the prologue.
I try to let the story tell itself when I first start. Then if later on I find that I can write a more effective first chapter (or sometimes prologue), I'll rewrite it. The novel I'm working on, I've rewritten the first chapter about five times. I think I've finally got it right. Then again, I thought that about the previous four. 
I wrote several different beginnings in the sense that I could not figure out where the story should start. I tried starting from about 3 different points in the story, and finally settled on the first one I wrote. I was stressing out about whether or not this or that was really needed, whether or not it would grab someone's interest from the first page, etc. This was mainly because I had written the chapter a couple weeks before my writing teacher gave us a list of what NOT to do when you're writing the beginning of a novel. I was so worried...what if I had DONE those things??? I think I just had a good instinct about where to start the story, because I presented it to the class, and they all thought it worked.
I've been dreading writing this afternoon because for the past two weeks I have re-written my beginning at least five times. And I'm sick of it. So I thought that I'd procrastinate for a few minutes and pulled up this forum and now I feel better that I'm not the only one this problem. I love these forums. Just when I feel I'm losing my mind, I can come here and find other people in the same situation.
Yay, Absolute Write!
Yay, procrastination!
Yay, Absolute Write!
Yay, procrastination!
goatpiper said:
ALWAYS! I can never start anything without writing at least three versions of the beginning. It takes me that long to figure out the voice, the right place and time, and right style...oh, I hate beginnings. And they inevitably have to be re-written once I actually finish the book, no matter how much effort went into them in the first place.
I wrote the first chapter and then moved on. Soon thereafter, I realized that I will probably have to rewrite the whole thing, or at the least cut it and start the book at a later point. I know I have to do this eventually, but I'm not going back to re-do it until more of the book is done. I don't want to get bogged down in the beginning until all the missing pieces are found. At the moment, I am on page 300, exactly. The first chapter is about a dozen pages, and there's a hunk of chapter 2 that has to go, as well. So I am shooting for a total of 375-400 pages before I go back and crop out the beginning for a rewrite.
But page count is so odd. Really, I'll go back and rewrite the beginning when I feel I've got a rough draft of everything I want to say. I just expect that it'll be another 75 pages before I get to that point.
But page count is so odd. Really, I'll go back and rewrite the beginning when I feel I've got a rough draft of everything I want to say. I just expect that it'll be another 75 pages before I get to that point.
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