Is action required immediately?

pingle

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Hi, first post though I've spent a few days browsing.

I'm currently submitting, fairly awful experience, have a handful of copy and paste job rejections, obviously no indication as to why it's a no. Standard.

One of my (many) theories is that I have tried to achieve a creepy, atmospheric, mysterious start. But when I read YA it's often immediate action or big old info dump about an intriguing world.

I'm pretty anti info dump but could change the start of my book so that it's much more dramatic and action packed without it messing around with the story overall.

Do agents (and the intended audience) have the patience for a slow burner or is early action a better bet?



I realise I may come across as prematurely worrying but I'm in the UK and the agent pool seems much smaller than across the pond, so yeah, I am panicking!

Thanks in advance :)
 

ReadWriteRachel

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First of all, welcome to AW! Glad to see you here.

Definitely don't info-dump. Slow burns aren't often a good idea, because you want someone to really be hooked into those first few pages of your book. I think kicking off into action is a good way to go, but that's solely the opinion of one YA writer. :) You want to entice an agent with that first page, ideally, and make them have to know what's going on and what'll happen next. I've done the slow burn thing and never had much success with it, but my WIP kicks off with the main character breaking into a house and stealing a treasure map. It starts off the story right away, and doesn't spend too much time getting to the action that kicks off the rest of the book.

My idea would be to jump into these forums and start posting critiques, as well as posting in other threads and mingling with the community here. When you've reached 50 posts, you can post your first few pages in the Share Your Work forum and have other writers give you some feedback, if you like. There are some pretty seasoned writers here who know way more about this than I do! But they'll be able to really dig into your pages and figure out if you need to start elsewhere or not.

Hope this helped somewhat! Looking forward to seeing you around.
 

froglivers

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I'm in the 'no, to immediate action' camp. It lends to so many beginning pages starting with someone running through the forest, being chased by something, and out of breath, and frankly, it's just boring.

Go for voice. Stick to your guns with something that'll really grab your reader with the atmostphere, but especially those first few pages. Hope to see your sample openers here soon. Cheers.
 

pingle

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Thank you Rachel and Frog, ooh, conflicting opinions, ha, but both great food for thought. I tried to avoid forums while writing this book (last time I delved in I got hooked and it was very distracting) but I'm definitely at the stage for branching out so will try to up my posts and get involved.
 

pingle

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I wonder if keeping the mystery for a good few pages but then having some high paced action jump in would work. Will keep mulling over it.
 

Maggie Maxwell

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A slow burn is fine. Low action is fine. What you need at the simplest level is 1) a person to latch onto who 2) wants something. It can be as simple as someone wanting a glass of water, but there needs to be a character and a driving force. If the driving force is interesting, or the situation is interesting, or the character is interesting, then there's your hook. Doesn't matter what they're doing. You can have a teen monster getting a glass of water (character), you have have a teen running away from a monstrous glass of water (driving force), you can have a teen drifting through a space ship to get a glass of water (situation). You can even have just a regular teen getting a regular glass of water as long as something happens on the way to the fridge.
 

ReadWriteRachel

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I'm in the 'no, to immediate action' camp. It lends to so many beginning pages starting with someone running through the forest, being chased by something, and out of breath, and frankly, it's just boring.

Go for voice. Stick to your guns with something that'll really grab your reader with the atmostphere, but especially those first few pages. Hope to see your sample openers here soon. Cheers.

I should clarify: action for the sake of having action is a definite no-go. That creates false tension and suspense when your readers aren't invested in your characters yet. But at the same time, if you wait too long to get the story going, you might lose readers on the front end as well. Going with your gut is good advice. :)
 

pingle

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Hmm, I like to think the situation is interesting, and the character too. Gah, I wish they had a selection of copy and paste jobs, blaming the cover letter or their workload or terrible writing etc I'm second guessing everything

I would definitely worry that I'm shoehorning action in but I suppose I won't know until I try (though I'd quite like to move on to another book now).
 

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The book doesn't have to start with action. It does have to start with something that will keep the reader turning the page.
 

Curlz

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One of my (many) theories is that I have tried to achieve a creepy, atmospheric, mysterious start.
You've tried, but how would you know you've achieved it? Does the book start with long descriptions of places? Does it hold back too much detail that prevents the reader from actually understanding the story? If it's way too descriptive and way too mysterious then the reader may be bored and simply left scratching their head, wondering what's it all about and when there's something going to actually happen. Teens have much less patience than agents. You have to think what's going to be interesting for the YA reader.
 

pingle

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Ha, well yes, very true, other than nice words from friends and a lot of effort on my behalf I can't know for sure that I've achieved what I set out to.

I did shear an awful lot of description away but description certainly remains. Hmm. Thank you, lots to consider.
 

Hbooks

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One of my (many) theories is that I have tried to achieve a creepy, atmospheric, mysterious start.

First off, my sympathies. I think most people find openings very challenging, myself included. I read a LOT of YA--fantasy and contemporary. What I notice, is that while most of the books I've been reading that came out in the past year don't usually start out with explosive action right on the first pages (in general, we have to care about Katniss and Prim and fear the Reaping before "I volunteer as Tribute!" carries any weight) the books that I see getting a lot of buzz are very, very clear about spelling out conflict and hook from the very first pages. They don't give away all their secrets. Those are meted our a little at a time... but they are tightly plotted and keep you turning the pages.
 

JJ Crafts

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Two things to say.
1) you need a hook in your first chapter but by no means does the hook have to be action. It literally just had to be something that hooks the reader, if the setting or character or situation is intriguing and makes the reader want to find out more then that is a hook.

2) you said you're worried because you're in the UK but unless I'm missing something very big here, why does that mean only querying UK agents? I'm gearing up to query by the end of the year and my list of agents to query is about 80% not UK based right now.
 

pingle

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Books, the HG analogy was a good one, thanks. Will have a read through with that in mind. I've tried to weave the hook in from the start, though now my rejections are coming in I'm in negativity mode and have all but decided that my hook is clearly not interesting enough.


JJ, gosh I haven't even considered submitting overseas, mainly as so many UK agents specify UK only submissions, so I presumed that would be the same elsewhere. I would like to be wrong though :) I'll look into it, thank you.
 

JJ Crafts

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As far as I'm aware the majority of agents are in new York and accept submissions from anywhere.
 

sempersomnium

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I agree with Froglivers. It doesn't have to have action, but it needs to catch my attention. And, yes, please no info dumping :) We all have characters we want our readers to care about. The trick is how to start it within the first page, and even the first line.

I hope all these replies help you out! Best of luck!


I'm in the 'no, to immediate action' camp. It lends to so many beginning pages starting with someone running through the forest, being chased by something, and out of breath, and frankly, it's just boring.

Go for voice. Stick to your guns with something that'll really grab your reader with the atmostphere, but especially those first few pages. Hope to see your sample openers here soon. Cheers.
 

Debbie V

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They say you should start your story about ten minutes before the moments that changes everything for your main character. In those ten minutes, give me a reason to care about that character. It doesn't have to be the reason I'll have later in the book, but there has to be something for me to latch on to and/or identify with. Harry Potter has been abused and we feel sorry for him, but really what makes us keep reading early on is that the circumstances of his life are so strange before the strangeness is explained. Katniss cares about her sister and I identify with loving my sibling.

Before the end of page one, I need to care or have something else that puts a question in my mind that makes me turn the page.

I hope this helps.
 

pingle

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That does help :) Funnily enough it starts about 10 minutes before her life changes, without me having ever heard that advice before, so that's reassuring. I still think my 10 minutes may be a bit long winded, I reckon a load of description could be sheared away. Will have a go this weekend.

Thanks everyone!
 

Ashes Oh Ashes

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Starting out with action isn't necessary at all, but starting out with conflict and direction is. I can't imagine there being issue with your beginning provided that you check those boxes.

Getting a handful of standard rejections isn't something to be worried about, though. It happens to everyone! Just worry about what you can control (your writing) and you'll get there. Good luck!
 

pingle

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That twitter advice had some gems for sure, thank you! Makes me want to write a whole load of opening scenes.

And thank you Ashes, the rejections hit harder than I was expecting so good to remember it's nothing out of the ordinary.
 

gem1122

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As Rachel says, I'd caution against the info dump (even though a lot of established writers get away with it). I suggest to use as much action as possible, but it doesn't have to be momentous like a car chase. My latest novel, for example, began with a short conversation. The characters were on the roof of a house at night, but there was no action. I added some, showing how they got there (the outgoing one drags the cautious one out the window). They also move around. That's a very short scene, less than two pages. The scenes that follow, which make up the first chapter, use action at a birthday party gone bad. Characters move, they pick things up, they get in each other's way -- they each have a motive and those motives lead to them making choices and physically acting on them.

So, the first chapter contains action, and while it's not a car chase, there is tension. Will someone fall off the roof? Will a certain loved one show up? Why are those two not talking? So, I think action is a great way to start, but it doesn't have to be fast or life-and-death. Instead, it has to be meaningful. It should show a character's desire and state of mind. What are they struggling with? If they're doing the dishes, are they slamming things around or being extra quiet? If they're walking, are they desperately looking for someone? Trying to avoid someone? The action also has to be tense. What's at stake?
 

Odile_Blud

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Personally, I hate the "start with action" advice. I think the story needs to start where the author feels is best for what they are trying to tell. I read way too many stories where I'm thrown into the inciting incident, and I don't even know who these people are yet or what there normal is. There is nothing that makes me put a book down faster. I blame that on the "start with action" advice on that epidemic.

When I start a story, I normally like to introduce the reader to who the characters are and what there normal is, perhaps a fore shadow, and like-wise, that's what I prefer to read.

I don't know. I guess you could argue about what "start with action" really means. Whether it means to literally start with a action full of explosions and fight scenes, or simply with something happening that not only introduces us to the characters and what their setting and lives are like, but gives us insight on what is to come. If the latter, then I can get behind that, however, if that is the case, I think anyone sharing this advice should better explain themselves.

My advice to you, start where you want and what you think best suits your story.
 

tdederer

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Go for voice. Stick to your guns with something that'll really grab your reader with the atmostphere, but especially those first few pages. Hope to see your sample openers here soon. Cheers.

I think the conflicting opinions here are also both good and it just depends on what kind of novel you're writing. If your novel has a really unique/distinctive voice, like Holden in Catcher in the Rye, then go for voice. But if the voice isn't a stand-out, what part of your novel is the stand-out? Plot? Character? If your novel isn't super plotty, then starting with an action heavy scene could be a bit misleading.