Start as close to the end as possible.
"Cut to the action, but don't be tempted to start the book with a showy bang unless that showy bang is the initial action from which all other action flows. If you open with an epic space battle and then have to spend pages telling us how everybody got there, your flashback will brake your narrative to a stop and your first scene will bounce off your vehicle like a fancy hubcap, revealed for the meretricious gewgaw it is. The key is: from which all other action flows. The first scene is the first domino. The second domino has to be right behind it. That inexorably tumbling line is your story, action begetting action until all are spent." - Caro Clark
Sources: 8 points by Vonnegut
Caro Clark
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Clarissa - Thanks for sharing those wise words. It can be tempting to start a story with a major piece of action and then tell what led up to it, but yes, that can make for a slow, creaky story later on...
ReplyDeleteReading all of these makes me want to take a writing course. I really need to learn this craft like yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this helpful tip.
Most storytelling these days is too tight, in my eyes. I prefer a story that takes twists and turns and detours.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, makes perfect sense. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSounds so easy.
ReplyDeleteIs so hard.
Thanks!
wonderful advice, I never thought of it like a domino.
ReplyDeleteGreat reminder!
ReplyDeleteGood, because I don't like to explain things.
ReplyDeleteYou've just given me an idea to tighten up my first scene. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOh, I do - and afterwards I struggle hard to make my WIP into a proper novel-length story without adding all those extra deaths I loathe ;D
ReplyDeleteI've learned to spread the info so readers get the backstory in little tidbits or when it's necessary.
ReplyDeleteactually I've read some great retrospective books but off course a writer has to have some real narrative talent.
ReplyDeleteGreat paragraph! "...from which all other actions flows." So true. I will remember that. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, and I couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteI must think like a domino set!! Darn it!! :-) Thanks for such a great and wise post!! Take care
ReplyDeletex
Way excellent point. I feel better about my last novel, which starts out somewhat slower. LOL My current one has more of a bang but it's not as frenzied as a space battle or anything.
ReplyDeleteI like how you put that. I'm jotting it down and sticking it up alongside all the other reminders hanging around my desk.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff Clarissa. That first one worries me as my latest book starts with the action but that is what the whole pivot is so I like the way it's put - the 'initial action from which all action flows...'
ReplyDeleteNow I want to go play with dominoes and claim I'm plotting my novel... Mwahaha. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, Clarissa. I like the domino illustration, it fits perfectly.
ReplyDeleteClever analogy to use dominos. I believe Stephen King said that to start with action usually dampens the tension as the reader has not invested anything emotionally with the characters in jeopardy.
ReplyDeleteInsightful, helpful post. Thanks, Roland
Okay this I needed to read :) You are such a cleaver lass :D
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays!
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
I like how James Bond films start out ... with an action scene. Indian Jones too has a great one where Indy is stealing something from a temple which sets off that giant tolling rock that almost crushes him.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice. I'm all for opening with a bang, but I see too many stories these days that try to force a bang just for the sake of the beginning. If the flashy opening doesn't knock over the next domino in your plot, it needs some rethinking.
ReplyDeleteChoosing the beginning of a story is one of the hardest things a writer does. I'm about to start on two new projects. Both are partially written. Will I keep that opening scene? I don't know yet.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Well put! Wonderful advice. Thanks! christy
ReplyDelete