Firstly, let me apologise for the delay in service! Been a
busy week, but normal ‘viewing’ should resume from today!
Is the hare really faster than the tortoise? Did the chicken
come before the egg? Green means go, red means stop, but yellow means something
in the middle – so half a stop, or half a go? What I’m trying to say is that
everything starts somewhere. As writers, we have the godly say-so to decide
everything about how our stories start.
The most important thing to consider, in my opinion, is the
fact that you need to open with a ‘hook’. The ‘hook’ is something that needs to
grab the readers’ attention and will them to read on. There are various ways of
doing this, from intrigue to conflict. Take for example, George R R Martin’s ‘A
Game of Thrones’ (side note: I’ve yet to actually read the books, but I’ve read
the first chapter and seen a bit of the series, so his hook has stayed with me
long enough to convince me to read them at first opportunity). The first
section the reader is introduced to is (without going into spoilers) the ‘out
of the ordinary’ going’s on in the North. This is the opening hook – delivered in
a dynamic scene. It’s a full chapter, and most importantly, it raises a
question, a conflict, intrigue…the need to read on.
For a writer, the hook is crucially important to those
hoping to pursue the route of traditional publishing. As a general rule, agents
request submissions of the first three(?) chapters / 50 pages / 10,000 words.
If you’ve managed to land your manuscript on an agent’s desk, the only way to
keep it out of the shredder is by instilling the ‘need to read’ (I hear bribes
work too – that or a ‘shotgun read-through’ similar to a ‘shotgun wedding’).
You’re opening has to catch the agent’s eye. An agent is a hunter-killer,
not a hunter-gatherer. It’s natural habitat is the wild frontiers of the
office, roaming the desks and outback of coffee-cup stains. It feeds on the
hopes of freshly printed manuscripts, devouring printer ink, sparing only those
worthy of passing through its territory. Prey is many, peers in prose are few
to the predator. The only way to placate the agent? Lure it into a placid
state, inspired by a story, delivered with a strong right hook! Agents have an
acquired taste, they know what they’re looking for, and you have to prove that
from the get-go.
Don’t info dump at the start. Purple prose is not your
friend. Info dumping is a tendency (read: DROP IT!) of writers (particularly
fantasy and Sci-fi) to fill a character’s / situation’s / world’s backstory in
a oner. A huge wall of text that’d send even the Hubble telescope cross-eyed.
Without going into this in too much detail (and thus committing info dumping,
myself) think of it like this: ‘you need to feed your reader a starter, but
hold off on the main course. Don’t overfeed the reader, or they’ll grow bloated
and will leave before desert; but don’t let them starve or they’ll bail early
and go for a burger at the nearest fast food chain!’
The opening needs to set the tone and the standard of the
novel. Your reader has arrived under the pretence of a genre/story/idea that
you have pitched, but if you stray from this oath you’ll likely lose them. For
example, if your story is chick-lit, why start with the death of the world in some
apocalyptic explosion caused by a power hungry maniac, wielding a bouquet of plutonium
grown flowers. Don’t do this! 1) Because it’s my idea and I want to write it
now! 2) because your reader is expecting something of a different vein.
…3) I smell a bestseller! Move over Mr Mercury, or whatever
your name was. I’ll even help you pack up your paddle.
Lastly, let’s go back to firstly (chicken or the egg
approach – see what I’m doing here?). The ‘hook’. The sharpest part of any hook
is the point, and in this case, the first sentence or the first fifty words or
so. No, ‘The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the grass was green, the bunny
rabbit hopped through the wood, and the ruddy ice cream van ran me over whilst
the puppy dog farted.’ That’s a little odd, and I’ve massively strayed from the
point, but it’ll do. As a writer, I favour an opening hook in the form of
dialogue, or a character’s inner monologue. Take for example ‘hooks’ from some
of my own work:
From Man to Man Part 1: 'I never meant to let you down.'
From Man to Man Part 2: 'So, it's come to this?'
From Man to Man Part 3: 'Any coin's a coin.'
And, as a treat, the opening to It Began With Ashes:
“Are we being followed, father?”
“No, Astartes, we are not being
followed.”
“How can you be sure? You didn’t
even look!” Astartes whined. Struggling to turn in the saddle behind his
father, Astartes craned his neck to look back through the night. The dirt track meandered this way and that,
winding through the Emberfen Forest. The path was hard to make out amongst the
muddy browns of the woodland, made all the more difficult by the thick canopy
obscuring the glow of the stars and moon overhead.
Nicolas shook his head,
scratching idly at his flame-red moustache. “Don’t let your eyes play tricks on
you, son...there’s nothing out there.”
Now,
to the red, the egg, but then again maybe the chicken, the finish line where
the hare or the tortoise is waiting. Use your hooks wisely, keep ‘em sharp, but
if all else fails resort to nuclear fertilized shrubbery. You’ll have to excuse
me now as I’m off to pick me a bouquet of flowers from this glowing patch of
dirt, charming little garden mind you. Saw a three eyed dog there the other
day.
Emrys
