Story openings

What makes a good beginning for a story?  What kinds of things draw you into the story and make you want to keep reading?  What things put you off, or make you reluctant to continue?

‹ Keeping your butt in the chair Clarion West memories ›

Comments

Submitted by Eileen Gunn on December 30, 2007 - 8:51pm.

Good question, Vy.

I think of the situation as being more a question of what will keep me writing, than what will keep me (or anyone else) reading. I often begin a story with nothing more than the beginning -- just words, no story. (I do not recommend this as a technique.) The way the words work together determines how the story proceeds, word by word, until there is enough material there to be called the beginning of a story. Then I have to ask myself how the story ends, and after that, it's merely a matter of getting from the beginning to the end.

The main problem with this technique (other than that it doesn't have anything to do with producing a well-plotted story) is that, in order for me to be interested in what I am doing, I have to not know what it is that I'm doing. Otherwise, there would be no suspense, you see.

So I have to produce a beginning that is suspenseful enough to keep me reading -- I mean writing: suspenseful enough to keep me writing. But if I figure out what I'm doing, then I'm totally hosed, and I have to start over. Because it's too obvious, if I can see where it's going. Cliched. Boooooring. Must start over. Again, I do not recommend this as a technique. Do not try this at home.

Sometimes I start by trying to turn a sentence inside out, just for my own amusement. That is how I come to be working on a story that begins, "In the middle of the night, the mirrors came out of the elves." Because the damned elves are always coming out of mirrors, aren't they?

I am now six thousand words into that story (with Michael Swanwick) and I haven't the slightest idea of why (in terms of the story) the mirrors came out of the elves, but I am pretty confident that I will have to address that issue before I can call the story complete. (If anyone has any ideas about this, please don't keep them to yourselves.)

Now that technique I can recommend: start off by standing something on its head, or turning it inside out, or breaking it in some interesting way. It would be boring to do that all the time, but it can jumpstart an idea.

What do you do? Vy? Others?

 

Eileen Gunn

 

Submitted by Vylar Kaftan on December 30, 2007 - 10:30pm.

I think the mirrors came out of the elves because they had better things to do that sit between the liver and the stomach, reflecting elven guts in a place where no one would see them. 

 

I'm fond of opening sentences which read one way the first time through and differently after completing the story.  This is a little hard to show without a story, but an example might be: "She'd lost every coin she'd earned."  Initially this sentence sounds like a bad thing, and the story might start in that direction, but by the end of the story this sentence has taken on a new meaning in which it's good that she lost it all.  Or maybe that none of what she had was rightfully earned in the first place.  Something which casts the opening sentence in a new light and changes the meaning of the opening.

I also like a character I care about with a clear problem (which may not be the main problem of the story).  Even something as simple as searching frantically for a lightswitch is a good way to interest me in what's going on.  And the real story about building a giant robot can be gradually revealed--as the lightswitch is found but turns out to be broken, leading to the next complication, etc.

 

 

Vylar Kaftan
CW '04, Clarion West Forum Master
http://www.vylarkaftan.net

Submitted by Becca29 (not verified) on January 8, 2008 - 9:58pm.

I muchly like that two-readings idea, Vylar--sounds fun to play with.

Here's something I wondered--I decided once upon a time that it would be difficult to make more than three mysterious statements (such as words in an imaginary language or non-sensical inferences) in the opening of a story and also keep the reader's attention.  That just seemed like the magic number to me before I got annoyed.  Any suggestions of stories that have pretzeled this rule to good effect?

Submitted by dsmith on December 31, 2007 - 8:01am.

I like opening sentences that set the tone for the story.  I'll usually write a terrible opening sentence, then work on it after I actually know what the story is about.

One of my favorite ways to shake up a story is to change the POV character.  You only have to rewrite a bit of the story to know if the POV change serves the story or not.  Kelly Link suggested this to me on my Calrion West story "The Fall".  I took her adivce and was able to acheive what I was trying to scheive in the first place.  So even if I think it's all wrong to change the POV, I like to give it a try and see what comes out.

 Debbie

Submitted by debtaber on January 8, 2008 - 10:15pm.

Sorry, Vy, you know me...I have to take the dark side of the question.  I can tell you several things that--especially as an editor--will stop me from reading past the beginning.  At the top of that list are mistakes/typos.  I once had a story in the slush with at least one error in each of the first five paragraphs.  I didn't make it to paragraph six. I only made it to five because some of the typos were funny.

On more of a story note, self-pitying protagonists are a big turn-off for me.  I don't mind listening to my friends whine from time to time, but the character at the beginning of a book isn't my friend yet.  I don't want to hear him/her whine.  I also don't like beginnings that try too hard to hook the reader, or scene-setting that reads like a travelogue or fashion column. 

What draws me in?  A good command of the language, and a hint that maybe the writer will show me something I haven't seen before.

 

Submitted by Mallory (not verified) on January 13, 2008 - 7:30pm.

If the beginning of a story is somewhere over there at an unspecified time I cringe - "Oh No! Another story set in Vagueville, the most trafficked non-place ever to fail to exist."

I also don't like a paragraph of setting or weather.

I want to be introduced to a character or situation in a way that completely captivates me. I will tolerate quite a lot if it is a bit sideways and peculiar.

I don't like summary entries.

I don't like generic settings like the quasi second Earth so favored by epic sword and sorcery writers.

I want to instantly feel confident I am in good hands, that the writer won't betray my time with CRAP. Sometimes I end up being tricked but usually if I feel confident at the beginning I am well served by the story and author.

I have also been 'discovering' quite a few stories which can't quite seem to figure out tense, pov and/or how to appropriately break for a new paragraph.

 

But mostly, "Stay the hell out of Vagueville!" 

Submitted by debtaber on January 14, 2008 - 12:30pm.

YES! To the banning of tense changes and POV changes midstream.  There are reasons to use each of those techniques at an appropriate place in the story, but usually they're just there because the author hasn't checked his/her work.  In a rough draft, they're excusable, though I think a few of my CW littermates received little "Your tense changes are making me tense!" notes in their margins.  In a published (or submitted for publication) story, they're just sloppy.