High dive or floaties?
We've all had our own struggles with the beginning. How much backstory, how soon the characters need to meet, how many questions to raise.
I've spent a lot of time reading recently, and there's one other factor that I've picked up on recently. The wade-in-with-floaties-vs-the-high-dive factor. 
Some books start you off slow. One character, one day. You know what they're up to, you know what their goal is, and they've just started on their quest to achieve said goal. Or you're showing them in their ordinary world.
Either way, you introduce the reader to your character. You provide the floaties, point to the pool, and say, "It's warm, I promise."
Then there's the other way. Those books where you're dropped into the center of the action. Books where the characters already know each other, or where the quest has already started. This is a bit like chanting "Jump!" while someone stands on the high-dive.
Now, neither way is bad. Just like each of you had an immediate answer to the question "high dive or floaties?" We all have ways we approach new beginnings, be they books or learning to swim.
As a reader, as I've gorged myself through more Regency and Romantic Suspense than I can count, I've noticed something. I kind of like a beginning that's in the middle.
Some authors can pull off this thing where I feel like I've been placed in the action without all the messy splash of a cannonball. Where it feels like the character was just going about their life one minute, and then the next, I was in it shadowing them like a long lost best friend. There's no introductory moment. No, "Hi, this is Ashely, and she's a Sagittarius who enjoys long walks and is currently about to be in conflict with hunk next door."
Sometimes the first chapter feels like that. Like we're getting the introductions and set up out of the way. Like everything's being explained and laid out in front of us to set the stage. Every now and then, it almost feels like that character didn't exist until she was introduced on that page (if I can say that about characters who actually exist only on a page). Others feel like they have a life before and after the book, just like ours, and we were simply gifted enough to watch for a bit.
So which do you prefer? Do you want all out action, complete with the messy cannon ball splash, a gentle introduction, or somewhere in the middle? Do you like characters that feel like live on outside the pages?
Books by the Crew
40 comments:
Yes, I prefer characters so alive that I feel like if I saw them on the street, I could run up and hug them we knew each other that well.
Your query sounds like the "do you like ordinary world first or do you prefer to jump to the inciting incident?"--which might not be quite what you're talking about, so I apologize if it's not. I prefer ordinary world first, but not in the sense of a traditional fantasy novel, where the ordinary world is there for about three or four chapters before we're introduced to the problem. I like a FEW pages of ordinary life and then, voila, a friend shows up and there's a PROBLEM and we cliffhang the chapter and switch to the next character who is part of the problem...that's typically the way I like to go about this. *LOL* Traditional perhaps, but it's what I like.
But I'm open to other varieties if it's well done. *LOL*
Good morning from 2nd Chance, again holding court on the Bo'sun's computer. I really could bring mine out of these days... But as long as hers is here and open...
Ooooh! Are those credit cards!?
I could surf on over to that interesting site while she's in the shower, sign her up for a few things....
Oh! The blog. Well, I've done it both ways, the meadering beginning and the these people have a history stuff. I sorta like the w/history stuff as long as there no leaving stuff hanging too long... I'm impatient, I want to get to the the good stuff fast!
Now, off to the inferno known as 'outside the hotel for a breakfast meeting' ... I think Ter is staying in... I got debts to pay and must traipse outside once more...
Scapegoat is here and yes, she's as disgustingly perfect in every way as I've always said...
I can't wait til everyone is back from the conference -- I don't think I've experienced this much envy in years. LOL (I know, I'm totally pathetic, but there's no cure!)
Hal, this is a great topic. I'm trying to think how to answer this! I like to know a little bit about the characters before the sh*t hits the fan, because otherwise I feel like "Oh, wow, that's too bad they're having to go through that." LOL But I don't feel like I've got to stick through it with them.
Sometimes lately it feels like people try to make the opening scene into a big special effects extravaganza -- and it does draw me in -- but then I feel scammed, because that is ALL it was designed to do. LOL
So I guess I want to feel like the characters and the action are connected, so that I will feel engaged in the journey and the outcome.
“Hi, this is Ashely, and she’s a Sagittarius who enjoys long walks and is currently about to be in conflict with hunk next door.”
LOL!!
I think I'm like you. I like the high dive. I want to get right to the action and get to know the characters along the way. I tend to feel like the intro start feels like the author started in the wrong spot. This happens in a lot of YA novels for me.
Ooooh! Are those credit cards!?
LMAO!
Donna, you going to conference next year?
Marn, I am going to go next year if it means I have to start scrounging for pennies on the sidewalk this year! LOL It's in NYC, which is relatively close for me. Are you going?
Hellie, yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. (Everything's a bit muddled in my head, as a I wrote this at 2:30 am...lol).
I'm with you on the middle ground. I want to care about the character already when the shit hits the fan.
I love the idea of running up to a character and giving them a hug. I've got a list I'd give hugs to. (well, the heroines, at least. I wouldn't settle for a hug with all of them *g*)
Hi Chance! Glad you're enjoying Orlando, even in the heat. I'm impatient too. So while I want to care about the character before they're in jeopardy, I want the author to make me care really fast. lol. How's that for being a demanding reader!
Can't wait to hear about everything you learn and experience there!
Donna - the first time I was left sitting, staring at the blog while everyone ran off to San Francisco for Nationals, I was sooooo jealous. You'll find a lot of blogs this week/weekend will be chock full of "We can't go to Nationals but can still have fun" goodness. I think it's probably unique to romance, but I love how Nationals seems to affect everyone, even somebody like me who has never gone. There's still a sense of camaraderie of those who can't go, and expectation that we'll get tons of good info as soon as they get back.
I know exactly what you mean about big, splashy intros created to draw you in, but which turn out to be a shallow gimmick. Which says a lot for letting strong characters stand for themselves, you know? If an author can get us to care what happens to the characters quickly, then the big blockbuster/gunshots/body in the trunk opening isn't necessary.
I'm going to try to get there next year. A lot depends on the money and the DH. If he can get off work, if my youngest is weaned/cool with me leaving him for a few days. The little guy seems pretty laid back so I think it's going to be fine, if DH can get the time off and I can find the cash.
Luckily, travel'll be cheap. Just a 14 buck round trip ticket on the Northeast Corridor. :)
Marn, I have noticed that in YA books. I haven't read a lot, so my sample is skewed, but part of it may be the teenage voice. Kids ten to explain themselves a lot, where as adults just accept things. Maybe.
But I like characters who don't justify who they are. Who just own it and go on.
I have no idea if I'm making sense or not. It's been a long week. I apparently caught a cold, which when combined with virulent 24-hour morning sickness, means long, slow death. boo.
Hal, that's what I love, that there is so much information coming from the conference. And my envy stems from wanting to hang out with other writer-types in person. LOL I went to one in Dallas, a hundred years ago when I was a GH finalist, but I was too dazed to enjoy it much. Now that I'm older and wiser, I would have more FUN. LOL
Okay, Marn, it's a quest now. We've got a year to accomplish this! LOL
Darn CAPTCHA. Grumble grumble.
Where was I? Ahh, beginnings. Since I rewrite at least a 1000 (feels like it, but I lose count) I must love working on them; cannonball intro, gentle intro, lots of back story. Wait, that last one isn't supposed to be there. But it is. Darn it, have to take it out and try again.
That's my eternal loop for the beginning and my biggest writing frustration. Ideally, I want that middle ground but it takes a while to figure it out by writing through it until chapter five or six lets me in on what that inciting incident is supposed to be.
When reading, I love that feeling you describe of an open ended story where the characters' lives began before and continued after. Imagining the unwritten is what makes the characters' memorable.
Btw, that high dive picture makes me dizzy! LOL
Hal - your morning sickness hasn't let up? Gah. I keep hoping for you. I hope you feel better soon. And not a lot of drugs available to you. Boooo.....
Donna - I accept your quest! :) I'd love to go to NYC with an agent though. That's my goal this year. I hope this book does that for me.
Donna - you were a GH finalist? Holy Moly! That must have been a rush - I wouldn't be able to pay attention either!
Hal, did you say morning sickness?? I hope I read that right...stopping myself in mid jumping up and down for confirmation. :)
Melissa - yep! I'll be 13 weeks Saturday, so in theory I'm going to start feeling better really, really soon. At least, that's what I've been told. I've got every finger and toe crossed that it's true :)
Ah yes, the re-writing of the beginning. We both tend to do that, don't we, lol! Speaking of which, I'm actually fiddling with my intro right now too. That fine line between backstory and action is going to kill me :)
Marn - not yet. I'm hoping soon!
I don't know how you ladies survive the morning sickness and everything else that goes along with producing the next generation. LOL I admire the hell out of you. It's something I couldn't do, and I'm glad I didn't try it. LOL
Marn, fingers crossed for you for this year!
Hal, yes, I was a finalist in the Regency category (when they still had it -- I think it died out a couple years later). And things just kinda went kaput so I took a hiatus from writing. :)
Thanks Donna! :) And in the Regency category. *mentally rubbing my hands together, plotting how to convince you to beta read my Regency set historical in a few months*
:)
Hal - evil evil morning sickness. Tell your small fetus that such behavior is unseemly for someone who expects someone else to carry their person around for the next 7 months. Get with the program, little person.
I really like starting in the action, but it always depends on the story and the mood I'm trying to set.
Hal, congratulations! Not on the morning sickness but on the cause of the morning sickness.
Congratulations, Haleigh. :) And I hope you feel better very soon!
Actually, I'm done fiddling with the intro (except for polishing) until the last I hope. I finally got the tone right...I think. But progress is slow with all the time I have to put into this Algebra tutorial because I failed the intro. I'm too old for figuring out Algebra...I'd rather have another baby. LOL Kidding.
I think I did what you did with using first person with the heroine which helped. Do you think that helped with your heroine?
That's awesome about the GH finaling Donna! You may have taken a detour along the way, but it sure sounds like you're making up time now with your success in writing. :)
Marn, I'll be HAPPY to beta read your Regency historical! Whenever, you're ready, let me know. :)
Okay, I've got to dash for a bit -- I'm actually babysitting for a friend for a couple hours. (I know! Ironic, isn't it? LOL Actually, I always said I'd rather be a grandma than a mom.)
Thanks, Melissa! The detour was actually because of a real-life romance -- LOL -- so I'm counting it as research for my books! Even the heartbreak part. :)
Marn, you're going to have a lot of happy beta readers for your Regency. PICK ME, PICK ME!
You're all hired!! :) Thanks in advance. Now... to finish the thing....
Thank you, Renee!
And I agree -- the overall tone/mood of the book has to play a huge role in how it starts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=docOBvGf2-M&feature=player_embedded#!
Hey, did you guys see this? :) From the literacy signing last night in Orlando. Thanks Smart Bitches.
Marnee, love the video. Thanks for sharing.
LOL, that was a great video! (We're gonna be in next year's video, okay pirates? Start planning your outfits now! LOL)
I'm going to wear my makeup like Ke$ha. Just in case they use her music again.
http://ideagirlconsulting.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/kesha-photo-linda-randall-idea-girl-consulting-word-press-entertainment-site-music.jpg
*giggle*
Looks like she had her head slammed into a plate full of glitter.
Not that I'm criticizing -- I'm just sayin' it'll be easy to duplicate when it comes time to filming. LOL
Or like she got a secret spy letter full of confetti and it exploded in her face. ("This birthday card full of annoying confetti will self-destruct in tee minus five... four... three...")
PS, I hope you don't intend to slam my face in confetti before literacy signing next year.
*note to self... keep Donna away from Staples or other supply store prior to conference next year.
*hides bucket of glitter behind back*
Uh, no. Why did you think that? :)
You're a sneaky one, DRD.
With Sin as my Evil Twin, I don't have a choice. LOL
Post a Comment