Beginnings are my nemesis.
The beginning of the day.
Of a new season of life.
The first attempt at a new skill.
The first meeting with a new person.
The first chapter of a novel.
I don’t mean novels I read. I mean the ones I write.
Beginnings upend me every single time.
When I say this, I don’t mean that I have to revise my first (or more) chapter multiple times. I mean, I have to completely rethink and rewrite them.
Not once, mind you. Usually three or four times!
I nearly fell apart when I got back edits for my first published novel with a request for a new opening scene. I hadn’t yet realized this was a particular weakness of mine, and it felt like failure from the get-go! I’ve since learned this is not true. My not-so-stellar openings are not failures. They are a chance to think more deeply about my story and characters. To surprise myself and my reader.
And apparently, it is a lesson I have to keep learning because the need to rewrite my beginning was the hardest part of the edits for my current novel.
Why do some beginnings fall short of the mark? Here are a few that come to mind:
- Starting too early in the story. This happens so much with new writers. They want to tell the reader all the backstory leading up to the inciting incident. Honestly, this hasn’t been my particular issue, but I’ve gotten a reputation for spotting it at our local writers group.
- Starting too late in the story. Definitely me. I want to begin with the action and conflict, but I end up starting too close to the inciting incident, which doesn’t give the reader enough time to know the character and his or her normal world. It’s hard to find the balance between too soon and too late. Thus, rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.
- Telling instead of showing. I can also fall into this category. For some reason, my showing skills don’t show up when I’m first trying to set the character’s normal world. By the inciting incident, my showing is doing well. But those beginning pages can be rough for me, requiring many rewrites.
- Avoiding conflict. Sometimes writers are so focused on the character’s normal world that it becomes too ordinary. While you don’t necessarily want the inciting incident on page one, you do want some kind of conflict that foreshadows what’s coming or lets the reader know what the character wants and values. Many times, this type of conflict avoidance opening chapter begins with dawn and the character waking up to a typical day.
- Answering all the questions. This kind of relates to the first point, but it’s different, too. You can start in the right place in the story and yet not leave questions lingering for the reader. They don’t get to the end of chapter one with more questions than answers. Too many answers off the bat, and the reader stops reading because there is little left to discover.
The most frustrating part is that, as a reader, I can identify these things when the opening of a book doesn’t draw me in. But I can’t always see them in my own writing.
I’m so thankful for critique partners and editors who point out my weaknesses and encourage me to do better.
What kind of opening to a book draws you in most quickly?