TECH: Meandering Our Way through Plot and Structure (9)

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Meandering Our Way through Plot and Structure (9)

Onward and upward. Walking slowly through Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. This time we are taking a look at strong beginnings (aka Chapter 4!).

Bell starts out by listing several tasks that the beginning of the novel needs to perform:

1. Get the reader hooked
2. Establish a bond between the reader and the lead character
3. Present the story world -- setting, time, and immediate context
4. Establish the general tone.
5. Compel the reader to move on to the middle. Why should the reader care enough to continue?
6. Introduce the opposition.

That's a lot of work! Catch the reader's interest and yank them right into the story. Tie them into the lead character, and make sure we know the environment of the story and what kind of story it is. Shake hands with the opposition, and then makes the reader eager to find out what happens next. And don't forget, this is where the disturbance happens. The normal world of the lead character gets yanked out of alignment, either subtly or by an earthquake, but something happens to shake them up.

Next Bell walks through this. "The first task of your beginning is to hook the reader." One approach is opening lines. Bell notes that Dean Koontz likes to start with a one line paragraph that names a person and gives an immediate interruption to their normality. Another approach is action. Start in the middle of things, in medias res. Or with a spot of dialogue complete with conflict. A third approach is with raw emotion, something that the lead character and your reader can feel about. A fourth approach is the look-back hook. These are the bits that start out with something like "the problem that would not end for five years all started . . . " A tiny setting and an immediate flashback, which leaves the reader going along for the ride to catch up to that implied resolution - now five years in the future! Finally, especially first-person narration, sometimes captures attention through voice and attitude.

That's probably enough for this go around.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to go out and look at five books or stories that you really liked. But just pull out the initial paragraph or segment. What is it? Why does it work? Does it fit into one of Bell's suggestions? Then take a look at your own story or novel, and check the beginning it uses. Does it grab the reader? If you were going to use one of Bell's approaches (or one of the ones from your books), which would you use? Go ahead and write up a new draft beginning using the approach you like. How well does it grab the reader?

More soon.