The Place For My Writers Notes

We are slowly working our way through Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. In his chapter 4, he talks about beginnings. He suggests we need to get the reader involved, connect the reader with the lead character, introduce the story world, establish the general tone or genre of the story, force the reader to keep reading, and introduce the opposition. And that's just for starters!

The next section concerns the use of prologues. I'm not sure that I agree with Bell about using them, especially since so many editors advise new writers to avoid them. Get right into the action goes the cry. Still, since so many people want to try them, I suppose we should talk about how to use them best. Bell points out that effective prologues do one thing -- entice the reader to go on and read Chapter 1. Sounds simple, right? And there are only really three kinds of prologue.

First, the action prologue. A big scene, maybe a death. Suspense fiction loves to use these to kick things off. Excitement, suspense, what is going to happen? Then cut to Chapter 1. The prologue may or may not involve the lead character, but it needs to be big on action, relatively short, usually end with trouble, and at some point you want to tie it into the main plot or at least explain what happened. I suppose in some sense this is the disturbance writ large, upsetting lives before the story even starts.

Second, a frame story. This is where a character looks back and tells us the story. The inner story or extended flashback has consequences rolling into the now of the frame. One of the drawbacks to a frame is that we know this character will live, says he or she is telling the story in the frame. The frame needs to establish the feeling and tone for the main plot, should be interesting good reading in itself, and should show how the events of the past affect the prologue character now.

Third, there are teasers. A little scene at the beginning that happens later on in the book. Don't finish the scene, leave the reader wondering how it ends. And then when the scene happens in the ordinary sequence of the story, finish it out. Teasers need to be highly charged scenes, and stop short of resolution so that the reader wants to find out what happened. You can use the same words, or you can tackle it a little bit differently.

Okay. So one way to start the beginning is with one of these forms of prologue. In some books you'll find extended prologues, while others don't use the labels but still use the format. Fair warning, many editors recommend not using them, but just going ahead and starting your story.

The next part that Bell talks about is establishing a bond between the reader and the lead character. One of the tricks here is that the lead character needs to be a strong, rich character. Bell refers to Egri's advice "about living, vibrating human beings being the secret of great and enduring writing. Egri suggested that if you truly know yourself, deeply and intimately, you'll be able to create great, complex, and interesting characters." But when you have a character, how do you get readers to relate to him or her? Bell suggests four dynamics: identification, sympathy, likability, and inner conflict.

Identification means that we believe the lead character is like us. If circumstances were right, that could be us in the plot with those reactions. The lead character needs to be trying to accomplish something, be fearful and honestly react, and not be perfect. Normal human flaws are part of what makes us identify with a lead character. Superman without any flaws isn't someone we can empathize with. But give him some understandable fears and failings, and suddenly we can put ourselves in his shoes.

Sympathy strengthens the emotional investment in the lead character. Don't overdo it, but when the hero is in jeopardy, faces hardship that is undeserved, is coming up from behind (the infamous underdog), or has vulnerabilities -- that's when we feel sympathy and root for the lead character.

Likability, well, that's someone who does things that we like. They do favors for other people, they're witty, they make us feel good about ourselves. Think about people you like, and what it is that they do, then see if your lead character can do some of those things.

Inner conflict. Having doubts and concerns about what to do next makes the character more interesting. This doesn't mean waffling or grandiose extended bouts of self-examination, but just real honest uncertainty.

All right? So we've taken a look at getting the reader hooked and developing a bond between the reader and the lead character. You might take a look at the beginning chapter in a book you like, and consider how the writer got your interest and developed a link between you and the lead character. And don't forget, we've still got several bits of the beginning to go.