it was a dark and stormy night...

[seren_ccd]

Beginnings. I have the hardest time writing them. I'm not altogether sure why. It's possibly because I put so much importance on them. After all, they're what traditionally hooks the reader, so naturally, I want people to keep reading.

I was reading this post over on J Crusie's blog (seriously, if anyone knows some other good writing blogs - send them my way) and I liked the comments regarding characters. How often it's the characters and not necessarily the plot that keeps someone hooked. And I think that's quite true for me. I've read books and fic whose plots just don't stand up simply because I loved what the author did with the characters and the dialogue.

So what gets you hooked into a book? Plot? Setting? Dialogue? Characters? Interesting font choice? All of the above?

How do you prefer for novels to start? Do you mind a longish prologue or do you want to just jump right in?

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

Comments

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

My problem seems to be that I write MORE THAN ONE beginning. OWEN has two. Kind of three. Somehow I got to keep them all, but I am trying to get away from that in my next book because: headache. (Also, not every editor is going to be like Editor Andrew.)

Anyway, I am a prologue junkie. I love the ones that are written in a different style from the rest of the book (high style, different character's POV, fake academia, fake history, letters, etc), and then I like it when those things are used as section breaks later on (though they don't have to be). The thing with prologues is that they still have to be INTERESTING, not just "and then and then". A good prologue should be jumping right in.

I am also a sucker for a good setting. I'll read a book with good world-building over just about everything else. Characters probably comes next, and then Plot, but with total honesty sometimes I have trouble separating those elements (seriously, Editor Andrew was all "I really liked this character development!" and I was all "That was a plot point" and he was all "I don't really care.").

Also I like maps. But no spoilers on the maps! That just makes me angry.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I should also add that the beginning is usually what shows up first for me, with writing, which is TERRIBLY CONVENIENT. I'll have a picture or, more often, the first line, and those very, very rarely change (in the case of OWEN, both of my "beginning" lines were the start of Chapter 1 at various points, and now they are the start of the prologue and the start of the first chapter).

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

A good prologue should be jumping right in.

Oh, I like that. I think those are the best prologues. If you can just forget the prologue after you read it, then it didn't really need to be there in the first place.

I think my problem always stems from how much info needs to be shared right at the beginning; how much can then be trickled out as I go.

I should also add that the beginning is usually what shows up first for me, with writing, which is TERRIBLY CONVENIENT.

That is ANNOYINGLY convenient. ;D

[melyanna.livejournal.com]

I am contemplating map-making for the current thing (which, being set in space, would involve a solar system chart and a map of an entire planet), in no small part because of your enthusiasm for them. ;)

As for beginnings, I really think it depends on the story. Which isn't helpful. But sometimes you need to start in medias res and sometimes you need Cate Blanchett narrating.

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that could be really amazing and fun to make, though.

To be fair, I think Cate Blanchett narrating is ALWAYS appropriate. ;D

[melyanna.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy making maps, but not on a computer. I'd have to pull out art supplies and do it on paper. Maybe after the current editing round of doom is over.

Cate Blanchett does make the vast majority of things better, but for example, I've got a plot idea that mostly involves a character on the run. Despite a complex setting, it would not do well with a prologue. Same with another idea that involves a lot of travel. It doesn't start out as quest travel, so it's probably best with a different type of opening.

Granted, I don't write fantasy, which seems to be governed by its own set of rules. I also have a tendency to write fish-out-of-water stories, so jumping into things without warning fits the nature of my writing better anyway.