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How do you like stories to start?
Do you like to be dropped into the middle of the action and figure out what is going on as you go along?
Or
Do you like things to build, to have a sense of setting and characters to be established and then come to the action?
Also...
In this age of television and the internet, do you like Characters described in detail, loosely, or not at all. The same goes for setting, do you want to know exactly what's in the room or only the things that the character comes in contact with?
Thanks.
Katie
Like my author page on Amazon and see what fine books are available here Katie Leone's Amazon Page
Comments
Let's start at the very beginning,
a very good place to start. ^_^
Character development is VERY important, as is establishing the settings.
As for things in a room, it's not always easy to define exactly what contact is. Perhaps everything that the characters notice should be described? Things that they miss should be brought to their (and our) attention later, if the story calls for it.
Challenge Me
As a reader I prefer my fiction to be challenging, unpredictable and surreal, like a crossword puzzle with most of the clues missing.
As a writer I'm the exact opposite. I have to write sequentially because it's the only way I can empathise with my characters.
The last point you made is very difficult to answer, and I may well PM on this because this is the kind of subject where I tend to go on a bit. To cut a long story short, the level of description depends both on what you've led the reader to expect the character to notice and how it fits in with the pace of the narrative. For example, focusing on seemingly unimportant details is an excellent way of allowing the reader to draw breath after a frantic action scene. Chosen wisely, they can flesh out your main character and at the same time hint at future plot developments.
Told you I tended to go on a bit
Nicki
Both approaches can be effective
Character development before action allows momentum to build slowly, letting us get to know and love/hate the characters. But I find that some authors are too in love with their descriptive abilities and forget to start the action. I tried to wade through the Gormenghast trilogy as a teenager. Bought the whole series as it looked so substantial, and I like substantial. Made it through book 1...finally the protagonist leaves the house! Started book 2 and gave up. Never tried to reread those tomes as an adult.
Starting the action first whisks the reader into the slip stream of the story, gripping one and all...if done properly. But then the tendency is to play short shrift with character development. Many authors forgo the effort entirely. Some do it so superbly that you learn more about the characters through the action than you do in flash backs, private musings and outright exposition.
There should be an ebb and flow in the action, in most cases. Few authors are successful in creating constant tension/action throughout any extended story without exhausting or turning off the reader.
SuZie
A Child Denied All Love
You missed something unique. Fuschia is one of the finest characters any author has ever created.
I genuinely feel sorry for you, having come so close to her.
http://youtu.be/MUQZR1-hiro
A line from one of Ian Fleming's James Bond books
I don't remember which book, but there a line when Bond goes into his hotel room shortly after arriving on some Caribbean Island. I will never for it. It says everything, but it says nothing. It says nothing, but it says everything. All is left up to the reader's imagination. It is an excellent example of how to introduce things without their actually be part of the story. The line is:
"It was room shaped room with furniture shaped furniture."
And with that, we know all we needed to know about the room. As I recall, nothing more was ever said about the room and its contents because to do so might destroy the image YOU THE READER may have created about the room.
Now, I don't think this answered your questions, but we did learn that Bond had a room, and there was furniture in it, without going to great detail to describe it's contents.
From your stories that I have read, you are doing just fine in the way you tell your stories, so just keep on keeping on.
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
My own personal preferences.
Generally I like to start at the beginning, but what is defined as "the beginning" is quite open to interpretation. I must say my least favourite story opening is when you start in the middle (or the end) and then jump back to the start.
My personal preference on character description is to be as vague as possible. Leave it up to the reader's imagination wherever possible. That way you aren't bogging the story down with boring and long-winded descriptions. You can of course (and perhaps should) mention outstanding traits that are important to the character, like a prominent scar, a crooked nose, warm and caring eyes, or their large stature.
Avoid the technical. There's no need to start a story off with "the main character is 172 centimetres tall, has medium to long blonde hair, blue eyes, and is approximately 58 kilograms in weight". I'm being a bit extreme, but if your description dips into that area of extreme, it might be a bit too much (as far as my tastes are concerned).
As for the room, if it's not important or relevant that there's a cup sitting out on the coffee table, don't mention it. The reader generally understands that the room has furniture in it. We don't need to know that the person has a chesterfield of high quality unless it is meant to impact on another character's opinion of them. Otherwise your reader might very well start skipping vast swathes of your story trying to get to the action or dialogue.
Every story has its own way.
Of revealing its self. I like an organic process where details are explaned as you go along. Rather than having to dig through a pile of data. I am struggling with my story because I need for people to understand a complex person rapidly. But it gets boring for me to read facts and not the story.
If it is an action adventure, it does start out quickly and you catchup as it rolls along. My next story Curacal is like that with a construction worker /artest is trapped in a superhero battle. The fight opens the story, then you find out about the persons backstory. The next is Stand and Deliver where the entire first 4 parts sets the stage for the real meat of the story, but you need to experience the protagonist frustration of being a Wonder Kid being respected by a professional comunity and the back seat there personal life has taken in the process of growing up the child of scientists.
I like the start to fit the storytelling, not forced to fit a mold or follow a set formula. So write it how it tumbles out and I will guarantee I will read it and Kate my dear one I know I will like it.
Huggles
The little old story teller
Misha
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
Start with a hook
Start with a hook which catches the reader, and sets the time and place.
Once the reader is hooked, keep tugging the line, so s/he can never put the story down. There is little place for background in a story, but the odd sentence here and there is permissible.
Give just sufficient information to allow the reader's imagination to go to work. That way, they will be immersed in the story, rather than simply reading words on a page/screen.
My instant turn off for a story beginning is the life story: "I was born at an early age (yawn) and I went to a local school (double yawn), and..." Next story.
Katie, you write
great stories that others want to read. Your choice of book covers match the story. :)
May Your Light Forever Shine
You need a hook.
If something doesn't peak my interest in the first two or three paragraphs I just might not read on, unless I know the authors work and know that something good will surely be coming.
Sometimes that means you start at the crisis point and have the protagonist look back to see just how they managed to get themselves in such a fix. Sometimes you present it as a hypothetical that just is too far out to really happen and then build it to the point that is seems the impossible is not only possible or probable, but inevitable.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
There is no ONE TRUE ANSWER...
In regards to the first two, linked, questions... This is basically the same question phrased different and the answer is: whichever works.
I've read and enjoyed story introductions that have followed both routes. The key is that NEITHER MATTERS. What matters is as several others have mentioned: having a hook.
A hook can take many forms. It can be anything. It's job is simple, yet complex. It has to draw the reader in, set the flow and pace, and get the reader to wonder what this is about. The hook is literally one or two sentences long.
Once you've got em hooked, you've gotta start playing the line. Tease em a bit. This can be done with foreshadowing, or even just something as simple as getting them to giggle/chuckle. Then you gotta tug it back. Toss in something QUICKLY that sets up SOME kind of conflict. The conflict can be anything. Even a rainbow has a storm cloud behind it.
And that's really all there is to it. How you implement those three key parts of an introduction are entirely up to you. And what works for your story. Just bear in mind that whatever is in your introduction needs to be mirrored in your resolution. Don't use a minor conflict that's going to be resolved on page ten. It has to be something that sets up the entire rest of the story, the story REVOLVES around this. And when it is resolved, that's it, finis. That's the story's resolution.
And as for level of detail... My rule is a simple one. But I largely write character-driven stories, and this rule really only works for those: Use only the level of detail that your narrator would be observant of. If it's mundane to your narrator, don't mention it. They wouldn't.
Abigail Drew.
Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep
Wise words.
I'd only add that in the opening lines you need to set the tone for the piece, whether in terms of atmosphere, language or style. You have to make it clear to the reader what they can expect. And you have to remain true to that promise. I've lost count of the number of times I've given up on a story well before the end because the 'hook' had led me to anticipate a reward the author either couldn't or didn't want to deliver.