Moving the premise to the beginning ... Redux

[khiemtran]

Putting the idea of my last post into simpler words.

When choosing the "cool stuff" of a novel, it's better to have something that can start at chapter two, rather than chapter twenty-eight.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. That was a major problem with the whodunit. I can see the point at which the story really grabs the reader by the throat. Unfortunately, it's in about Chapter 14. *Sigh*

I'm busy not looking at the beginning of Moving a Mountain at the moment. I have a horrible feeling that starts a little too slowly too, though nowhere near as bad as the whodunit.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I think they're two different things. You're talking about an arc: it begins too slow and with too much stuff that's not essential to the main conflict (at least if I understand you right - correct me if I'm wrong, please); while khiemtran has a different structural problem, and one that could - by the sound of it - be solved by adding things: instead of saying 'here is character's main revelation, and this what comes of it' you could build up to it by adding pieces to the puzzle: smaller challenges that explore aspects of the main one until you come to the big question and its eventual resolution.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I think it's more a question of theme than structure, although the technique you described above could also work.

Let's put it another way.

Suppose you think riding dragons is cool and you write a story about it. If it turns out that your character only gets to ride a dragon at the very end of the book, then you're still missing "cool stuff" all the way up to that point. If the rest of the story is all about the challenges the character must overcome in order to ride a dragon, then the solving of those challenges had better be something cool as well.

I think it's important to have at least one theme that you really like throughout the story. If it's riding dragons, it might mean giving the character a dragon in chapter one. If it's solving problems in a particular way (through teamwork for example), then that's what you build your story around and the dragon riding is just the goal at the end.