The Audition...
Jul. 16th, 2007 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranThere's a certain type of opening I've been noticing a lot in books I like. Basically, they'll start off with a scene or a series of observations only marginally related to the main plot of the story. Instead they'll be firmly rooted in the setting (or, in some cases, the characters) and they'll usually focus on justone interesting aspect.
Despite the lack of tension or sense of crisis, these openings are surprisingly effective. The key bit is the sense of interest conveyed. The author is effectively saying, "see, this setting is so cool, I don't even need artificial tension to keep you reading". It's effectively a sort of mini-audition in which the author shows off what they can do with this setting. The less external tension the author needs to hold the reader's attention, the stronger the effect becomes. If it's interesting now with nothing happening, how much more interesting will it be when the real story starts to unfold?
A good example of this would be the mowing scene at the start of _The Sword in the Stone_. If it had started with a chase scene or an immediate crisis, the whole thing would have fallen flat as soon as the chase stopped and there'd be no room for a slower paced and far more interesting story. If an author can make mowing seem interesting, you know you're in safe hands when the story starts to slow down later on.
The catch, of course, is that this sort of audition works both ways. If the author isn't able to make their setting seem interesting to the reader, it's going to be painfully obvious very quickly.
Despite the lack of tension or sense of crisis, these openings are surprisingly effective. The key bit is the sense of interest conveyed. The author is effectively saying, "see, this setting is so cool, I don't even need artificial tension to keep you reading". It's effectively a sort of mini-audition in which the author shows off what they can do with this setting. The less external tension the author needs to hold the reader's attention, the stronger the effect becomes. If it's interesting now with nothing happening, how much more interesting will it be when the real story starts to unfold?
A good example of this would be the mowing scene at the start of _The Sword in the Stone_. If it had started with a chase scene or an immediate crisis, the whole thing would have fallen flat as soon as the chase stopped and there'd be no room for a slower paced and far more interesting story. If an author can make mowing seem interesting, you know you're in safe hands when the story starts to slow down later on.
The catch, of course, is that this sort of audition works both ways. If the author isn't able to make their setting seem interesting to the reader, it's going to be painfully obvious very quickly.
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Date: 2007-07-17 05:46 am (UTC)One example of what you're talking about is the opening of THE MAN FROM ST PETERSBURG. Someone wrote a how-to about different drafts of that book: the final draft chose a very slow, peaceful opening.