Quoting long-lost tomes to begin a chapter? Yay or Nay?

[Switchback]

I personally enjoy when an author begins a chapter, or section, with a quote from some ancient text. Brings the world much more fully to life I think. Malazan's a good example of this, Tad Williams new series as well.

What are your thoughts? Enjoy, dislike, indifferent???

 

[The Ace]

It depends. Eddings simply used these, 'Ancient texts,' as prologues. It depends on the quality of the writer really, sometimes they're illuminating, sometimes pretentious and boring.

 

[Ursa major]

It's very difficult to do right, as Ace suggests.


(If this thread were to be in the Aspiring Writers forum, I'd advise extreme caution.)

 

[Pyan]

Pratchett does it in Thief of Time - some of them are very funny indeed.
It's when you get the pretentious ones that purport to be from some Book of Prophesy or similar that it begins to annoy me.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's one way of getting in significant information without an info-dump in the middle of the action, or a glossary at the end of the book. Not that I'm exactly unprejudiced on this particular point, since I've done it myself.

In some books it does seem like these invented epigraphs are just there to call attention to the author's world-building, or to give the impression that there's been more world-building than there actually is. Of course I only think that when I don't like the book anyway -- not the best state of mind for appreciating the deeper significance of things.

 

[chopper]

it's not something i'd want to use myself, as there's enough effort going into the story already without trying to create additional "foreshadowing" clauses. as for reading them - i'll take em or leave em, depending on my mood & how long they are.
the best i've seen - in Midnight Tides: totally unreadable, but attributed to an anthology called "suicidal poets of Darujhistan". made me giggle.

 

[Rane Longfox]

To be honest, I skip over these almost all the time, especially in malazan, once I've skimmed through to look for mentions of characters.

The author who does something like this quite well, though, is Neal Asher. His "quotes" aren't from long-forgotten stuff but from modern (in his universe) encyclopedias, mostly. They tell a little story on their own, often, if you read all of them in order and miss out the actual book

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

In "World of Null A" - A. E. Van vogt

his chapter intro's changed my life so I say yes. (done well of course)

For the sake of sanity -the title is not the story (slight bastardisation).

The "Null A" books should be compulsary reading at the age of 10 for every person on the planet. No better they should be mind washed and the book made the world bible.

 

[Lioness]

I quite like short and witty quotes at the stat of chapter. I also like quotes that make me think.
If I'd gone through a couple of chapters and the quotes were boring, I'd probably just skip over them in the rest of the book, but if they were interesting I would take time to read all of the quotes in the rest of the book.

 

[JoanDrake]

Jack Vance does this quite well, though sometimes they're seemingly absolutely unrelated to the chapter, (and these are often very funny).

Best example, of course, is Lovecraft, where the books he quotes actually become part of the story, almost a bibliography of his backstory as it were. However I'm not sure that's really the same technique.
.

 

[Ground Cinnamon]

I must say I love using the ancient tomb quotes. Many authors I've read do an excellent job with it. I love any writing element that helps you feel like your not just reading about modern people in a long ago fantasy setting, whether that is done by using outdated language and writing styles, quoting ancient texts, or including poetry and song.

I also love it in Frank Herbert's books. I think he often captures a sincere grain of truth in his little quotes that nicely foreshadow future events and intents.

 

[Urlik]

It depends. Eddings simply used these, 'Ancient texts,' as prologues. It depends on the quality of the writer really, sometimes they're illuminating, sometimes pretentious and boring.

I have to agree. it does depend on the author and his ability.
done well they are a part of the story and reading them adds to the enjoyment and understanding.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I prefer King's method of quoting a couple of lines from a song