- Joined
- Jan 22, 2008
- Messages
- 8,079
I feel that I'll never truly dig Tolkien until I've forced myself to enjoy real ale. And that's a long way off.
Good to see a mention of Mick Herron's Slow Horses, which I liked. I suspect a lot of crime/spy stories start with a dramatic event and then drop the pace to introduce the set-up. Slow Horses is interesting because the second chapter contains a lot of detached description along with, IIRC, the author pretty much addressing the reader. It's quite artificial, but it works.
The Blade Itself starts with a man falling off a cliff - a literal cliffhanger, which should have been something of a clue as to the rest of the trilogy and its relationship with cliched fantasy. I didn't pick it up at the time, but it feels clear now.
My own feeling has always been that the safest - not necessarily the best or most artistically valid - way to start a book is with a character experiencing a break from the norm, preferably involving doing something. I'm always surprised at how many people start a story with a description of someone being bored. As Harebrain says, it helps if what they're doing is something that they do well and something that is indicative of the setting to some extent. I suppose you are always balancing the need for visceral action (and plot) with engrossing character and settling (and backstory).
Alien is a good example of what I mean (apart from being a film, which have slightly different rules): there's no violent action until they arrive on the planet, but there is a lot of the characters doing what they do well before it. By the time that Kane is attacked, you have a good idea what they're like as people and what the setting is like. The story is engrossing and atmospheric, rather than exciting.
Good to see a mention of Mick Herron's Slow Horses, which I liked. I suspect a lot of crime/spy stories start with a dramatic event and then drop the pace to introduce the set-up. Slow Horses is interesting because the second chapter contains a lot of detached description along with, IIRC, the author pretty much addressing the reader. It's quite artificial, but it works.
The Blade Itself starts with a man falling off a cliff - a literal cliffhanger, which should have been something of a clue as to the rest of the trilogy and its relationship with cliched fantasy. I didn't pick it up at the time, but it feels clear now.
My own feeling has always been that the safest - not necessarily the best or most artistically valid - way to start a book is with a character experiencing a break from the norm, preferably involving doing something. I'm always surprised at how many people start a story with a description of someone being bored. As Harebrain says, it helps if what they're doing is something that they do well and something that is indicative of the setting to some extent. I suppose you are always balancing the need for visceral action (and plot) with engrossing character and settling (and backstory).
Alien is a good example of what I mean (apart from being a film, which have slightly different rules): there's no violent action until they arrive on the planet, but there is a lot of the characters doing what they do well before it. By the time that Kane is attacked, you have a good idea what they're like as people and what the setting is like. The story is engrossing and atmospheric, rather than exciting.
