It's fascinating to me how going from Draft 2 to Draft 8 has tightened up the start of my novel. I think we have to begin by envisaging the backstory but the challenge then is to cut out everything that isn't essential. The original opening sentence was rather beautifully lyrical, but now we start with:
"You lied. You were seen. You will hang."
which I hope does a good enough job to grab the reader.
And the opening of Ch 1 (as opposed to the prologue) is now:
"Mystical music filled my mind to dull the sense of death as I strode through the mud-splattered streets of London."
Sorry - I seem to have missed most of the comments on this piece (Still struggling slightly with navigating that aspect of Substack!). As you say - the writer may have to start by developing the back- and side-story, but that doesn't mean the reader wants to read it.
Yup - making a good deal of those mistakes! :D I did a version of the 'starting too soon' - I 'started too late'! Realised my 'beginning' was actually the mid-point of the narrative so I had to stop, think, come up with the 'real' beginning! :) It's been huge fun though.
That sounds like a real insight, Rachel. I sometimes do an exercise in plot-and-structure workshops, where I get the writers to write a very short story - a couple of pages, max. Then I get them to imagine the novel that you'd get if it was a) the first scene, b) the midpoint, and c) the end... All are possible, always - you'd be suprised! Any narrative one writes can only ever be a slice out of those characters' lives ...
That's a good exercise in plot. That really would open one up to lots and lots of possibilities. My experience really underlined not to be too quick to dismiss a project as 'going nowhere'. I wrote over 60k words on that 'false start' and towards the end was struggling and struggling to make it big enough to fill the space a novel demands. I put it to one side with lots of anxiety that this lovely idea and ending, the thematic setting etc. etc. wasn't turning into anything for me. Got on with other stuff. Out of nowhere one day I had the epiphany moment (they do happen in real life even if in literature they're thought of by some as cheesy plot conveniences!) and wrote another 53k words. Now I'm doing big structural movements. If nothing else, I have achieved some job-satisfaction on a project totally reinvigorated. :)
Now I come to think about it, this is true of your own book: "This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin". Always something of value even in all the apparent difficulty and 'failure'. :) #stillreadingit :)
It's fascinating to me how going from Draft 2 to Draft 8 has tightened up the start of my novel. I think we have to begin by envisaging the backstory but the challenge then is to cut out everything that isn't essential. The original opening sentence was rather beautifully lyrical, but now we start with:
"You lied. You were seen. You will hang."
which I hope does a good enough job to grab the reader.
And the opening of Ch 1 (as opposed to the prologue) is now:
"Mystical music filled my mind to dull the sense of death as I strode through the mud-splattered streets of London."
Which I hope gets the reader in the right place.
Sorry - I seem to have missed most of the comments on this piece (Still struggling slightly with navigating that aspect of Substack!). As you say - the writer may have to start by developing the back- and side-story, but that doesn't mean the reader wants to read it.
So very helpful, Emma, thank you.
Carole.
You're welcome, Carole - I'm so glad it's useful.
Yup - making a good deal of those mistakes! :D I did a version of the 'starting too soon' - I 'started too late'! Realised my 'beginning' was actually the mid-point of the narrative so I had to stop, think, come up with the 'real' beginning! :) It's been huge fun though.
That sounds like a real insight, Rachel. I sometimes do an exercise in plot-and-structure workshops, where I get the writers to write a very short story - a couple of pages, max. Then I get them to imagine the novel that you'd get if it was a) the first scene, b) the midpoint, and c) the end... All are possible, always - you'd be suprised! Any narrative one writes can only ever be a slice out of those characters' lives ...
That's a good exercise in plot. That really would open one up to lots and lots of possibilities. My experience really underlined not to be too quick to dismiss a project as 'going nowhere'. I wrote over 60k words on that 'false start' and towards the end was struggling and struggling to make it big enough to fill the space a novel demands. I put it to one side with lots of anxiety that this lovely idea and ending, the thematic setting etc. etc. wasn't turning into anything for me. Got on with other stuff. Out of nowhere one day I had the epiphany moment (they do happen in real life even if in literature they're thought of by some as cheesy plot conveniences!) and wrote another 53k words. Now I'm doing big structural movements. If nothing else, I have achieved some job-satisfaction on a project totally reinvigorated. :)
Now I come to think about it, this is true of your own book: "This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin". Always something of value even in all the apparent difficulty and 'failure'. :) #stillreadingit :)
Aw, just noticed your comment here - thanks, Rachel! So glad This is Not a Book was - (is? #stillreadingit?) being fun!
Hey there - finished it a week or so back and duly posted a five-star review :)
Thank you! That's so kind.