beginnings

I’ve been thinking about first pages a lot lately. When I look for good examples in published books there is one book I keep coming back to. This was a book I found and read solely on the strength of its first line.  The book is SILENT IN THE GRAVE by Deanna Raybourn.

It starts with this:

“To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.”

Isn’t it intriguing? Who is Nicholas Brisbane and why is he the focus rather than her twitching dying husband? Also, there’s a bit of dry humor in these sentences that made me know I would like the writing.

It continues.

“I stared at him, not quite taking in the fact that he had just collapsed at my feet. He lay, cured like a question mark, his evening suit ink-black against the white marble of the floor. He was writhing, his fingers knotted.” 

This sets the stage for what is happening. We also learn something about their socio-economic station in life. They have a marble floor; he wears an evening suit. We also learn a little about their marriage.

Next paragraph.

“I leaned as close to him as my corset would permit.”

Here, with the reference to the corset, it sets the time period.

“’Edward, we have guests. Do get up. If this is some sort of silly prank—“

Again, this sets up their relationship. If my husband fell to the ground convulsing I wouldn’t stand there and accuse him of pranking, or worry about guests. Though married, they weren’t close, definitely not in love, which brings us back to who could that Nicholas Brisbane be?  He shows up in the next paragraph but I’ll let you keep going on your own.

I love how these few sentences set the backdrop and the characters. I may not know Edward well enough to be devastated at his dying, but there are so many questions, so much vivid description that I want to keep reading. That is the goal of a good opening.

What is your favorite opening? Do you have one that you keep going back to?

Living

I’ve lately been reading a story, and while the story is good, and the writing is clean, I feel that the author is telling me a story, instead of me living the story.  There’s nothing wrong exactly, but it’s not quite there.  I think being told the story and living the story is difference between a good story and a great story, more so than whether the writing is "good". 

What do you think?  Do you see a difference?

Gender Confusion

I just finished a book that has been getting some buzz in the book world.  I enjoyed the book, liked the concept, the writing was good, BUT it took me 70 pages to figure out that one of the MCs was male. 

70 pages! 

Now, before you all laugh at me, there were clues to his being a guy but he didn't feel like a guy.  To me (and maybe this is just me) he read like a girl.  Even at the end after constantly telling myself "remember he's a boy" I still couldn't quite get a feeling for him in my head.



What can I say?  We always talk about the subjectivity of writing and the reader/writer relationship. Maybe he came across as typically male to some people (though I can't figure out how)  I guess this reader couldn't see what the writer was trying to convey. 

Have you ever had this happen?

Walkabout

 Here are some links to blogs that made me think this week.  No, no, it's a good thing, I promise. 

Scalzi has some interesting things to say on publishing.  It's a few years old, and he definitely has a voice but I found it fun none the less. 

Beth Revis tells us why it's a good thing that writing never gets easier.  She says   "If the artist--no matter what the art is--sits back and accepts her work as "good enough," that means she's satisfied. And, well...I don't want to be satisfied. I want to constantly struggle to be even better than I was before."  Interesting post.  She also discusses how critiques make us better.  There's a graph. 

Behler Blog has some interesting posts.  One on e-book rights  and one on perspective in publishing.  Both of them gave me a lot to think about. 

A Rose By Any Other Name...

How important are your character’s names?  For me, sometimes characters come with their name already there.  Sometimes I have to think and hunt to find out what it is. For minor characters I sometimes just go to a baby name sight and pick one.  But once they have their name how attached to it are you?

For me I think it depends on if the name fits or not.  I have a few names I’ve changed over time because it wasn’t right, or I got to know the character better and they told me their real name, but that generally happens fairly quickly.  I do believe there is power in names. 

The little girl we adopted last week has the same name as one of my MCs in my trilogy.  I was talking to my mom about how we were thinking of changing her name.  This is not uncommon and there were several reasons that we were considering it but at the end of the list I tagged on “AND I have a character with that name”.  She asked if I would ever consider changing that character’s name.  My immediate response was “Oh, no!  That’s her NAME.”  It surprised me a little how repulsive that idea was to me.  I couldn’t change her name any more than I could change my name or The Engineers. 

I personally don’t have a problem if they have the same name.  I know lots of people that share names and that’s great.  But I was surprised to see exactly how much a part of my characters their names have become.

What about your character’s names?  How do you get them?  Do you ever change them?  If a publisher recomended changing names would you listen?

One Of Many

The other day in speaking with a friend I mentioned that I had been having computer problems, hadn’t been able to write and that it was driving me crazy.  Another friend who was present did the whole “you write?  What? What’s it about?”  routine.  She then proceeded to tell me all about the dozen people she knew who were writing novels. 

I’ve become fairly open with my friends because this is who I am.  It’s not a nasty disease or a character flaw to hide.  It’s a good thing!  But this conversation is one of the reasons I don’t like to tell people about my writing.  Hearing of all the people who are writing novels often makes me insecure.  I know I’ve put a lot of time into researching publishing and filling my writers toolbox but all of a sudden I feel as if I’ve lost my individuality.  As one of a crowd I have no voice, and we all know how important voice is.

This is something all writers must face.  How does one write and showcase their work in such a way that it stands above the masses?  How does one make it leap out of the slushpile and start a bidding war? 

I think the important thing is not allowing yourself to be swallowed up in the masses.  Remember who you are, remember that you and your story are individuals. 

So, go show them who you are!

Define Yourself

I don’t know if any of you follow Amanda Hocking’s blog, if not I encourage you to take a look.  It’s a fun blog and she has a great voice, her personality really shows through.  Anyway, on a blog post a little bit ago she said this,

When I was in high school, I got really sad about the idea of being a writer. I mean, I wanted to be a writer, but everything I knew about writers made them seem boring and stodgy, or they were older men and alcoholics and depressed. I didn't want to be any of those things. I wanted to have fun and be silly, like a rock star.

But now that I'm older, I realize I can be whatever writer I want to be. That's an important truth. Or at least is to me. You live your life on your terms. Don't let anybody else's definitions rule you. Define yourself.

I really liked the last paragraph.  I’m sure many of us had preconceived notions of what an author is or should be.  We see “rules” all the time of how to be, or not be, an author.  But part of writing is finding your voice and that involves letting who you are shine through, or at least who you want to be. 

Be who you want to be, write what you want to write and don’t let anyone else’s definitions rule you.