The opening of a
book is one of the most important aspects of a story. This is what will pull
readers in, what will grip them and convince them to keep reading. A lot of
craft goes into the start of a novel. In this article, we’re going to focus on
when to start.
A brief caveat:
don’t worry about this too much in your first draft. You may well discover
you’ve started in the wrong spot as you learn more about your characters and
story, but none of the writing will be wasted. Everything you put on the page,
even the stuff that gets cut, adds to your understanding of your story and
allows you to infuse the tale with richness and multiple dimensions.
So when do you
start your novel?
Well, you start at
the beginning of your story. Easier said than done, right? When is the
beginning exactly? Conventional wisdom says the start is the day the
protagonist’s life changes, the day their normal life gets turned on its head.
But if you’ve
developed multi-layered, complex characters, they’re likely to have had several
experiences that changed their lives, for better or worse--though, since this
is fiction and fiction is all about conflict, usually for the worse.
Maybe your hero
lost his parents in a terrible accident when he was 15. Is that the start of
his story? Or does his story start when he turns 17 and discovers there’s more
to his parents’ death than he thought? Does your story start at the end of the
world? Or does it start on a “normal” post-apocalyptic day, when something else
life-changing happens to your main character? Is it the day your hero and
heroine meet? Or farther into their relationship when something changes in the
status quo?
The type of story
you’re telling will play heavily into the choices you make here. A
coming-of-age fantasy novel might start when the 12 year old heroine first
meets the horse that changes her destiny. But if the story is a romance, you
will probably start the day she meets the hero, or the day her relationship
with the hero is pushed into a new realm.
Building
a good, strong character means you create an interesting backstory for them.
But a novel doesn’t start in the backstory. It has to start at the moment
things change in relation to the current plot. Are you telling a coming-of-age
story, an action-adventure, a grown-up romance? Knowing this going in will help
you decide the best starting point.
To complicate your
decision, however, some writing instructors will say you should show your
character in their normal life just before the change takes place so readers
will get to know them and like them before all hell breaks loose. Others will
say you should jump right into the action to hook readers and let them get to
know the characters as they go.
Honestly, you can
use either of these techniques and have a successful opening. But there is a
trick to using each.
If you start with a
normal day in the life of your character, you can’t just show them taking a
shower, getting dressed, going off to work as they might any old day. There’s
no tension in this and no real reason for readers to keep reading. On the other
hand, infusing the “normal” opening with some level of tension will keep a
reader’s attention long enough to get to the dramatic life-changing event.
For example, as
your heroine is getting ready, if she is thinking about the huge mistake she
made at work the day before and contemplating the meeting she has to have with
her boss as soon as she gets into the office, the “getting ready for a normal
day” opening has tension. Then you can open that time rift, throw her into the
past and into the arms of the Highland warrior who’s going to change her life
forever. Readers will be worried about your heroine getting fired long enough
to get to the point where her life really changes and the story really begins.
On the other hand,
you might decide it’s better for your story to open in the middle of the
action. This is often put forward as the best way to start a modern fiction
story, though there are some who will argue the point. If this is how you feel
your story will be best served, you do encounter the issue of character
sympathy. Opening in the middle of the action, means readers haven’t had time
to get to know your heroine yet and therefore might not care enough about what
happens to her to keep reading.
To make this
opening successful, you have to build in ways to reveal your main character as
sympathetic from the very start. You have to give readers a snapshot of their
character and why they should be worried about the outcome of your opening
action.
A random man
running away from gun-toting thugs could be anyone. Maybe he’s just as rotten as
the guys chasing him. Why do we care if he survives the chase? If you introduce
an aspect of his character--through the action--to make him sympathetic, you
give readers that reason to care.
Perhaps
your running man sees a family with kids coming into view and knows if the
thugs see them, they’ll kill the family. So your hero leads the thugs in a
different direction, even though it’s more dangerous for him, in order to keep
the family safe. This reveals a lot about your hero and gives readers the sympathy
for him they need to keep reading and to care if the thugs catch him or not.
The way a book
starts is always going to be a very personal choice, depending entirely on the
genre and the type of story being told. Just keep in mind three points. First,
the opening needs to start when this story starts--not in the backstory.
Second, if you jump into action from the first sentence, you need to show your
character’s personality fast. And finally, if you start by showing a “normal”
day, you need to fill it with tension, then introduce the life-changing moment
quickly.
Making sure the
opening of the book is both tense and character revealing will ensure readers
stick with you past the first few pages. Then give them a truly plot-worthy
upheaval in your main character’s life and they will read to the very end. ♥
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Isabo
Kelly is the multi-award winning author of science-fiction, fantasy and
paranormal romances. Her upcoming fantasy romance, THE DARKNESS OF GLENGOWYN,
started in the right place but not in the right way and had to be seriously
tightened. For more on Isabo and her books, visit her at www.isabokelly.com,
follow her on Twitter @IsaboKelly, or friend her on Facebook
www.facebook.com/IsaboKelly
Please welcome a new columnist to this blog, Lise
Horton.She will be bringing us monthly
updates on the world of publishing.Game
on!
2013 –
The Year of the Gavel by Lise Horton
In a recent issue of Publishers
Marketplace they ran the following headline: “2013: The Year We Gaveled
On.” And while some of the suits and legal wrangling were higher profile than
others, there were many spreading across a variety of issues and they will all,
ultimately, have an impact on us as authors specifically, but as members of a
volatile industry in general. So here, in the interest of attempting to get a
handle on the legal lay of the land, is a bit of a recap of this year’s
litigious fun & games: The massive cases that came to a close were the nearly
decade-long Google book-scanning case, with Judge Denny Chin lowering the gavel
on the last hold-out, The Authors Guild, following the “secret” settlements a
year ago between Google and the original publisher plaintiffs. Because no
details were given as to how the AUTHORS would fare in that settlement, the AG
doggedly held on. And lost. But they vow to appeal the decision. Google’s
altruistic intent to make the books available to everyone seems lofty – but the
indirect benefit to having these books in their sole hands provides them the
KNOWLEDGE base present in those books. And could that be why they are
solidifying their place as the pre-eminent source for on-line searches – a
monopoly on information? The #2 legal behemoth was the Department of Justice case against
Apple and the publishers who had “colluded” to fix pricing vis a vis the agency
model that was promulgated. And on the heels of the DOJ came numerous State
suits as well on the same matter. The publishers all settled, as Macmillon
admitted that the legal cost to fight would be more than their net worth. Apple
hung in but lost big – though the initial penalties were ultimately watered
down a bit. But the case has many ramifications as digital pricing is so in
flux. The line about just how creative publishers and on-line providers of
digital books can be may harden. Immediately thereafter Amazon began playing
with pricing. Clearly this case was huge. Otherwise, would we REALLY be seeing
this presiding judge among the Publishers Weekly Notable People of 2013? Of tremendous concern to authors is the issue of piracy. Clearly
it is a protean evil that will never die, but 2013 saw some positive legal
challenges. Early in the year, 2 New Yorkers were successfully sued for their
pirating efforts by John Wiley, and will be forced to ante up $7,000 in
penalties. What was important was these individuals were offering up these
titles via BitTorrent and the case was the first of its kind to find the
uploaders guilty. But there were numerous other cases and causes that added to law
firm coffers in 2013. There were cases by famous authors like Harper Lee against their
agents and managers for mismanagement of funds. There were settlements in the
case brought against a number of their authors by a big 5 publisher seeking
return of their advances. There was the class action suit brought against
Authors House (and its new big 5 owner, Penguin) by self-pubbed authors over
royalty shenanigans. A collection of independent booksellers – including NYC’s
Posman Books - sued over Amazon and the big 6 over DRM damages to competitive
purchasing, a case that was just dismissed a few days ago. The Wiley suit over
pricing of foreign editions of textbooks was a bust and immediately the first
sale doctrine became a front and center concept: Especially as the question of
whether or not First Sale can EVER apply to digital material is going to be a
huge legal quagmire for all concerned. CAVEAT (figured a legal term was
apropos) - A bright light in this area was the court decision that ReDigi’s
sale of “used” music (iTunes) was clear copyright infringement. Will that
stand? Only time – and lawsuits – will tell. Of personal interest to me as a Harlequin author was the 2013
decision in the 2012 suit filed by authors published in the 90’s and early
2000’s, that claimed “intercompany licenses” were permitting HQ to cheat
authors of royalties. The judge found against the authors though they have
appealed. And of interest to all authors was the quiet resolution of the
2012 case initially filed by Penguin seeking return of advances from authors
who they claimed missed deadlines. It “went away” without fanfare, but showed
the willingness of a big house to seek redress when authors – and not
necessarily the “big names” - don’t adhere to contractual requirements. Given
that this case came on the heels of last year’s Sourcebooks suit against an
author for breach of contract, it should speak loudly to the importance of
understanding what you are signing, and how NOT understanding, or breaching
your contract, can come back to bite you. Big time. Just ask actor Stephen
Baldwin, who was sued by Hachette over the $110,000 advance he received when he
failed to deliver his book on time. Other suits included public domain wrangles (Conan Doyle
Estate), continued battles of digital rights by 3rd parties objected to by
original publishers, Amazon’s NY State sales tax fight defeat went to the
Supreme Court – who declined to hear the case. Publishers breathed a sigh of
relief when 2 cases found that their standard processes for vetting books
(i.e. – and reliance upon an author’s warranties about the writing and
material) should stand. For an author? That means understanding WHAT you are
repping and warranting in your contracts is paramount because you’ll be on the
hook in the event of any problems. Outside the courtrooms, a recent issue in the arena of contract
law which has come to folks’ attentions, is the issue of the big houses’
contracts with authors some of which, it seems, are being revamped to
effectively allow them to pussy-foot away from what had previously been clear
and distinct promises of publication in certain formats. Now they can hedge
their bets and opt NOT to issue a title in the print format originally
intended, but say, rather in digital. Should it suit their purpose. Other non-court legal matters were legion as well. We had the
“disclosure” that the sneaky dude who leaked the truth that Cukoo’s Calling author Robert Galbraith
was JK Rowling WAS – her lawyer! Even more salacious was the accusation against
Larry Kirshenbaum – no LONGER the head of the Amazon publishing operation – of
sexual harassment. The massive merger of Random House – Penguin (which was vetted
worldwide) dominated publishing news. Barnes & Noble’s plan to hive-off of
the tablet division to a separate entity waxes and wanes. Amazon’s
rights-holder sanctioned fan-fic publishing arm came into being blurring lines
further on the subject of copyright. But from a legal perspective the most important conversation
dominating the publishing industry might well be copyright. I have heard one
intellectual property specialist proclaim “Copyright is dead”, and in nearly
every corner the groundswell promoting a new copyright act that can address the
myriad aspects of digital and electronic material that was never anticipated,
is getting louder and louder. It’s turning out to be a whole new ball game. So how’s YOUR fielding?♥ ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Lise
Horton’s debut novel WORDS OF LUST launched in September 2013 and she is
finalizing book 2 of the Stellato Siblings series for submission. You can read
more about Lise, her books, and her blogs, by visiting her website, www.
LiseHorton.com and to join her in the madcap whirl of social media!
Please help us welcome author Kate McMurray, who will be blogging with us monthly on LGBT Romances.
THE CHANGING ROMANCE MARKET by Kate McMurray
I was at a party a couple of years ago when a friend of mine
asked me about my latest book. I summed up the plot, and she said, “Oh, so
you’re still writing gay romance.” Yes, I said. “You could make so much more
money if you wrote something else.” Sure, I said. And maybe I will someday.
Here’s the thing, though: I’m not really sure she’s right.
Since this is my first column, I’ll get the “Why gay romance?”
question out of the way. I first discovered gay romance six or seven years ago.
I’d stopped reading romance novels for a few years during a pretentious
post-college, “I have a literature degree so I will only read literary
fiction” phase that I have thankfully gotten over. I’d forgotten how much fun
reading could be, and I’d always really enjoyed love stories, so romance was
such a natural fit, I don’t know why I resisted it. In the hunt for new books
to read, I started following review blogs, and one recommended an m/m book. I
had no idea such things existed prior to that point, and I was so intrigued, I
bought the book immediately.
It’s hard to explain what it was about that book—and romance
novels featuring LGBT characters generally— that I found so appealing. I mean,
it was a flat-out great book, but the fact that it had two heroes both
intrigued me and gave me a giddy thrill. Why? The stock answer I’ve heard a lot
of people give is, “One man is great, but two are better,” and look, I’m a lady
with a pulse, so I can’t deny that seeing or reading about two hot guys
together is hot. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Part of it is the
politics of it, I suppose; I believe whole-heartedly that every person deserves
love, regardless of gender or any other factor. But part of it was just that I
read a book I really liked and wanted to read more like it. That’s how I came to write my first published novel, actually.
LGBT romance has since exploded, but way back when, it was thin on the ground,
at least in the places I was looking for it. I wanted for there to be more
books like the ones I had read, so I decided to write one myself. I had been
working on a novel with a gay protagonist for a while and not really getting
anywhere with it—that book eventually became BLIND ITEMS after many, many
rewrites—but I put it aside to write a big, gay romantic suspense—seriously, my
working title was “gay cop novel”—that was published at the beginning of 2010
as IN HOT PURSUIT.
In the four short years since, the publishing industry has
changed dramatically. In 2010, digital-first publishers were already taking
over an increasing chunk of the market. They had lower overhead costs, since
they were in the business of ebooks, and so could take greater risks, meaning
the sorts of books the Big Six publishers thought were too risky could find
homes and, more importantly, readers. This was not limited to LGBT romance, by
the way; ménage, BDSM, and other kinds of boundary-pushing erotic romance found
its way into readers’ hands, and writers could tell other kinds of stories than
what was being put out by the bigger publishers.
When Amazon came along and changed the way everybody reads. It’s
not just that ereaders allowed us to read sexy books while fooling other subway
passengers into thinking we were reading WAR AND PEACE; for me, the first
device I had that allowed me to read all those digital books I was buying on
something other than my laptop—something I could actually carry on the
subway!—was like a godsend.
And say what you will about FIFTY SHADES, but it took a
burgeoning market and made it explode. Mainstream publishing saw what the rest
of us had known for a few years by then: there was a viable market for romances
that did something differently.
LGBT romance has been steadily picking up new readers for the
last five years. There are success stories, certainly, books that found wider
audiences, that nipped at the heels of the bestseller lists, that romance
readers still talk about. But it’s been a steady climb, too, with greater sales
overall. Bigger publishers are just starting to get in on this game, sometimes
with new writers—Rie Warren’s IN HIS COMMAND was put out by Forever (Hachette)
this summer—sometimes with writers who have been at this awhile—Z.A. Maxfield,
whose books were among the first gay romances I ever read, has a series
published by Berkley (Penguin). LGBT romance writers are making a splash at big
romance conventions like RT. Thanks to the combined efforts of members of RWA’s
Rainbow Romance Writers chapter, LGBT romance publishers, and some open-minded
editors, LGBT romance is getting reviewed in places like RT Book Reviews,
Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly, something that seemed
impossible just five years ago.
Every time an author I know quits their day job to write full
time, I think back to all those conversations I’ve had at parties with friends
who suggest I could make so much more money if I wrote about heterosexual couples.
Maybe I could. But the stories I’m writing now are the ones that are speaking
at me, have characters that I find compelling and want to write about, and they
are stories that are populated by romance heroes who happen to be gay. And as
LGBT romance finds a wider and more diverse audience, the opportunities for
those of us writing it seem endless. Seems to me, we could all have our cake
and eat it, too; there’s an audience for the kinds of stories I love and am
passionate about, and now that LGBT romance is going more mainstream, there’s
an opportunity to make a career of it, and that’s really exciting.♥
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Kate
McMurray is an award-winning author of gay romance and an unabashed romance
fan. When she’s not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in
various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She’s
currently serving as President of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance
chapter of Romance Writers of America. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her at
www.katemcmurray.com.
Oh my God... oh my God... oh my God... I think I am having a brain orgasm. And just from hearing hubby whisper in my ear!
He has an awesome, sexy voice, but, according to the concept behind autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), any kind of whispering [and other sounds] can make your head all tingly and result in a feeling of, well, orgasmic pleasure, emanating from the general vicinity of your brain and sending a tingling sensation around your head. Sigh.
Perhaps you get that tingly feeling when a character you are working on starts whispering in your ear and a scene is flowing like magic, although it apparently can happen through more mundane activities.
You may have had one without even knowing it. Think back to times when you got your hair cut or washed and the touch of your hair stylists made you head feel so very good. Or even observing an activity or event where you felt a tingle run up your scalp.
There is not a whole lot of medical research for this phenomenon but they do have a website for research and support (which was down at the time of this posting but try later).
Steven Novella covered it recently in his Neurologica Blog and said the website reports that the following experiences that can lead to a braingasm:
- Exposure to slow, accented, or unique speech patterns
- Viewing educational or instructive videos or lectures
- Experiencing a high empathetic or sympathetic reaction to an event
- Enjoying a piece of art or music
- Watching another person complete a task, often in a diligent, attentive manner – examples would be filling out a form, writing a check, going through a purse or bag, inspecting an item closely, etc.
- Close, personal attention from another person
- Haircuts, or other touch from another on head or back
Turns out there is a big community of enthusiasts who swear by the ASMR phenomenon. They describe the sensation refer to it as a "brain orgasm", "brain massage", "head tingle", "brain tingles", "head orgasm", "spine tingle", and "braingasm."
Why are braingasms good for you? Seeking them out can relax you—and we all know that romance writers need to chill a little! There is, in fact, a growing field called "Whisper Therapy," according to this ABC15.com report.
An article in Time, posted yesterday, reported: "The term ASMR was coined by Jenn Allen, a 30-year-old New Yorker who works in Healthcare IT. She started the ASMR Research Institute, an unofficial organization that relies on volunteers to help analyze the neuroscience and psychology behind why the phenomenon exists."
Since 2008 hundreds have created ASMR videos and upload them to YouTube and the community just keeps growing. One fan started the Water Whispers Channel on You Tube.
This hot guy who identifies himself as Truth Revolutions is one of them. Click here for his video.
I suspect reading and writing can also bring on a braingasm. Or even watching a hot guy perform a mundane chore without his shirt on might get you there. We are looking into this and will report back soon!
Have you ever had a brain orgasm while writing or reading? ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A.Charlotte Rose is a journalist specializing in love, sex, and the new erotic romance revolution, and she is also an author in the erotic romance genre. She pens the “Hot Romance” Column for The Three Tomatoes. Visit her at https://www.ACharlotteRose.com. Follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteRoseBooks.
Happy New Year! Please join us in welcoming RWA/NYC's new Chapter President --Ursula Renée.
SETTING GOALS
By Ursula Renée
At the end of the year, when I review the goals I had hoped to accomplish in the past 365 days, I celebrate my successes. However, the goals that were not achieved are not considered failures. Instead, they are reevaluated so I can understand why I came up short. Sometimes I discovered that despite my intentions to complete a goal, life had other plans for me. There were times when family, work and life had to take priority. Other times, I realized that I set too many goals for the year.
Despite my desire to reach for the stars, the moon and the sun, there is only so much time in a day. After all my other commitments have been attended to, I may only have time for the stars and moon. Reaching for the sun will have to wait until later. There are a few times when I realize that my heart was not in the goal that I set. Then there are the goals that were pushed aside when something else catches my attention, like the year I discovered stone carving and decided to focus on sculpting instead of painting.
Once I realize the reason I did not achieve a goal, I use the knowledge to help me create my goals for the New Year. Some of the older goals will end up on the new list and others will be placed back in the bucket list for the future. A few that I have decided are no longer important to me will be eliminated.
In the end, even if you do not believe in setting New Year’s Resolutions, set them; create the goals to give yourself something to work towards. At the end of the year, you can celebrate your accomplishments or, after analyzing the goals that were not achieved, have a better understanding of what keeps you from succeeding.#
Ursula Renée is the new President of RWA/NYC. She recently sold SWEET JAZZ, a historical romance, to The Wild Rose Press. When she is not writing, she enjoys photography, drawing and stone carving. Visit her at www.ursularenee.com.
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR:RWA/NYC Author
of the Year 2013, Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of twenty-five romance
novels including Operation Cinderella, the launch to her popular Suddenly
Cinderella Series with Entangled Publishing, now optioned as a major motion
picture by Twentieth Century Fox. Hope is also a co-founder and current curator
of Lady Jane’s Salon®, New York City’s first and only monthly romance series
now in its fifth year with seven satellites nationwide. Visit Hope online at www.HopeTarr.com, www.LadyJaneSalonNYC.com,
www.Facebook.com/HopeC.Tarr.com,
and www.Twitter.com/HopeTarr.