I'll tell you this: Writing the beginning of a novel is ridiculously difficult for me.
Thank God for NaNo writing buddies, a group of whom I've been emailing with during the past couple days. (*waves to Summer, Lola, Portia, JP, and Tara*) I mentioned in an email how much I struggle getting the opening scenes down, and I was surprised to learn that many other writers battle the same thing.
The root of the problem, for me, is the evolution of my writer's journey, to date. My path thus far has been paved with the short story. Since 2007, I've been honing the skills necessary to write successful short fiction. A short story focuses on one significant moment in time. Due to the constrained space in which you're writing, you don't indulge in a great deal of exposition. What the reader learns about the character is only what is necessary to understand his motivations and conflicts in that moment. And the majority of expositional information comes to the reader through clever characterization clues you drop here and there, meant not only to enlighten the reader but also to encourage her connect-the-dots participation intended to heighten her reading experience.
Backstory info-dumping is a cardinal sin, in short fiction.
When I write the opening scenes of a longer work, I'm overwhelmed by the space I'm afforded. The room I have to develop characters freaks me out. I feel like Little Red Dude in front of that maze, up there.
Donald Maass warns in Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook that one of the most common ways writers lose their readers is to bog them down with unnecessary backstory. I'm quoting him here from page 141:
"Again and again in manuscripts I find my eyes skimming over backstory passages in chapters one, two, and even three. Backstory doesn't engage me, because it doesn't tell a story. It does not have tension to it, usually, or complicate problems. However, once problems have been introduced, backstory can be artfully deployed to deepen them. It can be particularly useful in developing inner conflicts."
This makes me feel much better, because it gives me permission to handle the opening chapters like short stories, sort of. Also, part of my NaNo strategy included preparing scene cards on which I've written one summarizing sentence to guide my writing, so that I know what storytelling goals I want to achieve in each scene. All good, all good.
Still, the first three scenes were slow going and, frankly, suck. But, as my sweet friend Lola said in an email yesterday:
"Beginnings are hard...trying to get settled in to a new story is the hardest part. It's like working out or running...at first you just don't wanna, muscles are cold, can't get a rhythm going...then you hit a zone.
You can't edit a blank page, so don't worry about your first scenes sucking. Give yourself permission to suck and fix it later. I really believe we have to write ourselves into the story, to even find the REAL story. So ease on in and let go of perfectionism for your first draft. Save that angst for a later pass. :)"
Thanks, Lola!! What would I do without all the awesome support from my writing peeps?? And, I'm reminded of another thing: I have a ten-mile training run planned for this morning. Time to warm up those cold muscles and get into that zone.
Plus, that will give me an hour and a half to mull over the next scene and get ready for today's NaNo writing session!
Do you stuggle with the beginning too? Any support, suggestions, or offers to send me presents are greatly appreciated. (J/K about the presents! Unless, you want to send something... :p)
12 comments:
I definitely struggle. I was trying to avoid inserting backstory until later in my wip, like Donald mentioned. But my CP told me to move it to the first chapter. She said it needed to be there. Fortunately it's only two short paragraphs.
I recently won a full ms crit from an agent. I was positive she would tell me to remove the backstory from chapters one and two. She didn't. She did tell me I started in the wrong place. But unlike what you usually hear, that you started too early. She told me I didn't start soon enough (though that had nothing to do with the backstory). I struggled for over a week, trying to figure out where I should start. My CP and beta readers said I started in the right place. Anything else would be a prologue. But I did come up with something, and the agent was sooooo right (even if she didn't tell me where I needed to start). :D
Hey! Good for you for the progress anyway! Yes, beginnings are always hard. I always go back and re-write them. I take it for granted that I'll have to.
One of the things I've tried is to just jump into the scene that sparked my interest in the story. It may not be the true beginning of story, but it gets me started. Like your friend Lola said, it's much like when you start running for the day, your muscles are still cold and they need to warm up, as you go.
Good luck, Nicole. I'm on track with my NaNo goal too.
Oddly, I don't struggle with the beginning. I think it's because I've pretty much for the 'write crap' thing down pat!
I struggle so much with getting beginnings right. In my first novel, I've had so many false starts trying to give enough grounding--of the right tone and texture--that my character is relatable. I think over the years I've written more than ten distinctly different openings. Two that didn't work I spun off as a short story and as fiction in verse which I did go on to publish. So don't be afraid to try lots of different entres into your story. Even ones that don't give quite the right feeling in the large project might work on their own.
I majorly struggle with beginnings. Endings I have no problem with, they hardly ever need editing. I think beginnings give me such a hard time because I'm just getting to know the character myself. Most of the times, my beginning in the rough draft is nothing like the beginning I end up with.
I struggled with that big-time with my first book (and still do), but not so much in the second. I will say that is one of the "rules" I find broken most often. The last three novels I read were heavy in back-story...and you know what...I didn't mind it.
Keep kicking NaNo's butt! :)
Yes! I have no problem with middles or ends, but getting started and finding the groove and energy is difficult. And I don't even write short fiction.
Beginnings ARE tough. Absolutely. (The first chapter is my hardest. In second place is the very middle of the book, where I'm currently stuck.) But hang in there! I like Lola's advice: just get it down and edit later. I'll have to try that, too. Good luck with NaNo! You can do it! :)
Beginnings are SO difficult. I think all of us struggle with these. I'm struggling right now with a second memoir that will be shorter than my first one, In the Mirror.
Thanks, Nicole, for stopping by today and commenting on my WordPress blog. Yes, it's been a while since I had someone help me set it up. It is nowhere as near to perfection as your website which I just looked at and have bookmarked to come back to. I want to read some of your non-fiction/memoir pieces!
We had that one snowstorm here in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and that's been it so far. I hope you get some snow in Atlanta--if that's really your wish! :o)
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets
I took a writer's class and was told that you don't know how to start the beginning until you've hit the end. Then you will know how the story should start.
So keep on writing. Your only goal right now is to get to the end.
Good luck!
oh man, beginning are rough for me too. I like to do info dumps and it takes me awhile to get to know the MC. Once i've got their voice down, things tend to go easier
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