Holly and I are still very hard at work poring over the entries in the Surprisingly Essential First Page Challenge, so I don’t have an update on when we’ll have finalists. Instead, I know there are a lot of new visitors to the blog, and I want to encourage everyone to stick around! Consider this a pledge drive. If you enjoy your local Nathan Bransford programming, please, add the blog to your RSS reader or subscribe to the blog via e-mail. Every little bit counts. We depend on reader pledges for 100% of our operating budget of $0, so please show your support for programming like This Week in Publishing and You Tell Me and our many contests.
And seriously, you guys are some talented writers! Reading over the entries has been a pleasure, and can I thank everyone again for entering? I think I can.
Meanwhile, an interesting debate sparked in the comment section of last night’s time-calling post, and I thought I’d expand on it a bit here.
One of the things you always hear when you’re a writer is that you really have to grab an agent with your opening. And this is true — we read a whole lot of manuscripts, and if we’re not grabbed right away we’re going to move onto the next project.
BUT. This does not mean that you have to go out and try and grab the reader by the throat. Perhaps the most common shortcoming I’m seeing in some of the entries is that they try too hard to be surprising or shocking or pulling one over the reader. This is a common problem. Writers I talk to even sometimes tell me that they wanted to start with a more gradual opening, but their writing group said it was too quiet, so they went with the “bigger” opening instead. For instance, at least 7 openings in the SEFPC involve burnt and/or rotting flesh.
To be sure, this can be done well. But look at the openings of your favorite novels. Herman Melville did not begin MOBY DICK with Ishmael staring at the rotting carcass of a whale, Charles Dickens did not begin A TALE OF TWO CITIES by describing what guillotined heads look like. Even suspense novels that do begin with a shocking opener, like Jeff Abbott’s FEAR, which starts with the seriously awesome first line “I killed my best friend.”, double-back to gradually reveal details about the characters and world of the book.
This is because the purpose of an opening isn’t to grab a reader and start punching them in the face, but rather to draw them into the world of the book. A “shocking” event in the very beginning isn’t usually very shocking because it’s not earned — the reader doesn’t yet care enough about the characters or know enough about the world for it to resonate properly — so it feels more like a parlor trick. Even if it’s an action-packed beginning, it’s still necessary to orient the reader. So there are some definite dos and don’ts in the beginning, and I’d point you to Kami’s great comment from last night’s post for a breakdown.
The purpose of a first page is to begin to get to know a character, world, or plot in such a way that the reader wants to know more. It’s a taste. And great characters, a great plot, and/or great setting (and of course great writing) grab me a lot more than an opening that tries too hard to be surprising or shocking.
Point taken and I shall consider making changes to my current WIP. And I was so looking forward to killing off characters in the first paragraph. Sigh.
I was hoping this would be discussed as I watched the comments conversation unfold. Thanks for taking time from the reading entries to impart that wisdom.
Thank you again Nathan for doing this contest. I felt terrible for suggesting it when I began to see the entry numbers rising so quickly. But, it just shows how much a contest like this was needed. And now you’ve given us more insight into the agent’s mind. You are a gem Nathan. I am still thoroughly enjoying the process of getting the first page right. I do love a challenge, but I also hope I really can get it right sometime soon.
If anyone is interested, please read the revised first page of The Chaser and post comments. I have had the most difficulty with the beginning of my book because the idea came from a dream and them morphed into much more. I love the book and want to make the first chapter just as good as the rest. So, I’m also interested in finding fellow writers who would like to have some kind of critique exchange. Here’s the blog I set up.
https://cnoel70.blogspot.com/
Chris
Nathan, great post. I’ve been following the discussion on ‘grabbiness’ with great interest. I write lit fic, but many in my writing group are mystery/thriller writers, and we’ve been discussing this very thing – does the dead body need to show up on the first page? Lol. I’ve directed them here for more… oh, and your blog was one of the first listed on my blogroll – I learn so much from your posts. Thanks for caring so much about us wee writers. Peace…
Thanks Nathan that is good to know.
Many before us stuck around after we came so there must be something good about the blog!
Who do I make my check of -2 million out to?
Thanks for the contest opportunity!
My favorite Dickens book is still David Copperfield.
Thanks for clarifying this, Nathan. I’ve been following this conversation for a while and I appreciate your take on it. I’ve always been confused about “starting with a bang” because often there’s no reason to, and so many published books have quieter beginnings.
So, I really appreciate the clarification. I will make a note in my binder of writing stuffs.
Thanks so much for this post, Nathan. I’ve been worrying that my opening was too quiet…now I take comfort in knowing that, among all the reasons I’m sure I won’t make the finals, that isn’t one of them. 🙂
Oh, and I’ve been casually lurking on your blog for awhile…but I’m definitely sticking around now.
Thanks for the contest, Nathan. I discovered your blog via an announcement on my friend’s list on LJ. Glad to have discovered your blog and really enjoyed the opportunity to submit to the contest. I’ve added a feed and plan to stick around, thanks!
I’m content to sit back and let the story unfold. I don’t like the plot to be too obvious in the first bit of a novel or the whole thing’s a bore from the beginning. Thanks for the lesson on fictional openings. We can all use a reminder every now and again.
Thanks for the link to Kami’s comment! That’s a really informative collection there, and really good advice.
I was a little worried…no rotting flesh! No one will read my book! Glad to know I’m not alone.
This is an intriguing topic. Starting in the middle of a violent fight scene generally isn’t going to draw the reader in. Better to spend a few minutes building up the expectation of a fight, because that makes better reading than the fight itself.
There is a tempation to try and explain all the background information right in the beginning, this breaks the fourth wall, it lacks realism. And generally results in a parade of characters without any action.
Then there is the question of where to start the story.
Nathan, I’m glad you’ve made this point. I’ve seen many writers debate this point, both here and on other sites. I agree with your point that it’s too obvious when the opening line is merely there to pull you in.
If you’re relying on stunts rather than good writing, I don’t think you’ll get very far. What happens when all the action dies on the second or third page? If it fits the story, great. If not, a gradual unfolding is fine by me.
Your LIFPC (first paragraph) contest was a great example of how openings don’t need to rely on shock and awe. None of the LIFPC finalists involved a murder. Admittedly, the actual winner did mention death, but it wasn’t at all about shock value. Those openings were compelling because they made readers want to know more about that situation, that person, that world.
Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you, Nathan, I’ve learned a great deal from this exercise, from the entries, and from the discussions.
Almost 700 entries! I thought it would be less than 500 for sure, since that’s how many you got last time, when we were allowed three entries.
Good luck to you and Holly!
thank you for this, nathan.
you rock.
Speaking of Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities, I would appreciate seeing your thoughts on how the electronic age, internet, TV, movies, have changed writing. Could we have these kinds of stories in today’s world? Could we have another Tolkein with his lengthy, sweeping descriptions of the landscape? Would “Rebecca” have been a hit today with the entire first chapter devoted to her dream of an overgrown, sinister, burned out mansion? Literary styles have changed before, often for the better. Is this one for the better, or is it “literature lite”?
I love books that start with flash, and danger, and yes I have to say it gore. That grabs me instantly. What is that saying about me? Hmm, maybe nothing, maybe everything. Who knows.
I suppose it comes from my mainstay reading diet of horror and urban fantasy.
Thanks Nathan for holding this contest. You are a brave man and a generous one as well.
loren-
I actually think the electronic age has been great for writing — I’m sure Dickens and Melville would have KILLED to have been able to easily revise their work on a computer.
I guess I just don’t really buy that the great literature written today isn’t as good as the literature of the past. Just look at Ian McEwan.
Tastes have changed, but I don’t think the historians of the future are going to have any trouble finding great works of literature in today’s era. In 2300 they’ll wondering if ATONEMENT would have ever been published in their contemporary world etc. etc.
Hi,
Just wanted to know if the entries will remain here for sometime. I am reading all of them, one-by-one…
Ok so the critiques of some first pages are posted on my blog on my website now.
https://thepaperairplane.webs.com
I’m very glad I didn’t enter this contest. Thhough it was wonderfully instructive to read the many excellent first pages and I am supremely grateful to Nathan for holding it – Nathan, you would have dismissed my opening a cheap “parlour trick.”
It’s funny that you mentioned novels like MOBY DICK and A TALE OF TWO CITIES because books like that would NOT be published today. Too many big words, too much digression (Melville has a whole extra CHAPTER in the middle on the biology of the whale!), too slow to start, too digressive, too unpolitically correct, and on and on..
anon-
You sure about that? Have you read THE CORRECTIONS?
Ha, now I’m certain my entry is both too slow and too shocking!
This is great fun. Thanks for hosting such a neat contest.
Re: would Melville or Dickens be published today.
Look at books like David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest.” A novel with more footnotes than most textbooks. Not everything is mystery thriller.
Technology has made reading and writing more accessible. Granted, the printed word has to compete with TV, etc, but look at what we’re doing here: would all of us be writing without the laptops, the ease of editing, the ease of finding an online writing community? It’s certainly more enjoyable not to toil on alone.
Thanks for the advice. Very helpful.
Thanks for the last paragraph of this post…it’s a great explanation. So many times writers are given the wrong impression of a first page.
Nathan, anon here.
Yes, I love Franzen — in fact I mentioned him in a question I posed to you a while back here. and here.
My gripe is exactly that — how many agents would even want to look at a novel that was like The Corrections, based on the first few pages and a query that tells you it’s 200k words? Also, writing has to be PC nowadays. Only big shots like Tom Wolfe can get away with being un-PC, and when they do even they get beat up for it.
Nathan, I agree with you that there’s some GREAT writing published today (and also a GREAT DEAL of junk), I’d have to also agree with Loren that a LOT of great writing does not seem to have a home today. Today everything has to be either minimalist, or clever/funny and postmodern (Dave Eggers) or trendy/shallow (chick lit). Lyric writing, ornate and effusive prose with big words is considered a no-no. Everything is short, punchy, and plot-driven. It’s like this “The First Five Pages” madness. How many of the classics would bore most readers in the first five pages? But if they’re told that it’s a classic, it’s okay.
Yes, McEwan, but think of a Jack Kerouac (the actual books he wrote, not the false stereotype of the wild partying beatnik): like Maggie Cassady, The Town and the City, Visions of Cody, even On The Road, those books would have ZERO chance of being published today. It’s too out of the ordinary.
There would be ZERO patience for a Thomas Mann style writer, a William Saroyan or a John Dos Passos, and so on. There’s just no way. Whole styles of writing are “verboten” now. Someone mentions David Foster Wallace – that’s a good example, because he’s fairly recent but INFINITE JEST was what, 12 years ago? When was the last time we heard about a 900-page opus full of footnotes and the kind of weirdness he goes on about? Have an F. Scott Fitzgerald kind of short story about romantic love? Forget it, no magazine would publish it. An Edgar Allan Poe treatise on the metaphysical? Ditto. An O. Henry “New Yorker” style story, written just like the very best of them? Don’t bother to bother Deborah Triesman with it.
If agents say it’s “out of style” or not “with-it” enough, so they would never take it on.
Just like in poetry, there is no room today for anything traditional, no formalism is allowed, it’s just one way, free verse and the like. Almost all poetry in the journals is about an individual’s moments of confessional “introspection” while in poetry there are so many other possibilities.
anon-
But Jonathan Franzen had to go through the publishing process just like everyone else. And then his agent (in part because she’s Jonathan Franzen’s agent) got a query from Marisha Pessl for SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS.
And I can tell you that I would KILL to get a query from writers like them working on projects like those, and so would many other agents.
Not sure what you mean about writing having to be PC. Everything under the sun is being published these days, being un-PC doesn’t seem to be an impediment (and I’m not sure I even agree that Tom Wolfe is un-PC).
So you’d look at a 200k or 250k novel if you thought the writing in the query was good?
This whole contest is really educational. I feel a winner already! Kami’s post is great.
And I decided to follow the example of others and post my first page on my blog. Comments are very welcome.
richard-
I would suggest that you’re just not looking hard enough. 1000 page epics? Vikram Seth and Vikrma Chandra. Meandering travel novels a la Kerouac? What about Dave Eggars and YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY? Why does he get discounted just because it’s witty?
To a certain extent you’re right — something TOO old-fashioned or derivative might not work. But the same thing was true in Dickens’ time, Poe’s time, Fitzgerald’s time, Kerouac’s time and today’s time. There’s absolutely noting wrong with the present, and every writer who has ever lived had to write for the tastes of their own times.
About PC-ness: there are times when Tom Wolfe makes fun of certain protected groups in his writings, or takes unpopular views on certain “loaded” topics like feminism and race. He gets slammed for it sometimes, but he can do it.
anon-
Yeah, if there was a good reason for 200k words I’d read it. I’m not a word count stickler.
Thanks for caring enough to explain further…again.
Ahem…I would like to pledge money to any programming with the monkeys.
Thanks again, Nathan, and rest assumed, we shall be sticking around. Who wouldn’t? Another nice blog on openings/first pages is called Flogging the Quill. (I can’t remember the exact address, but there is a link through GalleyCat’s link page)
Nathan I’ve got to ask:
Are you a John Grisham Fan?
Re: A Time to Kill = <3 To me
i’m not so sure that kerouac was writing for the tastes of his times. as truman capote said, he was just a typist not a writer. most people hated his stuff. (still do, i think)
Anon here (and signing out for good) but I want to say thanks, Nathan.
What great insight! And may I just add that Holly’s blog is every bit as awesome as you suggest [smooch, kiss, grovel].
😉
All kidding aside, it isn’t just the humor and contests that keep me coming back, but the helpful, clear-cut advice. Thanks.
Nathan, when you do have the finalists narrowed down, I for one would love to know approximately how much time you spent getting to that point. Five hours? Ten? Just interesting to get additional glimpses into how long an agent takes to assess a page versus how long, say, I take.
And I hope the bourbon supply’s holding up!
Heather
adaora-
I think John Grisham is an extremely talented writer — in fact, Powell’s just has a review of his latest book that discusses how he’s underappreciated because his books sell so many copies.
trina-
ON THE ROAD got a huge amount of attention when it was published and is still considered a classic, so at least some people liked it! It still sells 100,000 copies a year.
You know, I just posted on the “shallow opening” over at my house. I’ve found they’re much in vogue lately, but they lead to shallow characters, plots, and settings. If a novel takes some pages for set-up, I’ve found it tends to be more intriguing overall. Of course it’s always a balancing act, but what in life is not?
And yes, you do rock!
He is underappreciated! Words can’t describe how in awe I am of his talent. He is a MASTER storyteller but it’s like when you get popular people talk smack ( a word popular here you’re free to use it)about them. Not sure whether it is to bring them down or whatever vindictive reasoning they harbour. I love his books. I’m checking out what Powell has to say because clearly he’s thinking the same way I am.
Thanks!
Not to be totally unrelated, but I thought you might find this amusing / useful as you’re going through the entries.
design-police.org — especially page 4. 😉
May be more of a Miss Snark thing, though.
Thanks, Nathan and Kami. Great advice.
Always great to hear what other writers have to say about techniques and the ins and outs of writing. Thanks for the contest, Nathan.
I just want to weigh on the publishing comments. I really thing there is a lot of exciting and experimental literature out there. So many writers of our generation are influence by writers like Morrison and Kundera and are pushing the limits. Look at Tatyana Tolstoya, Jonathan Safran Foer, or Katherine Min–what is happening is lovely and exciting.
Also, Grisham is underrated. I think THE PAINTED HOUSE, was one where he really proved his chops as a writer, not that he had to. I really don’t appreciate that tendancy to assume that popularity excludes real talent. It is similar to avoiding Oprah’s book club because she is too commercial or mainstream. Dickens was UBER popular in his time. I bet homeboy would have gone on Ophs, anyday.
I would think that it takes a lot of support for a writer to show up with his or her unique voice in any period.
I, for one, treasure finding written works that are that unique.
I am also enjoying hearing from Nathan and others here about opening pages and learning so much.
I was starting to feel some confusion by all the preference for action and these discussions have added clarity and perspective.
When I went back and read the first pages of the books I have read in the last two month months, I noticed that the back covers really helped me buy those books more than the first pages. Many of those books developed the story over numerous pages or even chapters. Having an idea about the story motivated me to keep reading. I enjoy seeing a story or characters build.
And only two of those books seemed to show the writers “voice” in the first page as a stand alone.
One book was (purposefully to the story) wired tight from the get-go, but it was exhausting.I had to work to stay with it until it settled down into the story.
Also buying a book and having it in my hand as an object seals my commitment to reading it. (I still have a dozen e-books that I have never gotten to, while I actually read books I buy in bookstores.)
I am very impressed with the contest and thank you all for letting me see into your pages of this contest.
Thank you Nathan and Holly too for this contest!
And thanks Nathan, so much, for pointing out things that help me to be a better reader too.