Dear Authors... Great Beginnings to Books

okay so it's time for another dear authors video and if you're not familiar with the series I will link the playlist up there and down in the description but it's basically just readers coming together and chatting about what we like seeing in books and what we don't like seeing in books these videos have gotten found quite a bit by the writing community on YouTube so just to be clear I'm not giving writing advice I'm not qualified for that I'm just chatting with readers about what we like and don't like when we read so this time we're chatting about some great ways to draw us in at the beginning of the book I posted a community tab asking for the best ways to get you really invested at the start of a book it could be a certain hook or theme or trope or something that that will instantly make you invested rather than having to get through the beginning and then maybe like the book so I'm filming this the day after I posted that community tab and I'm going to start off with some of the comments that are the highest upvoted and then I'll just run it through a random comment generator so that you know any comment can be selected when the author starts you off from the POV of somebody already midway through what they're doing and you're just along for the ride slowly piecing it together for yourself Brandon Sanderson does this really well with both the openings in the final Empire and war breaker he also kind of does this in the Stormlight archive he has like four false beginnings Sanderson loves to really take his time with his beginnings and he's he's he's a great storyteller I don't tend to love the way he starts off his books especially the first books in a series I guess I'm different from you in that I sometimes I'm okay with starting out with a character halfway through a task but generally I don't care for it I I like knowing what's happening and feeling like I can track along and and move with the characters fairly easily I think that's why I love Hardin magic system so much I like rules and boundaries and knowing what is allowed and then seeing how chaos and confusion can be created within the boundaries and soft magic systems are harder for me to track with because anything can happen at any point and and you know we could be three books in and we could be like Oh apparently magic does this now because there's never been any rules or boundaries created and that kills me even though I know people love soft magic systems I I like knowing what's happening an example of a book that does what you're describing is the broken earth trilogy the first book I had no idea what was happening for so long and then when things did start falling into place it was so satisfying so it's not like I don't like books that do that it could definitely be done well it's just not the way I choose to have things done but it's a good answer it's a really good answer when the tone of the book is immediately evident such as Good Omens and Percy Jackson the start doesn't pull any punches within a few sentences you know the book will be hilarious I agree with you I love a good tone Center whether it's hilarious or it's an exceptionally dark book or it's gonna be a psychological thriller whatever genre I'm reading I love when the first chapter really sets the tone and I get really creepy vibes or I can tell that no one within the story is going to be reliable or I can see that this world is extremely dark and this is gonna be a really dark story like I love when the author they don't have to spell it out for me or anything but just sets the tone from the very start that will instantly hook me because then it's like I know at least a little bit of what I'm in for and I'm excited for more okay next comment - opposite beginnings the first is to drop in on the middle of something that happened either way before the story will happen or later that leaves you with an epic feeling and tons of questions this is one that we've discussed the opposite is the opening on an ordinary person going through an ordinary day it has you sitting on pins and needles because you know the extraordinary the extraordinary has to jump out somewhere example Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings books yes Wheel of Time is the Wheel of Time series is another example of a series that does that really well I am a sucker for beginning in a small village or a small rural town make your beginning very confined very ordinary has a strange sort of culture of its own like the shire is a very unique culture build up the small-town life and then take us out of that small town or even just stay there I even really like books where it all takes place in just a creepy small town but I hard agree actually I know a lot of people don't like this because i buddy read a lot of books and when I'm buddy reading and we start in a small town or a small village almost always someone doesn't like that beginning and finds it really boring but I eat it up like nobody's business start in a scene save the exposition for later I have agree with this while I don't enjoy starting in the middle of a lot of action or a big task and just following the character and having no explanation whatsoever which is what we've already discussed I do enjoy just starting in a scene starting just watching the character do everyday life watching just getting an idea of what life establish looks like before we change that narrative you know movies specifically a lot of Disney movies do this I've been watching a lot of Disney movies lately because my son is at the age now where he likes movies and I've noticed that a lot of Disney movies start out with a narrative maybe a floating camera scene over the village that we're about to join or watching crowds of people do their daily life with the main character narrating here's where we started and then we enter the scene it seems like a lot of children's movies specifically but also a ton of movies in general start with that here's a narrative and I always have to skip that for my son because he'll instantly tell me he doesn't like the movie if it starts that way we need to start on action for him but I actually really don't like that in books either a lot of books will start with a prologue or a first chapter that's essentially a narrative let me tell you what's going on even though you don't know who I am at all yet the book thief does that and it does it really well so I'm not saying it can't be done well but generally I tend to also prefer starting with a scene of some sort it doesn't have to start with a epic fight see and it doesn't have to start with something intense it can but you could start with just daily life it's just nice to begin getting to know your characters and for me if you start off a scene where I have a really good idea who your main character is right away whether they be that really snarky protagonist that has way too big of an ego that needs to be deflated or if they're just a humble farm girl farm boy who is about to have their life turned upside down whoever your main character is if you start me off by knowing the essence of who they are the big the big characteristic character trait that we're going to follow if you can start with a scene of them defending some one of them being beaten down whatever it is I will latch on to that character right away and then it won't really matter to me if the setup of the story takes more time as long as I have a person that I'm interested in following through start with a scene that actually establishes relationships between the main characters show don't tell and what happens does it have to be really related to the rest of the story see Christmas and Little Women yeah so that's essentially what I was just talking about just start something that helps us to establish some sort of connection whether it's connection with a character's connection with the world depends on what kind of story you're writing but that could also really help set the tone like if you want to start out with a really character focus beginning like in Little Women that helps us know that this book the main focus is going to be on the relationships and the people if you're going to start with a lot of world-building infant really interesting magic system that we know that this is an epic fantasy and that's really where you're gonna put your focus and it also helps the readers to know from the get-go what is going to be the focus and the emphasis on this story and am i a character-driven reader or am i a reader that just wants a really cool magic system I mean nobody just wants one thing out of a story but you know what I mean readers want different things and the first chapter can really help us to know if this story is going to focus on something that we like or that we you know isn't for us when smart planned for shadowing starts early then I get invested in trying to figure out what what it's all leading to of course it all has to have a good end climax after this though yes I agree if you can if you can start a book clearly showing that this is foreshadowing for something big and it's a relatively interesting scene that is definitely going to make me invested as well in general books that have great payoff I think the Mistborn series is a great example of that where things little details from book one by the time you get to the end of the series you realize how much thought and intention went into it that's also what I loved about the ocean at the end of the lane by the time I got to the end of the book I was like holy cow Neil Gaiman planned every word because it all came together so cleanly and if I can tell from the very beginning that this is an author that thought about the end before they wrote the beginning and and it seems like it's going to come together in a way where all the pieces fall together man I can't stand loose ends oh when you have like several subplots and a couple of them just don't get resolved even it's okay they don't get resolved after the first book but after the end of the series The Giver quartet is a great example of that it you know it'll actually The Giver quartet I loved until I finished the end and I was like oh my gosh that was so I'm satisfying it'll it'll leave me not loving the series nearly as much if you have so many open threads that never get resolved so when when I can tell from the start that an author thought about all the details and mapped it all out and then started writing that will instantly make me want to read your whole series or whatever you have for me because if I can trust you to really bring it all together especially if you bring it all together and really intricate small ways oh I eat that up really strong epic lines like ash fell from the sky that's another miss bored nice I love how many brands theaters and fans we have here yeah I don't super care about a big like a one-liner like that that doesn't really matter to me I think I agree with the people that say just starting off with a tone a scene that's what matters to me I don't really care about a hook one-liner I care about setting the tone for the entire book okay I really like this one I personally love it when the opening is quotable it was the best of times it was the worst of times Marley was dead to begin with there was no doubt whatsoever about that both of these are first lines in classics and I I agree with that because that is different from for instance miss Bourne ash fell from the sky where it's more of like a dramatic hook but I think that these are more like with The Book Thief where it's sort of again setting the tone kind of explaining kind of giving you like here's what we're in for from the very first line does that make sense I feel like that's a small enough distinction that it may not seem like enough but I see the distinction I see what I'm talking about so we've had a couple of comments like this that I've already passed by so I'm finally going to say it I love when books start off with a villain or mysterious character doing something seemingly pointless that later blows up the plot and has big consequences several people have mentioned loving to start with the villain because they love villains and if you start off with a really strong villain then it doesn't matter what the rest of the beginning is doing I just want to keep reading to get to the villain personally I don't enjoy that I love it when we don't get the perspective of the villain at all in a straightforward narrative something like the first law where really nobody is good everybody is morally gray or just downright bad great give me all the perspectives in the world but for your your standard narrative where we're following the hero I don't want I don't want breakaway scenes from the villain because I want to figure things out with the protagonists I don't like knowing more than the protagonists but that's definitely a preference thing and several people have said that they love starting off with the villain so I'll put that in there I think the best way to open up books is to not overdo it I'm interested mostly in characters and setting in the first chapter most people will read a book based off of the summary not the first chapter I think the best way to do this is to start off mundane with a small twist at the end I agree with that I love a chapter ohmygosh sets the scene say it one more time Murph I love a first chapter that is just day-to-day life but at the end something happens that changes everything and you just and you just like oh now I got to see what's going on like oh that's such a good way start a book one of my favorite openings from John dies at the end with basically a long hypothetical situation that one of the characters poses about an axe he described breaking the handle on a slug monster chipping the head on a zombie and replacing all the parts and then wondering if the remained a zombie is right when he says it's the axe that killed him I like this because it establishes the tone setting and character in a unique way there's monsters he fights them he's a nervous over-thinker everything you really need to know up front but without just an info dump most of the books that draw me and quickly don't just explain the universe they start with characters interacting with the universe in a human way man you just summed up perfectly what I've been repeating over and over again that's perfect you're right that's that's phenomenal it sets the tone of the entire book I've never read this book but now I want to it sets the tone of the entire book lets us know what the main character is like what the world is like what we're gonna be doing with this main character or at least an element of that it sets all that up without just one big monologue explanation info-dump it sets us up with a scene with a character doing something that provides all the information that could have been provided through an info dump but it's provided in a more organic natural and enjoyable to read way man that's a great comment you in the comment of the day please do not open describing the setting or the character's appearance get me started on a pod plot relevant facts or show me the relevant aspects of a key character's personality right away that's a good one it is disappointing when a book starts out with a character looking in the mirror describing their features or so thing that just really doesn't matter a lot of readers care a lot about a character's appearance so it's good to give that appearance fairly early on you don't want to like tell us that the character has brown hair halfway through the book when half of the readers have decided that there's something else but also a lot of readers like me I don't care how a character is described physically I'm going to imagine them how I'm going to imagine them you can tell me a character has blonde hair for instance kelsier has blonde hair he's a blonde haired man did you know that I didn't because I don't care he's a brunette in my mind it doesn't matter to me how characters are described I'm going to project an appearance on them based on how I view the character so appearances are important to a lot of readers but also a lot of us don't care about that especially if you're trying to get us invested in the story what color your characters eyes are is not going to matter on if I'm going to turn the next page so starting off with something relevant to the story again setting the scene or setting the tone of the whole book is a lot more important than telling us what the characters bedroom looks like or what color eyes they have or what outfit they're wearing that day I want the author to show me their strengths this book has a unique writing style show me your flowery sentences or dry humor strong characters make them interact beautiful world describe a character walking through your scenery etc again this is a longtime subscriber or someone that I know and I recognize I love her but again she described what I've been trying to say she summarized it perfectly whatever your strengths are whatever it is that you're trying to do with the book whatever wherever you're laying your focus if your skill is going to be in your beautiful or or silly writing just put it on display make it the forefront of your first chapter if your story is going to be really focused on characters and relationship and the dynamic between them give us an opening scene with these characters interacting with their really unique strong personalities if your story is going to be an epic fantasy that's gonna have so much focus on world and magic give us that in the first chapter the point is there are different things that authors do different strengths that author has have different focuses that authors have in their stories and there are different readers for different stories if people I've had people recommend books to me and say it's the best book they've ever read then I pick it up and I'm like there's no story here and then people will respond and say oh I guess that's true there isn't a story I read it for the writing and that's amazing but different readers want different things the best way for an author to to make sure that they find their audience the best way for an author to make sure that the right people keep reading is to let us know in the very first chapter what the author's focus is going to be for this story that way we know based off of the first couple of chapters we know if this book is going to be something that we should just put down and grab something that might work better for us or if it's something that is going to be perfect for us man setting the tone it's just it's the best thing to do this is a really good one I like it when they don't start off by explaining each character's personalities it's always best to show not tell this is a really silly example but it's the first thing that popped into my head instead of saying Strawberry Shortcake is a super nice girl who always sticks up for her friends you could show her doing nice stuff for people don't tell about how everyone feels about the character until you've gotten to know them for a chapter or two this is really good it's the show don't tell but the best way to get me invested is to show me your character if you want me to care about your character show me your character doing the thing that I'm supposed to believe about them man it's so frustrating when I get to the end of the book and all I've done is listen to other characters talk about how strong and brave and intimidating a character is but I've never once to watch but never once watched them do anything or you tell me that this character is so romantic and sweet and nice but I've only seen them be a jerk it is so frustrating and I read this not infrequently it's so frustrating when an they're just repeatedly tells me how I'm supposed to feel about characters and it may not be in this so openly obvious as the example given here but just when characters are constantly talking about the main character and how I'm supposed to feel about them or the narrative is repeatedly telling me how am I supposed to feel about people but I never watched the characters do the thing well I know how not to get me invested and that's by starting the first chapter on a prologue from some point of view of a character that has absolutely nothing to do with the main the actual main characters of the book that's kept me from reading six hookers for a long time hard agree prologues are not a negative thing but if you start off your book from a perspective that has nothing to do with what we're gonna do next it's a tough sell fast forward to midway through the book or the end and give me a look at the main characters in some kind of a messed up situation I mean really messed up make them as different from how they were at the beginning of the journey as possible and then proceed to show me after the first chapter how they got to that point I do like that - it's different from intense action or from a perspective of a character that were not even gonna follow for the rest of the book it's the main character that we're following that we're supposed to be invested in and it's showing us where we're about to be without giving us too much detail that can be really great as well alright I've been recording for about an hour now so I'm gonna quit but I've sorted through eight HUD of comments and pretty much everybody's saying really similar stuff so I'm gonna summarize the last five thousand comments I've just read through that's an exaggeration things that keep coming up a lot of people love being thrown into the middle of action and love having to run pace with the characters and try to figure it all out with them and a lot of people love slow quiet beginnings but still beginning in a scene starting out with day to day life and watching what the characters life looks like it now before everything changes so those are two very opposite things and a ton of people have said both so both beginnings seem to work for a large groups of people one thing that repeats comes up in the negative is info dumps or a long narrative stream I have repeatedly had comments read comments of people saying don't give me an info dump or a big exposition dump don't just tell me everything at the beginning of this story I want to watch things unfold I want to experience things with the characters at the beginning I have not gotten I have not read a single comment that said I love a big narrative beginning and I definitely agree with that I don't like that either start me with a scene not an explanation quite a few people have written down their favorite beginning opening line so a good interesting opening line seems to be great for a lot of people there have been several people that have said that they really enjoy the first scene being exclusively about the villain and then moving on to the protagonist that we're gonna follow and then there have been several people that have said that they don't like things like that they just want to start with what's relevant to what they're going to be following so it seems like either one of those choices could work but one other really consistent thing that people are saying is don't give me some random character that we're never gonna see again so don't start us off with the father of the father of the protagonist or some random side character that's giving us some odd view we like either the villain if he's going to be a really big part of the story or we like whether we start on their day to day life or we start on a flash-forward or flashback just make sure that you got someone relevant and the other thing that is coming up a ton that I've already talked about a ton is setting the tone people seem to really agree that we don't want just some abstract scene we don't like just having something that doesn't really fit with the tone of the novel we like having the first line the first page the first chapter we like it to set the tone of what we're gonna be doing who we're gonna be following what kind of story how dark it's gonna be how silly it's gonna be how what its gonna focus on we like that to be the focus of the first chapter we don't want that for chapter 2 b1 that we throw away and don't think about again we want it to be one that we can rely on and Trust to keep reading the book there are tons of different ways to write a novel there are tons of different things that you can focus on and there are tons of different readers that will find what they're looking for but these are some themes that have definitely come up today these are some things that have been repeated so much almost it's really funny I can pretty much categorize almost all of these comments into maybe three or four different things that everybody seems to be saying even if some of them disagree with each other everybody seems to fall into certain camps which I didn't expect I expected there to be a lot of different answers because that's what we've done in every dear author video before this but this one seems to have a mass majority for what people like and don't like so I found that really interesting I wasn't expecting that but I'm really happy about it I don't agree with all of them they're definitely everything is a preference thing but it was really interesting to see people fall into certain camps and how few camps there were on this anyway I would love to continue the discussion so if there's anything that you want to keep chatting about if you want to talk about what you love to see in the opening or tell me your favorite opening scene and what book it came from I would love to hear it I've post videos every Sunday Tuesday Thursday and Saturday [Music]

Channel: Merphy Napier

Views: 198,483

Rating: 4.9793134 out of 5

Keywords: dear authors, tropes done right, tropes done well, tropes i hate, tropes i love, read, reads, reader, reading, doing tropes differently, book, books, booktube, booktuber, starting your book, great beginnings

Id: NTeNNa5uWys

Length: 26min 11sec (1571 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 07 2020