Monthly Archives: July 2012

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Openings : how not to start your novel

A few tips I picked up along the way on how not to mess up your novel from the start… or on how to hook your reader with your first paragraph.

What you shouldn’t start your novel with:

–          The weather report: “It was warm and cloudy with a chance of scattered showers on the day Harry and Sally met.” Just start with Harry meeting Sally and include the weather later.

–          A dream: “… And then Sally woke up.” Let us start with something actually happening, shall we?

–          Your main character waking up and proceeding to having a normal day: “It was a day like any other day and Sally woke up, got out of bed, hopped in the shower and got dressed like she did every day. Little did she know that it was the day her life was going to change…” Just fast forward to the actual life-changing event.

–          A description of your novel’s setting: “Once upon a time, in a land where there were deep forests, green pastures and mirror-like lakes…” Action must come first, THEN the setting and world-building.

–          A page-long dialogue: “You’re joking”, Sally said. “No, I’m not,” Harry replied. “It is true, I swear. Just ask Marny.” “I don’t believe you,” Sally retorted. “I wish you did,” Harry insisted.” Meanwhile, the reader has no clue what’s going on and doesn’t really care.

–          Your main character running: “Sally was running through the woods and she could hear the beast not far behind her.” Sure, it is an in medias res situation. But it has been done so many times before and you can be much more original.

–          A sex scene: “Sally screamed with pleasure and collapsed on Harry’s muscular body.” Unless you’re writing erotica or romance, this is to be avoided on your first page.

–          A prologue that gives away the ending: “Sally was running through the woods, knowing she had no way of escaping Harry’s murderous intent. Yet when they had met six months before, she would have never guessed their relationship would end like this.” The fact that Twilight has such a prologue doesn’t mean you have to do it too.

What you should start your novel with:

–          A catchy first sentence : “Most people would probably call me a ghost. I am, after all, dead. But it wasn’t so long ago I was alive, you see. I was just 18. I had my whole life in front of me.” Remember Me by Christopher Pike.

–          An In Medias Res (“in the middle of things”) situation: “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

What you could start your novel with:

–          Your main character waking up and everything is different: “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.”  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

–          A meaningful prologue: “A mile above Oz, the Witch balanced on the wind’s foreward edge, as if she were a green fleck of the land itself, flung up and sent wheeling away by the turbulent air.” Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

–          One sentence from a dialogue followed by some narration: “I SEE …” said the vampire thoughtfully, and slowly he walked across the room towards the window.” Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.

So how does your novel start? Have you avoided all the above pitfalls ? Do you think these ‘rules’ for opening are worth following? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Valar Morghulis : On killing your characters

Hello gentle reader,

for this second ROW80 check-in, I thought I would tackle the issue of killing characters in novels. Let’s say you’ve created a number of interesting and believable characters in your WIP. Is killing off one or all of them going to help or harm your novel?

Over the past few months I have had to consider this question for two reasons:

–          one of the main characters in my epic fantasy novel The Last Queen dies at the end of the book and some of my beta readers have protested against such a death.

–          I have come across several serial stories where killing off characters was an over-used writing device and it made me wonder when killing your characters actually damages your story rather than makes it go forward.

I am not talking here about the horror genre, where killing off all the characters one by one is an expected writing device. I am talking about the other genres, especially Fantasy and Historical Fiction.

The first example of a story where no one is safe is A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R. Martin. One of the catch phrase used in this series of books is actually “Valar Morghulis”, which can be translated as “all men must die”. In the books (as well as in the TV show Game of Thrones that is aired on HBO since 2011), a great number of the major characters die, often brutally and unexpectedly.

The second example I have come across recently is the Starz TV show Spartacus, created by Steven S. DeKnight and Robert Tapert. In this historical drama, the writers’ motto is “Kill Them All”, which translates into the death of almost every single character, save for Spartacus himself.

So I get why killing off characters can be a useful writing device. When the reader has become invested in sympathetic characters, it is always a great emotional shock to see those beloved characters die, especially if those deaths are paired with acts of bravery and/or selflessness. For the writer, the death of a character can also be a great way to move the plot along. For example, at the beginning of the second season of Supernatural (a CW TV show), the death of the heroes’ father was a great way to get the story forward. In the Harry Potter series, the deaths of Sirius Black (in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and Albus Dumbledore (in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) were impressive plot devices that made the young characters grow up and move forward despite their grief.

What I am questioning here, however, is the over-use of the device. In a way, G.R.R. Martin and the writers of Spartacus have painted themselves into a corner, because their readers/viewers now know that they shouldn’t invest too much in characters that are going to die anyway. Also the element of surprise is gone: when you get to Book 5 of A Song of Ice and Fire, you basically expect everyone to die. In this case, the reader/viewer feels cheated because instead of being presented with a great plot and believable tragic events, he is faced with yet another character’s death that doesn’t stir any emotion in him and harms the plot instead of moving it forward.

So what do you think? Do you read or write stories in which everybody dies?

Before wrapping up this post, a few words about my ROW80 goals:

1-      Write everyday: 5/7 days. This week I wrote every day except for Thursday and Friday when my day job took over my life.

2-      Self-edit The Last Queen: not exactly done. I have actually added a few scenes to the novel instead of editing it down. Argh.

3-      Continue writing the first draft of The Cursed King: done, but only a few hundred words.

Here is the Linky for the other ROW80 participants. How have you been doing?

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The Lucky 7 Meme

This week I was tagged in the Lucky 7 meme by the lovely Belle DiMonté.

Here are the rules:

1) Go to page 7 or 77 from your current WIP (work in progress)

2) Go to line 7

3) Copy down the next 7 lines–sentences or paragraphs–and post them as they’re written. No cheating!

4) Tag 7 authors and let them know

So here is an excerpt from The Last Queen, which I am currently editing:

She pushed a cup toward him and raised her own.

“To the God of Light!”

Then she drank her wine. Elian didn’t even move to take his cup. In his experience, if you kept very still and very quiet for a long time, people just gave up on trying to get anything out of you. But the girl wasn’t giving up so easily.

She poured herself more wine and went on.

“Like, for example, have you seen real Vampires in your life? I’m sure you have!”

And now the next 7 tagged writers are…

Raewyn Hewitt

Sydney Aaliyah

Juliana Haygert

Yesenia Vargas

Amanda Fanger 

Morgan Hyde

Rebecca Berto

Thanks to Belle for tagging me !

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Waiting on Wednesday – 14

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by book blogger Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week I’m waiting on Defiance by C.J. Redwine (expected publication: August 28th 2012 by Balzer + Bray). It is a YA Fantasy novel and a 2012 debut. I have been dying to read this book for a while now and August 28th is finally approaching…! Plus how gorgeous is this cover?!

 From Goodreads:

“Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan–the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same one who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but a fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.”

Visit C. J. Redwine’s blog here.

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A Round of Words in 80 Days – Round 3 – Check-in #1

Hello gentle reader,

My blog is four months old today! And I am very close to have 100 followers, how exciting is that?! Thanks to everyone who has supported me and this blog in the past few months. You’ve made this blogging endeavour worth it…

So it is now July and I have decided to join the awesome writing challenge that is A Round of Words in 80 Days (aka ROW80) for the second time. Created by Kait Nolan, it is “the writing challenge that knows you have a life”, or “the challenge that champions the marriage of writing and real life.” Unlike NaNoWriMo which runs for only a month, each ROW80 round runs for 80 days and the participating writers have to set themselves writing goals for that time. Each Wednesday and Sunday, we check in and let the others know how we are doing. The idea is to form writing habits that writers will hopefully continue once the challenge is over.

Thus after my JuNoWriMo debacle (during which I have learned that one cannot spend an average of 9.1 hours per day at work AND write a 50.000 words novel), I am back to doing a writing challenge that will actually fit into my crazy daily schedule.

So here are my goals for this round:

1-      Write everyday

2-      Self-edit The Last Queen

This was one of my goals for the last round and I did complete it, however since then I have heard Back from a few beta readers/agents and I have some new editing to do.

3-      Continue writing the first draft of The Cursed King

This is the second book in my DARKLANDS epic fantasy trilogy (more info here) and I really want to finish a first draft during this round.

Round Three starts on Monday, July 2nd and will end on Thursday, September 20th.

If you would like to join in this writing challenge and become a part of the ROW80 community, here are the rules:

  1. Post a goals post in which you lay out your goals for this round.
  2. Post a check-in post every Wednesday and Sunday, in which you share your progress with the other ROW80 participants.
  3. Comment on other participants’ check-in posts.

Here is the Linky for the other participants’ posts. What are your ROW80 goals for this round?