Starting a Scene

[idontknowyet]

How do you start the majority of your scenes?

As I write, I've notice that more often than not I jump right into the action with the very first line. I'm sure some of that is because of my issues with description. Really though most if it is how I like reading. I want you to catch my attention right away.

I was reading earlier about people that will force themselves to keep reading a book even if they don't like the first two pages. Rarely do I make it through a book if I don't see promise in the first page.

What about you what drives the opening of your scenes?

[Simon Haynes]

From my WIP, the very first sentence from a couple of random scenes:


"Rat catchers?" I whispered to Roberta, as we followed the maid.


and another:


At that moment the professor strode into the room, gesticulating with the folded newspaper. "They found his body in the river!" he exclaimed. "Yet another tragedy!"


I do love to dive right in.

Ironically, the first chapter is the one where I do include a line or two of scene setting, but I feel that's important at the very start of the novel. Action or dialogue with no context can seem a little hollow to me.

[Lynn]

I try not to think too hard when I start a scene. I don't want to tighten up. If that happens, the writing isn't going to be good and I'm going to lose the natural flow of the story.

Starting with some action or dialogue is good, and I do it often, but then I take a few seconds to ground the reader in the scene with a bit of description that fits into the action.

It's important for me to let the reader know the basics so they can create a visual image of what's happening. As the writer, I just know where it is and what's happening, but someone other than me needs clues because they can't read my mind, they can only read the story I've put into words. :D

[Shoe]

How do you start the majority of your scenes?

For individual scenes I have no rules, but I always open a book (chapter 1, opening line) with ambiguous dialogue.

[cecilia_writer]

I just did a quick check of my most recently published novels, and I have:
A woman holding on to a garden gate and then reluctantly opening it to walk up the path.
A (different) woman getting out of bed while struggling into her dressing-gown
Yet another woman (I do have quite a lot of male people in my novels too!) staring with loathing at a pink cup-cake.
Yet another woman (oh no, not again!) walking along a beach.
A young boy (thank goodness for that) feeling as if he's being suffocated.
In all the above cases the first couple of sentences contain some idea of what the story is about, and in the cases of the woman and the dressing-gown and the young boy, the action starts up more or less immediately.

[Maggie Ann]

You made me look at the current project. Not a lot of action, but movement and some conflict. I think I'm okay.

[Jeff Tanyard]

If I switch POV characters frequently, then I usually start a scene by clearly identifying whose POV it is.

[JRTomlin]

I like to open with something happening, but since my reader doesn't yet have any reason to care about my character or his problems in chapter 1, it won't be the main problem. Other than that, I tend to try to start with what the scene requires and make no arbitrary rules.

I consider the first two sentences of Ch 1 of Game of Thrones a classic opener that I aspire to match but, of course, never will.

The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded, twenty in all, and Bran rode among them, nervous with excitement.

[Rosie Scott]

I had to look at my WIP to answer your question. Before looking, I would have said I start with action-oriented description, and that tends to be true, but I like to introduce readers right away to either the setting, a character, or the current problem. Here are some examples:

The first line of the novel, setting the scene:
Like a lost soul desperate for liberation from hell, the shipwreck begged for my attention in the blue abyss by reaching out with shards of frayed wood and loosely floating debris.

The first few lines of the second chapter, introducing a character for the purposes of overcoming a problem (buying a new ship from an easily-persuaded man):
“I'm asking forty,” Liam Draper began, standing on the pier beside his caravel. He was a desperate man. Fatigue settled in the wrinkles around his eyes, and the stressed tone of his voice indicated the ship was a constant irritation he'd rather be rid of.

Oftentimes, I start a new scene by indicating the passage of time (some of my books cover many years of events). One of my chapters is set a full season after the last, so it starts with:
While northern Arrayis froze over, moody skies blanketed the wildlands in shadow.

I try to always start scenes to immerse readers in a location, predicament, or conversation between well-developed or adequately introduced characters. Whenever I read, I hate scenes that jump right into things and use description later because then I have to overwrite the things my imagination created with accurate description, so I avoid this in my own books. In some cases this isn't necessary because the environment or all involved have already been introduced, in which case I'll start with action/dialogue with supportive description (body language, movements, etc.).

[VanessaC]

Love this discussion.

Like others, I tend to start the whole book with a little bit more lead-in, but the scenes after that usually jump straight in. Sometimes they follow straight on from the previous scene, sometimes we've moved in both time and place, so I do try and make that clear early on.

But, actually, I'm learning (and finding) that the end of scenes are just as important, perhaps even more so, than the start - you want to pull your readers on, so a little bit of tension or a mini cliff-hanger at the end of the scene encourages a reader to keep going. 

[Simon Haynes]

Re the end of scenes, my method has always been to end on a hook, no matter how small. I want to give people a reason to start the next chapter immediately.

In my own experience, the start of a new chapter is the place where I generally stop reading for the night. But if the previous chapter ended on a decent hook, and the new one takes that hook and drags it out a just little bit longer, while introducing something else to think about, I'll eventually discover it's 5.30 in the morning and hey I'll keep reading because there are only 3 chapters to go.

[notthatamanda]

I try to end the chapter on an oomph! moment. I can see the appeal of the hook to keep the reader reading, but, I don't know, I remember many bleary eyed days at work when I stayed up way too late reading the night before, so I guess I feel sorry for my readers.  Get a good night's sleep! You'll be happy tomorrow. I focus instead on moving the story along within the chapter.  It's just how I do it, not saying that one way is better than the other.

[Vijaya]

As a reader, I need to be grounded, so it carries over into my writing with a sentence to set the scene, then jump to the action. And I like to end with a little hook, and it's always so great to know you kept your reader up late at night with your story people

[elleoco]

Interesting thread. Janice Hardy's Monday blog post was on this subject, but it didn't inspire me to go look at a bunch of my own first lines for scenes.

Like everything, we probably attract/repel a different set of readers with different kinds of openings. I've dumped a good many books after a brief glance if the first scene opens with no sense of time or place and does't orient me after a couple of paragraphs. Yet more than a sentence or two of description is too much.

When I looked at the openings of scenes (follow-ups, not opening, which isn't written yet) in my WIP, I got a variety, but I'd say emotion dominates. You'd expect that in romance as opposed to say, thriller, or at least I would.

Anger raced up Sadie’s spine in a red wave, drowning out common sense and every practical consideration. How could all her plans have come to this, to letting a chinless weasel like Ed Oliver welsh and dictate?

“Get her up.” Ed shoved Georgette toward Sadie’s crumpled form. Damn women. Nothing but trouble.

Shaking with cold, Sadie woke to darkness and a pounding in her head that absorbed her whole being. Blind. She moaned, slammed her eyes shut, tried to raise hands to face, and couldn’t.

Someone was trying to drown him by dripping water over his nose and mouth. Zach jerked his head to the side and pried gritty eyelids open.

Sadie watched the drifter stagger toward the hills. Let that ungrateful piece of work walk north until he and his horse collapsed into a heap of buzzard food.

[Simon Haynes]

Maybe we should have an 'opening paragraph' topic.  Authors post their opening paragraph, or a couple of sentences, and anyone inspired to read on clicks the thanks button. (No critiques unless requested though. I'm thinking of a simple testing ground with minimal feedback.)

And rather than posting updated openings in new replies, authors could just edit the original post.

[idontknowyet]

Maybe we should have an 'opening paragraph' topic.  Authors post their opening paragraph, or a couple of sentences, and anyone inspired to read on clicks the thanks button. (No critiques unless requested though. I'm thinking of a simple testing ground with minimal feedback.)

And rather than posting updated openings in new replies, authors could just edit the original post.

Love this!!!!!!

[Lorri Moulton]

Maybe we should have an 'opening paragraph' topic.  Authors post their opening paragraph, or a couple of sentences, and anyone inspired to read on clicks the thanks button. (No critiques unless requested though. I'm thinking of a simple testing ground with minimal feedback.)

And rather than posting updated openings in new replies, authors could just edit the original post.

Great idea.  I'd like to do this with my Christmas novella.

[Shoe]

This list is fun to ponder:

100 Best Opening Lines
http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp

[PJ Post]

I try to focus on empathy, so I open with mood or emotions. Any description requires work on the part of the reader, but moods and emotions are something they recognize immediately. So now, as I move on to other stuff (settings, descriptions, action), I've given them a perspective, a lens to shape their attitudes and opinions through. I also use these openings (or parts of them) as repetitive character beats as subtle reminders throughout.

And yeah, let's try the opening paragraph thing.

[kdiem]

I try to open every novel or short story with a hook (It’s stupid to wake a dragon. It’s suicidal to wake one by repeatedly poking it with a pointy stick.). Then I follow up with the description/scene setting which explains the hook at least in part. Then dive into action.

When I can, I end a chapter with a hook, but the next chapter usually starts with a quick scene-setting. I try to keep the description to no more than a paragraph, maybe two if there's a lot going on. Then action! Banter! Etc. etc.

[cecilia_writer]

I suppose what my scenes have in common is that I almost always start with a viewpoint character, and the first few sentences convey something important about them. I realised this again earlier today when I started my NaNoWriMo novel with a teenage boy in danger on a boat.