If you want to write a compelling opening in your fantasy novel, then check out my First Chapter Mastery program: firstchaptermastery.com/ (This also includes the option to get my personal feedback on your writing.)
@Jed_Herne Jed, involving the section about characters waking up, I want to write a story where there's a "utopian" city(not really, but something like that). the character wakes up and does normal day to day stuff but gets involved with the conspiracy about the city. he eventually get caught, and has his memory wiped. then the next chapter starts with his routine the same as chapter one. Should I change this, or start with a prologue? I honestly don't know, but I would love to here your advice.
you provide such great resources to passionate writers, but im wondering if you have any video plans to help non-writers start writing. Ive always been more STEM inclined and never enjoyed writing in school, but now Ive suddenly got the interest. Im still not sure how to ... just start. Its a daunting task thats been looming on my mind.
Random question, what about a dream about a traumatic memory, are they still so irrelevant? When you want to show a moment that is relevant in term of the character personality and history?
@@Hingeyboy How good is the hook that you leave us with at the end of your first chapter? Does it make me want to move on to the next one? I’ve only just started reading Jed’s writing (making my way through a sample of Across The Broken Stars) and the first chapter was so good that I have to buy the book to see where the story goes. The chapter begins with the protagonist working at their mundane, dead-end job, *but* Jed quickly makes us realize why he started the story when he did. Things start off “normally,” but there’s a crescendo in intensity until we reach the end of the chapter. Make sure this is happening regardless of whether things start off normally or not. For example, in the 1st chapter of Across The Broken Stars, interesting things were happening even though the protagonist was experiencing things a lot of us have experienced or witnessed before: working a job we hate for people we don’t like, getting emasculated/humiliated by a dominant ethnic group, etc. So when the chapter ended, I was legitimately intrigued because Jed had done a good job of establishing certain expectations and stakes, that’s how I knew sh*t was about to go down in the next chapter. Do that in your novel and you’ll be good.
One of the things that I’ve noticed in modern writing is that writers are more and more encouraged to start with the inciting incident. That misses the opportunity to show the world before it falls apart. It is possible to have conflict, stakes and choices in the normal world leading up to the incident that breaks it. It is hard to empathize with a character’s loss when we don’t get to see what it is that they lost.
I like to have a false-start inciting incident which propels the MC into the real inciting incident. A mini plot which resolves early on, and has relevance to the main plot. Something to keep the readers invested while introducing them to the world.
The obsession with "inciting incident" is a plague of using rote instead of thinking and analysis. It is formulaistic thinking. It has some validity, but also, it can be in conflict with what is needed from the writing. I've never read a book and wondered "What is the inciting incident!?"
@@antimatters6283 I think in most good works the "inciting incident" is delayed at least long enough for you learn a bit about the people being incited. If the inciting incident is supposed to upset the balance of the main character's world, well you have to see what their balanced world looks like before you upset it. And I also see multiple incidents throughout the novel, one or two small ones to pull things along with a big incident that leads to the climax happening much later. Harry Potter, for example the Hogwarts letters come in the 3rd chapter. And even the later books start with a section on how Harry escapes the mundane after a chapter or two reintroducing the reader to the world. But the incident that kicks off the core plot of each book is much much later. Chapter 9/10 is where the first book brings up the mystery of what's behind the forbidden door and that someone is trying to get past it. That's about halfway through the novel.
@@antimatters6283I’d argue that every story has an inciting incident, whether you realize it or not. It’s the event which makes the story happen in the first place, and you might not think about what the inciting incident will be because you already know. Most blurbs directly tell you or heavily hint at it. "Patricia's life was perfect BUT then X happened and she has to do Y to get her old life back" or something along those lines
Well we have our writing challenge. The high action and low stakes fight of an unknown character that talking about world building lore using nonsense terms while fighting with a mysterious entity. Commentary is provided by twenty named and described characters making references to events that are never explained continuing for over fifty pages. Just to find out it was all a dream about an event that happened over a thousand years ago, before getting a lengthy detailed description of the morning chores of a farm hand that ends with them greeting the actual main character. Oh and as a bonus the narrative doesn't return to this character for over seven books but only then to get an update on the how the chickens are doing. Spoilers for book 8; They are doing fine and are laying lots of eggs.
The novelization of The Last Jedi begins with one of those pointless dream sequences in which Luke dreams that he had never left Tatooine. It has no bearing on the story, is never referenced again, and doesn't really elucidate anything about Luke's character.
This one I actually understand. The highlight of the story is Luke’s regret, and giving up hope. So it’s interesting for a reader to realize the farm boy who desperately wanted to leave, and brought down the Empire, now has regrets. And informs the big arc of his and Rey’s and Kylo’s story.
Hi im the one who sent the pinecones! Unfortunately it's an example from a real novel 😭 I wish i could take credit because it wouldve been so funny, but it really is the biggest fantasy writer in my country right now who does that. The first 3 pages had more than 10 neologisms & place names with NO explanation to any of them. And you were just expected to somehow follow along. Some of them weren't explained until several chapters later but they still kept getting mentioned. It was so hard to read fr.
Just a few meters before reaching the crest, Sovden stopped to once more to look at the sky. Even without visual aid, he could easily see the ship started throttling down. He'd followed the launch sequence so many times, he had it all memorized by now ... 4,3,2,1, main engine cutoff ... stage separation... second stage ignition... boostback. Another flawless dance of metal and gas streaking across the evening sky. He had no doubt about it. Or did he? Why had he taken his first vacation in 5 years to the only place in the country he was guaranteed to see the launch?
I was guilty of writing the 'confusing battle scenes' opening so many times when I was younger. I don't know why, but I seemed so intent to think it was a great way to open a story :P
@@Kaede-Sasaki I think it does work better for movies the sole reason that movies are a different medium and its approached very differently than books.
Honestly about prologues... ASOIAF's first book A Game of Thrones has one of the most iconic prologues I know and it's overall pretty liked by the community... yet it's exactly what the readers you asked hate: - First of all the prologue exists. - Second of all the relevance of the Others isn't really there at all in the first book as whole. (they don't even appear at all in the second book if I remember correctly.) - The characters immediatelly died, never appear again, weren't important in the main story whatsoever. Literally some people who "won't matter for the rest of the novel" and not only novel, the serie overall. And it still is a GREAT prologue! So I disagree with this point, because... it depends really. If you know how to write prologues, even those with "possibly bad things" in them... it can still be great.
Also it puts almost immediately a ton of named characters, yet I loved it (Even though in the first book I had to check the name catalogue every 2 pages😅)
This could be one of those "you know the rules well enough so you can break them" moments. Like if youre starting at baking FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. If youre ages in? Freewheel it. You know whats up
Some complain about Stormlight's prologues, but I love them. They hooked me right away, and did a great job at establishing everything, they're filled to the brim with Easter-eggs and foreshadowing.
Two of my favorite parts of Stormlight so far are the assassination of Gavilar and Kaladin’s last battle before getting enslaved. I’ve seen people disliking them but they’re just so cool and set up the world so well.
Start with a dream sequence info dump by a secondary character who is killed immediately and never mentioned again as your first prologue (you should have several, each 4k+ words).
Meanwhile, every time I felt like I about to have an ok chapter 1, I found more mistakes and more ways to make it better. Until now, I haven't got past the first chapter
"The day that everything changes"! Yes. This is some writing wisdom it took me only years to learn, but decades to articulate. When does the story start? When everything changes.
One that I really dislike, but that some say is a good way of starting a novel, is when a novel starts somewhere in the future and then uses the rest of the book to explain how they got there. It's probably not universally bad, but it's bad in 99% of cases. The only place where I didn't really mind this opening, is in The Name of the Wind. And that's because the future version isn't anything to look forward to. He's just an innkeeper and there isn't really anything that gets taken away from the reader. Moreover, the whole story is basically told through that setting, making it actually somewhat relevant to the story. And despite all of that and me actually liking this novel, I'm still not the biggest of fans of this opening. So, maybe not universally bad, but very close to it. Because I can't even think of a single other case where I didn't dislike this opening.
Oh, I despise that! As soon as I realize the prologue/first chapter is actually the ending or the midpoint of the story I skip it. No thank you. I’m not interested in getting spoiled, just start with the damn story
One thing I thought of when you were discussing Prologues, is the potential for new writers to write their novel too much like a movie, and how there are things that just don't work as well when implemented into written form. I hope one day you could do a video on avoiding these pitfalls
I try to write my stories with a 3rd person limited perspective. Very rarely do i go in peoples heads (its a bit rude). I try to let actions, even if written, speak whats on their mind. For example: "greg shifted his leg and snuck a glance at the door while his boss continued about TPS reports." I dont need to go in gregs head for the readers to know that greg is trying to leave. Show dont tell (in a written book 😂).
For #8, I think the worst offender is "The Way of Kings." It basically has THREE prologues, the first of which is hard to get much out of even after you read the rest of the huge volume.
It's also an offender of #9 where you get Cenn and an action scene... and then TADA Kaladin is a slave. Just start us with Kaladin start us with Kaladin's latest escape attempt or something if we need the action. And we know something about one of Kal's escapes could be usable because we're told he tried to escape with others and that helped him get caught again. So we have oh he's selfless trying to help everyone escape instead of fending for himself, and you can show he's good with a weapon. And the jump from he's trying to escape to he's in the caravan is a bit more natural and his trip is how he meets Syl but you keep it short and sweet and focus on Kal meeting Syl and then fast forward to him being a bridgeman. Can really cut a lot of part 1 out. Also doesn't help that your break from Kaladin being a slave is TWoK Shallan who comes across as someone who feels she SHOULD be witty, not someone who is actually witty. She has all those forced has to have the last word with some quip moments. At least in WoR she's better about that.
Jop, 100% true. If this book would not have been recommended to me, I would not have made it past the prologes. I did not care about the "angle" or the assassine. I cared about the soldier, but this made it only harder to care about the broken Kaladin afterwards. Until he got his shit together every Kaladin chapter was a drag.
A great example of beginning a fantasy novel with a high tension scene that turns into action is The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lacky & Larry Dixon. What makes this beginning unique is that it's a heist mission. We follow only one character, the lead, and see how he uses his skills to sneak into an enemy encampment, explaining the magic system through show not tell. It's tense but quiet and focused, and the action is running away from guards, which releases that tension. We get a good look at the enemy and see why our lead, who is a formidable warrior, still runs for his life. There's no actual fighting, just "Holy shit this is a bad situation".
This sounds pretty perfect I agree. The silent tension you mentioned is a favourite of mine, easy to get readers invested and you give them a chance to get to know the characters through internal monologue etc
I suspect one of the mistakes is "I don't know where the story is going." And, not being willing and able to edit or write with proper sentences and grammar. Those are just a guess. Glad to hear Jed talk about "trust" in the author. A needed subject to discuss. Trust is earned. Good video.
Readers: Prologues bad Me looking at my Animorphs inspired/journalistic prologue: Oh no Jed: Well, try to keep them short Me looking back at my prologues: Thank goodness for your 300 words
Well, what i learned from this video is that one of my books i have started right, and one i have started wrong. These surveys and videos are sooo helpful, cant wait for the 10 best ways to start! ❤
In my own sci-fi dystopian novel I use the prologue to create a contrast. My prologue is basically a last pages of MC diary, and it’s filled with sense of hopelessness and despair. The first lines are: “4.09.2067 Entry number… Who cares. Probably, it will be the last one” which I find interesting for a reader. The prologue then describes MC and other characters stuck in an underground bunker after a nuclear attack, and having no way out. It ends with characters getting in chronopod to spent thousands of years frozen with no hope of ever seeing a sunlight again. All of this contrasts with the first part of a novel, which is describing seemingly “bright and happy” future. Also, my prologue is the only part of a novel written from first person instead of the third one, and I believe that will help reader to understand MC and their inner world better. P.S. Sorry if my English isn’t good enough, I’m not a native speaker and my draft is written on Russian (my first language), sorry if my translation wasn’t clear
@@otaku-chan4888 I know. With this book I took major inspiration from “Brave new world” - my favourite dystopia. What I notice is that many authors write dystopias as just “grim dark cyberpunk totalitarian society”, and in my opinion it’s kinda lame. That’s why I love novels like “Brave new world” and “Мы”, which portray dystopian society much more… complex? And I like this! Worlds like that are much more thought provoking than an average dystopia. It’s one of my favourite dilemmas: “Would you exchange your freedom for happiness?” And that is one of the main themes of my novel. Maybe, some day I will publish it, if my motivation will allow me to finish it (I think that I might have ADHD, because for me it’s so hard to just do stuff, and I hate it. But getting assessed in my country is nearly impossible, so I guess there is nothing we can do). But overall, thanks for feedback! :)
@@otaku-chan4888 I know. With this book I took major inspiration from “Brave new world” - my favourite dystopia. What I notice is that many authors write dystopias as just “grim dark cyberpunk totalitarian society”, and in my opinion it’s kinda lame. That’s why I love novels like “Brave new world” and “Мы”, which portray dystopian society much more… complex? And I like this! Worlds like that are much more thought provoking than an average dystopia. It’s one of my favourite dilemmas: “Would you exchange your freedom for happiness?” And that is one of the main themes of my novel. Maybe, some day I will publish it, if my motivation will allow me to finish it (I think that I might have ADHD, because for me it’s so hard to just do stuff, and I hate it. But getting assessed in my country is nearly impossible, so I guess there is nothing we can do). But overall, thanks for feedback! :)
Russian? Sweet. I would like someone from Russia helping me with my book. I don’t know why but it feels like it would be inspired by Russia. Like it’s fantasy so not the real world but it would still have Russian influence in it. I’m worried that I’ll write it stereotypically or not authentic enough.
Great video. I attended a group call you did on 1st chapters, and it helped a ton! Took a remnant of when I first started the book--going through a "normal" day for the MC to discover the world for myself--and started at an exciting place that shows him doing what 99% of people wouldn't do. Thanks!
@@DaveRoberts308 er no. people have just gotten sick of them and the repetitive way they are told. prologues aren't a negative thing at all. they shouldn't even be looked at sideways.
The Prologue That Worked: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” This simple setup set the tone of the whole book. It was a good place to come from, and a good place to get back to. Everything in between could be as fantastical or adventurous or horrifying as it would be, and this would be endured. This told you everything you needed to know about why you might want to go Out There, but you would also want to go Back Again.
Thank you for posting this at the perfect time, I am just starting to writing the first draft of chapter 1 of my fantasy novel, and this arrived just as I found myself staring for 15 minutes at the single sentence that I had made! Very useful, thanks a lot!
I actually like prologues that "info dump" on me. It is like a "you need to know this in advance"-primer on the world or the events, and as prologues tend to be not very long, I know it won't take too much time to ingest it.
7:30 Prologues aren’t pointless, they often serve as a thematic or narrative framing device to help slowly introduce the reader to the world within the story.
Great video! One opening I dislike is similar to the 4th worst from the video (the Confusing Setups one). I don't like it much when the book opens with a scene that happens LATE in the book as a way of hooking you and continuing to read to see how you get to that situation. Yes it's instant action and a great hook, but I just don't really like it.
23:45 one example of the hype man introduction is in Hamilton. In the song Right Hand Man, the protagonist is undeniably Washington, however we start with, first of all, a chorus showing how there are thirty two thousands troops in New York harbor, showing the sheer scale of the conflict and the power of the British army. Then we go onto Hamilton “As a kid in the Caribbean, I wished for a war. I knew that I was poor, I know it was the only way to rise up.” Then he starts to talk about "one man" “But there's only one man who can give us a command so we can rise up! Understand, it's the only way to rise up! Rise up! (Here he comes)" Then Burr begins to literally hype up the man XD “Ladies and gentlemen! (Here comes the general!) The moment you've been waiting for! (Here comes the general!) The pride of Mount Vernon! (Here comes the general!) GEOOOOORGE WASHINGTON!" And only then we hear Washington with what can be described as one of the coldest openings in the entire album. Dude just hits the ground running, gets this hyped up introduction, this almost a minute long build up and continues it full force. "We're outgunned! Outmenned! Outnumbered, outplanned! We gotta make an all out stand! Ayo I'm gonna need a right hand man." Washington's style is very hip hoppy, he doesn't have a lot of breaks during his verses and it's very energetic and metric, so I think the more melodic and calm opening with Burr's ballooning hype served as the perfect bridge into Washington's powerful, straight-to-the-point, commanding style of singing. Dude is certain of where he is, what's he gotta do and what he needs to do it, and we gotta understand it.
I find it funny that Ocarina of Time (I know it's a game, shush) starts with a dream and the main character waking up. (in fact, several of the Legend of Zelda games start with Link waking up. It works in a video game, not so much in writing.)
As I reader and future writer, I agree with most of these except for the action at the beginning and the prologue. As long as they are used properly as Jed mentions, they are fine to use in your novels. It's the amateur writers that give these two ways to write with a bad taste in readers mouths so to speak.
I love it when I'm not feeling very confident in my writing and you drop a video that shows me, I am actually doing a good job so far. Thanks Jed! Absolutely great video.
@@StarlasAiko this is actually a lie. The legal minimum for an official study requires only a 100 person sample size. Due to this, most studies are conducted with only 100-1000 people. Though, the important factor is that all participants must have randomized demographics. Due to not having a randomized audience, a specific “audience”, such as this one, is unfortunately a biased one.
*This is a cry of help to any and all writers* I've been sitting on a story for a few years now. It's about a broken man being suddenly thrust into a fantasy world. He then goes on a journey to reunite with a friend from his original world, and heals from his past traumas along the way. The issue is that I'm not sure how to express his trauma and friendship without doing a big character introduction for my first chapter. Granted I wont tell the backstory, more show it in a mini story before the main plot. But I think this still would make for a very slow introduction. The information is crucial and I'm reluctant to use flashbacks as they wont work too well with the style I have in mind for the book. I'm stumped at what to do. Any and all advice would be appreciated.
(CW: mentions of PTSD and trauma related behaviour, nothing too graphic) Hello, there! It sounded quite interesting, so I thought i might give my two moldy cents :) The interesting thing about trauma is that it's not something that just *happened* in the past, it follows you like a shadow, showing through your actions and thoughts; it connects the present to the past. So I would focus more on the abnormalities that show in the present while giving subtle clues to what might've happened (ex.: someone with trauma related to fire being anxious in hot places and "prefering cold food" so they don't have to start a fire). Flashbacks might be quite hard to avoid, but you can mix them up or replace them with thoughts and dialogue from the protag that kinda indicate what happened in a more subtle way if you don't wanna straight up tell the reader what happened (ex.: "I already turned the fire off, right...? Well, won't hurt to double check.", and upon seeing it was in fact off, they just stood there an extra minute, as to convince themself it's actually off.), but you could also save the straight up telling what happened for a more heavy and emotional scene, as payoff for all the little clues you gave so far! You could even go for PTSD flashbacks if it gets to that, since they make you go back to what happened in a physical/emotional sense as well, while knowing you're not actually back there. As for the friendship, I would need a bit more context and to know when they meet again to give a decent suggestion, but if they meet midway through the journey, you could show the inconsistencies in the protag's behaviour and how it impacts the dinamic of the friendship. It could be a silent distance formed, avoidance, hard time trusting, etc. Sorry for the long text, and hope it helps even if a bit! :)
Would it be possible to start with your guy in a scenario where he's directly hindered by his trauma and wishing he had his friend's help? Then we don't need backstory yet and can feel the weight of his limits/loss of the relationship.
@@Faust.doodle Thanks for the advice! This has given me a good idea of how to show his PTSD in a more natural way! As for the friendship... well it was kind of deceptive of me to call it a friendship. I just wanted to keep it short so I avoided giving details. Sorry in advance for the long block of text. Here is a summary of my chapter 1 and maybe 2 if it gets that long (CW: Suicide): Guy has trauma related to talking with people as well as playing music. His mother was sickly and his father was never a part of the picture. His mom taught him to play guitar, and they enjoyed playing music and dancing together. He never went out much because kids would make fun of his living situation, as well as his ill mother. Despite being sick, his mother worked to barely keep food on the table. Then, she overexerted herself and died while singing to one of his songs. He was taken in by an uncaring realitive and refuses to play guitar again because that is how his mother died. Years pass anc hes now grown up and living on his own. Then one day on his way home from work he sees a girl dressed in a pure white dress dancing under a willow tree. She smiles and dances in the same way that his mother did. After weeks of seeing her dancing there, he finally decides to talk to her. But his PTSD about talking to strangers kicks in and he just can't do it. He decides that if he can't approach her, maybe his music can. She's like his mother after all. So he starts to practice on his guitar again, pushing past a bit of that trauma. Then, one day he finds her under the tree once again, but this time is different. She is sluggish, and is barely standing. Then she collapes. He rushes to her aid, and only then does he realise that her white dress is actually a hospital gown. He carries her to the nearest hospital but it's too late. She's dead. This breaks him. He has no one left, his parents are gone, he's living alone and has no friends to speak of. So he quits his job, in hope of someone, anyone to come for him. Even if it's just a concerned message from a coworker. But no one does. Then he gets a rope, and hangs himself from the willow tree that the girl used to dance under. But he doesn't die. Instead he is brought to another world. He is reborn into the family of the local lord. Time moves on, and when he turns 6 his family goes to a traveling carnival. There he sees a young lady no older than himself dancing on stage. Her smile and dance are the exact same as the girl from under the willow tree. Even the song is from his world. Unfortunately his family refuses to let him meet her. He cant even sneak out because of his special condition(which I wont mention). So he decides that once he's grown enough, he'll go find her. With your advice I could straight up cut out the beginning parts with his mom and just tell the story of him meeting the girl. But the part she is central to the plot, and I don't know how I'd cut her. Any thoughts?
@@Vexx263 I'm glad you found it helpful! I was brainstorming for a bit when I thought of something. I'm not sure if that would fit the progression since I don't know the exact order of events, but what if the story of how he met the girl was told by him in a song? If his past with his mom is slowly revealed through his actions and thoughts, that would give the reader something to wonder about and piece together as the plot progresses. Meanwhile, while trying to overcome his past, he could try and make a song about the girl and how he met her, what life felt like at that point, slowly and bit by bit, in hopes of her remembering him/getting his words to reach her when they meet again? I think it would be quite sweet and tie back to his trauma with music and talking to people by showing his growth in order to reach her! :)
I started my first chapter with an action scene with a few characters, but its mainly used as a way to establish who my main character is and his "legend" in the world without making it a history prologue dump. Bounty hunters attacking my main character. They are only in that one chapter but they help show my character's skills and the way he thinks.
This makes me feel pretty good about my first chapter. The first line says “Dallin was six years old when the monster first appeared,” which I think is a pretty good hook. The rest of the chapter/prologue is largely spent establishing how Dallin responds to feelings of helplessness and how he adapts to fear with a freaking werewolf guarding the door to his bedroom every night. All of it is intertwined with the overall plot and theme of the book, and I like to think all of it is engaging. I really hope it turns out to be as good as I think it is when the book actually comes out. My parents say they liked it, my aunt said it was good, and my friend says I wrote her second favorite werewolf, but I just do not have enough beta readers to give me any real confidence that I don’t have a drastically overinflated conception of my own ability😅
One of the most effective fantisy opennings I've seen is the prologue to wings of fire's first book, before the prologue, there's a whole prophecy that establishes the basic plot: three warring queens, five dragonets will hatch to stop the war. Openning with a prophecy is fairly standerd, but in the prologue, one of the queens kills one of the dragonets in its egg, and everything is thrown into question, can the prophecy even come true with one of them dead? It also establishes the world as a very dangerous place and one of the main antagonists as a ruthless villain. It uses an established convention and then subverts it to create the hook.
*snip* *snip* *shuffle* *glue* *snip* *duct tape* Done! Now my third chapter is my first, and my first is my third, and my second can stay where it is for now. I wonder if I'll be changing this again after Jed's next video...? (Seriously Jed - your videos have been a revelation for my writing. Thanks!)
Not my idea, but I once saw a comment that used the "waking up" trope in a way that keeps you interested. I think it went something like this: "The day began, and she woke up from her bed. Seemingly tired, she shuffled past her mirror towards the bathroom, her beautiful tail moving majestically in her reflection. Suddenly, she stopped, turned around and looked back at what she saw in the mirror, rubbing her eyes, then looking back at the mirror again. Because even though she was never the best at remembering things, she was certain that the day before she didn't have a tail at all."
This thing about not starting with your protagonist and not making it obvious can be useful if your story has alternate history elements or is a retailing of another popular story. If there is an expectation that most readers would be aware of how the events your altering actually went, then starting this way is more useful. Let's say you start a story from the perspective of Napoleon on the eve of his seizure of power, but then he dies in chapter two. Or, you can have a story where you start the story from the perspective of Peter Pan, but he turns out to be the villain and your protagonist is actually Captain Hook. In both cases, you start with people who are well known and the audience would automatically believe are the protagonist. When that is not the case, then you have a powerful hook that keeps people interested. Not only that, the readers of each example above would most likely feel an emotional connection to the characters you start with. Of course, this only works because both examples the characters are still important. Napoleon dying early would create a cascade of events that would allow for this story to even exist in the first place. If Peter Pan turned out to be the villain, he would still be an important character to the story as a whole. In my own work, I am writing a Naruto fanfiction. The story opens up with the Third Hokage Hiruzen's perspective during the Nine Tails attack. You really get a sense that he is the protagonist and you hook the expected reader into story since the Nine Tails attack is a very important event and readers know that Hiruzen's impact on the event was relatively inconsequential in the actual series. By the end of the fifth chapter, he is dead and the only hint is him declaring his intention to use "That" jutsu. I believe this works in this case for the few reasons. Firstly, he is a well known characters that most of my readers will have an opinion of already. Second, his role is still incredibly crucial to the story as a whole. He is responsible for the survival of a major character in this story, the Fourth Hokage and causes a different character to have the Nine Tails sealed inside of them instead of the protagonist of the original story. This impact makes it possible for my story to even exist in the first place. Lastly, I am writing this as a series of novellas and novelettes instead of a series of novels. Therefore, Hiruzen is actually dying at the end of this first story. It should be noted that even though this first story is short, roughly 15,000 words, it is a complete story. (I used the 'save the cat' beat sheet, which is a 15 step version of the three act structure, to ensure this)
Avoidance of fantasy terms can go too far too. It always feels a little silly when the beasts the characters ride are called "lizard-horses" or whatever just because the author didn't want to use a "made-up" word. Especially when the setting doesn't even _have_ regular horses.
What about a Fantasy novel idea: The earth is partly destroyed by evil force. The God and Goddess makes a diction. When humans reach age 6, they are giving a card which they lean how to summon and control the magical creatures. There are people who don’t get any card, they are considered outcast. There are people who still other people cards and kill them. There is a person summoning evil force and has so many cards. So, three people use their card, defeats the evil force and the wicked person. The earth becomes saved.
This is an advice that I found at random and find it useful. If you are planning to use unique words, term or language, write a lexicon / dictionary, so the readers can learn and understand them, so they don't feel confused of what is the story is showing. This also can be useful tool if your story have many characters, this can help the writer in classifying which characters are main, background, antagonists and you can even add their job, their faction and general info. Thanks for this tips, man!
The problem with this is, it's hard to keep flipping back and forth to a lexicon or glossary or list of characters in an ebook-or, worse, an audiobook.
I'd say whenever you introduce a new term, make sure the reader gets to understand what that term represents and why it matters, before moving on to the next concept. When you get a box of chocolates of different flavors, you want to eat them one at a time to experience and understand their flavor. But if you have them all shoved into your mouth at once, each one would lose flavor and meaning, and you're left with a mess. A lexicon like that would be a good thing to have available on the side, especially for people who like knowing all the terms from the start so they can feel they are in on the conversation. But it should not be a replacement to proper introduction, since most people prefer the experience of the story and don't want to sift through a list when they haven't yet been given a story to make them care about it.
Having a dictionary is good, but it should never be used as an excuse for bad practice. It should be a bonus, not a necessity. It is best if new words become immediately obvious through context; second best is to explain their meaning immediately and diagenicly in main text.
I like starting with interpersonal conflict, even if minor (eg person a wants to go home early, person b tells person a they need to be a better employee, etc). My stories are more sci fi though.
Also I think it's valid to show someone dying at the beginning of the book if it has big consequences that we learn while reading the story. Idk any book example but in concept I can see it make sense if it's some great king/general whatever who died on the field or in an assassination and then the 1st chapter might show how the kingdom has fallen off cuz of it and some more ripple effects caused by it
"Dont write prologues, especially those that takes place years or decades before the story" *me who's favorite book series of all time is Wheel of Time...
This is humoring considering I've been trying to rework my opening. The story is on a culture based on reincarnation. Currently: prologue reveals a bit about the main character and her untimely death. Chapter one has her waking up one day in her next life on a somewhat ordinary day in her culture for someone viewed as an outsider.
Yes, info dump is something I really hate... Because I'm writing a book and when I'm introducing, almost every new place or character I write an info dump 😅 Then I have to rewrite the whole scene and split the important informations through it. And about 1/3 of them goes to the trash 😂
One thing that's helped me when writing a ton of info about things, like some side character or such, is to put it in another document. So I can put all this info there and not loose the cool ideas, but I don't have to put it all in the chapter and overload the reader, and can slowly introduce elements from these documents
@@QuatarTarandir true, I found the bibisco application very useful for organising stuff. But still, the first draft is just a direct mind-dump to document, I can't stop to put part of info into another place, because then I loose my thread. 😅
@@caserdziewiecdziewiec2272 I mean, that's fair. And in the end, it is the first draft, so you can keep it with all that detail and then rewrite it in a new document but trimmed down. And in the end, unless its pages, I feel like a few paragraphs of detail isn't too bad. It depends on the reader. Like many are fans of Tolkien's works, including myself, and he info dumbs a TON. If that's the type you're going for, than it's fine if not everyone will like it. At least that's my opinion on it
prologues are arguably my favorite way to start a story as a reader. they give a great sense of the world as a whole and they're just a really fun vibe
I love your videos. Very helpful for someone like me who enjoys to write and read fantasy/science fiction. Also loved seeing you on the 2toRamble podcast. Hope you appear on there again!
Thank you for this video, because of it, Ive realized that the short story Im setting out today to write is part of that probably less than one percent of stories that actually *would* ideally start with a dream sequence. Having said that, Im using the dream as a flash-forward, and then actually returning the character to the world of the dream shortly thereafter, so it truly does matter. Edit: I didnt actually *start* the story with the dream sequence, it's just really close to the beginning.
My prologues introduce the antagonist in only a few pages. No major details. You could always skip the prologues altogether and just enjoy the story from the first chapter on if you wanted to
Romance of the Three Kingdoms starts with a multi-page description of the entire 400-year history of the Han Dynasty. If it had been written today, I think an editor would have cut that out.
Hamlet breaks Rule Three by starting with a minor character (Horatio) talking to some even more minor characters (unnamed castle guards) - BUT it works because what they're talking about is the appearance of the Ghost of the old King on the castle ramparts. So it can definitely work IF you use this as a way to introduce the main problem of the story.
It doesn't get its flowers often, but Eragon's prologue actually works well for the story. Immediately introduces a conflict, and it ends with a character creating the inciting incident that our protagonist runs headfirst into his first chapter. Prologues don't often have such strong connective tissue.
I love how my story starts with both #7 and #5. Sometimes I wonder if a nightmare into the start of the day was the right choice, but they really do give incite to who MC is.
I like to think of a prolog as a thesis statement. Sort of like: Martins thesis would be “A looming threat of world destruction is more important than petty squabbles between noble houses.”
2:09 I have to agree with this one. I started reading Sanderson's way of kings a few months back and it kind of jumps back and forth in a strange and seemingly random way. It makes the opening chapters feel like a grind. Compare this to the beginning of Elantris, which is more intimate, familiar and understandable.
So true....the first 2/3 of that book are so confusing with all the nonlinear bouncing around. I was honestly kind of tired of Kaladin and his bullshit by the time the story finally started around page 900. I still cringe whenever a chapter opens with his POV two books later.
very good video. I have only one thing to say. it seems that there will always be a reader to hate something. my take on openings is: Every way to open a story is the worst besides the one that works. to all the ones that you talked about i knew at least one fantasy novel that did it and did it well. it is the execution that matters mostly
I think a good rule of thumb for writing great opening prologues is if the prologue makes chapter one better. This rule makes sure that the prologue has relevance in chapter one and not only in the ending.
My villain lives in his mom's basement and his mom helps the kidnapped pm leave after giving him some cookies for the road. He kidnapped the prime minister of another country whose security sugghed. Nobody looked for him because nobody liked him 😂 Book: psyber war by lionheart
@@lionheartpublishing5653 LOVE this 😂Humor is something I love in books but I didn't see that many authors that add it. Percy Jackson/The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy/Terry Pratchett are the only one that I remember now.
@@examenesinternacionalesaf3576 @examenesinternacionalesaf3576 Appreciate it. I forgot to n*me-drop that book: Psyber War (am*zon s*arch. = psyber war lionheart). Thank you
There is an anime named Juni Taisen: Zodiac war that kind of starts with a character death but the synergy of the writing makes it an incredible plot point.
I very recently decided to add in a prologue. It's only two pages long, but it does three very important things: it foreshadows that the stakes are much higher than my main characters will realize for a long time to come, it contextualizes the events that wrap up act 1 (which would otherwise feel like they came out of nowhere), and it introduces the most important side character (who would otherwise not be introduced until very late in the book, despite people constantly talking about him). It's not an exposition dump; in fact, I omitted so many details that the time and setting of the prologue is a bit misleading. All that really happens is the introduction of three side characters and one very ominous situation. When I showed this prologue to a couple people who had already read the work in progress without the prologue, it was like a lightbulb clicked on in their heads. I think adding a prologue was the right choice for my story.
You can absolutely have a prologue and have it be good. My favourite series ever (The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini) starts with a prologue that's basically the inciting incident for the events of the series, and it works great!
I imagine a dream sequence can be less annoying if it "provides value". Like if it gives you, the reader, some critical insight into a character's motivation; a character could have a dream about their ultimate goal or fear where it is represented by the most extreme symbiology that that character could conjure up in their mind and how over the top it is in the dream could help the ready then gage how that character really feels about something. Maybe, say, a character always acts very unphased by death, but maybe they fear their own death? Maybe their extreme dream of dying serves as a direct contrast, showing that they are lying or being dishonest when having conversations with other characters in the story?
So I’ve been struggling with the “character wakes up” as I’m not sure if I should change mine… more because the start of mine is him forcing himself up in an attempt to avoid his friend who will certainly come and check up on him if he’s still home. The concern I have is it still is him “waking up and following his daily routine” even if it does give a bit of his character through said routine of trying to avoid his friend.
What are your thoughts on starting the book where character is starting his day (how can you tell what is abnormal if you don't know what is normal for him/her?), but is engaged in conflict or character driven dialog with family and friends to better gauge how this character is (eg liar, trustworthy, caring, stand-offish)? Or possibly where the character is being surveyed/surveilled?
Starting from a throwaway pov can be frustrating, but I think if you are using that character's pov to show an outside perspective on the main character, it can be worth it. We get to see how the world views this character only for it to be very different from how they view themselves in the next chapter.
Would genuinely love people's opinion: Does it count as a "hype man" or more acceptble version of "not starting with the main character pov" for a character to interact with the somewhat legendary main main character through the first chapter and then be killed at the end of it, but the death of this guy directly begins the main conflict which escalates in increasingly surprising ways over the course of the story, eventually unrelated to him at all? Like, this character is not a complete rando, but he does not matter outside his death and the circumstances of why he met the main main character at all. I agree starting with a dead man walking is often problematic, and I have cringed at many a non-main character pov opening, especially of immediately obviously doomed people, but I am kind of stuck on this first chapter concept. It's my one true chance to set up something very important about the main main character, and the death does matter, even if the man it belongs to doesn't. Buuuut, having read it to my writing group, I was kind of astonished by how much they liked this nasty guy, and by how unhappy they were when he was offed. 😂 Plus, if it matters, I think that we might never actually be in the main main character's head the whole story, so in a way, meeting him first through someone else's pov is actually showing him as he will continue to be??? Like, my number one strength is writing interesting/ well-developed characters; I can't help it, even with throwaway characters. And I personally feel that EVERY character in a story should feel like a real person, even NPCs. I actually like that they cared he perished, because, in a way, that's the point. Death in a story shouldn't just be a throwaway; imagine how you'd feel later if the actual main characters were in danger. Buuuuut, I don't want them resenting the main main character over some gross old dude, or not getting in line with the real main character plot lines, even though I think it's pretty clear how Mr. Dead's death incites it. I dunno. In a way, I'm conflicted about this "do not start this way" rule, because as a reader I see myself as responsible for understanding what the author is doing, not charging the author with hand-feeding me as I lay back and don't think; I actually think readers have gotten overly used to fast and minimal writing, and to thinking every writing choice is a bug, not a feature. I get it, there's a lot of bad writing. But I argue it's bad reading to label everything a cliche and refuse to consider it at all, because in the end it's not the trope that kills the scene, it's the bad writing what done it. For me, whether or not I like what the author has presented me with is a very different thing than whether or not it works as intended. So when people say they bond with the first thing on the mental screen and then get mad if their assumptions aren't met, it's bad readership because you're assuming things and then blaming the the writer for not matching your assumptions. That's entitled. So, in a way I roll my eyes about this particular scenario because, like, when I start with this other guy you know this isn't the real thing. It's usually literally on the cover who the main characters are. In my case the main character is titular. So like, when you see this old guy instead, do people really get that invested that fast, even with every hint that they're doomed from the start? And further, is it really such a bad thing to be made to care about people other the main characters, especially about the death of a man? But maybe I'm too deep in author brain mode to see it as a reader....
I basically have a one-page prologue, which most is made apparent in the following chapter. And I slowly reveal it as time goes on. I show the slight magic of the world through the lens of a character that is integral to the story, and then switch over to the other character as they are drawn together. With incidents slowly keeping him occupied until he cannot escape; or doesn’t want to. Anyways, there’s no action, but perhaps an air of slight mystery.
It’s so strange to me that dreams a poorly used. Like it could be prophecy; whether right or wrong, or it could be practical: “Ben woke from the violent dream of a witch scratched his chest, to find mittens the cat needing his shirt.” Or “Ben awoke from the frightening dream of being chased by dragons all night long. Standing up on the cold cave floor, he realized this is the dragons den.” Maybe, “Ben sprang awake grasping for the sword that pierced his gut, only to find air. Confused he let out a huff, only for pain to rip through his stomach as he looked down at a gapping hole.”
My novel has a prologue. It is relevant. It is basically a short first chapter. But because I am working with an alien world, certain things need to be established before we continue. My main character wakes up in the first chapter and begins his morning routine. And it will still be different than anything else out there.
My prologue opens as follows: “In order to fully understand the following account of the 2nd war of the Cyruwns, it is recommended that the reader contains a small amount of prior knowledge on the creation of the Cyruwns, or the Four Stones. As such, these first few pages have been set aside, for the purpose of containing said prior knowledge in brief. While it is not necessary to read the following information, it is highly recommended to ensure the most clear understanding from the reader” I made sure to make clear the reader doesn’t need to read my history textbook of a prologue, but it will be helpful. It’s not very long, and honestly not very complex, but I know some people aren’t going to want to read about why a bunch of rocks are special, and they just want to read the actual story, so that’s why I included this. Second, the prologue is relevant even from the opening paragraph. That’s why it’s there. It makes everything just a little more clear. That’s what a prologue is for. Extra information that sets the stage.
Prologues. They can sometimes be good as long as they are setting up something that becomes relevant later. Related to this, a thing I'm finding I'm less fond of (as reading through The Stormlight Archive) is historical flashbacks. Sure, maybe they flesh out a character's motivation a bit, and they're probably more ok in a book that has a, singular, main character. But in Stormlight Archive, there are too many of them, and they often don't add enough info to make slogging through them worthwhile, and these books are already overly huge.
"Jason woke up naked, face down in the grass. That was not how he expected to wake up, having gone to sleep in his own bed and his own Darth Vader boxer shorts. From the feel of cool grass on his unmentionables, he had been removed from his bed and shorts both. The last thing he recalled was doing what he did most nights; playing video games until he got tired and fumbling his way into bed." He Who Fights With Monsters, everyone. Tell me that did not crack you up.
Fantasy novels can include made up jargon however the definition for these terms should be available either through footnotes or a dictionary in front of or at the back of the book.
