Well this is a bit late!
The prompt for Week 5 was dedicated to the importance (and the beauty) of the first page of a story.
If you just read that and wondered "What the heck does that matter, Kendra?" I'll tell you.
The first page is what captures your attention. Some people (like myself) walk into a bookstore, find a cover that looks intriguing, and immediately flip open the book...to the middle, and read a random paragraph. I never look at the first page - don't ask me why. But I think I can still answer why, and that's because I'm afraid of reading the first page, thinking "Oh dear god I need to finish this book" and not having the money to buy it or the time to read it. But isn't that a testament to how important the first page is? Isn't that a testament to the influence the first page has on any reader?
Something that's been brought up in conversation is the importance not only of the first page, but also the first sentence, which I have a problem with. I totally agree that the first page is the most important, and I work hard to get that first page (or that first chapter) to compel my readers to continue on the journey. But this first sentence situation is debatable.
Sometimes the first sentence in a story is some profound or 2deep4u phrase that may summarize the story's themes, or may not summarize but instead open the reader's mind to possibilities of themes. This may not be a bad thing. Some people may like that.
I don't.
I actually prefer reading an entire chapter and deciding if I want to continue reading, and I also like going to the end of the story to determine the themes for myself, instead of figuring it out along the way. It's less intriguing knowing details and themes as I read because then I'm worried about if the content of the story matches what the author has set up in one sentence.
Plus having a strong opening sentence is too much pressure. Putting so much work into one sentence? Not really feeling that. It takes away from my enjoyment of writing when I have to think about this one sentence leaving a distinctive mark (repetitive?) on my readers. And it's bad enough thinking constantly about my readers when I just want to write what I want, you know? It's a lot to think about, and I think if the first sentence situation is to be approached, it should be approached in the proofreading process, not while the story is being written. It further pushes away inspiration for me to keep going when I have to worry about how an audience will react.
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Fun fact: this blog was practice for me to get/write all of my thoughts out at once. I think I succeeded.
Kendra I agree with you about the first sentence. It is hard to come up with a compelling first line. I also struggle with the fact that I think I am giving too much up too fast. I like leaving hints or breadcrumbs for readers to follow, BUT I also like an element of confusion and surprise. I want my reader to have to consider the concepts and drama's that my characters are experiencing, draw their own conclusions and have their own aha moment at the end of the text. Yes foreshadowing is good, but I also want my readers to be figuring things out as they go along. Maybe it is also that I am reading Hemingway lately and he believes in iceberg writing.
ReplyDeleteHere is Hemingway's Iceberg theory:
If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.
–Ernest Hemingway
After reading a few of his books, I am not inspired and driven by his writing and the way that he approaches the idea of "the reader."
In his book "The Sun Also Rises" his first line of the book is:
"Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton."
What is interesting is that the character Robert Cohn is actually the worst version of the main character which is also a version of Hemingway. And the fact that he is a boxer at Princeton...IDK, I don't get it. I'm not sure why this first line is so amazing??? At least, if I was just opening the book to check it out, I would have no idea why that line is so important. In fact, when reading the book you have no idea why the story starts with Robert Cohn unless you have finished the book--or at least 75% of it.
Still frustration with first pages and first lines.
http://mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/p-sentencediagrams_5000x3750.png
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