We are constantly told the first page of our novel is vital in grabbing the attention of a reader. Ray Rhamey in his blog Flogging the Quill analyses what works and what doesn't for readers who send him their first chapter. He often suggests that the writer is starting in the wrong place, and gets his readers to vote on an alternative beginning. My friend Alan Hutcheson told me to start Trav Zander a couple of pages in, and everyone preferred his first line: "I wish to acquire a dragon."
I think endings are as important as beginnings - after all, it's the last thing your reader reads, and you want her to put the book down with a satisfied sigh, not hurl it across the room.
Jane Austen knew what happened to her characters after the novel ended, and would sometimes disclose a tantalizing detail in her letters, for example that Jane Fairfax died early. But she doesn't tell the reader that.
Do all novelists know what happens after the last page? I do. I know what Trav and Isolda do next, and who Caz marries. I'm not prepared to reveal anything after THE END, though, even supposing anyone was interested, because the point at which your story stops is important. With Jane Austen, it was invariably the marriage of hero and heroine, and a couple getting together remains a popular happy ending to this day. After the ceremony, they subside into domesticity, children and contentment - and who wants to read about that? Poor Jo in Jo's Boys, married to a dreary middle-aged German and fostering lots of children makes one grind one's teeth, after her feisty start in Little Women.
Much as I like a happy ending, I prefer to leave the ends of my books a little open, so that the reader is left speculating on what will happen next, rather than tying up every loose end too neatly. Just as long as they don't get it wrong...
Ray Rhamey's a good guy; he helped me tidy my first page up.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I'd got to the stage where I couldn't see it any more.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of an open ending. Besides it givesw you room to move into a sequel. Always good in marketing, having built your audience!
ReplyDeleteAgreed - as long as the sequel is at least as good as the original. Who reads the sequels to Kidnapped, or 1001 Dalmations?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about Jo in 'Little Women' - what a letdown! At least that's what I felt when I was at an impressionable age and read it :) Now I quite like neat and tidy endings and a bit of domesticity thrown in!
ReplyDeleteYes, I like neat and tidy endings too, as in Hard Times where Dickens does a summary of what befell each character; but not domesticity. Its place is in life, not fiction.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter gets cross when the heroine has a child in the sequel, as it's an end to all adventure, and told me I must not do this. She's right.
I still love that first line: "I wish to acquire a dragon."
ReplyDeleteAlready, I'm settling back with popcorn.
Me too. Alan's a clever old thing.
ReplyDeletei zinged in here from Gemini's blog. after perusing the beginnings of your stories, i know i want to come back to read more. nice to meet another writer.
ReplyDeleteand i forgot to say that i write fantasy as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle, thanks for dropping by. What a lot of us there are (writers I mean).
ReplyDeleteI moved on from fantasy, but still find it appealing because of the total freedom it gives - the only limits are the limits of one's imagination.
Hi Lexi
ReplyDeleteI agree totally about leaving endings open. I don't like tied up ends either, I want people to think 'what did happen next? Perhaps this, perhaps that...' Because life isn't full of neat little endings, is it? Not usually anyway.
As for what happens after "The End", I can't help but write that continuing story in my mind. I know what happens after the the end of Boomerang and, rather aggravatingly, I know better what will become of my main character in my WIP after the curtain comes than I do what will happen two scenes from now. But knowing the one does help me shape the other. Although, of course, either could change between now (about 59,000 words) and the end.
ReplyDeleteDon't give me too much credit for your opening line. You're the one who wrote it.
True, but then fiction is an ordered version of life and should be more satisfactory than the real thing. Not so satisfactory that one ceases to believe in it, though.
ReplyDeleteThe writer of novels treads a narrow path between too much verisimilitude and too little.
That last reply was to Catherine...this is to Alan:
ReplyDeleteYes, I guess it's the opposite of backstory (is there a name for it? Futurestory?) And both help the writer to make the story deeper and richer even while not appearing in the book.
Great point about endings, Lexi. One of my favourite quotes is from Dashiell Hammett: "The first chapter sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book."
ReplyDeleteSandra, that's a terrific quote I haven't heard before (or I'd have quoted it in this post!)
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