Writing Lessons for New Novelists Gerard Santinelli

How, strategically speaking, should you begin your novel? When a reader reads your first chapter, what
should she find?
There are some primary approaches for beginning a successful novel. Probably more, including some
highly experimental ones, but these are the classic main four. Run your story idea through the filter of
each of these and see if one of them feels right for your book.

The Prologue Beginning

A prologue is an episode that pertains to your story but does not include the hero (or includes the hero
at a time well before the story proper begi s, he hes a hild . It ight ot e Chapter 1 per se, ut
it can serve as a legitimate openingif it works.
For example, the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (I often use film and
television examples when I teach because they illustrate so perfectly the concepts of storytelling and are
so universal) begins with a prologue in which two of our main heroes first meet each other as children.
Our heroes are o stage, ut the re ot at the age the ll e for the stor proper

The Hero Action Beginning

In a hero action beginning, the hero is onstage, doing something active and interesting related to the
launching of the core story.
The hero action beginning is the other most common way to begin a story. Only the rarest of story ideas
a t a age a hero a tio egi i g. U less our hero is atato i or i ar erated i a hole or the like,
I ertai ou a o e up ith so ethi g i teresti g for hi to do at the start of the o el.

The Frame Device

The final major way of beginning your first chapter is to use a frame device. In this, your story is
bookended on the front and back (and usually a few instances in the middle) by a story that is outside
the main story. The primary tale is framed by this other story.
The Princess Bride (the novel and the film, both of which were written by William Goldman) is a framede i e stor . The o ie egi s ith a kid pla i g a ideo ga e. Hes sta i g ho e fro s hool e ause
hes si k. His gra dfather o es o er a d offers to read the o a ook to pass the time. Whenever he
reads the book, the movie switches over to the main story, a fantasy swashbuckling adventure.
Throughout the story, we cut back to the grandfather and boy, where we get commentary on the story
and see a bond developing between the . The its a k to the fa tas orld. The o ie e ds i the
modern day as well.

How to write a good science fiction story

Writing strong e positio i spe ulati e fi tio is a ala i g a t. Its like ateri g a pla t. Too little
water and it dries up and dies; too much water and it rots and drowns. Information is to your audience
what water is to a plantits the life of the stor , a d et you have to keep it in balance. Too much raw
i for atio up fro t a d the reader a t keep it all straight; too little i for atio a d the reader a t
figure out hats happe i g. The result i either ase is o fusio , i patie e a d oredo .
The trick is to reveal information very carefully and usually by implication. The best way to tell you what
I ea is to sho ou, usi g the ope i g li e of O ta ia E. Butlers o el Wild eed. I e hose this
book because nobody handles exposition better than Butlera d also e ause its a terrifi o el that
you ought to read for the sheer pleasure of it.

Naming
In this classic example from Butler, we first know the name of the viewpoint character: Doro.
Later i the o el ell lear that Doro has a
a es, ut Butler gives us the name by which
he thinks of himselfa d he e er ere i Doros ie poi t thats the o l a e used for
him. Lesser writers might have kept changing the name of that viewpoint character, thinking
the re helpi g us telli g us ore information.
Literalism
The protocols of abeyance and implication, which give you a great deal of power, also remove
one of the tools that mainstream writers rely on most heavily: metaphor. Especially at the
beginning of a speculative story, all strange state e ts are take literall . eed illage is t a
etaphor; its hat the illage a tuall is.
Readers Interest
Its i porta t, espe iall at the egi i g of our o el, to re eal i for atio that pro ises
your reader an interesting story to come. Those promises must be honest ones that you intend
to keep. Be ause Doro is set up as the ki d of hara ter ho a so eho o
illages, e
see him as a bit larger than lifeButler definitely will deliver on this promise. And the concept
of seed villages is a solutel e tral to the stor ; it is t a tri ial it of stra ge ess to e tossed
i a d thro a a . I other ords, Butler is t just gi i g us ra do
ut i teresti g
information to fool us into going onshes gi i g us i teresti g i for atio that is vital to the
story.