Thoughts on a Novel's Opening

 (That would be great.)

While I haven't necessarily worked on editing my forthcoming novel reboot, I have thought about the story, and something's been nagging at me. You know how you read your manuscript so many times, you almost have it memorized? It's natural to accept it as it's written, especially when your focus is on spotting errors---spelling or pacing or whatever element you're examining on the 300th read-through.

Since I published the novel formerly known as The Apple in 2021, I haven't given it much (or any) thought. Of course, during pre-publication I worked hard on honing the manuscript until it shone, or until it at least had a dull glow, which was probably the most an amateur writer could shoot for. I got used to its opening. Never once did the thought cross my mind that I should change it. It was what it was, and it was written the way I intended to write it.

But now that I'm serious about relaunching the book, serious to the point that I'm even re-titling it, I realize that the opening is dull. It's not back story in the technical sense, but it expends a lot of words introducing characters and their interactions with one another. If I was a reader, my immediate question would be, what's this story about? And how long am I supposed to wait to find out?

It's a professional hazard for discovery writers like me who feel their way into a story. I've read discussions among writers, talking about being a pantser (hate that term), and the consensus is that even those who call themselves pantsers have at least one element of the story in mind, either the conflict or the ending. Hey buddy, that's not a true pantser! A true pantser is someone who has absolutely nothing in mind! 

Where I've gone wrong with some of my discovered stories is that I haven't gone back and tightened up their openings. Thankfully, I can't remember another that started as slowly as this one. Well, Running From Herself did, but I recognized it and fixed it. Having more experience under my belt helped. In that case, it hit me that I was starting the novel in the wrong place, and once that realization bubbled up, the opening wasn't hard to correct.

With this reboot, it's not that I'm starting in the wrong place. I could theoretically start with the inciting incident (the murder), but the story first requires establishing motives for various family members. No, what the opening needs is to get an important point across at the start---that the main character hates her father. I'm not a fan of blatantly announcing something like that upfront, instead choosing the slow reveal. But my God, something needs to catch a reader's attention, and the current opening isn't it.

I would post the first chapter, but I prefer my blog readers to remain awake, so suffice it to say that the novel starts with the MC asking her mom how many people are coming "to this shindig". Then it progresses to a reflection of the night before--MC's irritation with her sister, and her brother and his wife showing up from out of town. In the midst of this rumination, Dad and brother return from their morning outing, and there's a too-long round of passive-aggressive conversation. 

Just typing this made me sleepy. 

As a reader, I would think, "Who cares?"

So, I'll try rewriting the opening; perhaps starting with the MC revealing that she didn't want to spend the weekend at her parents' house, and most importantly, why. Stir up some immediate tension and thus, a reason to keep reading. 

I firmly believe that it's easier to write a whole new novel than to fix an old one. The old words are too ingrained and they blind me. But I'm not gonna write a new novel, so this is all I've got, and I like the overall story. It deserves fixing.

But I'll be sighing and grumbling all the way.