The Scarlet Letter: How to Open Like Hawthorne
Have you opened a book lately? I mean a book wrote within the past 10 or so years. Let me open up a few of mine and let's look at them.Twilight by Stephenie Meyer : "My mother drove me to the airport with the
windows rolled down."
Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich : "Just because I know hoe to change a guy's oil doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life on my back, staring up his undercarriage."
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen : "At the stroke of eleven on a cool April night, a woman named Joey Perone went overboard from a luxury deck of the cruiser liner M.V. Sun Duchess."
What do those all have in common? Well, the first thing that I pick up is that they all start with action. It is a jump into the story, there is no background and there are very little details about them. There is some mystery behind all of them, such as why is the mother driving the main character to the airport, how does the main character know that she doesn't want that/what does she want, and why did she go overboard? They're all great introductions, but let's be honest: I'm not gripping the edge of my seat to know what happened. I'm a little interested but not I cannot put this down interested. Perhaps these are just my musings, but these openings are common throughout most literature today. (If you have an example of one not like this, romance novels not included-those are a whole different ballpark in my opinion- please comment on this and show me/inform me. I'd like to see one!)
I'll switch to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After flipping past a good 50 pages of someone's opinion on the novel (which I don't read that... Sorry, too much other stuff to do) this is what you would come across: "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice*, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes."
* I had to look this up: a building, usually one that is large.
I may be one of the few that aren't English teachers that get chills from the writing, but you have got to admit that it takes some... uh how do I say this in a politically correct way, oh screw it... balls to put out your first sentence with so many commas and descriptions. That's one reason I love this beginning, he takes a risk and it pays off because it is executed so well. There are details about the people, the setting is partially established, and not too much is given away. It takes a grand three chapters before we know exactly what Hester had done. Nothing is given directly, it takes time and steam to build up to this. There are questions about this too considering how little Hawthorne gives away while addressing so much.
My favorite part about Hawthorne's opening is that he doesn't come out and say what is happening. I don't know why, but, in my opinion, opening with too much information messes up your entire book. You can have a great rest of the book, but people aren't going to stick around and read it if you give it up within the first paragraph or two. Here's an example (this is from some random story off of FanFiction- I refuse to give away any information about the author and such, and yes I went on FanFiction I'll get to that in another post)
"I was just talking to Ron about what happened that day at lunch when Draco had me sit with him at the Slytherin table. Apparently Ginny, his sister, told him about it"
See, too much given away. You can guess the entire rest of the story because of the beginning, which is why I put the opening as the hardest part of writing.
Here are some tips that I've created, and taken a few times, about opening a story in a Hawthorne-ian style:
1. Give some details. Put out there a general feel of the setting, the characters and a small glimpse of the plot.
2. Give the point of view, and DO NOT CHANGE IT!
3. Create some questions in your beginning. Make the reader think about what they are reading, you put all that time and effort in the novel, start them off with something strong.
4. It's okay to not start with action, sometimes details are better.
5. Give out small bits of information on your plot. I know I put this up there in 1, but I feel that this needs to be addressed more. Don't give in to the urge to put everything in the beginning, space it out, give them a reason to keep reading. Remember that tiny hooks catch more readers that one giant hook;)
6. If you begin with dialogue, which is a great way to start, keep it down a bit. You do not need to fill the entire page with a conversation between Jack and Jill, one this will confuse people with characters and two you'll be likely to give too much of the plot away.
7. Don't give the plot away, space it out! Oh, wait. I've already addressed this, but this is IMPORANTE!
8. It's okay to try around with different beginnings. Maybe dialogue will work with one story and a detail beginning will work with another. It's okay to change, it's the only way we can get better.
Great link for more opening tips: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-first-chapter-get-started/10-ways-to-start-your-story-better
I think that addresses everything. If you have another tip or two you want me to add, just leave a comment and I'll add it! These are ones that I think are important. Hawthorne does a great job opening up his story, learn from him and other great writers, and if you haven't read The Scarlet Letter shame on you! Go get it now and read it, you won't regret it. Reading is the best way to learn to write!
Farewell! <- Anyone get it?
I am a first time visitor and have enjoyed your blog. Terrific concept to your latest post.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it because I've enjoyed writing it:D
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