An Opening Doesn’t Always…
June 7, 2024 by Harvey
In today’s Journal
* Current Subscribers Are Grandfathered-In
* An Opening Doesn’t Always…
* Including the Website
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Current Subscribers Are Grandfathered-In
One TNDJ subscriber wrote to ask how he should change the amount of his payment from $3 per month to $5 per month after June 30.
Sorry for any confusion. There’s no need to do that. At all.
All current paid subscribers to TNDJ will be grandfathered-in after June 30. They will continue receiving TNDJ at their current rate.
The price increase to $5 per month (or $60 per year) is ONLY for those who don’t subscribe until after June 30. The increase is due only to the fact that I’m making new subscriptions availabe through Stripe, and their minimum is $5 per month.
But again, if you’re already in (and you are or you wouldn’t be reading this), you’re in permanently.
If you’re subscribed at $3 per month now, and if TNDJ is still going two or three or five years from now, you’ll still be subscribed at only $3 per month (or $36 per year) as long as your subscription doesn’t lapse.
An Opening Doesn’t Always Have to Include Everything
This is more next-level stuff.
The first opening of your novel or short story has to include “everything” in order to ground the reader and pull him into the story. And yes, sometimes that even includes the kitchen sink.
A first opening should alway include
the character name and description
the detailed near and distant (when applicable) setting
all five of the POV character’s senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste (when applicable), feel or texture
an emotional sense (when applicable)
a problem (not necessarily “the” problem of the story. This could be something as simple as an untied shoelace or a sudden sneeze or a locked door the character expected would be unlocked or anything else.)
After that initial opening, the opening of any major scene or chapter—especially one that takes place in a completely different setting and/or with a new POV character or significant character—also should include everything.
That said, some scenes, on a case-by-case basis, require only a brief or abbreviated opening.
Every chapter and major scene (and many minor scenes that are not merely transitional) requires an opening, but the opening doesn’t always have to include everything.
Examples might include chapters and major or minor scenes that take place in the same setting, especially if those chapters/scenes were recently preceded by an “everything” opening.
If the setting at the beginning of a new chapter or scene (major or minor) is the same as the previous chapter or scene (or a recent one)—and if it’s experienced by the same POV character—you can just drop hints (reminders) about the setting or about specific aspects of it.
What you’re looking for is just enough description to pull the reader back into the setting and ground him in the ongoing story again.
Of course, if you take advantage of my Openings Critique offer, you should send the first opening from your story or novel so you get the maximum benefit.
What About the POV Character?
As I wrote above, in a new scene in which the same POV character is in a setting s/he experienced before, an abbreviated experience is adequate and can be preferable.
But each time a different POV character walks into even the same setting, s/he will experience it differently. In that case, a full “everything” opening is better.
Why?
Because what one POV character might consider the “sweet” smell of cherry pipe smoke, another POV character will find repulsive or an outright stench.
What one POV character might experience as “quiet” or “low” or “dim” lighting, another might find “soft” or “comforting” or “friendly.”
What one POV character might experience as “glaring” lights, another might find “hot” or “well-lighted.”
A sound that one POV character might experience as a “quiet creak,” another might consider a “squeal” or a “harsh screech.”
What one might express as the “heady” smell of fresh-baked bread, another might consider “sweet” or “horrible.” Everything depends on whatever baggage the POV character is carrying around.
And of course, the POV character is always right.
For example, in my current novel, one major setting is an old root cellar. Though the owner previously kept many different products in the cellar, the overriding sense that permeates the place is the acrid-sweet scent of rotting red onions.
In every scene, the current POV character notices that scent. For some, it’s “musty.” For others, it’s “perfume.” It might disgust one character, and it might bring up good memories for another.
Another aspect of the root cellar that each character notices when the trapdoor is left open is the “almost overpowering” darkness, or that it’s “dimly lighted” or that it’s “like dusk.”
Either way, that visual combined with the smell of the onions makes for a great sensory experience for the reader and sinks him back into the setting of the cellar where he’ll relive the sensory experiences he got from it the last time the cellar was mentioned.
(You can read the opening scenes of my 2019 novel Jonah Peach, which is the prequel to the current novel, in the short story “Ice Scream,” available free here. Warning: The descriptions in the story are starkly graphic.)
Now, for a moment of frenzied self-promotion—
To learn pretty much everything you need to know about writing openings, hooks, cliffhangers, setting, scenes and a great deal more, I recommend buying a copy of Writing Better Fiction.
It’s available everywhere ebooks are sold, but if you want to buy it, please buy direct from StoneThread Publishing and get it for less. You’ll also receive all three files: PDF, .mobi (Kindle), and .epub (everything else). Thanks!
The Website
I redesigned the “welcome” letter folks receive when they sign up to TNDJ this morning. Mostly to let new subscribers know what’s avaiable on the website.
In part, it now reads like this:
You can also visit the website to read the full older archives (2014 – May 31, 2024) and access free gifts as well as writing books (many of which are free), services, and more.
If you ever have a question or questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment on any TNDJ post.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The RPG Scene! Scroll to about 8:03 for a good tip on writing books with high-action.
This is from my buddy, bestseling author Vin Zandri. Or as Raymond Chandler once famously put it, “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.” (Nah. Have a man “bust” through the door with a gun in his hand. Right? Right?)
Remember, this is conscious mind learning. As I always recommend, when you’re actually writing, apply with the creative subconscious.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 1090
Writing of When the Owl Calls (novel)
Day 10…. 2038 words. To date…… 23952
Day 11…. 1960 words. To date…… 25912
Day 12…. 2157 words. To date…… 28069
Day 13…. 2122 words. To date…… 30191
Day 14…. 2254 words. To date…… 32445
Fiction for June…………………….….… 12863
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 353460
Fiction since October 1………………… 656517
Nonfiction for June……………………… 6900
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 190530
2024 consumable words……………… 543990
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 8
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 90
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 239
Short story collections…………………… 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.