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| Image- once upon a time writer author, by Ramdlon, Source pixabay (Processed using Adobe Spark) |
Austin Hackney on Medium
wrote the following about where a novel must begin-
- Introduce the protagonist/s
- Show the protagonist/s motivation, flaw, and goal
- Set the scene of the everyday world in which the story begins
- Suggest the core conflict and theme of the novel
- Introduce the antagonist/s
- Raise the first ‘story question’ which will ‘hook’ the reader’s interest and keep them reading
- Foreshadow the ending
Interestingly, on Quora, a similar question was asked. One
of the best answers came from Marcus Geduld,
published author and lifelong reader. “No. The start of a novel must make you
interested in reading the next part of the novel.”
His answer is echoed by a lot of other posts to that
question. I agree with Mr. Geduld. Not all
novels need to begin with outlining the whole novel right off the bat.
You see a lot of this upfront
outlining with online descriptions of romance novels on Amazon. It’s a
marketing technique. In the realm of sexuality, all things must be up front,
and nothing concealed. Readers will go through the book descriptions and posted
book ratings before they commit. And yes, this happens with other genres
as well.
Often, the problem arises with
readers themselves. They become used to certain marketing techniques of their
popular authors and expect others to do the same. They also expect other
writers to write like their favorite author. This isn’t to shame readers for
being single-minded. But it’s human nature to become tribal. We see it with social-political
issues, and you see it with reading.
Readers who keep an open mind about
what they are reading and show a willingness to read anything will, in the long
term, become better people. Reading begets knowledge. Knowledge can beget
wisdom. And who doesn’t want wisdom?