For the last couple of days, I have been reading a ton of submissions that hit Greyhaus. Unfortunately, for many, the end result was a pass on the project. I started thinking about that this morning as I was getting the kids' breakfasts ready and I realized there really was a great comparison here. Let me float this one by you.
We all know that "breakfast is the best meal of the day." Nutritionist argue this, the Cap'n Crunch ads argue this. O.K. Maybe that last one wasn't the best but you know what I mean. The truth is, what you start your day out with really becomes a foundation for what will happen to you the rest of the day. The same goes for the premise of your story - that foundation that the plot, the characters' lives and and the setting all depend on. Think of it this way.
If you start the day with a breakfast full of sugar and complete and total hyperness. We're talking a ton of junk food, what generally happens right before lunch? You end up with that total energy crash requiring you to find someway to energize yourself. In most cases, it is more caffeine that doesn't really help out much. Now, think about a story. Start out too strong, start out running that hard with that much action, you only have one future. The story will crash. You have set the tone so high for the reader that when you bring it back to earth again, you hit a similar "caffeine/sugar crash." The difference is that the author will not likely wait until a couple of chapters later to get that next rush.
What if you start the day with a huge breakfast. We're talking over the top cruise level brunch here. You throw everything at us. Again, while it might be fulfilling, it is often too much for the body to handle and the rest of day, we walk around bloated and complaining. Think story now. If you do nothing but give us all of the backstory and all of the charcters, we have too much as readers to deal with. We're bloated and it takes us too much time to carry around that entire load.
Get the idea?
As writers, you always hear that editors and agents want a story that will really hook us. We're talking about that satisfying breakfast here that gives you the energy that you need, it tastes great and doesn't kill us. For editors and agents, that is an essential. We are reading so many projects that we depend on that opening to keep us going. Kill us too soon and I am sorry to say it, we won't keep reading.
Scott
Great post. A small quibble/nudge, however. As breakfast and a great opening to a book are important, so, too is an opening sentence to a blog post. Therefore, I hope you were "poring" over that ton of submissions, not "pouring" over them. Of course, they might have reduced to you tears, however.
ReplyDeleteVery helpful insights, Scott! Your points remind me of the concluding lines to Thoreau's Walden:
ReplyDelete"Only that day dawns to which we are awake."
While this is the quotation to which most refer--suggesting the power of the dawn, (or in the context of creative writing, the impact of great openings), it was the SECOND part of his statement that resonates seamlessly with your points:
"The sun is but a morning star."
The wise author embraces the rhetorical power of cadence to achieve a masterful narrative.
Very helpful insights, Scott! Your points remind me of the concluding lines to Thoreau's Walden:
ReplyDelete"Only that day dawns to which we are awake."
While this is the quotation to which most refer--suggesting the power of the dawn, (or in the context of creative writing, the impact of great openings), it was the SECOND part of his statement that resonates seamlessly with your points:
"The sun is but a morning star."
The wise author embraces the rhetorical power of cadence to achieve a masterful narrative.