I think the key words here are engage and evoke. Show me a character in trouble, or set up a scene full of questions that get me immediately engaged, or show me something magnificently evoked with words, and I’ll stay the course. And I count literary prowess under wonder-sometimes, the beauty of the lines is able to pull me in by creating a sense of wonder all its own. Danger, mystery, and wonder seem to be the three big hooks that work for me as a consumer of story. I think there are a lot of great ways to open a story. When I saw the painting, the 9/11 influence of it all struck me and that experience ultimately led to the birth of The Psalms of Isaak, which fully incorporates this story in the early chapters of the first volume, Lamentation. And it opened with an image, though it took seeing Allen Douglas’ painting of Isaak for me to truly feel the power of it: A metal man found weeping in a crater by Rudolfo’s Gypsy Scouts and a story about an unlikely ally in a king who want to replace some of what that act of terror had taken from the world. I was tackling alternate history, literary fantasy, and magic realism pieces that opened with “historical” quotes or bits of lovely language or just matter-of-fact narrative introducing a character and their problem.īut this story was a bizarre blend of magic and science that didn’t apologize for itself and assumed everyone was on board with the imposed world. But once my storytelling muscles had some practice, I started trying out different kinds of stories and different kinds of openings. I had about a dozen small press sales under my belt with stories that were carefully written with clever opening lines that worked well enough. ” It was my first professional sale after Writers of the Future, and most of the other stories I wrote at that time landed in good markets. Thank you! I wrote this one back in 2005 when I was starting to turn some significant corners in my craft and it showed with “Of Metal Men. In your opinion, what makes a great opening scene? Some writers are often afraid to open a story with vibrant images and settings. “Of Metal Men and Scarlet Thread and Dancing with the Sunrise” opens with a riot of color and activity that immediately hooks the reader, promising beauty and mystery in the story to come. Series: The Tales of Gorlen Vizenfirthe.Series: From the Lost Travelers’ Tour Guide.
People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction!.
0 kommentar(er)
