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So, let’s talk opening scenes

Let’s have a conversation about how and where, in story, we start our novels. Let’s talk about the process we use to determine it. The reason I’m about this now is becasue that is exactly where I am In the current work in progress, There, That Violent Country. I have a basic outline that I have completed, the broad strokes complete. In addition to that I have a working outline of the structure. I know, at least up front, all 52 chapters and who’s POV they are. I also have a pretty clear idea of the ending of the first act, the centerpiece, and I have — like most of us probably do — the third act down pat.

So, why are we talking about opening scenes, then? Well in this case it is because I’m doing something a little out of the box here with this structure and I wanted to discuss what it is and how I got there. Maybe it will be helpful and maybe it will be trash receptacle worthy. Let’s find out.

I chose not to start with either the Protagonist, who in this case is Ulysses Bloodwood, or the Antagonist, Buckley Slackum. I decided to start the story from the POV of the protagonists brother. I might add here that this particular character only has 3 chapters in the first act and that’s it. Kind of strange, right?

So how did I get here? Well I utilize a coupe tools that I learned in a short story class (one you can find and take yourself if you look through an older post) and therein I learned a cool little technique. After I have a decent idea of the overall story and maybe a couple scenes I let my subconscious take over. I write a few pages for each character to get an idea of their voice. By the way, I might add here that, it seems to weed out those moments where when you are writing off the cuff and a character decides that they are the one that the story is about. That would actually be another great blog post — characters who don’t want the same thing you do.

So, I took the time to write a single page hook for each of the characters. I even wrote them for secondary characters that have no POV chapters. Something important and in the case of this book violent or vile that they are going through. For the secondary characters these become backstory. Something the other characters or that character himself may touch on later. I know what you are thinking. Why not just put all this into a character worksheet or bio page? Well my answer to that is that I want to get inside the characters head and not just describe him.

II’ll give an example. The father of the protagonist in this story goes by the name of Eustace Bloodwood and I found out (yes he told his story, I had no idea what was going to happen) something terrible that happened during his service in Vietnam. I also found out how that impacted him emotionally and how it colored his relationship with his wife and young son when he came home. You want to hear something interesting? It also changed the timeline of the story. I initially had the protagonist as a Vietnam veteran but after hearing his father out I had to make a decision and let me tell you something I learned a long time ago; never to argue with your characters. Take them out entirely? Sure. Argue with them? What’s the point? They know who they are.

The second thing I did was write a page of increasing conflict for each of those characters, put them in story under stress and took at look at exactly how they responded. And based on those pages and what I knew of the story in its infant stages I decided on starting the story with a specific character that I didn’t think I would. I went back and gave him a couple chapters in the first act. We’ll see how it turns out.

I’d like to hear from you. What’s your process for planning and writing the opening scene(s) of your novel? Let me know in the comments.

Coming Next: Casting the characters with actors

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Causality rather than conflict in Japanese storytelling structure and my thoughts on subverting genre

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Japanese horror stories. They are profoundly effective. Until recently, I, like many, couldn’t really put my finger on exactly why that was. That is to say I never really took the time to read and watch it like a writer. That’s easy to do with good storytelling, especially of the grit of some of the books/movies that are out there. We tend to give in fully and suspend our disbelief.

Well, recently I became interested and decided to do a search online and came across this pair of blog posts by a gentleman by the name of Rudy Barrett: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-horror-structure/ & https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-horror-emotions/

The first is an interesting dive into the skeletal structure of Japanese horror fiction and how it differentiates from that to which we are all much more accustomed, western storytelling. After doing a quick check of the accompanying figures it started to click as to exactly what it was that was different. The next link was his follow-up to the structure where he discusses the specific emotions and their implications on Japanese horror. We use most of these in our fiction as well and in the hands of a good writer they are just as effective. I think it’s the pace and the structure that makes it all so damned intense.

This got me wondering just how to take a story I’m working on and subvert the genre by re-plotting it to better fit into Japanese structure. It is amazing how much work it takes. It seemed simple at first but I learned quickly that it isn’t. I used a short story I have entitled “Balefire” that is set in early twentieth century America where a priest is a killer. That’s a rather simplistic view, of course, but it’s a dark, violent, horrific piece that I had written but never submitted for a Halloween anthology last year.

I’ve used a line from the original article by Barrett in this blog post’s title as that is the small thread I kept referring to while re-purposing my original story. It made some of the steps easier. Now that I am looking at all that I need to change and rolling over and over in my mind just how that might read I wonder if this is something that western audiences will get or not?

The bottom line? This is what we do as writers, right? We rush down caverns and filter ideas always seeking something that is fresh. I think a mash-up of Japanese horror structure with western characters might be just that but I guess I’ll never know until I try. It’s time to get to the typewriter and give it a shot.