Understanding my weird, wild first chapter
Every author is advised to have a great first chapter. Begin that with an excellent first sentence. Unless your work is nothing but a character study, include action. Violent action always works best, even if your work isn't a thriller (that slam-bang genre occupied by Jack Reacher and the like). Maybe you have your female character face a beating by a spouse. Maybe have a child cower in the corner against an unseen threat in a dream.
I didn't do any of that in The Search For Circe (beyond having a great first chapter and an excellent first sentence, of course.) Action? Mental action is all, and there's lots of that. Let me present my case by explaining the impetus behind my choice of subject matter. I read a Stephen King article about the best things an author can do. The one that struck me the hardest was to write what YOU want to write. Don't think about other popular novels. Don't temper your work by what others might think about your choices. Make it your work, and do it with diligence.
Thus, my first sentence is: "I don't remember when I first considered committing suicide."
It's a serious novel about multiple serious subjects, so let's get to the heart of the matter at the very beginning.
My second sentence: "Maybe it formed inside me the way an alkali lake is created in the desert."
Okay, that follows suit.
Third sentence: "Maybe it started the same way sexual tension does."
Wait a minute! Where did THAT come from? With that change of pace, I introduce another major part of Sean McNabb, my main character and protagonist (although he isn't identified by name in the first chapter). We know he's been suicidal from those first two sentences. Now we learn something else vital about his makeup.
He's rather sexual. (We all are.) No, I mean he's really focused on sexual attributes of females. (Okay, most men are.) No, I mean he's almost manic in his fixation! (Manic? Okay, there's a disconnect. Men think about sex a lot, but to a manic degree? I don't believe so.)
I let that fixation be on full display for the rest of the first paragraph. Sean thinks back to meeting females in bars on the Mall. (The Mall isn't identified, but it's the 16th Street Mall in Denver.) He likes that building tension between adults that increasingly seems destined to end up with two people in bed. He then dwells on the beauty of female breasts. He talks about the sizes of areolas and nipples. He talks about his preferences, and ends that reverie with, "Put those on a 23-year-old woman and I believe you have perfection."
Only then does he get back to talking about his original subject, suicide. He makes that switch in one sentence: "But I digress."
Here are some answers about reading that first chapter.
What does that fixation on sexual attributes of women do for Sean? It provides an escape mechanism from his dangerous dance with suicidal tendencies. Once back on track, Sean begins to look at those tendencies. Who's to blame? He read that those tendencies are woven into someone's DNA. If that's the case, he can blame his parents. (What just happened there? He built another wall behind which he can distance himself from responsibility. Are we beginning to see a trend here? I'm not exactly issuing a SPOILER ALERT when I say that Sean builds lots of protective walls.)
Sean continues to talk about his unrealized goals. Is he the great athlete he wanted to be as a young boy? No. Is he the business magnate? No. Is he a successful author with a big bank account and publishers just waiting for his next work? No.
He sums up this parade of misadventures with the title of the chapter: Story of My Life.
There is one subject that Sean comes back to, and this one seems especially hurtful. He's divorced. He talks about his life with his wife, and the deterioration of their marriage until one of the partners says they want a divorce and the other one starts thinking it isn't such a bad idea, "and my life started going all to hell." He centers on that divorce a little later, but he does it in a way that shows a depth he hasn't shown yet. He talks about his love of a truly fine woman, and he begins by talking about it in sexual terms. (Is that a surprise?) He views a fine woman as not just someone who puts her hands on his private parts and he rises like a phoenix. No, a truly fine woman reaches with the depths of her compassion and wisdom and touches his very soul.
Who was good at doing that? His ex-wife, back in those days before their marriage hit the rocks.
Here's a question for anyone who read The Search For Circe in its entirety: When does Sean have this self-analytical conversation in my first chapter? I never identify that time, but I have ideas. I'd love to hear ideas of my readers.
That first chapter is a rough introduction to a great journey that is filled with emotional potholes and unexpected events. I will tout one thing that many might not expect with a story opening that focuses on a self-centered, dysfunctional man: There are great female characters in here. You're going to love Nadine Walker and Melissa Clark McNabb (Sean's ex-wife). Others will become good friends. You might even develop a sort of empathy for Sean. I haven't even mentioned Darrington Circe, who is the most powerless character I've ever created. Circe also is a source for getting to know Sean better because Circe is the creation of Sean the novelist. Put on your psychologist's hat and have at it.
Here's a link to my novel on Smashwords.com: https://bit.ly/35yEKae
Here's a link to my first chapter on chris-the-author.com: https://www.chris-the-author.com/lessons/
I didn't do any of that in The Search For Circe (beyond having a great first chapter and an excellent first sentence, of course.) Action? Mental action is all, and there's lots of that. Let me present my case by explaining the impetus behind my choice of subject matter. I read a Stephen King article about the best things an author can do. The one that struck me the hardest was to write what YOU want to write. Don't think about other popular novels. Don't temper your work by what others might think about your choices. Make it your work, and do it with diligence.
Thus, my first sentence is: "I don't remember when I first considered committing suicide."
It's a serious novel about multiple serious subjects, so let's get to the heart of the matter at the very beginning.
My second sentence: "Maybe it formed inside me the way an alkali lake is created in the desert."
Okay, that follows suit.
Third sentence: "Maybe it started the same way sexual tension does."
Wait a minute! Where did THAT come from? With that change of pace, I introduce another major part of Sean McNabb, my main character and protagonist (although he isn't identified by name in the first chapter). We know he's been suicidal from those first two sentences. Now we learn something else vital about his makeup.
He's rather sexual. (We all are.) No, I mean he's really focused on sexual attributes of females. (Okay, most men are.) No, I mean he's almost manic in his fixation! (Manic? Okay, there's a disconnect. Men think about sex a lot, but to a manic degree? I don't believe so.)
I let that fixation be on full display for the rest of the first paragraph. Sean thinks back to meeting females in bars on the Mall. (The Mall isn't identified, but it's the 16th Street Mall in Denver.) He likes that building tension between adults that increasingly seems destined to end up with two people in bed. He then dwells on the beauty of female breasts. He talks about the sizes of areolas and nipples. He talks about his preferences, and ends that reverie with, "Put those on a 23-year-old woman and I believe you have perfection."
Only then does he get back to talking about his original subject, suicide. He makes that switch in one sentence: "But I digress."
Here are some answers about reading that first chapter.
What does that fixation on sexual attributes of women do for Sean? It provides an escape mechanism from his dangerous dance with suicidal tendencies. Once back on track, Sean begins to look at those tendencies. Who's to blame? He read that those tendencies are woven into someone's DNA. If that's the case, he can blame his parents. (What just happened there? He built another wall behind which he can distance himself from responsibility. Are we beginning to see a trend here? I'm not exactly issuing a SPOILER ALERT when I say that Sean builds lots of protective walls.)
Sean continues to talk about his unrealized goals. Is he the great athlete he wanted to be as a young boy? No. Is he the business magnate? No. Is he a successful author with a big bank account and publishers just waiting for his next work? No.
He sums up this parade of misadventures with the title of the chapter: Story of My Life.
There is one subject that Sean comes back to, and this one seems especially hurtful. He's divorced. He talks about his life with his wife, and the deterioration of their marriage until one of the partners says they want a divorce and the other one starts thinking it isn't such a bad idea, "and my life started going all to hell." He centers on that divorce a little later, but he does it in a way that shows a depth he hasn't shown yet. He talks about his love of a truly fine woman, and he begins by talking about it in sexual terms. (Is that a surprise?) He views a fine woman as not just someone who puts her hands on his private parts and he rises like a phoenix. No, a truly fine woman reaches with the depths of her compassion and wisdom and touches his very soul.
Who was good at doing that? His ex-wife, back in those days before their marriage hit the rocks.
Here's a question for anyone who read The Search For Circe in its entirety: When does Sean have this self-analytical conversation in my first chapter? I never identify that time, but I have ideas. I'd love to hear ideas of my readers.
That first chapter is a rough introduction to a great journey that is filled with emotional potholes and unexpected events. I will tout one thing that many might not expect with a story opening that focuses on a self-centered, dysfunctional man: There are great female characters in here. You're going to love Nadine Walker and Melissa Clark McNabb (Sean's ex-wife). Others will become good friends. You might even develop a sort of empathy for Sean. I haven't even mentioned Darrington Circe, who is the most powerless character I've ever created. Circe also is a source for getting to know Sean better because Circe is the creation of Sean the novelist. Put on your psychologist's hat and have at it.
Here's a link to my novel on Smashwords.com: https://bit.ly/35yEKae
Here's a link to my first chapter on chris-the-author.com: https://www.chris-the-author.com/lessons/
Comments
Post a Comment