"Novel Beginnings" with Guest Marta Perry!

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More years ago than I care to count, I attended my very first romance writers workshop, held by a fledgling chapter of RWA that eventually went on to become Pennwriters, the state-wide Pennsylvania writers group. As I sat there, bouncing my pristine notebook on my lap as if it were a baby and sure that anyone looking at me could tell I was a fraud in a roomful of writers, the speaker started talking about the importance of the first pages of a publishable book.

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She said something like this, “Above all else, be sure that you don’t begin your novel with the tired old cliché of the heroine on her way to a new place via train, plane, automobile or stagecoach with a letter in her pocket.”
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Everyone else laughed knowledgeably. I sank down in my metal folding chair and tried to pretend that my current manuscript did not open with the heroine in her car, driving to a place she’d never been, with a letter in her pocket. I wondered if they’d give me my money back if I confessed that I was here by mistake and was not now, nor would I ever be, a writer.
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But this isn’t about my fumbling beginnings, although I hope my experience might give another new writer a little hope. This is about another kind of beginning—the beginning of your novel. I’d like to share with you some tips that are of use to me each time I face that blank page. And trust me, after fifty-some books, it is still just as intimidating!
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The first pages of a publishable popular-fiction novel should show an interesting character portrayed with drama. The reader must empathize with the main character and want to stay with her for several hundred pages, so give the reader a reason to like and/or empathize with the character. The first page of my novella, Fallen in Plain Sight, out next month, starts with the protagonist’s mother speaking.
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     “If you are not careful, Sarah Elizabeth Weaver, you will end up a maidal, as lonely and sad as that old man you work for.” Mamm had what she obviously considered the last word on the subject as she drew the buggy to a halt.
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Aside from the fact that this is obviously an Amish story, we’ve learned quickly that Sarah is under pressure from her family to marry, and though we haven’t yet heard her speak, I hope we sympathize. I’m sure my daughters would have, during the years when I thought they were never going to produce grandchildren for me! (My kids, always over-achievers, eventually produced six grandkids in eight years, which keeps me plenty busy!)
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Another important function of the first pages of the story comes from famed writing teacher Dwight Swain: Start on the day that is different. Start with trouble. Start with something that changes the main character’s life irrevocably. If you wait, telling yourself that there are so many other things the reader needs to hear before getting to the Terrible Trouble, you risk losing the reader. I’m a firm believer in this adage, and on page three of Fallen in Plain Sight, Sarah discovers the body of her elderly employer, lying dead at the bottom of the stairs.
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Another important job of the first few pages is to show that the story is true to the conventions of the genre. Horror, romance, mystery, western, thriller—the reader should be able to trust the author to know and apply the genre’s conventions. I once read a story for critiquing which seemed to be a classic second chance at love plot. Right up until the last page, when the man I thought was the hero killed the protagonist! If it’s a thriller, we need to know that early on!
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The opening pages should also show well thought out conflict against formidable odds, terrible trouble. The character can’t walk away from this trouble. In Her Surprise Sister, my July release from Love Inspired, the protagonist discovers that she has an identical twin sister she’s never heard of. Obviously, she can’t and won’t walk away from this discovery.
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The authorial voice has to make it clear the author knows the setting and is not simply using it as window-dressing. Have you ever started a book, only to stop a few pages in because it seems clear that the author didn’t know the setting he/she was portraying? That’s a particular red flag for me, and I’ve been known to throw a book across the room when the author makes an obvious error in the world of the story.
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I’ve learned the hard way, after needing to explain facets of Amish life to editors and copy editors, that if something is true but might seem false to the average reader, it’s advisable to address that in the book. In one of my books, the character might think something like this: It probably seemed odd to the Englisch world, but the Amish believed that… This answers the question almost before it has time to arise in the reader’s mind. Whether you’re writing about military life, cowboys, or police officers, there may well be details or terms that could raise questions in the reader’s mind. Don’t let them go unanswered.
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The opening should stress dialogue and/or action when at all possible. Slow, descriptive openings belong to another century, and few modern readers, accustomed to a quicker pace, will hang around long enough to get to the dialogue and action if it doesn’t occur quickly.
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And finally, I come back to the first piece of advice I received as a beginning romance writer: avoid the clichés of the genre: a character in transit with a letter in her pocket; a dream; a weather report.
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I once asked my then-editor, Krista Stroever, what made her keep reading when a new proposal crossed her desk. She didn’t have to hesitate for her response: A good book opens with a memorable personality or a powerful action. Thanks, Krista!
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Do you have questions or comments about novel beginnings? I hope you’ll post them here. I’ll stop back and try to answer!
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Marta
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If you’d like to be entered in a drawing for a copy of Marta’s “Her Surprise Sister,” please mention it in the comments section--then watch our Weekend Edition for the winner!
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ABOUT MARTA: A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania, where she still lives, and her own Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta Perry to write about the Plain People and their rich heritage in her current novels. The author of more than forty novels, with over five million copies of her books in print, Marta is active in her church and community. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Faith, Hope and Love, and American Christian Fiction Writers. She and her husband enjoy traveling and visiting their six beautiful grandchildren. For more information, visit Marta at http://www.martaperry.com/.
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Her Surprise Sister
July 2012
iseries: Texas Twins
ISBN: 9780373877522
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Imagine her shock when Violet Colby discovers she has an identical twin sister she never knew existed. Why her family was torn apart remains a secret no one can answer—yet.
Hoping to develop a sisterly bond, Violet invites her sophisticated city twin to the Colby Ranch in tiny Grasslands, Texas. But when her sister's former fiancé arrives with questions of his own, country girl Violet finds herself drawn to handsome businessman Landon Derringer. And learns that true love requires faith—and a heart as big as Texas
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“Her Surprise Sister” is Book #1 in the new 6-book Harlequin Love Inspired "Texas Twins" series, followed by “Mirror Image Bride” (Barbara McMahon), “Carbon Copy Cowboy (Arlene James), “Look-Alike Lawman” (Seeker Glynna Kaye!), “The Soldier’s Newfound Family” (Kathryn Springer), and “Reunited for the Holidays” (Jillian Hart).