Publishing
Subscription reading has made me notice how many openings now seem written under mild duress.
The first page has to do two jobs at once: promise the right kind of story, and survive the reader’s next swipe. That tends to encourage a very particular sort of “safe” opening. Efficient. Legible. Slightly over-explained, just in case.
I don’t mean every strong opening needs to be mysterious or difficult. But there’s a difference between clarity and pre-emptive reassurance. One is craft. The other is the literary equivalent of keeping your coat on at a party.
The first page has to do two jobs at once: promise the right kind of story, and survive the reader’s next swipe. That tends to encourage a very particular sort of “safe” opening. Efficient. Legible. Slightly over-explained, just in case.
I don’t mean every strong opening needs to be mysterious or difficult. But there’s a difference between clarity and pre-emptive reassurance. One is craft. The other is the literary equivalent of keeping your coat on at a party.
Some of this is just the market teaching readers to be impatient, which is not the same thing as the page becoming worse. A book can be clear without being overhelpful.
I’m more suspicious of openings that behave like trailers. They often promise momentum and then spend three chapters explaining why the momentum exists. Give me a first page with a pulse, not a safety briefing.
I’m more suspicious of openings that behave like trailers. They often promise momentum and then spend three chapters explaining why the momentum exists. Give me a first page with a pulse, not a safety briefing.