In some stories, a character is given an "establishing shot"--that is, a number of pages in the beginning are devoted to how her life is before the incident that starts the story happens. In others, the story basically starts at the inciting incident.
I had Brainiac High start minutes before the inciting incident--where the MC gets framed and then suspended from school, which is the last straw for her parents, who then force her to attend the nerd school that is the setting of most of the story--but now I'm not sure whether or not I should add an establishing shot. What are the criteria that determine which way a story is better written?
----------
50,036 / 50,000
Jul 23, 2008 - 21 38
I think you should add an establishing shot, here is why.
As the reader, I have NO CLUE who yuor character is as I start to read that novel of yours. You do. You have given her a name, a past, a family, and thoughts.
I want to get to know your character before I start an adventure with her. I want to know enough to keep me reading to know more. Ever see "Stranger than Fiction"? We hear all about Herold Crick and his problem with numbers, that way when he's counting everything in the movie, we understand why and notice it more when we see the GUI on the screan..
Besides, it's nice to see your character as herself, not as the heroine. In Lord of the Rings we see the hobbits as lazy, drunk, green-thumbed happy people, and we understand they are the type of people they are. They hardly ever go on crazy adventures.
Do you see what I mean?
----------NaNo 08-Heirlooms
Blog»Art»Prompt
0 / 50,000
Jul 23, 2008 - 21 57
Great answer Bec!
And galacto nerd, there's always those flashback moments when MC is gathering books from her locker and she remembers the argument she had with her mom concerning her "last chance" and such. I like when the story unfolds as it is replaying in the mind of the MC but just in tidbits.
In that case, you'd have reader getting to know MC by current actions / reactions and tidbits of unfolding past actions / reactions.
jade
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
0 / 50,000
Jul 23, 2008 - 22 21
yeah, I like Jade's idea... sometimes an MC can be interesting by the virtue of not knowing them - you read on because there's hints, and you want to keep reading so you can find out more about them...
50,103 / 50,000
Jul 23, 2008 - 22 38
Finding the exact moment when a story starts is hard for me. I don't think I've ever done it right on the first try.
The establishing shot -- I've heard it described as the seeing the life that is soon to be interrupted -- allows the Reader to see the character before they get thrown into it. When I try to jump into the middle of the action, I fumble around, realize I left out some little detail you should have known before, and end up having to go back a little while to explain things.
----------"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008
13,606 / 50,000
Jul 24, 2008 - 06 01
In a movie, you have 90-120 minutes (generally) to establish a character. That's why the "establishing shot" works well for them; your viewers need to know your characters ASAP because there is just not enough time for gradual exposition. In writing, you have an entire novel. I linked this post elsewhere, but check this out: http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2008/07/beginning-writer-mistake-take-4.htm... -- it's an agent for writers blogging about mistakes we make, and this particular one is about writing an info dump of character background at any point early in the novel. It really struck a chord with me as I have a habit of writing a few chapters of background to start a story -- and now I'm trying to keep those chapters as reference material rather than keeping them in the draft. I mean, clearly you should write what you're comfortable with regardless of what someone else says, but I would caution against too much "showing" for the sake of showing when you could be telling further on in the story.
----------http://fyreflixiewrites.blogspot.com
60,560 / 50,000
Jul 24, 2008 - 09 55
For me, it depends on what the reader needs to know for the story to make sense. In my current project, you need to know some important things about the characters and what made them the way they are, because if you don't, you'll spend hte entire story wondering why it happened the way it happened. In other projects, I can wait and do the reveal later, because the reader doesn't need to know all that right away. The way I figure it, treat your reader as though they're on a need-to-know basis. They'll expect to be told later and it'll keep them reading.
----------The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everyone else.
- Umberto Eco
50,348 / 50,000
Jul 24, 2008 - 10 39
You may not need too much of an establishing shot, either ... just something to make us like this character of yours. It sounds like she gets in trouble and suspended right off the bat ... so she's a troublemaker. (True or not, that's the initial impression.) So ... why do we want to read about her? Why do we like her? All you really need is about five seconds of time ... she could just slip lunch money to a broke friend on her way to the principal's office, or something. Something that says there's more to this kid than meets the eye, and it's worth our time to hang around and get to know her. The rest can be flashbacks or memories if you need.
50,103 / 50,000
Jul 24, 2008 - 13 35
No info-dumping, but info-trickling is good and necessary.
And the "establishing shot" helps the Reader to care about what's happening. The Reader gets to know the character a little, like him or her, sees that they do have a life outside of these pages (which is essential for the suspension of disbelief when reading any story), and then things happen.
And as this is a novel, there's lots of time to do that. Sure, get the story moving. But it usually doesn't take too long to establish a few things.
----------"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008
77,000 / 50,000
Jul 25, 2008 - 01 30
I'd say no to too much establishing of who she is before we get to the action. You don't need it, you're better off adding it in small chunks later. For instance, you don't need to tell us a load of stuff about her relationship with her parents, we'll learn about that when you show their reaction to the suspension.
You don't need to tell us about her beforehand to make us care that she gets framed and suspended unfairly. The fact she gets framed and suspended unfairly is what will make us care straight away, even if we know nothing else about her.
60,627 / 50,000
Jul 28, 2008 - 10 52
I'm a firm believer in starting with the inciting incident. Those first few pages of a story are the single most important part for selling the book, and if you drag your feet, that's the end of it. The rule of thumb that I stand by is "Start as late as possible." We don't need to see your MC wake up, get breakfast, say hi to the children, go through his work day, pick food out of his teeth, get home, shower, go to bed. We just need to see him waking up to a phone call at 2 AM. The rest of that, the status quo, will come out in how disgruntled the MC is, and any number of references to the past. Plus, the inciting incident doesn't need to completely destroy the status quo, just shake things up. The reader can still get an idea of 'life as usual' by seeing how it's been upset.
Just my 10 cents. If you're going to go with an establishing shot, make it as brief as possible, and consider placing an opening 'hook' shot before the establishing shot. For instance, a scene depicting a murder, followed by a day in the life of Inspector Dogood, followed by the 2 am phone call telling him a body has been found.
Good luck!
0 / 50,000
Jul 28, 2008 - 17 24
Whenever possible, I prefer a technique I call "best of both worlds." In other words, I'll start with the inciting incident, but drop in hints (where appropriate) as to how the character is responding in his or her unique way. Not much, but as an example: if the character in question is an expert in martial arts, then a few karate chops may be in order. Internal dialogue as the character is deciding what to do can be helpful as well. For example, if my character was trained on how to fire a gun in her youth (my MCs are usually female) then having to use one now may have her note: "Thank heavens Dad took us to the firing range as a kid, I never thought it would come in handy but apparently it did." Yeah, that's kind of clunkily obvious and seeming convenient that early on in the tale, but I think you get the point. :)
Even if your character isn't specially trained, there's ways to drop in hints as to what she is like. For example, if she doesn't react well to a crisis, then screaming or crying wouldn't be out of order. If she does react well, then a calm internal dialogue may take place as she considers her next move (such as where to hide or how to get out of these darned restraints).