Starting a book with death?
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Copyright © 2012 The Office of Letters and Light :: All posted novel excerpts remain copyright their authors.
Starting a book with death?
I know it's not November.. but I couldn't think of anywhere else to go other than other the wonderful people of nanowrimo, so here I am!
Basically, I've started writing another novel (I got the novel writing bug after my first nanowrimo in '11!) and I want to start it with the girl saying how she died in august, and she talks about how she's going to tell her story, the story of her life basically, and the very last month of her life. I'm not 100% sure if this falls into LitFic, but it seemed the right genre for now-LitFic with a touch of romance I'm thinking!
Um, to get the idea of my novel, here's part of the paragraph I wrote to myself to get going [I only wrote it five minutes ago so please excuse the awful language!]
"I guess if someone back in November had told me that Summer 2012 would be my last summer on this god awful planet, then I would have spent my time wiser [...] But I wasn’t told in November 2011. I was told in June 2012. That I, Alexis Julia Hara would have one month left to live. So this is my story. From the very beginning. The story of my life..."
I want to write it in first person, but as if Lex is writing it from like 'beyond the grave'. Does anybody think this is a stupid idea-crit is good by the way! If you do have crit, please, do tell me how I can improve! I'm only 15 so I've got a lot of time to improve!
Looking forward to opinions as I think this could be quite hmm... controversial (for lack of a better word).
Many thanks!
-Emily
Re: Starting a book with death?
actually i think its a good idea, you have to figure out she died, was it an illness or a tragic death or else was she killed in some gruesome way. Does she want to explain her life because she did something wrong or just because she feels the need? how old is she?
Re: Starting a book with death?
I was thinking she found out she had cancer, and the whole book is like, her life, and her last month when she found out she had cancer.
Oooh... I didn't really think about any signifigance to her life, I was going for 'just her story' but, the whole 'doing something wrong' thing, could really work! Maybe it's something she will always like, regret, in a way, and how that last month of her life really changed her thoughts about life and her life and the mistakes she made. Like an advirosy thing in a way..almost sort of, advising the reader that life isn't all gum-drops and kittens, and that it can end drastically-so you should make the right choices.
I just realised I wa sbasically thinking of ideas and then wrote them to you, so sorry about that! I get a bit ramble-y!
And she's around 17.
Thanks for the answer.. great help!
Re: Starting a book with death?
Doesn't the cancer thing slightly contradict with the paragraph about "If I was told summer 2012..." because even if she didn't know exactly when she was going to die, she knew she was dying, and was going to die young. Sorry, I'm being incredibly nitpicky here. It's just a thought.
Re: Starting a book with death?
I don't think that's a ridiculous proposal at all. If I recall correctly, "The Lovely Bones" is narrated that way (there are possibly other examples, but that's the one that springs to mind). So yes, it can work, and it's certainly an attention-grabbing start.
Re: Starting a book with death?
I thought of that one too! The only difference is that "The Lovely Bones" is more about the girl's friends and family dealing with the aftermath of her murder. This idea seems to be the other way around.
Re: Starting a book with death?
actually if they did not catch the cancer in time she could have only had a short time to live. sometimes it happens that way