That “wall of text” thing is so true. I’m always conscious of it even as a reader. If I’m reading a book and, this is usually when I’m tired and wanting to get to the end of a chapter, I see pages of just block text I get a bit “ugh”, but I see pages of dialogue Im more like “thank god” haha
I personally use a slightly different nomenclature. A trope is _any_ repetitive writing device that is present across a large range of works, while a cliché is a trope that is either implemented in a particularly uninspired way or is so widely overused that it is no longer able to be taken seriously. In short, if it makes the audience roll their eyes, it’s probably a cliché.
@@landrypierce9942I say 'if it's a Trope, it is a shortcut in storytelling that uses culture and history to densely pack information in service of a story, a cliché is a shortcut in storytelling that substitutes story for infodumps of any size.Yes, I know this means saying "they wore pants" is a cliché.
The indiana Jones example is probably my favorite kind of opening. Have a scene that's basically a small scale version of your overall story that shows us the core of who the characters are. A fearful character instinctively saving a friend from a minor incident can be a great start for a story that's about overcoming your fear, because we've seen that the goal is in the character, he just needs to learn to do it consciously. It can also serve as a great bookend, if you structure the ending similarly.
That was fun to listen to. Tolkien is my hero when it comes to "worldbuilding iceberg". Even after his unfinished tales are published, we are left with the feeling that there is a much larger world out there, dimly seen through the fog of time.
Yes! He spent his entire life working on his world. It can sometimes be easy to forget that one guy came up with the whole thing, and it makes it feel like even the unanswered questions have an answer that can be discovered someday.
10:55 "Jed, that sounds like it's going to take a lot of time for me to get to that point." For me it has taken ten years of writing and rewriting, editing and starting from scratch over and over again to get to a point of clarity. It is still an arduous journey because I am not naturally a writer but rather grew a deep love and belief in the idea I developed back in 2014, but I have been able to gain so much progress in story development, character development, and conveying cohesive thoughts. Writing a novel is like painting a mural, and each detail on the canvas is just as important as the rest. It can be rather overwhelming, especially if all the nuances haven't been discovered or if I am not aware of them yet. Anyway, thank you for your videos. They are enjoyable to watch and they help me sharpen the craft of writing.
Hilariously my novel starts on a prison ship during transport, so no execution at least, and his purpose is to recruit the ship’s warden and a prisoner at the same time. I really thought I was onto something unique lmao😂
Ah, the every Elder Scrolls game start of the main character being a prisoner! Lol! Don’t worry. It’s not about if you’re copying similar tropes that other stories have used, it’s how the story is…executed (pun intended. Lol). With millions of books written, almost nothing is original anymore, you just have to find a way to write your scenes in creative ways.
Just had to mention this here because I've watched so many writing advice videos I rarely hear something actually new, but applying the idea of the USP to a book is genius, and the way you want to give the reader a taste of what your USP is in the first chapter finally gave me a clearer idea on how I want my book to start (writing non-chronologically here so I already have some other parts but was really struggling with the beginning.) Thanks! That was eye-opening.
The first chapter should be a microcosm for the entire book. Let it be a small version that is either left unresolved or that ends in a way that sets the stage or tone for the rest of the story. This is why Raiders of the Lost Ark has an opening that works well despite not following all the standard "rules" everyone likes to give. You establish what to expect from both the character and the plot and set up the tone of the rivalry by having the protagonist lose yet still "win" by escaping. It even have the pet snake used to introduce his ophidian fear. Furthermore, it would diminish the story to remove it, because of the foreshadowing it gives for various beats throughout the story.
@@arzabael Not sure what you mean but I suspect that you're accusing me of ripping someone off. The phrasing is my own but I have little doubt that others have said similar. Not only was some of it said in this video, but the advice is just common sense. The intent is that sometimes, by rephrasing and expounding on a particular point, it might actually help someone out. If not, no big deal. If so, then great. In either case, I don't expect recognition for it. It's just a comment on UA-cam. ...but my guess is that you're just trolling. In either case, you should probably spend less time making accusations and more time on your writing.
@@sebastiansilverfox6912 you’re right. I forgot I wrote that and feel bad now. I was the rude one. But, yes, I said the terrible But of course I did, But, I must say, I can’t think of any books that had a microcosmic version of the story as the intro even though it does seem like the most perfect and true thing
I had stopped completely writing before I found this channel, you’ve motivated me to begin again and I’ve begun working on a new story now. Thanks for making me interested in writing again
I've been writing a YA Fantasy trilogy since 2011, and I'm excited to finally get out there and do my best to publish it. I've rewritten the story a gajillion times, making sure it's the best version of the story it can be.
I actually feel that I might be too sensitive to walls of texts. When I read, blocks of text turn me off pretty quickly, so when I write I get too conscious of the amount of lines that I get paranoid if it's too short or not. And the advice about not writing things that hasn't happened is something I've only h eard once before but is especially helpful! Thanks for including that.
if you're getting paranoid, make every paragraph at least 7 lines, minimum of 4. unless there is something that requires so much detail or if you think that breaking the paragraph into 2 could ruin the part of the sentence, then 11 lines will be ok, or even larger paragraphs. i have 3 paragraphs on one page, 2 are very large and 1 is small to break up the paragraphs. hopefully this makes sense and helps you with your writing.
You appeared on my feed even though I haven't ever thought of writing a novel. After listening to how passionately you speak on the subject I am now considering giving this thing a try!
I love your advice. Even though I'm French and I'm writing my novel in French, listening to your videos has already helped me make efficient changes to my writing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience like so.
Thanks, Jed. I like the promise-progress-payoff idea. I think in addition to becoming a grammar expert, it's useful to have a working knowledge of rhetoric.
Oh wow, i never really thought about how the structure of the writing influences how quickly pages are being turned and that that can drive engagement. Thats a really interesting way of utilizing the physical aspects of the artform
I’ve been working on my own world for over a year now and I just had no idea where to start my actual story, but since I’ve found this channel I’ve come almost double the way in terms of Plot:) thank you so much
A note about sentence splices: there is a purpose-made punctuation mark for sentences too broad for a comma, yet unfit for the break of a full stop; this, of course, is a semicolon. I'd say that the semicolon is one of the most underutilized means of linking two defined but interrelated ideas. I rarely see them used to great effect in most modern literature; they're remarkably sparse when compared against even mid-20th century writing
I love your fourth point. It's a big goal for me right now to properly portray internal conflict during action scenes to really nail that emotional hit. Great stuff Jed.
Jed, I have enjoyed your description of character building and the mistakes that come along with making an opening novel interesting or boring. As you described each point I mentally reviewed my first novel and realized I have aspects of avoiding these mistakes or, to a degree, made these mistakes - like having a slow beginning. I have saved this video and will be revisiting it to remember your advice. Thank you.
Sentence splice threw me. The two examples carry different connotations! Interesting bit about the sentence spacing and dialogue though. That can really speed things along or slow things right down for effect.
I'm in the very early stages of writing my first book and I ran into the "wall of text" problem immediately. I decided to just jump into it to see how well I could keep the momentum going and after typing out the first two pages I realized there were only like four paragraphs and it looked awful. I went back and broke those down into many more paragraphs, adding new details and dialogue to make sure the paragraphs still stood out, and I'm happy with the result. You just have to keep rereading and imagining you're a future reader instead of the author.
Big reader here. You can have a wall of text work if you have good flow, few complicated terms and like you said lots of space between the lines. If your half-page of description reads like a symphony and has ties to how the character feels and why this could be important, your half-page of description is fine. Btw the way a character sees something, what they pay attention to, IS characterisation.
I found a fellow traveler. Small paragraphs encourage less deep reading. Paragraph size is proportionate to what % of the brain you want them to use. I like big brain % books. I know it's not universal.
Dude, your content is invaluable!!! I’m not a novelist, but I’ve been working on on audio drama podcast (live action fiction story podcast) for a while and all of your advice applies. Phenomenal videos you putt out man, we appreciate it
Because I myself am a picky reader I am always self concious of the "block of text" that I gave myself a guideline of: a paragraph coneys a central idea that connects 3-5 sentances.
Years ago, I tried reading Lord of the Rings, but I was so overwhelmed by world building that I gave up. I enjoy lore quite a bit, but I need to be eased into it
I'm working on my first set of edits and revisions to my first novel, and I'm not going to lie I've had your videos playing non stop my my store (7eleven) for the last two days trying to make sure I'm not running into specific mistakes (unless i can justify to myself why I don't feel its a mistake within my book) thank you soooo much for these videos, truly they are helpful
I feel like the point you make about meaningless action can be applied to many of the others as well. The mistake of starting too early, for example, can often be traced to people blindly following Hollywood story templates which the writing advice cottage industry is trying to sell as "cure-alls" for writing issues. In a movie, the information density is many times higher than in a novel - you can get away with having a very complex "ordinary world" setup if you want because you can cram so much more information into the first few moments of a movie. In a novel, that very same scene that might take a minute on screen might well take up ten or twenty minutes of reading time. That's plenty of time to lose a reader.
HI Jed. Your video is very well put together, and contains some good advice too. One thing I did not consider while writing my own novel is the tone and emotion of the first chapter. I'll have to go back and see if I can fix that a bit. Thanks for the tips.
I have just one important grip with his video: the part concerning description of things you character doesn't see or doesn't know. That is NOT a mistake but actually a very useful tool; the thing is, you have to be aware of what you're doing, when to do it and what does that accomplish from a narrative perspective. It shouldn't be used as your normal run of the mill sentence, but what it effectively does is to create a slight lag between your reader and your character, like a little flashforward, giving to the former more information than what the later knows _at that precise moment_ (which is important, but I'll come back to that point later), and, if not overdone, that can be a very efficient and immersive way to build tension. Your exemple with the monster is in fact one of the worst you could have thought of, because it's a textbook exemple of the ideal moment to use that technique: think of that scene in a horror movie where you have a camera angle where you can see the creature slowly creeping towards the hero, but he looks in the other direction and can't see it coming: you're creating expectation, suspense, fear, etc. Your sentence accomplishes the same thing in the written form, and it certainly shouldn't be avoided when appropriate. Now concerning the coherence of the narration, there is once again no issue, even with an internal perspective (at least if you're writing in the past tense, which is most common), because while the character might not know what is coming at the moment of the scene, he probably knows everything about it by the time he's telling the story. And even if you're writing in the present tense, it's debatable, because historical present is a thing and flashforwards are a legitimate technique anyway. In conclusion, it shouldn't be your standard way of writing a scene, you're right about that, but that does not make it a bad thing or a mistake in itself!
I did the wall of text thing, because personally I don't like it myself that I read it with a bunch of texts on the papers, so I added like white space, and I feel much better reading it now, and I didn't know I've been doing it right
How lucky, i come across that. Thank you. This was helpful. I haven't found similar writing lessons in german. My first chaper seemed a bit ... unlucky, and I couldn't put my fingers on why. - It's a wall. Even if german sentences have about twice the words of english ones, a prologue shouldn't have 30 pages of worldbuilding... especially if parts of it are repeated and retold later. I'm going to throw in a family-tree and a list of characters. If someone is interested, they can look up the details, I need not tell them.
That text block advise helps a lot cause I always feel I dunno....icky whenever I start waffling too much and I end up with a big square of text I prefer it when the page if turned sideways kinda looks like a city skyline with all the skyscrapers of different heights and stuff but I might just be weird
Worldbuilding Overload is really interesting to think about. That point made me realize that so many of my favorite stories feature memorable singular locations that have a large depth of development and that's what ends up making the broader world actually feel real
What do the people in the story know about their world? Is that knowledge accurate/biased/outdated? Maybe I do not need to know about an obscure kingdom on the other side of the continent. If there is no need then maybe holding of describing that kingdom until it is actually needed. Again, the information may be wrong. So a character are a decendant from there. But that ancestor arrived 300 years ago so the family's information are probably dated and misremembered. Maybe that ancestors flat out lied and made up a place that never existed.
One of my books starts with a prologue that follows a character who dies at the end of the prologue. In that case though, I did it with the intention of demonstrating the political world the protag is going to be entering, as well as to subtly foreshadow the magic system from the perspective of a character who can't use it. It also serves to introduce a group of major series villains with shock and awe, taking advantage of the disposability of the prologue characters. How's that?
walls of text also makes it just harder to keep track of your spot on the page - liberal paragraph breaks makes it less mentally taxing to keep your eyes and concventration in the correct place because the content itself is less dense
recently found your video's when looking up some tips and tricks on writing. I started writing a novel recently with 0% experience. I never really read any books before. Never was a big reader. Then a year ago I started listing to audio books and read some books about games I played. After reading and listening, watching a whole lot of anime and fantasy tv shows, my head started making up stories that I couldn't get out of my head. So I thought I would just start writing something. I decided that I would write down the main story moments that I wanted to reach and basically tell the story as I go. My story, being somewhat complex and probably way to big to start out with, started off with really just basic writing. I am now 36 chapters in, learned a lot and am currently rewriting the earlier chapters. This video really felt like I am on the right track. My first chapter deals with just my main characters (2) and their bond, it shows a little bit about the place they live in and the time of the year. Then they I tell a little bit about their motivation and what they are planning, after which I introduce the antagonist. After some action, in the form of a massive earthquake (caused by the antagonist), and a massive avalanche, they MC's lose their home and after seeing the antagonist and being scared and hiding from him, are driven out of the place they lived and move on to a family member that lives somewhere else. The story is made extra complex due to the fact that, my MC's are twins but the real MC has his soul connected to his sister and because of that controls 2 bodies at the same time. Through the chapters I switch between the POV's of the 2 organically. Meaning I switch between the 2, mostly, on a chapter basis and in meaningful ways. I want it to feel like something happens and then the next chapter you can see the thoughts or impact of it from the other POV. I did some detailing for things in the world, and character backstories. Aslo wrote out the whole magic system and how the world operates on Aehter for magic use. All to give myself limits to stay consistent throughout. I have no clue if it reads well and my English language skills are good but writers vocab not so much XD But it is massive fun to write out the characters journey. The second chapter gives them a run in with bandits, where I hope I am showing the cruelty of the world. At any time something could happen. There is a massive powerstruggle in the background that the MC is part of without knowing it yet. But I'm just writing from chapter to chapter and hope to just organically move from location and plot point to plot point :) Thanks for all your info. Will be staying tuned for more ^_^
My first chapter starts with the POV of one of the Victims who suffer from the calamity that more and more haunts my world and the elite troupe of hunters saves him. One of my MCs is part of them. It also shows an action sequence where the readers gets a glimpse of the complex magic system the warriors have to use to defeat those enemies
For the two different prose approaches: Can you go with a middle-ground approach where you borrow from both styles? Or do you more or less have to choose between one or the other and stick to that choice?
I own a collection of H P Lovecraft stories that includes an amusing typo in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". At one point the story states that the aliens are offering humans "a form of bodily immortality"; in my copy, the first "t" in "immortality" has been omitted.
One example of a false promise that really annoyed me was the anime Buddy Daddies. I knew from the description it was supposed to be a comedy slice of life about two hitmen raising a kid. And it was exactly that, and did it great. But the opening John Wick-esque action scene made me think "I hope there's more of that coming later" for the entire series, so I was somewhat disappointed (there was some more action at the end, but not enough to satisfy my craving). Thankfully the adorable closing scene made up for it entirely
Point five explains why I ended up hating the korean novel/manhwa "The Abandoned Empress." Because the protagonist didn't achieve the promise she made to herself.
One of my writing instructors called the first paragraph of your story (or first sentence in shorter stories) "The Bait". Every element, from sentence/word length to writing style smiles a promise to the reader, enticing them into your lair. It whets their curiosity by presenting some element of both suspense and promise. The first paragraph of my novel, "The Fickle Finger", reads: The usual evening haze had settled across the patronage of the Grey Dog Tavern. Tonight, however, it tasted different. That's it - eighteen words. Two sentences. The first evokes a sense of time and setting. By the time the reader gets to the first page, they already expect a medieval fantasy so not much is needed to establish the scene. Thirteen words establish the setting (a medieval tavern), the time (late evening/nightfall), something about the (as yet unidentified) viewpoint character ("patronage" evokes a different perspective from, say, "crowd"), while the name "Grey Dog" is reminiscent of real-world medieval taverns (such as "Red Stallion", "Black Swan", etc). "Evening haze" helps to evoke a smoky, laid back atmosphere, and "usual" conveys that it is something of the status quo. The second hints at conflict - that something is out of place. Many might opt to say it "seemed" different, but that's a soft ambiguous word. Could well be that everything is perfectly normal and the viewpoint character is just being paranoid, or possibly disturbed by something entirely unrelated. Taste, by comparison, is a more concrete sense; even if you can't identify it, what you sense is something quite real. It's also a sense which is entirely internal, as opposed to sight and scent which are inherently distant. The following paragraph is considerably more lengthy; not quite a 'wall of text', but far less inviting than some readers may like. However, the first paragraph has presented a small yet valid mystery. While the second paragraph is largely descriptive, it's following the viewpoint character as they seek out the incongruity they sensed. Even though the protagonist has yet to be identified, the reader has incentive to journey with them as they try to identify what is out of place - a motive to keep reading.
Good lord that’s crap opener. Now, “The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.” that’s good. Look at the opening of “The Fall of the House of Usher” it’s good. There’s rhythm and music in the line. That hooks a reader. This is awkward and clunky. The word “patronage” is entirely wrong. The line is too short for the weight and stress of the word. Do it again.
Agrè Patronage is totally the wrong word. Patrons if you want. Seriously that misused word in the first sentence would make me put the book back unread
@@dianacoles1017 Per OED: patron ~ a customer, especially a regular one, of a store, restaurant, or theater patronage ~ the regular business given to a store, restaurant, or public service by a person or group In no way is the word 'misused'.
@@twylanaythias How can the mist settle across the business given to an establishment? Patronage is an abstract noun and mist tends to eschew abstracts.
@@dianacoles1017 We're mostly on the same page with "patron" as it applies to customers - in particular, a regular customer. The "-age" suffix indicates a collective group; ie acreage, baggage, etc. In other words, "patronage" is a collective group of regular customers. As it specifically applies to the example, the POV character recognizes everyone in the tavern. (The POV character is something of a 'villain turned vigilante' and the Grey Dog is the heart of his turf. This aspect hasn't been elaborated yet, but it's core to his character.) "Haze" is something of a fun word, meaning (as a noun) both mental and visual obscuration. Everyone's relaxed, enjoying a few drinks, and generally in their own little 'bubbles'. If you've ever been in a dive bar where everyone has settled into their regular routines, you're familiar with the "usual evening haze".
thanks for this videos, I might try to become a writer and your videos are really useful, also what you said about your book the thunder heist really hooked me, hopefully it's available in my country
First mistake writers make is taking advice from other people. Look, these things are subjective. You're told make your opening exciting. Yet Fellowship of the Ring is one of the most boring, slow openings there is. And that did alright. Write as a writer, read as a reader. That's all you need.
"Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. As ninety-nine they began to call him _well-preserved;_ but _unchanged_ would have been nearer the mark. There were some that thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth. "'It will have to be paid for,' they said. 'It isn't natural, and trouble will come of it!'" I agree that Fellowship is a slow and at times boring book, but you can't deny that is a strong hook!
Lotr was also sort of novel at the time. I will say the slow opening turned me off of the book. I enjoy fantasy writing, and I have watched lotr/the hobbitt more times than I can count, but I've never read the book because the opening is slow. Your advice is still good, overwhelming yourself with other people's opinions can create some serious writer's block, but it is still important to understand the value of things that work. Especially if you're a beginner.
You just admitted it's a boring, slow opening. Why would you deliberately want a boring, slow opening? You should absolutely listen to people with more experience than you for the first few years until you know the craft. I listen to nobody and follow no guides or rules anymore because it's all subconscious now and I instead just do whatever I want, but I've been writing for 11 years and obsessively, every day with only short breaks in that space of time, but when I started I tried to consume as much information on craft as possible and sometimes I still read or listen to guides or "tips" even though I already knew them because sometimes it can trigger a thought or spark an idea
Learning to identify sentence splices can be quite tricky. Here's an old piece of advice I follow. "Read your prose out loud as if you are a narrator who focuses on measured, stately delivery." When a spliced sentence is spoken out loud with a touch of gravitas, it sounds as if the speaker is rushing through or muttering. This is why "but" is commonly inserted after a comma. It paces out the delivery. (Imagine you are narrating before an audience and pausing to hold up a finger to the listeners. You are emphasizing a change in focus or the arrival of a revelation. In fact, you will likely preface your next words with a dramatic "... but!") That said, one should be careful with the "buts". In casual conversation "but" is a word we tend to use a lot without realizing it. It provides emphasis for the next point we're about to make. In written word too many buts becomes neurotic. A paragraph feels as if it's tripping over its own feet when constantly interrupted by a rain of "but listen here buddy!"
I'm writing a book on an idea of an all powerful being that I had as a kid but I might be starting it too early in the story but I want the readers to see my character before he had powers. In the early chapters.
I started my first chapter in my fantasy book with the villains preparing to overthrow the world. They have gathered to strategize and determine the time and date of an attack that would be seen in the second book with over the course of my fantasy novel, I break up the hero's journey with chapters where the villains are the main focus. Two chapters show the villain assassinating a lord to take their place. Another chapter shows the villains making deals with rival factions to grant them safe passage to stage their attack. My first chapter in a sci-fi book I am writing jumps straight into the war and shows different perspectives of the soldiers before they die with my main character and his allies not appearing until chapter 4.
Thank you so much for all the tips! Great advice! ❤ Update: Thanks for what you said about Lord Of The Rings. I started it once but couldn't finish because it was too detailed. I think I'll give it another try!
Tolkien suffers from Introductionary Info Dump, but that is because Tolkien was a Linguist first and Worldbuilder second...The world was built only to have a place where his conlangs could exist,the Stories are just an afterthought to his worldbuilding.
The Fellowship of the Ring is told from Frodo's point of view. It starts out with all of that background about hobbits and the Shire because Tolkien wants us to be familiar with what Frodo is familiar with (and only later to come to learn about the things that Frodo only later comes to learn about).
LotR is my favorite book ever but I will admit that the beginning is a slog and (by modern standards, at least) the pacing throughout is a bit plodding but, for me at least, in the end it actually works in the book's favor and the slow opening shows you why the characters (and, by extention, you the reader) should care about what's going on in the wider world, what they're fighting to protect, and contrasts with the ending to show how much they've grown by the end of it (even though the ending is the most controversial part of the book depending on whether you prioritize story or theme). Definitely recommend reading through at least once and if it's not your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine.
In regards to the whole starting on a normal day vs the big event day thing I think a normal day can be a really good starter so long as you don't dwell on it for too long. Opening in a more normal setting can make the reveal of more fantastical elements exciting. You can see the change from a normal day to an adventure from the character's perspective, understanding what they're losing/gaining going into this story. I feel like a lot of youth fantasy stories with characters getting pulled out of our world somehow into a magical one do well with this format.
Nitpick: Prologue: pro/before logos/speech. Speech beforehand: "A thousand years ago, when the Dark Lord conquered the land of Nahn..." It's an infodump before the start of a book. Prelude: prae/before ludere/play. Play beforehand: "King Alfred leaned on his sword beneath the enemy's shadow..." It's a story before the start of a book.
I think people get the idea that it's just a part before the main story. It doesn't have to be an info dump Star Wars text scrawl. I don't think that the literal definition really matters.
@@lennysmileyface You have two words each describing a distinct concept. How can that not matter? If I make a video titled "How to buy the right car," but I'm using the word "car" to mean both a car and a tractor, and I spend most of the video distinguishing between a car and a tractor, does that not prove the words matter even though people get the idea that they're both vehicles that move on land? Now, it's not this video, but there are plenty talking about "how to write prologues that don't suck" you can quickly sum up as "write a prelude instead." This is a problem we can solve just by using the right words at the beginning. And then we can have useful videos on what makes a good versus a bad prelude.
@@jimschuler8830 because no one cares about the difference. They are used interchangeably. Language doesn't always pedantically follow the dictionary definition of similar words. They both mean something that is before the story.
@@lennysmileyface Obviously people care about the difference if they ask "how do I write a good prologue" and the answer always comes back as a much-more wordier version of "write a prelude instead." If people didn't care about the difference, then people wouldn't be constantly making this distinction as they are. It's just a bad argument.
Thank you for this video; I am now about to plunge headlong into bingeing the rest! Sloppy Prose Questions: I was taught to avoid using a comma before a but; is this incorrect? I've had to unlearn quite a few things I learned in school and would like to know whether this is one of them. I find paragraphing difficult despite having read and watched guides on the subject. Likewise, I thought it was 'fewer' words rather than 'less'. I was taught that countable things are more/fewer, while non-countable masses are more/less. "Fewer potatoes, less mash."
I' struggling with what perspective to use for a story: 1st or 3rd person, present or past? I dabbled a bit in writing things but i can never get a handle on what perspective to use. Did he make video on that as well? I could use some input on that, that could help me make up my mind on that.
I remember years ago after I had finished reading China Miéville‘s book Perdido Street Station I had reached out to a friend to recommend it since I knew he was heavily in fantasy stories. He told me he had tried but found the writing to be too difficult and boring. It took me a moment to remember the book opens with a pov internal monologue from Yagharek, a non-human character with alien sensibilities which the chapter captures. His pov chapters appear at various points in the book and are always a bit of a slog but they’re short and once you begin to understand the character you start understanding his pov and can sympathize with him… I’ll add I expected his ending to be quite different in that book. I tried to assure that friend that that wasn’t a good representation of the book and everything past those chapters are quite easy to read and make for an interesting and exciting story. He just had to make it past that first short chapter. He said he didn’t care and that he’d lost interest. I’ve lost touch with that person, I wonder if he’d ever changed his mind. But just goes to show even professional writers can lose potential readers by starting off with a curve ball like that. In the grand scheme of things I understand why the book started that way but that can easily turn off a casual reader.
Great book. I love writing that makes use of strange perspectives and tricks like unreliable narrators, I enjoy being pushed almost to the edge of confusion. The opening story in Alan Moore's "Voice of the Fire" is a good example of what I mean. It is written from the POV of an intellectually disabled child in 4000 BC. As if that POV isn't disorienting enough, there's a twist reveal I wouldn't want to spoil. Really stuck with me and I'd love to be able to do something similar in my writing.
The beginning and mid part of my story has a magicka academy the characters go to, however it is not the focus of the story. It is just the place the characters meet and grow as friends. My first chapter starts on a train. The very first line is this; 'Lightning flickers across the sky as Ariel gazes out the window. Thunder roars in the distance as the train chugs towards its destination. The setting brings her mind to the moment. "It has been a few hours since I left home in the cold mountains on the outskirts of Tapral." She thinks.
I have been working on my world building for some time, and have just started writing my first chapter to my fantasy novel. I start out by introducing the two main characters as a woodsman and his son. I then get into some description of the setting of the kingdom which they live within the wider world but not in too much detail but just enough to give the reader a clear picture of the setting in which this story takes place. I describe an aspect of this kingdom concerning the king's rangers which relates directly to the two main characters as the woodsman used to be a ranger and his son is also training to become one. I then give the reader the names of the woodsman and his son and also describe the homestead where they live. This all happened in about 2.5 pages. My next approach will be to introduce a scene that brings a internal conflict to light with which both these characters are struggling and that will bring in some dialogue which will set the theme of the story which will set the stage for the first action scene. I read some of it to my dad and he commented that it really drew him in. I plan to also share it with some friends and see what they say about it.
I opened my first try at a book by showing that my main character is nervous about joining a caravan, but she loves the giant draft beasts and has a condescending view of the goblins who serve as the underclass. In the next couple of pages we meet her new friend who will help her through the book, learn that her parents were merchants before they died and that she is happiest when crafting fair deals that benefit everyone involved.
My philosophy on action scenes in prose fiction is that the secret to meaningful action is a sense of progress in one direction or another (or both at once). Closing a gap, counting down a timer, searching every room, destroying something piece by piece, exchanging blows and wounds, expending bullets. A description of a piece of action will fall flat if it doesn’t put a point on some kind of meter, one you’ve given the audience a grasp of. I’ve proofread stories with indulgent descriptions of martial arts and super weapons and cool one-liners that left me so bored, and stories where a guy swinging at a guy made me sit my ass down and pay attention until someone in that scene finally fell apart. Motivation and emotion help, but action doesn’t feel like action in prose without some way to track its progress.
its funny to think that ive finished the first draft of my book without knowing how to write a book, and have nailed like 3/5 of the things you mentioned. although the wall of text doesnt so much frighten me, it just tells me that the author couldnt find a perfect sentence or word to make a new sentence. I know Anne Rice didnt do this, Interview with the vampire is a very well written book but that thing has barely any spaces. DX it makes me so sleepy lol.
Well, let's see if I am in time to get read. Nice video. A bit long so it took a while to get to it. I do disagree with one point. My character's life changed when she left her husband and that is where I originally started the story. She has various encounters with her husband's 'friends' at various places along the escape route. Then, she finally switches IDs with a foreigner in a foreign land. But all of those are technical events. The story really begins when she finally has time to stop and realise the gravity of what she has done - alone in a foreign land where she knows nothing, has no marketable skills, and has no recourse to resources as that would lead her husband right to her. The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll by Gardner also has a similar starting point where she learns she is wanted for murder, not when the death occurred. Thus, it may not be the moment the person's life changes, but the moment they realise it changed. Harry Potter is the same. His life changed when the prediction was made or his parents died, but the story starts when he realises that it has changed.
I really like that you add a heart to comments that you have read. It really helps me to want to add comments to your postings. I disagree with your run on sentence. The correct punctuation is a semicolon, not a comma. It took me 40 years to feel comfortable using them, so I understand why a person would hesitate to use one. I have also recently started using dashes. Your example was something like 'Tom surveyed the city's walls; he didn't notice many guards.' Your suggestion was to use a conjunction: 'Tom surveyed the city's walls, but he didn't notice many guards.' To me, that changes the meaning. In the original, both statements are equal statements of fact, i.e., there were probably few guards on the wall. The second is a statement of fact: looking, followed by a statement of his action, but suggesting that the guards might have been there, Tom simply failed to notice them. Using a colon would have made it more a report: 'Tom surveyed the city's walls: he didn't notice many guards.' As I remember it, the sentence was in this third person, which, if correct, is the real reason it feels mushy. I would have preferred 'Tom surveyed the city's walls: not too many guards.' (I can't do italics for 'not too many guards' to show this is what he was thinking/saying to himself.) Interesting prose has a varied sentence structure, not constant SVO.
You know, that idea about a baker that grew up on the border of a rival country preparing for war could be a good setup for a cozy managment game. Like if you had to run a bakery but there is a war brewing & happening in the background & you have to deal with inventory hiccups or have to decide if you want to use not quality ingredients to keep the business running, might be a pretty interesting game.
Interesting- if I see long stretches of dialog- I zone out. Sometimes I never get through it even if I'm half way through the book. Or if its a GREAT book, I skip over it. Something about figuring out who is saying what and keeping track of it all. It's exhausting.
What if my first chapter starts off a little slow and is used as more of a set up for my character’s next POV chapter (I’m writing 4 POVs) where they’ll have the inciting incident? Would showing internal conflict and writing engaging prose be enough to keep readers reading or do I have to have something bizarre happen at the end of the chapter as a cliffhanger to keep them engaged? I want to have a slower beginning for each character to sort of ease the readers into them and their situations but I’m afraid if nothing much is happening externally that may turn some readers off. Thoughts?
It's important to know that slow doesn't mean boring, and cutting to action doesn't automatically mean engaging. Think of it this way. When you write a scene / sequence of scenes, you are either building up to a moment where you surprise the reader (twist, reversal, unexpected plot development etc.) or you are building anticipation by having your reader know things your protagonist doesn't (e.g. they're walking into a trap, or separated lover is now with another etc.) Taking these two approaches, you can create a way to tease the readers emotions. With surprise, you are going to give them a progress type scene. The protagonist is doing well in life, too well. The reader knows something bad is going to happen. They are waiting for the reversal. The longer you go without reversing this, the more you risk the reader getting bored. This doesn't mean you need to rush your world building or character development. Just that you have to clue the reader in sooner than later that something is going to change (usually negative) for your protagonist soon. What it is, is a mystery, but change is coming. in anticipation, you let the reader know something is waiting for the protagonist from the off. Then you can milk the moment a bit more. You have told the reader this thing is going to happen. We're now waiting for the protagonist to find out. E.g. your protagonist is riding up to the bank, in the previous scene we know it's his life savings important to grow his farm. In the bank, a robbery in progress. Bandits looting, robbing, some victims dead. Outside, protagonist is invited to drink at tavern. Sorry can't do, gotta go to the bank. Thank you. Inside, bandits see protagonist approach. They plan to pose as bankers. Outside, the protagonist encounters love interest. They will follow the protagonist to bank... In short, surprise or anticipation. Which emotion are you going to tickle?
As long as the character is sympathetic and their opening chapter tells us why we should care about and be invested in them, that's what matters. A good example is Simon from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. For the first 200 pages of the first book, he's arguably the most boring POV character, being a simple scullion boy contrasting with the aging (and quickly dead) king, his two sons, the older son's estranged daughter, a Duke from the north, and the castle's resident wizard/alchemist/historian, but it sets him up well as a character because, while it's mostly him going around doing (and trying to avoid) chores, daydreaming about being a knight with his best friend, and taking lessons with the alchemist, it sets him up as a likeable and relatable (we've all tried our best to avoid chores and been disappointed when we realize that real life is a lot more boring than we think it is as children) character that also helps contrast how much he grows over the course of the story and the inciting incident wouldn't be as impactful if we didn't know how in over his head Simon is in getting mixed up in much bigger things. His POV also does a good job of setting up the normal everyday life of The Hayholt that gives the reader a reason to care when, later in the series, things are horribly disrupted and the place is left nearly abandoned and filled with the villain's forces (slight spoilers but this is also a 30-year old series and it's pretty easy to figure out that's going to happen pretty quickly once things really kick into gear).
"He surveyed the castle carefully. It didn't seem that well defended." is better IMO. It conveys a sense of pause between assessment and conclusion, lending to the feeling of careful deliberation. You might want to follow through a bit more with that second sentence, though - as it is, it feels abrupt and doesn't feel like it goes anywhere.
A movie does have another thing: Commitment of the viewer ;-) Movies are made for cinemas and people will not leave the cinema after a movie starts. So it is not as bad as with a book or TV show, if the beginning is badly done. Movies especially made for TV use diffrent techniques due to the danger of people switching channels.
My novel starts in a secret meeting about asking support for the declaration of independence of a state and then one of your attendee who you hoped to be your ally doesn't believe in your plan and would not express support in fear of war. But you, as a leader of a powerful state when it comes to military and trade, you are confident that you can defend your land when the ruler of the country decides to invade your land. The meeting is about choosing sides and allies.
Your wall of text advice is actually a good one I haven't heard mentioned before, and it's solid advice.
I first saw it mentioned in Stephen King's "On Writing"
Atwood is really god at this too
unlike the text walll should be
It's actually one of the first things I learned in 4th grade
It is good advice for anything text related. From stories to comments to code, it makes it easier on the eyes.
That “wall of text” thing is so true. I’m always conscious of it even as a reader. If I’m reading a book and, this is usually when I’m tired and wanting to get to the end of a chapter, I see pages of just block text I get a bit “ugh”, but I see pages of dialogue Im more like “thank god” haha
9:27 I use the differentiation as: If it is implemented well, it's a Trope; if is implemented badly, it's Cliche.
I personally use a slightly different nomenclature. A trope is _any_ repetitive writing device that is present across a large range of works, while a cliché is a trope that is either implemented in a particularly uninspired way or is so widely overused that it is no longer able to be taken seriously. In short, if it makes the audience roll their eyes, it’s probably a cliché.
@@landrypierce9942I say 'if it's a Trope, it is a shortcut in storytelling that uses culture and history to densely pack information in service of a story, a cliché is a shortcut in storytelling that substitutes story for infodumps of any size.Yes, I know this means saying "they wore pants" is a cliché.
@@andresa2711 Well, it did make me roll my eyes...
The indiana Jones example is probably my favorite kind of opening. Have a scene that's basically a small scale version of your overall story that shows us the core of who the characters are. A fearful character instinctively saving a friend from a minor incident can be a great start for a story that's about overcoming your fear, because we've seen that the goal is in the character, he just needs to learn to do it consciously. It can also serve as a great bookend, if you structure the ending similarly.
That was fun to listen to. Tolkien is my hero when it comes to "worldbuilding iceberg". Even after his unfinished tales are published, we are left with the feeling that there is a much larger world out there, dimly seen through the fog of time.
Yes! He spent his entire life working on his world. It can sometimes be easy to forget that one guy came up with the whole thing, and it makes it feel like even the unanswered questions have an answer that can be discovered someday.
10:55 "Jed, that sounds like it's going to take a lot of time for me to get to that point." For me it has taken ten years of writing and rewriting, editing and starting from scratch over and over again to get to a point of clarity. It is still an arduous journey because I am not naturally a writer but rather grew a deep love and belief in the idea I developed back in 2014, but I have been able to gain so much progress in story development, character development, and conveying cohesive thoughts. Writing a novel is like painting a mural, and each detail on the canvas is just as important as the rest. It can be rather overwhelming, especially if all the nuances haven't been discovered or if I am not aware of them yet. Anyway, thank you for your videos. They are enjoyable to watch and they help me sharpen the craft of writing.
I'm on year 3 and I barely have the prolouge worked on but I know what will happen up to the mid point and I know the ending.
Hilariously my novel starts on a prison ship during transport, so no execution at least, and his purpose is to recruit the ship’s warden and a prisoner at the same time. I really thought I was onto something unique lmao😂
I'd read both :)
Bro don't take such youtube videos too seriously. The truth is anything goes as long as its well done.
That doesn't mean it's doomed, what really matters is execution
@@storageroom1472 never said it was, it’s just funny
Ah, the every Elder Scrolls game start of the main character being a prisoner! Lol! Don’t worry. It’s not about if you’re copying similar tropes that other stories have used, it’s how the story is…executed (pun intended. Lol). With millions of books written, almost nothing is original anymore, you just have to find a way to write your scenes in creative ways.
Just had to mention this here because I've watched so many writing advice videos I rarely hear something actually new, but applying the idea of the USP to a book is genius, and the way you want to give the reader a taste of what your USP is in the first chapter finally gave me a clearer idea on how I want my book to start (writing non-chronologically here so I already have some other parts but was really struggling with the beginning.) Thanks! That was eye-opening.
The first chapter should be a microcosm for the entire book. Let it be a small version that is either left unresolved or that ends in a way that sets the stage or tone for the rest of the story. This is why Raiders of the Lost Ark has an opening that works well despite not following all the standard "rules" everyone likes to give. You establish what to expect from both the character and the plot and set up the tone of the rivalry by having the protagonist lose yet still "win" by escaping. It even have the pet snake used to introduce his ophidian fear. Furthermore, it would diminish the story to remove it, because of the foreshadowing it gives for various beats throughout the story.
Don’t stroke yourself it’s rude. Especially when it’s someone else’s advice on someone else’s video.
@@arzabael Not sure what you mean but I suspect that you're accusing me of ripping someone off. The phrasing is my own but I have little doubt that others have said similar. Not only was some of it said in this video, but the advice is just common sense. The intent is that sometimes, by rephrasing and expounding on a particular point, it might actually help someone out. If not, no big deal. If so, then great. In either case, I don't expect recognition for it. It's just a comment on UA-cam. ...but my guess is that you're just trolling. In either case, you should probably spend less time making accusations and more time on your writing.
@@sebastiansilverfox6912 you’re right. I forgot I wrote that and feel bad now. I was the rude one. But, yes, I said the terrible But of course I did, But, I must say, I can’t think of any books that had a microcosmic version of the story as the intro even though it does seem like the most perfect and true thing
I had stopped completely writing before I found this channel, you’ve motivated me to begin again and I’ve begun working on a new story now. Thanks for making me interested in writing again
That's awesome to hear, Knight! Glad to help out. Good luck with the writing
Same here, thanks Jed ❤
I’ve just started my book so I listen to this while writing my first chapter
@@Comedybird0769 Cool, what is the book about?
I've been writing a YA Fantasy trilogy since 2011, and I'm excited to finally get out there and do my best to publish it. I've rewritten the story a gajillion times, making sure it's the best version of the story it can be.
I actually feel that I might be too sensitive to walls of texts. When I read, blocks of text turn me off pretty quickly, so when I write I get too conscious of the amount of lines that I get paranoid if it's too short or not.
And the advice about not writing things that hasn't happened is something I've only h eard once before but is especially helpful! Thanks for including that.
if you're getting paranoid, make every paragraph at least 7 lines, minimum of 4. unless there is something that requires so much detail or if you think that breaking the paragraph into 2 could ruin the part of the sentence, then 11 lines will be ok, or even larger paragraphs. i have 3 paragraphs on one page, 2 are very large and 1 is small to break up the paragraphs.
hopefully this makes sense and helps you with your writing.
Your advice made me reflect on how far I've come as a writer. I remember when i didn't have any understanding of pacing or plot.
The Wheel of Time does the prologue with a character that is not the main character of the book nor novel series but is also done well.
You appeared on my feed even though I haven't ever thought of writing a novel. After listening to how passionately you speak on the subject I am now considering giving this thing a try!
I love your advice. Even though I'm French and I'm writing my novel in French, listening to your videos has already helped me make efficient changes to my writing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience like so.
Thanks, Jed. I like the promise-progress-payoff idea. I think in addition to becoming a grammar expert, it's useful to have a working knowledge of rhetoric.
Oh wow, i never really thought about how the structure of the writing influences how quickly pages are being turned and that that can drive engagement. Thats a really interesting way of utilizing the physical aspects of the artform
I’ve been working on my own world for over a year now and I just had no idea where to start my actual story, but since I’ve found this channel I’ve come almost double the way in terms of Plot:) thank you so much
That's awesome, keep up the good work
Orwell changed prose style completely across genres. From strange old fashioned meandering verbosity, in to straightforward and clear modernity.
@@thebeezkneez7559 he set the tone for everyone from then on
A note about sentence splices: there is a purpose-made punctuation mark for sentences too broad for a comma, yet unfit for the break of a full stop; this, of course, is a semicolon.
I'd say that the semicolon is one of the most underutilized means of linking two defined but interrelated ideas. I rarely see them used to great effect in most modern literature; they're remarkably sparse when compared against even mid-20th century writing
I love your fourth point. It's a big goal for me right now to properly portray internal conflict during action scenes to really nail that emotional hit. Great stuff Jed.
Jed, I have enjoyed your description of character building and the mistakes that come along with making an opening novel interesting or boring. As you described each point I mentally reviewed my first novel and realized I have aspects of avoiding these mistakes or, to a degree, made these mistakes - like having a slow beginning. I have saved this video and will be revisiting it to remember your advice. Thank you.
i was looking for a video to listen to while writing and got recomended to here, they were not lying at all!
same
This helped me finally decide how to begin my story. Thank you 😊
Sentence splice threw me. The two examples carry different connotations! Interesting bit about the sentence spacing and dialogue though. That can really speed things along or slow things right down for effect.
3:47 You could also use a semicolon (;) instead of the comma. I'm not sure if this was left out on purpose, however.
I feel like this is more general advice for writing in general rather than for fantasy, still great points, but not what i was expecting.
I'm in the very early stages of writing my first book and I ran into the "wall of text" problem immediately. I decided to just jump into it to see how well I could keep the momentum going and after typing out the first two pages I realized there were only like four paragraphs and it looked awful. I went back and broke those down into many more paragraphs, adding new details and dialogue to make sure the paragraphs still stood out, and I'm happy with the result. You just have to keep rereading and imagining you're a future reader instead of the author.
Big reader here. You can have a wall of text work if you have good flow, few complicated terms and like you said lots of space between the lines. If your half-page of description reads like a symphony and has ties to how the character feels and why this could be important, your half-page of description is fine. Btw the way a character sees something, what they pay attention to, IS characterisation.
I'm not taking anyone with anything kancolle-related in their name or profile picture seriously.
I found a fellow traveler. Small paragraphs encourage less deep reading. Paragraph size is proportionate to what % of the brain you want them to use. I like big brain % books. I know it's not universal.
Dude, your content is invaluable!!! I’m not a novelist, but I’ve been working on on audio drama podcast (live action fiction story podcast) for a while and all of your advice applies. Phenomenal videos you putt out man, we appreciate it
Thanks! I tried writing an audio drama a few years ago myself - it's a fun art form for sure. Best of luck with it!
My novel starts with what I liked to do with my friends when I was young, two friend building a fort in the forest and talking to each other
Yep I felt I made that mistake in my first book. Luckily writing is growth, so, as I continue to write im getting better.
Because I myself am a picky reader I am always self concious of the "block of text" that I gave myself a guideline of: a paragraph coneys a central idea that connects 3-5 sentances.
My book has more talking then descriptions till where I left off the other day, having to describe a whole classroom.
Years ago, I tried reading Lord of the Rings, but I was so overwhelmed by world building that I gave up. I enjoy lore quite a bit, but I need to be eased into it
I'm working on my first set of edits and revisions to my first novel, and I'm not going to lie I've had your videos playing non stop my my store (7eleven) for the last two days trying to make sure I'm not running into specific mistakes (unless i can justify to myself why I don't feel its a mistake within my book) thank you soooo much for these videos, truly they are helpful
Sentence splices really muddle my writing. Thank you so much!
This video convinced me to subscribe. Many others rehash the same mistakes newbie writers make, most of yours were truly new to me. 😉👍💙🕊
Welcome aboard
I feel like the point you make about meaningless action can be applied to many of the others as well. The mistake of starting too early, for example, can often be traced to people blindly following Hollywood story templates which the writing advice cottage industry is trying to sell as "cure-alls" for writing issues. In a movie, the information density is many times higher than in a novel - you can get away with having a very complex "ordinary world" setup if you want because you can cram so much more information into the first few moments of a movie. In a novel, that very same scene that might take a minute on screen might well take up ten or twenty minutes of reading time. That's plenty of time to lose a reader.
Great video! I have to work on my prologue...
HI Jed. Your video is very well put together, and contains some good advice too.
One thing I did not consider while writing my own novel is the tone and emotion of the first chapter. I'll have to go back and see if I can fix that a bit. Thanks for the tips.
You're welcome, Adam. Good luck with the book!
I have just one important grip with his video: the part concerning description of things you character doesn't see or doesn't know. That is NOT a mistake but actually a very useful tool; the thing is, you have to be aware of what you're doing, when to do it and what does that accomplish from a narrative perspective. It shouldn't be used as your normal run of the mill sentence, but what it effectively does is to create a slight lag between your reader and your character, like a little flashforward, giving to the former more information than what the later knows _at that precise moment_ (which is important, but I'll come back to that point later), and, if not overdone, that can be a very efficient and immersive way to build tension. Your exemple with the monster is in fact one of the worst you could have thought of, because it's a textbook exemple of the ideal moment to use that technique: think of that scene in a horror movie where you have a camera angle where you can see the creature slowly creeping towards the hero, but he looks in the other direction and can't see it coming: you're creating expectation, suspense, fear, etc. Your sentence accomplishes the same thing in the written form, and it certainly shouldn't be avoided when appropriate.
Now concerning the coherence of the narration, there is once again no issue, even with an internal perspective (at least if you're writing in the past tense, which is most common), because while the character might not know what is coming at the moment of the scene, he probably knows everything about it by the time he's telling the story. And even if you're writing in the present tense, it's debatable, because historical present is a thing and flashforwards are a legitimate technique anyway.
In conclusion, it shouldn't be your standard way of writing a scene, you're right about that, but that does not make it a bad thing or a mistake in itself!
would that not be dramatic irony? how could he miss such a blatant example of such a useful narrative tool? lol
I did the wall of text thing, because personally I don't like it myself that I read it with a bunch of texts on the papers, so I added like white space, and I feel much better reading it now, and I didn't know I've been doing it right
How lucky, i come across that. Thank you. This was helpful.
I haven't found similar writing lessons in german. My first chaper seemed a bit ... unlucky, and I couldn't put my fingers on why. - It's a wall.
Even if german sentences have about twice the words of english ones, a prologue shouldn't have 30 pages of worldbuilding... especially if parts of it are repeated and retold later.
I'm going to throw in a family-tree and a list of characters. If someone is interested, they can look up the details, I need not tell them.
That text block advise helps a lot cause I always feel I dunno....icky whenever I start waffling too much and I end up with a big square of text I prefer it when the page if turned sideways kinda looks like a city skyline with all the skyscrapers of different heights and stuff but I might just be weird
Thank you! Although I seem to have made little mistakes according to this list, it really helps to keep in mind how to write more compelling stories 📚
Worldbuilding Overload is really interesting to think about.
That point made me realize that so many of my favorite stories feature memorable singular locations that have a large depth of development and that's what ends up making the broader world actually feel real
What do the people in the story know about their world? Is that knowledge accurate/biased/outdated? Maybe I do not need to know about an obscure kingdom on the other side of the continent. If there is no need then maybe holding of describing that kingdom until it is actually needed. Again, the information may be wrong. So a character are a decendant from there. But that ancestor arrived 300 years ago so the family's information are probably dated and misremembered. Maybe that ancestors flat out lied and made up a place that never existed.
One of my books starts with a prologue that follows a character who dies at the end of the prologue. In that case though, I did it with the intention of demonstrating the political world the protag is going to be entering, as well as to subtly foreshadow the magic system from the perspective of a character who can't use it. It also serves to introduce a group of major series villains with shock and awe, taking advantage of the disposability of the prologue characters. How's that?
I’m kind of interested in that bakery book, see something mundane but set in a fantastical world.
I'm reading Legends and Lattes right now and while it's not exactly that, it sort of scratches that same itch
walls of text also makes it just harder to keep track of your spot on the page - liberal paragraph breaks makes it less mentally taxing to keep your eyes and concventration in the correct place because the content itself is less dense
Really useful. Definitely going to adopt these into my book
recently found your video's when looking up some tips and tricks on writing.
I started writing a novel recently with 0% experience. I never really read any books before. Never was a big reader.
Then a year ago I started listing to audio books and read some books about games I played.
After reading and listening, watching a whole lot of anime and fantasy tv shows, my head started making up stories that I couldn't get out of my head.
So I thought I would just start writing something.
I decided that I would write down the main story moments that I wanted to reach and basically tell the story as I go.
My story, being somewhat complex and probably way to big to start out with, started off with really just basic writing.
I am now 36 chapters in, learned a lot and am currently rewriting the earlier chapters.
This video really felt like I am on the right track.
My first chapter deals with just my main characters (2) and their bond, it shows a little bit about the place they live in and the time of the year.
Then they I tell a little bit about their motivation and what they are planning, after which I introduce the antagonist.
After some action, in the form of a massive earthquake (caused by the antagonist), and a massive avalanche, they MC's lose their home and after seeing the antagonist and being scared and hiding from him, are driven out of the place they lived and move on to a family member that lives somewhere else.
The story is made extra complex due to the fact that, my MC's are twins but the real MC has his soul connected to his sister and because of that controls 2 bodies at the same time.
Through the chapters I switch between the POV's of the 2 organically. Meaning I switch between the 2, mostly, on a chapter basis and in meaningful ways. I want it to feel like something happens and then the next chapter you can see the thoughts or impact of it from the other POV.
I did some detailing for things in the world, and character backstories. Aslo wrote out the whole magic system and how the world operates on Aehter for magic use.
All to give myself limits to stay consistent throughout.
I have no clue if it reads well and my English language skills are good but writers vocab not so much XD
But it is massive fun to write out the characters journey.
The second chapter gives them a run in with bandits, where I hope I am showing the cruelty of the world. At any time something could happen.
There is a massive powerstruggle in the background that the MC is part of without knowing it yet. But I'm just writing from chapter to chapter and hope to just organically move from location and plot point to plot point :)
Thanks for all your info. Will be staying tuned for more ^_^
My first chapter starts with the POV of one of the Victims who suffer from the calamity that more and more haunts my world and the elite troupe of hunters saves him. One of my MCs is part of them. It also shows an action sequence where the readers gets a glimpse of the complex magic system the warriors have to use to defeat those enemies
I love the way you explained.. this videos has given me more inspiration to righting my book.. thank you so much 😊
For the two different prose approaches: Can you go with a middle-ground approach where you borrow from both styles? Or do you more or less have to choose between one or the other and stick to that choice?
You present your information in a very concise manner. Thank you for posting. Very helpful!
4:15
Big blocks of text can also be difficult for those of us with learning disabilities.
I own a collection of H P Lovecraft stories that includes an amusing typo in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". At one point the story states that the aliens are offering humans "a form of bodily immortality"; in my copy, the first "t" in "immortality" has been omitted.
hahah
Thanks for the great advice Jed. I appreciate how you always underpin your tips with examples.
One example of a false promise that really annoyed me was the anime Buddy Daddies. I knew from the description it was supposed to be a comedy slice of life about two hitmen raising a kid. And it was exactly that, and did it great. But the opening John Wick-esque action scene made me think "I hope there's more of that coming later" for the entire series, so I was somewhat disappointed (there was some more action at the end, but not enough to satisfy my craving). Thankfully the adorable closing scene made up for it entirely
Point five explains why I ended up hating the korean novel/manhwa "The Abandoned Empress." Because the protagonist didn't achieve the promise she made to herself.
One of my writing instructors called the first paragraph of your story (or first sentence in shorter stories) "The Bait". Every element, from sentence/word length to writing style smiles a promise to the reader, enticing them into your lair. It whets their curiosity by presenting some element of both suspense and promise. The first paragraph of my novel, "The Fickle Finger", reads:
The usual evening haze had settled across the patronage of the Grey Dog Tavern. Tonight, however, it tasted different.
That's it - eighteen words. Two sentences.
The first evokes a sense of time and setting. By the time the reader gets to the first page, they already expect a medieval fantasy so not much is needed to establish the scene. Thirteen words establish the setting (a medieval tavern), the time (late evening/nightfall), something about the (as yet unidentified) viewpoint character ("patronage" evokes a different perspective from, say, "crowd"), while the name "Grey Dog" is reminiscent of real-world medieval taverns (such as "Red Stallion", "Black Swan", etc). "Evening haze" helps to evoke a smoky, laid back atmosphere, and "usual" conveys that it is something of the status quo.
The second hints at conflict - that something is out of place. Many might opt to say it "seemed" different, but that's a soft ambiguous word. Could well be that everything is perfectly normal and the viewpoint character is just being paranoid, or possibly disturbed by something entirely unrelated. Taste, by comparison, is a more concrete sense; even if you can't identify it, what you sense is something quite real. It's also a sense which is entirely internal, as opposed to sight and scent which are inherently distant.
The following paragraph is considerably more lengthy; not quite a 'wall of text', but far less inviting than some readers may like. However, the first paragraph has presented a small yet valid mystery. While the second paragraph is largely descriptive, it's following the viewpoint character as they seek out the incongruity they sensed. Even though the protagonist has yet to be identified, the reader has incentive to journey with them as they try to identify what is out of place - a motive to keep reading.
Good lord that’s crap opener. Now, “The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.” that’s good. Look at the opening of “The Fall of the House of Usher” it’s good. There’s rhythm and music in the line. That hooks a reader. This is awkward and clunky. The word “patronage” is entirely wrong. The line is too short for the weight and stress of the word. Do it again.
Agrè Patronage is totally the wrong word. Patrons if you want. Seriously that misused word in the first sentence would make me put the book back unread
@@dianacoles1017 Per OED:
patron ~ a customer, especially a regular one, of a store, restaurant, or theater
patronage ~ the regular business given to a store, restaurant, or public service by a person or group
In no way is the word 'misused'.
@@twylanaythias How can the mist settle across the business given to an establishment? Patronage is an abstract noun and mist tends to eschew abstracts.
@@dianacoles1017 We're mostly on the same page with "patron" as it applies to customers - in particular, a regular customer. The "-age" suffix indicates a collective group; ie acreage, baggage, etc.
In other words, "patronage" is a collective group of regular customers. As it specifically applies to the example, the POV character recognizes everyone in the tavern. (The POV character is something of a 'villain turned vigilante' and the Grey Dog is the heart of his turf. This aspect hasn't been elaborated yet, but it's core to his character.)
"Haze" is something of a fun word, meaning (as a noun) both mental and visual obscuration. Everyone's relaxed, enjoying a few drinks, and generally in their own little 'bubbles'. If you've ever been in a dive bar where everyone has settled into their regular routines, you're familiar with the "usual evening haze".
Loving your videos, Jed. I'm finding them all so helpful in my writing process!
You're welcome! Good luck with your writing
thanks for this videos, I might try to become a writer and your videos are really useful, also what you said about your book the thunder heist really hooked me, hopefully it's available in my country
First mistake writers make is taking advice from other people. Look, these things are subjective. You're told make your opening exciting. Yet Fellowship of the Ring is one of the most boring, slow openings there is. And that did alright. Write as a writer, read as a reader. That's all you need.
"Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. As ninety-nine they began to call him _well-preserved;_ but _unchanged_ would have been nearer the mark. There were some that thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.
"'It will have to be paid for,' they said. 'It isn't natural, and trouble will come of it!'"
I agree that Fellowship is a slow and at times boring book, but you can't deny that is a strong hook!
Lotr was also sort of novel at the time. I will say the slow opening turned me off of the book. I enjoy fantasy writing, and I have watched lotr/the hobbitt more times than I can count, but I've never read the book because the opening is slow.
Your advice is still good, overwhelming yourself with other people's opinions can create some serious writer's block, but it is still important to understand the value of things that work. Especially if you're a beginner.
You just admitted it's a boring, slow opening. Why would you deliberately want a boring, slow opening?
You should absolutely listen to people with more experience than you for the first few years until you know the craft.
I listen to nobody and follow no guides or rules anymore because it's all subconscious now and I instead just do whatever I want, but I've been writing for 11 years and obsessively, every day with only short breaks in that space of time, but when I started I tried to consume as much information on craft as possible and sometimes I still read or listen to guides or "tips" even though I already knew them because sometimes it can trigger a thought or spark an idea
I never liked koma before the but, because they mean the same thing, either I use the koma or the but. :o
Learning to identify sentence splices can be quite tricky. Here's an old piece of advice I follow. "Read your prose out loud as if you are a narrator who focuses on measured, stately delivery." When a spliced sentence is spoken out loud with a touch of gravitas, it sounds as if the speaker is rushing through or muttering. This is why "but" is commonly inserted after a comma. It paces out the delivery. (Imagine you are narrating before an audience and pausing to hold up a finger to the listeners. You are emphasizing a change in focus or the arrival of a revelation. In fact, you will likely preface your next words with a dramatic "... but!")
That said, one should be careful with the "buts". In casual conversation "but" is a word we tend to use a lot without realizing it. It provides emphasis for the next point we're about to make. In written word too many buts becomes neurotic. A paragraph feels as if it's tripping over its own feet when constantly interrupted by a rain of "but listen here buddy!"
I'm writing a book on an idea of an all powerful being that I had as a kid but I might be starting it too early in the story but I want the readers to see my character before he had powers. In the early chapters.
There are many writing advice videos out there, I'd say this is the very best I saw, amazing advice!
Glad it was helpful!
I started my first chapter in my fantasy book with the villains preparing to overthrow the world. They have gathered to strategize and determine the time and date of an attack that would be seen in the second book with over the course of my fantasy novel, I break up the hero's journey with chapters where the villains are the main focus. Two chapters show the villain assassinating a lord to take their place. Another chapter shows the villains making deals with rival factions to grant them safe passage to stage their attack.
My first chapter in a sci-fi book I am writing jumps straight into the war and shows different perspectives of the soldiers before they die with my main character and his allies not appearing until chapter 4.
Your videos always give me food for thought and new ideas to improve my story. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for all the tips! Great advice! ❤
Update:
Thanks for what you said about Lord Of The Rings. I started it once but couldn't finish because it was too detailed. I think I'll give it another try!
Tolkien suffers from Introductionary Info Dump, but that is because Tolkien was a Linguist first and Worldbuilder second...The world was built only to have a place where his conlangs could exist,the Stories are just an afterthought to his worldbuilding.
@@StarlasAiko I must say I agree 🙂
The Fellowship of the Ring is told from Frodo's point of view. It starts out with all of that background about hobbits and the Shire because Tolkien wants us to be familiar with what Frodo is familiar with (and only later to come to learn about the things that Frodo only later comes to learn about).
@@Steve_Stowers I just bought all the books. I will let LOTR be my winter read.
LotR is my favorite book ever but I will admit that the beginning is a slog and (by modern standards, at least) the pacing throughout is a bit plodding but, for me at least, in the end it actually works in the book's favor and the slow opening shows you why the characters (and, by extention, you the reader) should care about what's going on in the wider world, what they're fighting to protect, and contrasts with the ending to show how much they've grown by the end of it (even though the ending is the most controversial part of the book depending on whether you prioritize story or theme). Definitely recommend reading through at least once and if it's not your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine.
Your writing advice videos really help a lot. Thanks
In regards to the whole starting on a normal day vs the big event day thing I think a normal day can be a really good starter so long as you don't dwell on it for too long. Opening in a more normal setting can make the reveal of more fantastical elements exciting.
You can see the change from a normal day to an adventure from the character's perspective, understanding what they're losing/gaining going into this story. I feel like a lot of youth fantasy stories with characters getting pulled out of our world somehow into a magical one do well with this format.
I see walls of text as a FORMATTING issue. Still a very good point, they are so hard to read.
Nitpick:
Prologue: pro/before logos/speech. Speech beforehand: "A thousand years ago, when the Dark Lord conquered the land of Nahn..." It's an infodump before the start of a book.
Prelude: prae/before ludere/play. Play beforehand: "King Alfred leaned on his sword beneath the enemy's shadow..." It's a story before the start of a book.
I think people get the idea that it's just a part before the main story. It doesn't have to be an info dump Star Wars text scrawl. I don't think that the literal definition really matters.
@@lennysmileyface You have two words each describing a distinct concept. How can that not matter? If I make a video titled "How to buy the right car," but I'm using the word "car" to mean both a car and a tractor, and I spend most of the video distinguishing between a car and a tractor, does that not prove the words matter even though people get the idea that they're both vehicles that move on land? Now, it's not this video, but there are plenty talking about "how to write prologues that don't suck" you can quickly sum up as "write a prelude instead." This is a problem we can solve just by using the right words at the beginning. And then we can have useful videos on what makes a good versus a bad prelude.
@@jimschuler8830 because no one cares about the difference. They are used interchangeably. Language doesn't always pedantically follow the dictionary definition of similar words. They both mean something that is before the story.
@@lennysmileyface Obviously people care about the difference if they ask "how do I write a good prologue" and the answer always comes back as a much-more wordier version of "write a prelude instead." If people didn't care about the difference, then people wouldn't be constantly making this distinction as they are. It's just a bad argument.
@@lennysmileyface Oh, and thank you for saying I am no one.
Thank you for this video; I am now about to plunge headlong into bingeing the rest!
Sloppy Prose Questions: I was taught to avoid using a comma before a but; is this incorrect? I've had to unlearn quite a few things I learned in school and would like to know whether this is one of them. I find paragraphing difficult despite having read and watched guides on the subject. Likewise, I thought it was 'fewer' words rather than 'less'. I was taught that countable things are more/fewer, while non-countable masses are more/less. "Fewer potatoes, less mash."
Hi Jed,thanks for this video, it really helped me a lot.
Glad it helped!
I' struggling with what perspective to use for a story:
1st or 3rd person, present or past?
I dabbled a bit in writing things but i can never get a handle on what perspective to use.
Did he make video on that as well?
I could use some input on that, that could help me make up my mind on that.
I guess your very good overall advice might help also writers who are working onstories in differenr genres.
Jed you’ve proven again to be a most valuable commodity in authortube, this was great and inspiring, thanks!!
I remember years ago after I had finished reading China Miéville‘s book Perdido Street Station I had reached out to a friend to recommend it since I knew he was heavily in fantasy stories. He told me he had tried but found the writing to be too difficult and boring.
It took me a moment to remember the book opens with a pov internal monologue from Yagharek, a non-human character with alien sensibilities which the chapter captures. His pov chapters appear at various points in the book and are always a bit of a slog but they’re short and once you begin to understand the character you start understanding his pov and can sympathize with him… I’ll add I expected his ending to be quite different in that book.
I tried to assure that friend that that wasn’t a good representation of the book and everything past those chapters are quite easy to read and make for an interesting and exciting story. He just had to make it past that first short chapter. He said he didn’t care and that he’d lost interest.
I’ve lost touch with that person, I wonder if he’d ever changed his mind. But just goes to show even professional writers can lose potential readers by starting off with a curve ball like that. In the grand scheme of things I understand why the book started that way but that can easily turn off a casual reader.
Great book. I love writing that makes use of strange perspectives and tricks like unreliable narrators, I enjoy being pushed almost to the edge of confusion. The opening story in Alan Moore's "Voice of the Fire" is a good example of what I mean. It is written from the POV of an intellectually disabled child in 4000 BC. As if that POV isn't disorienting enough, there's a twist reveal I wouldn't want to spoil. Really stuck with me and I'd love to be able to do something similar in my writing.
The beginning and mid part of my story has a magicka academy the characters go to, however it is not the focus of the story. It is just the place the characters meet and grow as friends.
My first chapter starts on a train. The very first line is this; 'Lightning flickers across the sky as Ariel gazes out the window. Thunder roars in the distance as the train chugs towards its destination. The setting brings her mind to the moment. "It has been a few hours since I left home in the cold mountains on the outskirts of Tapral." She thinks.
I have been working on my world building for some time, and have just started writing my first chapter to my fantasy novel. I start out by introducing the two main characters as a woodsman and his son. I then get into some description of the setting of the kingdom which they live within the wider world but not in too much detail but just enough to give the reader a clear picture of the setting in which this story takes place. I describe an aspect of this kingdom concerning the king's rangers which relates directly to the two main characters as the woodsman used to be a ranger and his son is also training to become one. I then give the reader the names of the woodsman and his son and also describe the homestead where they live. This all happened in about 2.5 pages. My next approach will be to introduce a scene that brings a internal conflict to light with which both these characters are struggling and that will bring in some dialogue which will set the theme of the story which will set the stage for the first action scene.
I read some of it to my dad and he commented that it really drew him in. I plan to also share it with some friends and see what they say about it.
I opened my first try at a book by showing that my main character is nervous about joining a caravan, but she loves the giant draft beasts and has a condescending view of the goblins who serve as the underclass. In the next couple of pages we meet her new friend who will help her through the book, learn that her parents were merchants before they died and that she is happiest when crafting fair deals that benefit everyone involved.
Great video, have the follow!
My philosophy on action scenes in prose fiction is that the secret to meaningful action is a sense of progress in one direction or another (or both at once). Closing a gap, counting down a timer, searching every room, destroying something piece by piece, exchanging blows and wounds, expending bullets. A description of a piece of action will fall flat if it doesn’t put a point on some kind of meter, one you’ve given the audience a grasp of. I’ve proofread stories with indulgent descriptions of martial arts and super weapons and cool one-liners that left me so bored, and stories where a guy swinging at a guy made me sit my ass down and pay attention until someone in that scene finally fell apart. Motivation and emotion help, but action doesn’t feel like action in prose without some way to track its progress.
I’m curious as to your thoughts regarding The Goblin Emperor?
its funny to think that ive finished the first draft of my book without knowing how to write a book, and have nailed like 3/5 of the things you mentioned.
although the wall of text doesnt so much frighten me, it just tells me that the author couldnt find a perfect sentence or word to make a new sentence. I know Anne Rice didnt do this, Interview with the vampire is a very well written book but that thing has barely any spaces. DX it makes me so sleepy lol.
Well, let's see if I am in time to get read. Nice video. A bit long so it took a while to get to it. I do disagree with one point. My character's life changed when she left her husband and that is where I originally started the story. She has various encounters with her husband's 'friends' at various places along the escape route. Then, she finally switches IDs with a foreigner in a foreign land. But all of those are technical events. The story really begins when she finally has time to stop and realise the gravity of what she has done - alone in a foreign land where she knows nothing, has no marketable skills, and has no recourse to resources as that would lead her husband right to her. The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll by Gardner also has a similar starting point where she learns she is wanted for murder, not when the death occurred. Thus, it may not be the moment the person's life changes, but the moment they realise it changed. Harry Potter is the same. His life changed when the prediction was made or his parents died, but the story starts when he realises that it has changed.
I really like that you add a heart to comments that you have read. It really helps me to want to add comments to your postings.
I disagree with your run on sentence. The correct punctuation is a semicolon, not a comma. It took me 40 years to feel comfortable using them, so I understand why a person would hesitate to use one. I have also recently started using dashes. Your example was something like 'Tom surveyed the city's walls; he didn't notice many guards.' Your suggestion was to use a conjunction: 'Tom surveyed the city's walls, but he didn't notice many guards.' To me, that changes the meaning. In the original, both statements are equal statements of fact, i.e., there were probably few guards on the wall. The second is a statement of fact: looking, followed by a statement of his action, but suggesting that the guards might have been there, Tom simply failed to notice them. Using a colon would have made it more a report: 'Tom surveyed the city's walls: he didn't notice many guards.' As I remember it, the sentence was in this third person, which, if correct, is the real reason it feels mushy. I would have preferred 'Tom surveyed the city's walls: not too many guards.' (I can't do italics for 'not too many guards' to show this is what he was thinking/saying to himself.) Interesting prose has a varied sentence structure, not constant SVO.
You know, that idea about a baker that grew up on the border of a rival country preparing for war could be a good setup for a cozy managment game. Like if you had to run a bakery but there is a war brewing & happening in the background & you have to deal with inventory hiccups or have to decide if you want to use not quality ingredients to keep the business running, might be a pretty interesting game.
Interesting- if I see long stretches of dialog- I zone out. Sometimes I never get through it even if I'm half way through the book. Or if its a GREAT book, I skip over it.
Something about figuring out who is saying what and keeping track of it all. It's exhausting.
What if my first chapter starts off a little slow and is used as more of a set up for my character’s next POV chapter (I’m writing 4 POVs) where they’ll have the inciting incident? Would showing internal conflict and writing engaging prose be enough to keep readers reading or do I have to have something bizarre happen at the end of the chapter as a cliffhanger to keep them engaged? I want to have a slower beginning for each character to sort of ease the readers into them and their situations but I’m afraid if nothing much is happening externally that may turn some readers off. Thoughts?
It's important to know that slow doesn't mean boring, and cutting to action doesn't automatically mean engaging.
Think of it this way. When you write a scene / sequence of scenes, you are either building up to a moment where you surprise the reader (twist, reversal, unexpected plot development etc.) or you are building anticipation by having your reader know things your protagonist doesn't (e.g. they're walking into a trap, or separated lover is now with another etc.)
Taking these two approaches, you can create a way to tease the readers emotions.
With surprise, you are going to give them a progress type scene. The protagonist is doing well in life, too well. The reader knows something bad is going to happen. They are waiting for the reversal. The longer you go without reversing this, the more you risk the reader getting bored.
This doesn't mean you need to rush your world building or character development. Just that you have to clue the reader in sooner than later that something is going to change (usually negative) for your protagonist soon. What it is, is a mystery, but change is coming.
in anticipation, you let the reader know something is waiting for the protagonist from the off. Then you can milk the moment a bit more. You have told the reader this thing is going to happen. We're now waiting for the protagonist to find out. E.g. your protagonist is riding up to the bank, in the previous scene we know it's his life savings important to grow his farm. In the bank, a robbery in progress. Bandits looting, robbing, some victims dead. Outside, protagonist is invited to drink at tavern. Sorry can't do, gotta go to the bank. Thank you. Inside, bandits see protagonist approach. They plan to pose as bankers. Outside, the protagonist encounters love interest. They will follow the protagonist to bank...
In short, surprise or anticipation. Which emotion are you going to tickle?
As long as the character is sympathetic and their opening chapter tells us why we should care about and be invested in them, that's what matters. A good example is Simon from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. For the first 200 pages of the first book, he's arguably the most boring POV character, being a simple scullion boy contrasting with the aging (and quickly dead) king, his two sons, the older son's estranged daughter, a Duke from the north, and the castle's resident wizard/alchemist/historian, but it sets him up well as a character because, while it's mostly him going around doing (and trying to avoid) chores, daydreaming about being a knight with his best friend, and taking lessons with the alchemist, it sets him up as a likeable and relatable (we've all tried our best to avoid chores and been disappointed when we realize that real life is a lot more boring than we think it is as children) character that also helps contrast how much he grows over the course of the story and the inciting incident wouldn't be as impactful if we didn't know how in over his head Simon is in getting mixed up in much bigger things. His POV also does a good job of setting up the normal everyday life of The Hayholt that gives the reader a reason to care when, later in the series, things are horribly disrupted and the place is left nearly abandoned and filled with the villain's forces (slight spoilers but this is also a 30-year old series and it's pretty easy to figure out that's going to happen pretty quickly once things really kick into gear).
"He surveyed the castle carefully. It didn't seem that well defended." is better IMO. It conveys a sense of pause between assessment and conclusion, lending to the feeling of careful deliberation. You might want to follow through a bit more with that second sentence, though - as it is, it feels abrupt and doesn't feel like it goes anywhere.
I would never have thought, that good spelling would make a text better. Very profound!
These are gonna be so useful~
Is it ok to think my story like a dnd campaign?? Like what would the characters do that would affect the story??
A movie does have another thing: Commitment of the viewer ;-) Movies are made for cinemas and people will not leave the cinema after a movie starts. So it is not as bad as with a book or TV show, if the beginning is badly done. Movies especially made for TV use diffrent techniques due to the danger of people switching channels.
My novel starts in a secret meeting about asking support for the declaration of independence of a state and then one of your attendee who you hoped to be your ally doesn't believe in your plan and would not express support in fear of war. But you, as a leader of a powerful state when it comes to military and trade, you are confident that you can defend your land when the ruler of the country decides to invade your land. The meeting is about choosing sides and allies.