Writing Your Novel from Start to Finish by Joseph Bates

Author:Joseph Bates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2010-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

2. Beginning in cliché.

It may have indeed been a dark and stormy night, but you sure can’t start off saying that it was. A cliché that shows up on your first page tells your reader one thing: that every page that follows is filled with clichés, too. Look out especially for the following:

Beginning with a ringing phone, alarm clock, or doorbell (Dishonorable mention: ominous church bells where everyone in a village looks up simultaneously, then shuffles indoors fast. If the bells ring at the same time every day—presumably once an hour, too, right?—then why does it always catch you nervous peasants by surprise?)

Beginning with a character waking up with a start, as if from a nightmare caused by bad late-night food

Beginning with a literally ticking clock or bomb

Beginning with clichéd language and images (She had legs that just wouldn’t quit. Well, the reader knows how to make them quit. Just close the book.)

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