Whenever I run a crit group, I find myself giving the same recommendation over and over and over again: start your book somewhere else. It seems obvious, right? You start telling your story at the beginning. But, here’s the thing about beginnings, nothing is happening yet. The beginning of the story is, by definition, before the interesting stuff.
Love the idea of making each scene work on all three levels (character, plot, world) at once. Also, those short flashbacks are hard to master but really powerful. I'm noticing as I re-read Game of Thrones that this is how Martin starts so many of his chapters: one very engaging tactile moment, then flash back to all the travel that got the characters to where they are.
This helped me realize the second chapter of my manuscript should be my first, and what was first should be fourth. So, thanks for that so much!
Love the idea of making each scene work on all three levels (character, plot, world) at once. Also, those short flashbacks are hard to master but really powerful. I'm noticing as I re-read Game of Thrones that this is how Martin starts so many of his chapters: one very engaging tactile moment, then flash back to all the travel that got the characters to where they are.