Beginnings

I’ve been studying beginnings since it’s quite important to start off with a bang. I’ve looked at some of my favourite books and read the first paragraph, sometimes just the first sentence. There doesn’t seem to be a rule.

I’ve already published a special entry for my all-time favourite book, The Regulators and quoted the first page (Summer’s here...). Additionally, here are the openings of 5 of my favourite books:

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother, whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. My father thinks she was killed by her own thoughts.

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways. She never said a word. Sunk deep in the cushions of the sofa, her mouth clamped shut, she wouldn't answer when Komura spoke to her. She wouldn't shake her head or nod. Komura could not be sure the sound of his voice was getting through to her.

Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Nothing ever begins. There is no first moment; no single word or place from which this or any other story springs. The threads can always be traced back to some earlier tale, and to the tales that preceded that; though as the narrator's voice recedes the connections will seem to grow more tenuous, for each age will want the tale told as if its were of its own making.

Cujo by Stephen King
Once upon a time not so long ago, a monster came to the small town of Castle Rock, Maine. He killed a waitress names Alma Frechette in 1070; a woman named Pauline Toothaker and a junior high school student named Cheryl Moody in 1971; a pretty girl named Carol Dunbarger in 1974; a teacher named Etta Ringold in the fall of 1975; finally, a grade-schooler named Mary Kate Hendrasen in the early winter of that same year.

Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clark
Even before the boat came through the reef, Mirissa could tell that Brant was angry. The tense attitude of his body as he stood at the wheel - the very fact that he had not left the final passage in Kumar's capable hands - showed that something had upset him.

When browsing through several beginnings I saw that they all start in a story mode (despite Barker’s conclusion that nothing ever starts ;-) Stephen King even takes it so far to start with a fairytale beginning. I’ve been writing my third (and last) chic lit book, called That Fat Feeling. Here is the first paragraph in the script as it is now:

That Fat Feeling by Nicole Ashby (that's my writer's name)
“Would you like fries with that?” the young girl with the greasy hair asked me. Up until three years ago, I never got asked if I wanted fries with my burger, to supersize a meal or enlarge the soda. It was just assumed that this 300 lbs woman wanted the biggest meal available. Now, as I straightened my size 6 skirt, I had a choice. I declined the deep fried carbs and walked away with my weekly package of sin.

I’ve never had much problems with beginnings, but I’ve never given them much thought either. Maybe my start is good enough, maybe not. It’s intended for a special audience so it’s bound to capture some people’s interest more the others ‘. But we’ll see :-)

Update! Received an e-mail from a reader who pointed out to me that actually The Joy Luck Club starts with a prefice of sort. The first paragraph is like this:

The old woman remembered a swan she had bought many years ago in Shanghai for a foolish sum. This bird, boasted the market vendor, was once a duck that streched its neck in hopes of becoming a gopse, and now look! - it is too beautiful to eat.

I just turned to the first chapter and didn't even check for a prefice. This type of intro is not uncommon, though, and it's good to know that this is a valid possibility when you're starting a story.