Setting the setting

[xenith]

I think I'll blame green_knight for this :) I've been thinking today on how to establish time and place at the start of a novel. How's it done, obviously. How soon is it done. Opening lines? First page? But also, how is it affected by what the reader brings with them, from the cover, from reviews, from the blurb. That is, when you pick up a book, do you already have some idea of what time & place, whether real or imaginary, you're getting involved with. And, as I think the answer to that is yes, how often does the writer rely on that to do the job for them.

Obviously I need to look at some examples of opening paragraphs, but the problem with relying on library books, if I'm not going to have many modern/recent novels at home that I can look at. (Suggestions for good and bad examples?)

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Happy to oblige. I am amazed just how much I can spot in those brief opening paragraphs, how much of what I subconsciously notice (wandering attention, insignificant details, whatever) is actually born out by the text when you only squint at it in the right light.

And the other thing I'm very much realising is that the only thing all these writers have in common is that they know their craft. All good openings are different (I've got one with internalisation on my desk that also worked for me) - they're just somewhat sharper and more focussed than the ones that don't work for me. I think I'll run this series for a while longer before I attempt to summarize just what does and doesn't work.