Characteristic Entry Action vs building on the mundane

[Adam]

From JB's blog:

3. INTRODUCTION

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. When your reader meets any given character for the first time, it is critical to make sure you get the bare bones of your character into his head immediately. By establishing your character firmly, you'll make the whole process of virtual-story-world-creation move more quickly and easily. There are multiple techniques for planning a strong introduction, but I'm only going to hit on the strongest one: CHARACTERISTIC ENTRY ACTION.

A solid CHARACTERISTIC ENTRY ACTION consists of introducing your character to the reader by bringing him into the story in the course of an action which clearly, sharply typifies who and what he is.

Lethal Weapon 2 starts off in the front seat of a stationwagon during a police chase, with Mel Gibson howling in excitement and pounding on the ceiling while Danny Glover fumbles for the siren, tries to talk on the radio, and tries to convince Mel that they don't really need to be doing this. It strongly establishes both characters as cops. It demonstrates Mel's love of wild action, Danny's cautious approach to his work, and the relationship dynamic between the two. (I liked it so much that I borrowed shamelessly from it to start off Grave Peril.)

Every Bond Pic that opens on the "opening mission" template does the same thing: it shows you Bond being a heroic spy and engaging in lots of danger and action.

Your character is a frustrated high school nerd? Then have him come on stage late for his school bus, which promptly drives away even though the driver obviously saw him coming. (IE, Spider-Man.) Your character is a titanic lumberjack? Then start him off towering over the north woods and felling fifty trees with each swing of his axe.

Make the introduction count. This is something you can't afford to screw up.

Thus far I'm finding the tips there very helpful.  And I do realise the reason for the quoted suggestion.  However, I'm curious about what you all think of building a story about a normal person put in an extraordinary situation which compels the normal person to become extraordinary himself.

For example, in Star Wars we have a moisture farmer who initially displays nothing very interesting, apart from a powerful ability to whine a lot.  At the start, there's no flashing special effects, no groovy sword-play, no crushing throats with his mind.  Just a farmer.  He tinkers with some droids, drives a speeder (car), and whines.  Did I mention he whines?  However, he's plunged into an extraordinary situation, and develops into something more than the mundane farmer kid.

So I'm interested in your opinions on two matters here:

1) What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of starting with a mundane character and developing the character through extraordinary adventures, as opposed to plopping an initially interesting character in the reader's lap from the start?

2) If going with a regular person at first, what sorts of things can you suggest to make that regular, normal person worth reading about from the start?

[Adam]

Actually, to use the quoted example: If you were reading Spiderman, and it started with a nerdy kid getting left behind by the bus, what would make you interested in that nerdy kid?

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Actually, to use the quoted example: If you were reading Spiderman, and it started with a nerdy kid getting left behind by the bus, what would make you interested in that nerdy kid?

That someone thought he was worth focusing a book on. I read too fast to give up on things if I don't like the first scene.

If he doesn't turn out to be Spiderman after all, and stays a nerdy kid the whole time, you could still end up with something close to Adrian Mole. Who has been a best seller for half a dozen books now, and who is fascinating to keep reading because we see his POV, we see how much there is that he does not get but that is obvious to the reader anyway, and the mismatch between what happens to him and how he interprets it is funny as hell and also at times sad to the point of tragic.

[AverageGuy]

For example, in Star Wars we have a moisture farmer who initially displays nothing very interesting, apart from a powerful ability to whine a lot.  At the start, there's no flashing special effects, no groovy sword-play, no crushing throats with his mind.  Just a farmer.  He tinkers with some droids, drives a speeder (car), and whines.  Did I mention he whines?  However, he's plunged into an extraordinary situation, and develops into something more than the mundane farmer kid.

You also have the things he whines about.  He thinks he's a good pilot, and he wants to get out and see the galaxy.  Establishes the character as one who would listen to a message from a droid and try to go save a princess with three other people, as ludicrous as it sounds.

If you're going to use an everyman, do the hero's journey thing, the character normally is established as wanting something more out of life.  This is normally established either through whining, long looks at something s/he doesn't have, or a mention of how the character tries things the people around him don't (in fantasy, the cliche common version of this is visiting The Curséd Hills).

[meg_evonne]

JB quote:  "Make the introduction count. This is something you can't afford to screw up."

Repeat the above comments.  Your 'normal' character still has to have the qualities that makes them capable of handling and learning what you challenge them with.  Stop thinking 'mundane' because they are 'normal' and start thinking the character traits that make you want to write about this individual.  Perhaps the questions that the reader has about this 'normal' character so the reader wants to know more about this kid.

I'm working on a festy young girl in the foster care system that is normal in every sense--except she's learned to be scrappy.  She's bright, she's gothy, she's a general pain in the butt,  her language is horrid, she's funny, and she can't connect emotionally with anything but animals. 

She's also got I also gave her a tragic background that makes her sympathetic--but she's not a door mat and never would whine, and tends to take too much on her young shoulders. I think she's terrific and if I'm doing it right--the reader will enjoy meeting her and be pulling for her to climb over her 'relationship' problems.  She's 'chosen' (in the classic sci fi/fantasy way) to be extraordinary---but it's her grit and obstinance that was inside her all along that qualifies her.  That she succeeds and overcomes those same problems is what clinches the selection.  As you can tell, Abby has me excited.  I'm half-way through the first draft.


Re-read your blasted posts, Meg.  *knocking my head on my desk, yeah I do that a lot.*

[Suilan]

Actually, to use the quoted example: If you were reading Spiderman, and it started with a nerdy kid getting left behind by the bus, what would make you interested in that nerdy kid?

It says "Spiderman" on the cover, so you know that this is probably the kid who is going to be spiderman, or someone spiderman is about to rescue, or perhaps he is to be the antagonist. Either way, you know he is more than an ordinary nerdy kid.

You don't have to start your novel with a car chase or battle or some such action scene. If you do, you are promising the reader a novel full of action action action and nothing but action, and if you don't keep up this pace, you will disappoint your reader.

Look at the beginning of Storm Front. Harry is in a very ordinary situation: receiving mail. BUT something is not quite ordinary about this: a) it's probably bad news, b) the mailman asks if Harry is serious about his sign saying wizard. When long ago I discovered this novel (no recommendation, I was just browsing first pages at amazon to find something to read) I was immediately hooked. A good beginning (first chapter) must set the pace, the tone (Storm Front is funny right from the beginning but Harry sounds also a bit desperate), the scene (Chicago, office of a wizard P.I), introduce the main character and a few supporting characters, but not too many, and get the plot on the road.

It's probably better not to compare book openings with movie openings, because in the movie much relies on the main actor's charisma. Luke Skywalker and Toby Maguire, they are both kind of cute. In a novel, you can try to describe your character as handsome and charismatic, but the reader won't believe it until he sees the character in action, sees other characters around him admire him, hears him say witty things, or do heroic or helpful things, make decisions either right or wrong, etc.
 
Like AverageGuy said, Luke starts out wanting something. The audience immediately wonders if he will achieve what he wants, and anticipates -- since we already know about the intergalactic struggle -- that Luke will probably get a lot more excitement than he is hoping for a lot faster than he suspects.

[Adam]

I appreciate all the advice here.  I'm getting good ideas, and the advice is helpful.

Thus far I have, in the first chapter:

• Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.
• A little character history is discussed.
• Bad Guy's goons/pawns disrupt normalcy by attacking the protagonist.

The reason for the attack is of course part of what he has to figure out during the story.

[meg_evonne]

I appreciate all the advice here.  I'm getting good ideas, and the advice is helpful.

Thus far I have, in the first chapter:

• Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.
• A little character history is discussed.
• Bad Guy's goons/pawns disrupt normalcy by attacking the protagonist.

The reason for the attack is of course part of what he has to figure out during the story.

Idea sharing time:  When I lived in a small town.  *glaring at everyone as my present town is 50,000 and yes, that is small but Grinnell was really small!*  My family got a kick out of playing a country western song about, "You know the earth must be flat, because hen people leave they never come back."  Might be useful and different in an opening....  OR not!

[Suilan]

Main character is introduced as a normal guy deciding he needs to get out of his dying town (due to many years of drought, MANY towns in Australia are dying), which sets the scene also.

That sounds like an ideal point in the character's history to start a novel: on the verge of a new life with the old one still visible for the reader.

A little character history is discussed.

Without having read your opening, this makes me wary, especially the word "discussed." The first scene is usually NOT the place to write about the character's history or, worse, to have any sort of flashback. The reader first want to get involved in the here and now of your story.

And the word "discussed" makes me think that two people talk about the character's history, is that correct? Dialogue is never a good place to tell the reader about the character's past UNLESS the characters are really talking about present concerns but refer to past things in an unobstrusive way, so that the reader can guess something about the character's past.

Perhaps that is what your reviewer meant when he said you need more action in the first scene. It is not the place for the character to reminisce, but to either think of/dream about the future, or to act in the present. There's time to introduce more about the character's past in the second chapter -- after the main plot has already started.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Without having read your opening, this makes me wary, especially the word "discussed." The first scene is usually NOT the place to write about the character's history or, worse, to have any sort of flashback. The reader first want to get involved in the here and now of your story.

They do ?

There are rather a lot of SF/F books that open with a scene-setting prologue; it's a very easy thing to do badly, but that does not mean it can't be done well.  Cherryh's Cyteen does it brilliantly, for example.

[Suilan]

There are rather a lot of SF/F books that open with a scene-setting prologue;

So they do. But I wasn't talking about prologues or novels starting by setting the scene, only about the first chapter probably not being the best place to discuss the character's past -- when the reader doesn't even know the character in the present yet. The topic is "Character Entry Action" after all, and I was also responding to a question Adam asked in his other post (shape of story...).

[Adam]

Currently writing in a horror scene.  Muahahahaha.

[azjayp]

i just have one comment on your question, and hopefully it will help.

if you have a normal character that becomes extraordinary BECAUSE of a specific trait that he has (such as frodos moral fortitude), you should put that trait somewhere in his/her character entry action.

if your character is a normal person (or what-have-you) that a great responsibility has been thrust upon him/her for no other reason than that person is the lucky (or unlucky) lotto winner of what they get, their CEE should show what they are like as a person (even if this means showing how mind-numbingly boring of a person the character really is).

hope that helps.

[prophet224]

There is a fine line between CEA and 'hook', too.  In other words, yes, you do want something that shows your main character's character, but it doesn't have to be right away, necessarily.  Often the first thing we want to see is something that hooks us into the story, and the story may not be 'character-driven', in which case the hook might be about the world, a new technology, or numerous other things.

With properties like 'Spiderman', the audience (be the viewers or readers) already knows where things are going.  That means there isn't as much need for a strong intro hook... the TITLE is the hook, and you can get away with a slower start, just like some very established authors get more 'cred' and can start slower as well.

On prologues.  I have read authors who say they never read a prologue, and 'average readers' that say the same.  For many, a prologue is a way to grab attention, and still not have to start the main story at the point of entry into action.  It CAN be a cop-out.  I admit to having used one myself, but the story is in-progress, and we'll see if it holds up past the first draft.