In the last few days, I'll bet I've read at least four novels and short story fragments with variants on the theme of waking when or where they're not supposed to.
Is this a hackneyed plot device? It looks like something to avoid.
[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited March 25, 2009).]
To me it definitely is a bit of a flag. I haven't been keeping that close an eye on the forums the last two weeks, but I'd be surprised if someone hadn't flagged it as a problem in their critiques. Based on my six months or so here, it's a bit of a anomaly; I haven't seen that many stories with that entry point.
Nick
I wonder if the dream sequence acts as a similar psychological crutch - the author isn't sure where to start, so 'wakes up' into the world with the character, perhaps with a few lines of motivating backstory or dream sequence to give them something to write down.
I've been guilty of both in my own drafts, and I agree with the suggestion made elsewhere (for novels) that 'discarding chapter one' is a good move; if a white room or dream sequence gets us started writing that's fine, but don't get too attached to it. When the real action starts in the second chapter after the mental warm-up of the first, then we've got a natural opening fragment instead of the one we agonised over trying to write.
It isn't anymore.
I can't stand it when a story (of any kind) begins with someone waking up. It shows such a dramatic lack of imagination that I can usually assume that the rest of the story is going to be pretty hack.
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Maybe someone could offer some suggestions on how to avoid this particular device.
In medias res.
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My apologies, Troy, but my imagination is a little lacking at the moment. Maybe you can explain 'In medias res.' a little bit - for us unenlightened folk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res
Damon Knight used to recommend (he's the author of CREATING SHORT FICTION as well as of a lot of science fiction stories, and the guy who inspired the 13-line rule for this forum) that writers should start the story with the scene in which the main character became involved with whatever it is the story is about.
Now some people think that involvement should start when a character wakes up, but that really doesn't happen all that often, and if a character is in the middle of things while he or she is asleep, then the story should probably start with whatever put the character in that situation BEFORE he or she went to sleep.
"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."
(depending on translation)
(from the guy who always seems to be coming in late to these things)
The best novel I know of that begins with a POV character waking up is the unabridged version of Stephen King's THE STAND. And if I remember correctly, the disorientation that comes with being woken up in the middle of the night out of a deep sleep profound effects what the POV character does.
So King does it right. The waking up is essential to the plot.
But most of the times it doesn't.
The better approach is to open the story AFTER the character has just been woken, and without mentioning the the grogginess of the character, use it to create atmosphere and suspense.
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The best novel I know of that begins with a POV character waking up is the unabridged version of Stephen King's THE STAND. And if I remember correctly, the disorientation that comes with being woken up in the middle of the night out of a deep sleep profound effects what the POV character does.
I also know of countless and great titles opening this way. My point is that as relatively unestablished writers which most of us are, we have enough obstacles to overcome to get through the slush. So there is no reason to take the risk.
Let's face it, Stephen King could turn in a MS hand-written on the back of a roll of paper towels to an editor and it wouldn't even get damp with slush.
Once you have a few pro-rate sales or a little buzz to your name, you could consider it. I have seen it done well, but my pile of rejections won't grow any larger because it was tossed for a cliche on the opening page...I hope
It's a better idea, these days in today's fiction market, to start the story at the moment (or just prior to) that causes the character to change direction. Joe's walking along on the street in his hum-drum way, paying no attention to the stone he's been kicking, thinking about nothing - certainly not his dead-end job or the fact that his toe is starting to poke through the right shoe ever so slightly and he doesn't have enough cash to buy a new pair - when the rock he's been kicking...winks at him.
I am of a mind to avoid waking up. I think the idea of starting the first 13 with a turning point is the key. The act of waking up is too reactive. Perhaps having something done to you is less of a hook to the future plot that doing something pro-active. My writing at this point is cliche-ridden enough.
I've read thousands of books, but in all that time, I was never cognizant of the first page being a hook. I was talking to my son-in-law about George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice series. What bothered him about the series? The hook at the end of every chapter. He thought he was being manipulated. He's a lawyer, so he can be forgiven... but it is food for thought.
Trying to get our work sold, we write for the editor or agent who will read the first few pages, not for the readers who, at least in my case, give each book a few pages to show its redeeming prose.
[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited March 26, 2009).]
Come to think of it, there's a couple of dream sequences in my latest thing...but they're not so much dreams as telepathic reflections of something going on involving another character. They seem to serve a purpose in the plot, though...