pondering

[truepenny]

Mirrorthaw likes the new novella! *small happy dance*

Now to tidy it up and send it out and see if anybody else likes it.

We are both uncertain of what to do about one particular issue. This novella--like the other eight stories I've written with this narrator--are very much, and very deliberately, in the school of M. R. James. Not pastiches, because James wasn't interested in sex and psychology, and I am, but old-fashioned and decorous horror stories. Very much in that Jamesian mode--which is rather at odds with current trends in short-story writing.

In particular, this style of narrative does not feature an opening hook. I can make it do so, and am torn between my knowledge that that would very likely make it more appealing to editors, and my personal feeling that that's not how that type of story--and this story in particular--works. I think the slow build is worth it (it's a 10k novella, I do have space), but I am well aware I am in the minority.

And so I'm wondering what other people think. Do you have to have a hook in a short story, or are you willing to give the author enough rope to hang herself with?

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, it does rather throw me back on my egotistical assessment of my own writing. *g* But thanks.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I'm easy. If the opening is presented in an engaging manner I'm generally interested in exploring the world, getting to know the characters a bit before expecting a lot of action.

[pameladean]

Obvious hooks -- not, really, that I'd think you'd do that, but still -- make me suspicious and cranky. Anything that starts off with too much excitement makes me back away slowly. I like a bit of leisure in my beginnings, and good language. I want to know that there is a VOICE there, and if you are in M.R. James's tradition, then certainly there is.

Really, I hate most hooks, as I understand the term. I've been in a lot of arguments about this, however, so if you are of the opinion that the first line of, say, Byatt's Possession is a hook, that'd be different.

I still think they're optional, though.

Pamela

*digs under pile of Shakespeare biographies for the editor hat*

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Hookage.

Hookage is a funny thing. Actually, I'm discovering that an "action hook" is often much less effective than a hook that simply engages with a character and asks a question--because if you plunge me into a bloodbath and I don't like the character yet, it's yawnsville.

Beautiful language and strong imagery help, as do obvious authorial confidence and the sense that the story knows where it is going.

My nomination for the single best opening sentence of all time is Richard Adams' Watership Down: "The primroses were over."

It does everything: provides setting and a hint of the central conflict, provides a strong visual, draws you into the setting (I now know time of year and place, more or less), and gives a hint at the tone of the book while raising a few questions--provoking my curiousity.

So yeah, I would say that blood everywhere is not necessarily the way to get started.

Re: *digs under pile of Shakespeare biographies for the editor hat*

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Belatedly, I agree! Bloodbath is unnecessary.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I think you do need something.

It doesn't have to be a man coming through the door with a gun (and I think the first line of Possession is one of the greatest hooks of all time, right up there with the first line of Earthly Powers) but you need something to make the first line encourage the reader gently to proceed to the second line and then onwards.

Personally, I find that usually starting the story is a good idea at the beginning, but sometimes there's an overpoweringly good reason to do something else, such as finishing the story.

If I'm reading a magazine, I'm usually in the bath and I usually don't have anything else right there, so I'm inclined to be forgiving, which means I'll read a couple of paragraphs of anything, but if I don't give a damn after a couple of paragraphs, I turn to the next story or, in extreme cases, reach for my towel.

Having said that, I'd like to stress that I do not mean action -- when I read the first page of Spindle's End (not in the bath) I carefully inserted a bookmark, closed the book, hugged it passionately, then continued reading.