on openings
Quite possibly my favorite opening to a novel:
I don't have The Hobbit here at my fingertips (I'm at work), but if memory serves, after describing the Hobbit hole in some detail, the author then starts to give the hobbit's geneology, interrupts himself, describes hobbits themselves in great detail, returns to the geneology, and finally gets to the initial scene of the plot some three pages on (the scene is a conversation about saying 'good morning' and an invitation to tea).
Without being sardonic or unnecessarily tongue-in-cheek, Tolkien was a poster-child for how not to write a novel. Both The Hobbit and its even more famous sequel trilogy feature an unwieldy amount of characters, all with odd names. As a narrator, he is not at all above breaking the fourth wall and editorializing. There are frequent (if subtle) changes in tone and style throughout the books. And Tolkien played fast and loose with his POVs, at one point famously slipping into the head of a fox who passes by the main characters in the night. And yet it worked - the man has been voted Author of the Century many times over, his books are bestsellers twenty-five years after his death, and the films based on them were blockbusters.
In my opinion, this casts "the rules" about writing fiction in a suspicious light.
Obviously, part of the reason Tolkien could "get away with it" was because he was a damn good storyteller. And that's a very important point - how good your story is ultimately trumps any stylistic considerations.
But while Tolkien was a brilliant storyteller, he was no novelist. He was an Oxford don, steeped in the traditions of ancient legendary cycles such as Beowulf. When he wrote in that casual, interfering narrative POV he was just going with what he knew. He had no preconceptions about what a novel was supposed to be like, and so he was able to move beyond them. He told his stories in the way that he felt they needed to be told. He certainly didn't worry about whether or not his work was publishable or whether any agent would take a second glance at it.
This approach to storytelling and writing fiction is definitely not for everyone. But it's one that I admire and would like to emulate. It offers a certain freedom too - to try new things without worrying about how it will be recieved. Success, fame and hardcover will come in time. Maybe. But for now, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to just do my best to keep writing, constantly, and learning and growing. I'm going to tell all kinds of stories and tell them the way I think they need to be told.
A good story and good writing. Those are the keys. Those are what I want to focus on. As far as I'm concerned, everything else is secondary.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.I'm not alone in my opinion of this opening, it is of course the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and is arguably one of the most famous first paragraphs in English literature.
I don't have The Hobbit here at my fingertips (I'm at work), but if memory serves, after describing the Hobbit hole in some detail, the author then starts to give the hobbit's geneology, interrupts himself, describes hobbits themselves in great detail, returns to the geneology, and finally gets to the initial scene of the plot some three pages on (the scene is a conversation about saying 'good morning' and an invitation to tea).
Without being sardonic or unnecessarily tongue-in-cheek, Tolkien was a poster-child for how not to write a novel. Both The Hobbit and its even more famous sequel trilogy feature an unwieldy amount of characters, all with odd names. As a narrator, he is not at all above breaking the fourth wall and editorializing. There are frequent (if subtle) changes in tone and style throughout the books. And Tolkien played fast and loose with his POVs, at one point famously slipping into the head of a fox who passes by the main characters in the night. And yet it worked - the man has been voted Author of the Century many times over, his books are bestsellers twenty-five years after his death, and the films based on them were blockbusters.
In my opinion, this casts "the rules" about writing fiction in a suspicious light.
Obviously, part of the reason Tolkien could "get away with it" was because he was a damn good storyteller. And that's a very important point - how good your story is ultimately trumps any stylistic considerations.
But while Tolkien was a brilliant storyteller, he was no novelist. He was an Oxford don, steeped in the traditions of ancient legendary cycles such as Beowulf. When he wrote in that casual, interfering narrative POV he was just going with what he knew. He had no preconceptions about what a novel was supposed to be like, and so he was able to move beyond them. He told his stories in the way that he felt they needed to be told. He certainly didn't worry about whether or not his work was publishable or whether any agent would take a second glance at it.
This approach to storytelling and writing fiction is definitely not for everyone. But it's one that I admire and would like to emulate. It offers a certain freedom too - to try new things without worrying about how it will be recieved. Success, fame and hardcover will come in time. Maybe. But for now, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to just do my best to keep writing, constantly, and learning and growing. I'm going to tell all kinds of stories and tell them the way I think they need to be told.
A good story and good writing. Those are the keys. Those are what I want to focus on. As far as I'm concerned, everything else is secondary.
posted by braun at 3:06 PM
3 Comments:
Well said.
But....
Given his educational background, Master T would have learned or been taught composition at some time. He wasn't born a good stylist. (Nor was Fats Waller born a good jazz pianist, despite having "dat rhythm in his bones".)
Armed with a good style, internalised from years of writing and reading, he could just let fly.
I don't think our modern education is quite as good his was.
Yanno? Waaaay back in my impetuous youth I was determined to be a Writer. I carried notebooks and pens, set an antique Underwood up and plotted meticulously.
I'm betting I've started at least 50-75 different novels, from 2 paragraphs to 200 pages before getting totally bogged down each time, surrounded by index cards full of notes on every detail.
Then in 2004 on a whim I signed up for NaNo and was instantly hooked. Pounding bleary eyed, laughing, yelling, dreaming.. I finished 62,000 wds (without counting em! Had NO idea till I submitted to the countbots if I'd made 50 grand) on Oct 31st 04 and started another book on Nov 1st.
Say whatcha will about the doubtful value of a NaNo novel, for me it pushed me into an entire different mindset about writing. No edits, no wordcounts, no sweating over details... hell Braun, I didnt have a clue where the story was going 90% of the time! I'd just reread the last line and let er rip! And LOVED it!
Since then I've finished 3 novels and am currently working on 4 others in different stages, 7 books, 4 totally different styles and genres. Whenever I get a hint of bogging down in any single tale, I just switch books and Write On!
Will I ever get focused enough to actively chase agents and publishers? Who knows... but I'm certainly convinced in my own mind that I AM a writer.. hehe. Free yer mind, Neo-Braun, and just let it roll. So much of what we're learning from both the pros and the amateurs on our favorite study sites is only what NOT to do: only thing that counts is what YOU do.. (and have fun doing!)
Magz: that's cool. You've very prolific! I wish I was. I write very slowly and carefully because I usually have a very specific idea in my head of what I want the story to be. Good for you!
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