My genre is thriller/suspense, and I'm mulling over something I'd like input on. I was a member of a online critique group when I finished the first, rough draft of my first novel. The first chapter contained no murder or mayhem, just the MC silently standing at his office window (cop, police chief) thinking on the one case he hasn't solved, the murder of a young woman.
It was pretty well done, I thought. It gave a good hint of what was to come, but they hammered me with it. NO, they said, you need to hook the reader in the opening paragraph! We need to see some action, right off the bat! It's got to be exciting.
Ehhh, ok. I get the point. So I rewrote it and I'm pretty well pleased with the outcome, but I never liked it as much as the first. To me it wasn't as fresh or interesting as the original. One issue I had was these people were doing things and I haven't even introduced them. According to my group, they needed to be doing something right away.
So my question is, What do you like to see in the beginning of an action/suspense novel? How do you "hook" your reader? I just started the next one, but I'm still curious on what your views are.
I have trouble with this because I don't want to stop and have to introduce my characters and break up the flow, but if I open with an action sequence, I don't have much choice, the readers won't know who they are.
It was pretty well done, I thought. It gave a good hint of what was to come, but they hammered me with it. NO, they said, you need to hook the reader in the opening paragraph! We need to see some action, right off the bat! It's got to be exciting.
Ehhh, ok. I get the point. So I rewrote it and I'm pretty well pleased with the outcome, but I never liked it as much as the first. To me it wasn't as fresh or interesting as the original. One issue I had was these people were doing things and I haven't even introduced them. According to my group, they needed to be doing something right away.
So my question is, What do you like to see in the beginning of an action/suspense novel? How do you "hook" your reader? I just started the next one, but I'm still curious on what your views are.
I have trouble with this because I don't want to stop and have to introduce my characters and break up the flow, but if I open with an action sequence, I don't have much choice, the readers won't know who they are.