Never Start with Dialogue

Just write the book.

Yes, I agree with the dream thing, but only because it's been done so often and so badly that it's become a cliche. But I've never been put off a book because it starts with dialog - as long as it's good, fluent and hooks me into the rest of the story.

I think of starting the first lines of the first chapter with dialogue alone is kind of like a movie that begins with a blank screen and all you hear are characters' voices. If that's what works best for what you're trying to achieve, do it. But think about how long voices alone could hold your interest when you're expecting a movie. What they're saying will have to be absolutely riveting.

My novel starts with my main character swearing.

Cath said:

Just write the book.

Yes, I agree with the dream thing, but only because it's been done so often and so badly that it's become a cliche. But I've never been put off a book because it starts with dialog - as long as it's good, fluent and hooks me into the rest of the story.

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Agree!!

You can do anything, it just has to work. Whether it works or not is up to the discretion of readers.

I'm not a big fan of hard-and-fast rules for writing fiction. They seem intended for the beginning writer likely to stumble over his or her own feet as they learn how it's done, because they're not likely to execute the unconventional approach--starting with a dream, or with dialogue--well.

I flatter myself by assuming they're directing such advice at lesser writers than me.

Or trying to sell books.

Maryn, who bristles when told she can't do something as a writer

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card begins with talking heads--no reference to who they are or where they are for about half a page or so. And it won a Nebula. Not that all Nebula winners are great examples of how to write, sometimes they just tell a heck of a story.

In general dreams are a bad way to start a novel, even if the reader knows it's not real, because a reader wants to know what IS real. The things that aren't real aren't really a threat, are they? Not that you couldn't make it work. Go for it, and come back for feedback.

Dialog on the other hand can open a story better because it is technically action. You can intersperse a lot of information inbetween the actual spoken lines, and the words used characterize so well. But I think it is correct to say that most novels open with something other than dialog.

Think of rules like this as shorthand. Experts shorten the real advice, because it's too long, and would go something like:

If you start with bare dialogue, there are some risks, which include confusing the reader b/c she doesn't know who's speaking or where or when or why, and not engaging the reader b/c there's no context to the statement (e.g., a bold statement by a shy, reclusive person is more shocking than a bold statement by a gregarious peron), and the dialogue may not have the intended effect if we don't know the speaking character yet ("I'm going to die" has far more impact if your best friend says it, than if a stranger says it).

There's one other problem with starting with dialogue that I've seen, and is even more complicated to explain. A lot of writers start with something hugely catchy and dramatic (either in dialogue or narrative, but more often in narrative), like "I'm going to die a horrible, gruesome death," so-and-so said. Which sets the stakes for the book so high that it's hard to imagine the tension getting any higher, so the whole book is a letdown. Or, another variation on starting with such a high point, we find out, a few sentences later, that she's a drama queen, and all she has is a zit, and it irritates the bejeebers out of the reader, and she may well throw the book at a wall. If you can live up to that over-the-top beginning, and the pacing really can rise from the point, you're good to go. If not, start with something you can build on.

The bottom line is that starting with dialogue is risky (for the reasons above, and probably a dozen more that I can't think of, b/c it's still morning), and lots and lots and LOTS of people are inclined to start with dialogue without considering and dealing with the downsides to it, so critiquers see it a lot, and develop a shorthand response, which is: Don't start with dialogue.

On the other hand, another shorthand could be: don't start with narrative (in the sense of geography and weather and transportation). Which would have kernels of truth to it, while being an over-simplification.

The rules are only shorthand. The key is understanding the reasoning behind them, which generally relates to the risks of a given technique and the prevalence of abuse of the technique.

JD

Oh, and another problem with dreams, when the reader knows it's a dream, is that there's no conflict. There's no stakes, no chance the bad guy in the dream will actually kill her, so there's no tension. No tension = reader puts down the book.

You don't need to show the dream in detail to show that the protagonist is having bad dreams. In fact, it's probably more effective to show it in other ways, with her sleepy or resisting falling asleep or catching a glimpse of something that was in her dream and shuddering, or telling someone why she's sleepy/scared/etc. It's not the dream itself that matters; it's the effect on the character, and how she handles it (brave, scared, hopeless, feisty, take-charge, whatever) that matters.

JD

So THAT'S what I've been doing wrong...

When someone says "Never do..." I try to ignore them.

There are many good books that open with dialogue. If you do it well, nothing is forbidden.

I agree with the others here - if it works, do it!

Just about every "never do" rule has been broken at least once in the books I've read. Granted, some of them made my eyes bleed but others I barely noticed. So, it's beginning to sink in: if you're going to do it, make it work. That's the bottom line.

Opening with dialogue? Ha! That's nothing. I'm opening with the MC waking up.

(I laugh in the face of danger. And, apparently, good sense.)

Can I just say (a naughty word approaching...)




Fuck the rules. There's nothing wrong with guidelines or suggestions but I'm getting very bored of being told exactly how we should write. Agreed that opening with a dream can be cliched but then so can opening with a murder, explosion or a description of the weather. If you do it well, what's the problem with starting a book with dialogue?

maestrowork said:

When someone says "Never do..." I try to ignore them.

There are many good books that open with dialogue. If you do it well, nothing is forbidden.

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"Call me Ishmael." It's not in quotes in Moby Dick, but it is dialogue from the narrator to the reader.

Regards,
Scott

I'm going to open my next book with my main character speaking to someone in a dream.

"Christmas won't be Christmas without presents."

--Little Women [140 years old and still popular]

I agree that rules are often broken, and effectively. But I think there's a good point behind "never start with dialogue"—to hook the reader, you need to establish where your characters are, what they're doing, at least a little bit about setting and time of day; otherwise, as Devil Ledbetter said above, it's like a movie with a blank screen.

At the very least I'd say that if the first line is dialogue, it's better if the second is not. I'd apply that to scenes, too, unless we're returning to a discussion already in progress and know where the characters are and what the situation is.

As a reader, I don't like dangling in space. I can't start forming mental images of the action, and it frustrates me. Now that may be an effect worth creating deliberately, sometimes. But it may not be the best thing to do in commercial fiction, where the first paragraph might determine the sale.

I start my novel with dialog, and I love my opening, so there. <Giving the finger to the author of whatever writing book tells me I can't do this.>

I think I'm going to start my next book with people talking to one another in a boring, weird, disjointed, nonsensical dream, then waking up when the phone rings at 3 A.M. as a stranger tells my protagonist know someone has died, and I won't explain how the person who has died is at all related to my protagonist.

Ha, ha! Can any of you top THAT breaking of all the rules??????

I love it when a book starts with dialog. If I'd seen that "Never" in the book, I'd probably suspect the rest of the advice was equally worthless and toss it aside.

That is an odd rule, as I've seen so many great books start with dialogue.

But there are so many "rules" out there that are really just more like guidelines. I believe that UJ has mentioned several times in his Learn Writing thread that you should know the rules before you break. Of course, then you get hit with rules you've never heard of that you've already broken.

It all boils to down to the last bit about it working for your story. If it works for your story, no reason to rock the boat.

The rules are good for writers just beginning to learn their craft. Someone who has spent many years working on their abilities as a writer knows when and how to break rules.

It's a bit of a generalization, but it seems to hold true.