 By Les Edgerton ISBN 1582974578; $14.99; 237 pages; Paperback Introduction
Why a Book Begins: 1
Beginnings Defined: 7
Chapter One
Story Structure and the Scene: 9
The Evolution of Story Structure: 10
The Modern Story Structure: 13
Scene Basics 101: 15
Opening Scenes vs. Non-Opening Scenes: 17
Prologues: 22
Chapter Two
Opening Scenes: An Overview: 24
The Components of an Opening Scene: 24
The Goals of Openings: 36
Why Potentially Good Beginnings Go Bad: 43
Chapter Three
The Inciting Incident, the Initial Surface Problem, and the Story-Worthy Problem: 46
The Inciting Incident: 47
Story-Worthy Problems vs. Surface Problems: 60
Creating Your Story's Problems and Goals: 61
How Many Problems Should Your Novel Contain?: 69
Your Character's Awareness of His Own Story-Worthy Problem: 71
Inner Demons: Mining for Story-Worthy Problems: 74
Chapter Four
The Setup and Backstory: 79
The Setup: 83
Backstory: 85
Balancing Setup and Backstory in Your Opening: 96
Chapter Five
Combining the Inciting Incident, Story-Worthy Problem, Initial Surface Problem, Setup, and Backstory: 118
Fitting the Pieces Together: 119
Deconstructing a Brilliant Beginning: 124
Putting it All Together in Your Own Work: 133
Chapter Six
Introducing Your Characters: 136
Establishing Character From the Start: 136
Opening with Unusual Characters: 146
Opening with your Character's Thoughts: 148
Chapter Seven
Foreshadowing, Language, and Setting: 154
Using Your Opening to Foreshadow Your Story: 154
Economizing Language in Your Openings: 158
Introducing Setting in Your Openings: 164
Chapter Eight
Great Opening Lines: 166
Chapter Nine
Red Flag Openers to Avoid: 188
1, Opening with a Dream: 188
2, Opening with an Alarm Clock Buzzing: 189
3, Being Unintentionally Funny: 190
4, Too Little Dialogue: 190
5, Opening with Dialogue: 191
Chapter Ten
Opening Scene Length and the Use of Transitions: 193
Determining the Right Length for a Story Opening: 196
What Any Opening-Long or Short-Requires: 199
Using Transitions to Anchor Your Opening Scenes: 200
Chapter Eleven
The View from the Agent's and Editor's Chair: 206
The Power of Bookscan: 208
Publishing, An Evolving Industry: 210
Agents and Editors Speak Out Beginnings: 215
Epilogue
Play the Game Forward: 234
Index: 237
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