: Re: Starting Out a Novel Would it be more effective to the reader to start out a novel explaining the setting and scenery or, introducing the characters?

I would say it's better to start with neither; start with the story. Both setting and character should be introduced bit by bit, as the story begins to unfold. If you start with setting the scene or introducing the characters then the reader has to wait for you to finish before they get to read the story.

Many publishers will only read the first few lines of a piece, and many readers will only read the first page or two, before deciding whether to continue. If your piece doesn't set the stage for the story (better to be left after page one wondering who this is and what that is, than to know but not know that it's important) people will get bored.

This is where prologues are especially useful; if you know you have to set the scene and the character start with a prologue that gives the reader a taste of the action. Get the reader hooked before you start filling bits out.

And as a final note, it's worth remembering:

If you stop to describe the scenery, the story stops to wait for you.

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@Berryessa137

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@Berryessa137

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: Re: Starting Out a Novel Would it be more effective to the reader to start out a novel explaining the setting and scenery or, introducing the characters?

More posts by @Berryessa137

: Wattpad is a really good place to start. Almost everyone there is an aspiring writer and hence encourage other writers immensely. You can update status and post messages to your audience. There

: Best way to become more natural at English To give a brief background about me, I was born in east Asian countries then moved to America when I was 15. I went to American high school and

: How does one avoid imposing one's own voice and preferences in critiques? When critiquing another's writing I find myself making suggestions that are clearly biased toward how I would write the

: What is it called when an author uses vague words for concrete concepts, "hedging"? As an editor for an academic press, my pet peeve is when authors write sentences like "attempt to conceive

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