: Re: Is it considered lazy writing to have a dry prelude at the start of a book? I'm thinking of the crawl sequences at the beginning of Star Wars, that just give you the background information

@Pierce369

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I don't think it's lazy, however they do irritate me. (Star Wars is the exception.)

What if it's just that the author needs the context cordoned off somewhere in order to get their wind? If so, I have a potential solution. Hear me out..

One of my favorite books is The Rum Diary by Hunter S. It begins with an "info dump", to steal Mark's expression, and that's the lone part of the book I dislike. I read it the first time just to be thorough. But when I re-read it, I skip it.

Relying solely on memory, I recall the plot beginning with Paul Kemp at a bar in New York, wearing a cord jacket, and anticipating his flight the next morning. Turning the pages now to check myself, I see my memory of things was trustworthy.

If I were in a position to read the rough draft and offer Tompson feedback prior to publication, I would suggest dropping the intro because my memory of the novel completely overlooks it, suggesting it's superfluous. ..rather, my imprinting started with the action, which tells us something about where we find the meat and potatoes...i.e. "in medias res".

So perhaps there's some value in writing the context framing just to get under some steam. Then when you're revising for the next draft, try eliminating the context intro and see if the narrative can stand itself up without the backstory crutches.

tl;dr: Write your intro, then when you're a few chapters in, have a friend read what you've got sans intro and use their feedback to decide if you truly need it.

[Aside: There is a music recording technique called a "warm start", where the band plays a chorus or does a few passes through an important chord progression with the tape rolling, just to get in the groove with one another, then they stop momentarily and begin the song where it's supposed to start. Afterwards, the dud intro is eliminated and you never hear it in the final mix. But the producer, the band, and the engineers all know it had an important role in establishing the energy that was ultimately captured in the track.]

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