i am in the middle of writing an alternative opening for my thriller, the dark gospel.
lex, the hero of the book, has recurring dreams which come true, and this opening describes one of them at the moment of becoming so…
i’m rather down on prologuey type openings usually – it can spoil unity and flow – so i may yet discard it.
as i am interweaving past and present throughout the book, though, it may work better than usual.
About freddie
having now written a first draft i can see it won’t do, mainly for structural reaons and the steady forward flow i want –
lex’s dream comes true about halfway through the book and is dramatic, involving key characters – which means that if the scene comes at the beginning a lot (too much) explanation/introduction of characters is needed.
identifying them without naming them is fun, though, as is highlighting what they mean to him only in terms of how he knows them from his dream, so i shall keep at it for another draft or two, to see how it ends up.
but the killer is the tructural aspect. starting with this “dream-coming-true” scene adds a barrier before the forward flow of the novel begins, which is my general problem with prologues.
this scene will probably fit best as the opening to the third part of the book.
ah, good to learn you cant edit comments –
“reaons” were “reasons” and “tructural” is “structural”.
“Tructural” is good (and perhaps worth keeping in mind should you get another truck brief).