Wow. It’s been a long time coming. I finally have it done. Edits, supporting documents, everything. Done!
Well… except for one small detail. The opening scene. The one thing they say is so vital to a book.
Oh, I have it done. I actually have two opening scenes done. I just can’t choose between them.
It was pointed out to me that the opening scene of a book needs to quickly draw someone in, hook them, go straight for the conflict, the action. Make them want to keep turning the pages. I thought I had done that with my first opening, but it took a couple pages for the action to happen. So I made another version. While the first one aimed to develop the characters and situation more, the second one was much quicker into the big hook.
So I sent it out to a bunch of my beta readers. Some preferred the short character development in the beginning. Others liked the “jump right in” approach. I’m not going to say what the ratio was, but it wasn’t the clear choice I had hoped for.
So I’ve got to make a decision. I have to do it this weekend, because I set myself a deadline of mailing it all out next week. A week earlier than I promised the publisher, a week later than I had hoped for. But all things considered, I like both openings. And I am really, really glad Tim told me to run it through another run of edits, because I’m much happier with the story now. And next week I can look forward to going to bed at a regular hour. At least until it’s time to start on the sequel…