give me a good setting and character and lead me to “the inciting incident.”
i don’t like the writing “advice” that all readers want the BOOM in the first sentence.
we “used to” be taught that you had about 20% (50 pages or so) of “life as usual” before we had to make something out of the ordinary happen in our books… let’s bring back SLOW, intentional reading and storytelling and attention spans.
not to make lazy writers, but because all action all the time is exhausting and i’m immediately uninvested if i don’t care about the world and the people in it. 🥰📚🖋️
I will say I absolutely prefer your slower (dare I say more poetic?) starts to your novels over ones that start in medias res with an explosion of action – I hate being dropped in the middle of things and having to figure out how the strings all tie together in the FIRST CHAPTER, and that's much more likely to set me off a book than a start that creeps up to the action.
I looooved your “slow”, intentional starts so much in SGE. It made me feel like I was in on something real, just knowing that there could be mundane everyday occurrences in the midst of all the extraordinary. The way you reflect on structure and fantasy types is so fascinating, so thank you for sharing Soman!🫶 (p.s. you’re making me itch for another SGE reread)
Ya know, I'm thinking of a lot of British shows actually that sort of give you this slower build. Even in their crime shows that start with a murder or something flashy, they still bring it right back to the character and let you walk with them, getting to know them, before it all ties together and explodes even more. And by then you really, REALLY care because you're so invested in the character.
I think investment in the character is so much more important than anything, anything else. Game of Thrones spent so much time on character first! That's why we love it.
I didn't find your writing sloooow. I read all of SGE straight through from start to finish and at times I felt I couldn't put them down. But I stopped watching White Lotus halfway through the first episode because I didn't LIKE any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to them. As a reader, I'm very willing to build one brick at a time as long as I have come to care about what happens. I think that's one of your strong points. You create interesting characters we want to get to know.
Thank you. I think White Lotus kept me because I'm a sucker for fancy hotels and I could just stay for the scenery... And eventually, little by little, stuff started to happen.
Sent you an email addressing your 'curiosity' comment, but the last email I had for you has been closed. If you feel like it, send me a message and I will copy the note. My email address hasn't changed.
Oh yes I looooove multi layered messes! They're great to analyse too. It's what I really enjoyed as a kid and teen reading the school for good and evil books - the way that when the action came, it was all multi faceted and had different levels to it: the social, political, magical, etc. and of course, characters that felt REAL and were just as multi faceted as the chaos they created!
omg my friend Anna and I (we’re both named Anna haha) would LOVE to be focus readers 😭 genuinely praying you see this. i’m such a massive fan of SGE, which Anna introduced me too and i soon got obsessed with (both currently rereading them because why not) and seeing a new type of writing in the works would be so cool!! i’ve also been in a bit of a reading draught, so having new things to read that i’m genuinely interested in is a must. we love your writing!!!
“I just liked the term “Multi-Layered Mess” and think it would make a good tattoo for a more renegade version of me. And now this diary has turned into a multi-layered mess itself. Ah. Joy.” Haha😂there you go making me laugh out loud again, soman! Why not, A multi layer mess” tattoo for When you go renegade version of you !?
But seriously now, I,too like this term maybe because that’s how I’m feeling about my pile of work stacked up since I was hit by a flood and just recently relocated from the disaster zone into new and foreign lands. Although I find my present word choice leans towards “multi layered chaos “ but since I trust the evolutionary nature of the creative process, I look forward to the next stage of my multi layered messes.
As far as immersive or explosive, I’ve always chosen immersive because I like to be drawn into the story not slam dunked or mind blasted. Yet since as artists we are not confined to an either or approach, I may just draw a cartoon version of my explosive disaster and find the words to organize the multi layered mess the latest draft has turned into. Thank you again Soman for sparking my imagination and leaving me with deeper food for thought. I find I look forward to your next substack Diary excerpts because they both inspire my creative process plus I get to laugh out loud while I learn things about how to create a meaningful context and other relevant insights that shed light for me as a newly reclaimed fantasy fiction writer. My muse is tired of being so non fictionally serious🙂🙏❤️
P.s. just discovered your Beauty and Beast : dangerous tales audible and absolutely love this creative work of yours too. Dare I say “write on!”
Thank you for all of this -- it made me wonder if we are all our own private multiverses of chaos and that made me wonder if we're destined for order or entropy... So you got me thinking too! And enjoy B&B. That book was such a special one to me.
I prefer slower starts, actually! Not lagging slow, but not super fast into the plot, especially if it's the first book in the series. Maybe for other books in a series, I'm fine with it starting with more action. It also depends on the genre. Some topics of the story make it fitting for it to start faster-paced and more adrenaline based. I really like how in SGE you mastered the different openings for each book, and the prequels!
It's always a balance finding that right opening tone. Book 2 had that crazy scene with the musical, which I still loooooove, but really has nothing to do with anything. But it did set the mood...
I love a slow build. I love establishing the norm to better understand the characters we’re following, how they fit into the world, and what needs to change. Victor Hugo spends like 10 chapters in Les Mis describing the life of a bishop the main character interacts with once before even introducing the main character. It established so much of the tone of the story and shows how complex the world is, making it tangible even beyond the main character. SGE was able to wonderfully establish Agatha and Sophie as seeming like the perfect witch and princess respectively before subverting that expectation as we enter the magical world, demonstrating why the characters were motivated in the ways they were.
I VOLUNTEER AS A TRIBUTE FOR FOCUS TESTING
Ooooooooohhhhhhh...
I loved SGE’s beginning— are you kidding me? Didn’t find it slow at all! Obsessed with Sophie’s POV.
I feel like Sophie's monologues are so crazy that they often have more action than action scenes.
give me a good setting and character and lead me to “the inciting incident.”
i don’t like the writing “advice” that all readers want the BOOM in the first sentence.
we “used to” be taught that you had about 20% (50 pages or so) of “life as usual” before we had to make something out of the ordinary happen in our books… let’s bring back SLOW, intentional reading and storytelling and attention spans.
not to make lazy writers, but because all action all the time is exhausting and i’m immediately uninvested if i don’t care about the world and the people in it. 🥰📚🖋️
It's what happens in real life too. Most days don't begin with a bang... thankfully!
I will say I absolutely prefer your slower (dare I say more poetic?) starts to your novels over ones that start in medias res with an explosion of action – I hate being dropped in the middle of things and having to figure out how the strings all tie together in the FIRST CHAPTER, and that's much more likely to set me off a book than a start that creeps up to the action.
This validates my entire existence.
I looooved your “slow”, intentional starts so much in SGE. It made me feel like I was in on something real, just knowing that there could be mundane everyday occurrences in the midst of all the extraordinary. The way you reflect on structure and fantasy types is so fascinating, so thank you for sharing Soman!🫶 (p.s. you’re making me itch for another SGE reread)
I'm so happy you stuck with those slow starts... But I do love beginning with intrigue over fireworks. Thank you so much for being a subscriber!
im fangirling so hard rn love you soman
I think a slower start to a book allows for the story to build into something amazing as the story goes on. Especially with SGE
Agreed. But sometimes with the first book in a series, you do need to get to the point fairly quickly before the readers start yawning...
Ya know, I'm thinking of a lot of British shows actually that sort of give you this slower build. Even in their crime shows that start with a murder or something flashy, they still bring it right back to the character and let you walk with them, getting to know them, before it all ties together and explodes even more. And by then you really, REALLY care because you're so invested in the character.
I think investment in the character is so much more important than anything, anything else. Game of Thrones spent so much time on character first! That's why we love it.
I didn't find your writing sloooow. I read all of SGE straight through from start to finish and at times I felt I couldn't put them down. But I stopped watching White Lotus halfway through the first episode because I didn't LIKE any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to them. As a reader, I'm very willing to build one brick at a time as long as I have come to care about what happens. I think that's one of your strong points. You create interesting characters we want to get to know.
Thank you. I think White Lotus kept me because I'm a sucker for fancy hotels and I could just stay for the scenery... And eventually, little by little, stuff started to happen.
Sent you an email addressing your 'curiosity' comment, but the last email I had for you has been closed. If you feel like it, send me a message and I will copy the note. My email address hasn't changed.
Oh yes I looooove multi layered messes! They're great to analyse too. It's what I really enjoyed as a kid and teen reading the school for good and evil books - the way that when the action came, it was all multi faceted and had different levels to it: the social, political, magical, etc. and of course, characters that felt REAL and were just as multi faceted as the chaos they created!
I re-read the books sometimes and think... what a mess. And then keep reading. Hah a.
Haha so true! Btw I just wanted to say I've really enjoyed this diary of yours. Always makes me laugh when reading it and brightens up my week...
omg my friend Anna and I (we’re both named Anna haha) would LOVE to be focus readers 😭 genuinely praying you see this. i’m such a massive fan of SGE, which Anna introduced me too and i soon got obsessed with (both currently rereading them because why not) and seeing a new type of writing in the works would be so cool!! i’ve also been in a bit of a reading draught, so having new things to read that i’m genuinely interested in is a must. we love your writing!!!
“I just liked the term “Multi-Layered Mess” and think it would make a good tattoo for a more renegade version of me. And now this diary has turned into a multi-layered mess itself. Ah. Joy.” Haha😂there you go making me laugh out loud again, soman! Why not, A multi layer mess” tattoo for When you go renegade version of you !?
But seriously now, I,too like this term maybe because that’s how I’m feeling about my pile of work stacked up since I was hit by a flood and just recently relocated from the disaster zone into new and foreign lands. Although I find my present word choice leans towards “multi layered chaos “ but since I trust the evolutionary nature of the creative process, I look forward to the next stage of my multi layered messes.
As far as immersive or explosive, I’ve always chosen immersive because I like to be drawn into the story not slam dunked or mind blasted. Yet since as artists we are not confined to an either or approach, I may just draw a cartoon version of my explosive disaster and find the words to organize the multi layered mess the latest draft has turned into. Thank you again Soman for sparking my imagination and leaving me with deeper food for thought. I find I look forward to your next substack Diary excerpts because they both inspire my creative process plus I get to laugh out loud while I learn things about how to create a meaningful context and other relevant insights that shed light for me as a newly reclaimed fantasy fiction writer. My muse is tired of being so non fictionally serious🙂🙏❤️
P.s. just discovered your Beauty and Beast : dangerous tales audible and absolutely love this creative work of yours too. Dare I say “write on!”
Thank you for all of this -- it made me wonder if we are all our own private multiverses of chaos and that made me wonder if we're destined for order or entropy... So you got me thinking too! And enjoy B&B. That book was such a special one to me.
I prefer slower starts, actually! Not lagging slow, but not super fast into the plot, especially if it's the first book in the series. Maybe for other books in a series, I'm fine with it starting with more action. It also depends on the genre. Some topics of the story make it fitting for it to start faster-paced and more adrenaline based. I really like how in SGE you mastered the different openings for each book, and the prequels!
It's always a balance finding that right opening tone. Book 2 had that crazy scene with the musical, which I still loooooove, but really has nothing to do with anything. But it did set the mood...
I love a slow build. I love establishing the norm to better understand the characters we’re following, how they fit into the world, and what needs to change. Victor Hugo spends like 10 chapters in Les Mis describing the life of a bishop the main character interacts with once before even introducing the main character. It established so much of the tone of the story and shows how complex the world is, making it tangible even beyond the main character. SGE was able to wonderfully establish Agatha and Sophie as seeming like the perfect witch and princess respectively before subverting that expectation as we enter the magical world, demonstrating why the characters were motivated in the ways they were.
Yes, starting in the magical world would have been... terrible. I think we need to like the characters first before all the things start!