When I checked out the novel from the
library, I didn't suspect the writer had broken many of the rules.
All I knew was that I was prepared to devour it.
Even spine out, the title caught my
attention. Murder Rides the Super Chief (details
changed) promised to press three of my hot-buttons: a historical cozy
on a cross-country train trip.
My
interest in the genre got me through the opening chapter. But I kept
wondering when the story would actually begin. And why was the author
describing in meticulous detail virtually every facet of life in
California in the winter of 1952?
Things
didn't get any better when the protagonist boarded the train.
Starting with the locomotive, the author took me to the back of the
train. Page after page of description of the furnishings and features
of each car.
Finally
I learned why she was traveling from California to Chicago just
before Christmas: She was an employee of the railroad assigned to
work on the train. (Why didn't the author think to include that in
chapter one?)
It
turns out, she was the train's hostess. And readers had the privilege
of watching over her shoulder as she welcomed every passenger and
informed them on which car they would be riding. Every passenger. Not
just the obligatory colorful characters, but also the ordinary ones.
I
jumped off the train.
If I'd
ever wondered why writing teachers say that fiction is life with the
dull parts removed, I'd seen the alternative. Likewise, I got
resounding reinforcement for beginning in the middle of action. And
why dumping the contents of your research and offering lengthy
passages of backstory can make even the most eager reader close the
book.
Are
you tempted to break one of the basic rules of contemporary fiction?
I hope you have good reason – and that you know what you're doing.
3 comments:
Good blog - I have quite a few books on my TBR pile that I start and never finish. I close them and think I'll get back to it some day and once in a while I do, but not usually.
I totally get it. If I'm not completely pulled in by page two, changes are really good that page three will never get read.
I love to research and, as an author have to stop myself from putting in too much of what I've learned in my research so I don't end up with something like the book you tried to read. It's all interesting information to me. Most of it's not necessary to my story -- except as background in my head.
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