Cloudy skies are back this morning, so there is a silver/pewter hue to the sky. I've been working with a writer who is learning how to write horror stories and novels. He recently sent me the opening chapter of a novel. Great concept, great character, great voice, then soon after the story launched, he dropped into a lot of back story. In fact, too much back story, too soon.The results were that the front story was stalled and by the time we returned to it, it had lost its importance.
I've heard from so many writers over the years complain about how they struggle to get the pacing just right in the opening pages and chapters. After all, you need to launch the story and create some sizzle. You need to introduce a whole lot of elements--POV, setting, characters, situation. You need to create a hook and at least hint at the coming conflict and the story question. At the same time you're juggling all these elements, you need to get the proportions just right.
In my workshops I often ask the participants to dissect a writing sample. If you do this on your own, choose an author who you'd like to emulate, writing in the same genre that you're writing in. Then you study his or her proportions. (I'm speaking strictly of those on their pages. Not much we can do to emulate their physical proportions.) Notice when the back story appears, how much description decorates the first pages, and if there is any foreshadowing. Notice the length of the dialogue and when key players start talking.
A handy trick for analyzing a writer's work is to use highlighter markers. Assign a specific color for each element in the story: back story, dialogue, setting, action, description, exposition...or whatever makes sense. Highlight these various elements on the page. These are your delivery systems of story telling. Then take the same colors and the same pages in your story and highlight your elements too. When you're done, compare your proportions to your example. How many colors are on your pages? Does your page look like a rainbow? Or are you missing key colors? Is exposition bogging down your opening? Try it--it's elucidating. Meanwhile, keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart
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