Years ago, I attended a conference workshop where the presenter said it was important to signal the genre in the first few pages of a novel. More frequently, I have heard speakers say that the setting (time and location) and the main character should also be introduced there. There are exceptions, of course, but they should be carefully thought through and done for a reason that enhances the story.
Those first few pages are usually the
book’s best advertisement, and they shouldn’t misrepresent it. That includes
the writer’s voice. Voice has many different definitions, but for my purposes
here, I’m referring to the way the writer uses words, and I’m going beyond mere
style.
Lately I find myself abandoning books
partway through because they aren’t what I expected. They start out innocently
enough. There may be an occasional swear word, but none are hard core, and any
references to sex are oblique. The story is clearly PG. Then, about a fourth of
the way through, the story becomes R in the intensity of the curse words and/or
the graphicness of the sexual interaction. I can handle a few swear words and
gentle references to sex, but too much spoils the story for me.
Some readers are okay with R-rated
content, and some are even looking for it. That’s fine, but all of us deserve
to know what we are getting into when we first pick up the book.
I don’t generally buy books sight
unseen. Either I look at the first few pages when I am in a bookstore, or I use
the Look Inside feature on Amazon (recently rebranded as “Read sample”). So if
the book starts as it means to begin, sprinkled with swear words or explicit
sex, I know enough to avoid it. If it doesn’t, I find myself extremely
frustrated when the book proves to be something other than advertised.
As an aside, I do look at Amazon
reviews—especially especially the one- and two-star reviews since they are the
ones most likely to warn about language or explicit sex. But that doesn’t
always work, either, especially if I am looking for an Amazon First Reads selection
which doesn’t have many reviews yet.
A good writer will respect the
audience and begin as he or she means to continue.
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