Set the Scene/Multi-genre Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Try not to be precious about the act of writing. Get something down and then you can make something of it. ~  Hallie Ephron  

Beginnings

The draft of my historical novel begins with dialogue, a testy exchange between mother and daughter. Although the first page establishes time and place, some of my test readers insisted that I needed to set the scene. I like jumping right into the middle of things and find descriptive narrative a slow start, but I don’t want to be vague or confusing. Can I write a beginning that satisfies both kinds of readers?

Yes, by writing narrative in a way that reveals character. Author and editor C.S. Lakin explains how and gives an example paragraph by John Le Carré here.

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