Dem bones, dem bones…

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.
JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

This month I snagged from the New Release shelf:

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

There’s a lot to be said for a strong setup. At first glance, I wasn’t all that keen on multiple quotes, then a prologue, then an exhibition note, and then an email. It felt like a series of post-it notes one had to sift through before finally opening the book.

However, Paula Hawkins was keen to establish certain storytelling elements before embarking on the official narrative. The poet Dylan Thomas is quoted about bones, for instance, and the exhibition note mentions a bone included in a character’s sculpture. The poem selected also notes that death cannot stop love, and the back of the book highlights that the artist character is—or was?—married to someone who was unfaithful to her. The email also highlights the bone of the sculpture, informing the art museum that the bone is not an animal bone as the sculpture’s description states, but a human bone. So there is some hard work on narrative set-up here, even without the prologue.

For I honestly wonder if we needed those two pages of the artist losing herself in the night’s waters. Sure, there is a note of looking for the husband and seeing him—or not?—but considering all the other indirect approaches we have here to the narrative, why not one more instead of the first-person prologue? A letter from a friend, for instance, supporting the artist in her time of loneliness, encouraging her to seek a divorce or something. Then all the materials before the official narrative would have that sly, backdoor quality to them, a collection of clues for the reader before we are ready to begin.

But that is merely this writer’s opinion. The premise for the story is sound, the mystery promising before Chapter 1 begins. If you are in need of a good mystery to carry you through these short winter days, look no further than Paula Hawkins’ The Blue Hour.

Coming up in the new year: writing resources, changing traditions, and space trains! Aaaaall aboard!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!