Open Door Critiques [CLOSED]

🚪 But Wait, It Gets Better!

You're walking down an aisle of the grocery and see a couple of packages that catch your eye: chips, cookies, assorted fruit snacks. The chips declare in bright bold lettering, "DELICIOUS & HEALTHY! USING REAL POTATOES."

The cookies declare in elegant script, "Award Winning. In business since 1862."

And then you look at the fruit snacks. There's nothing particularly offensive or peculiar about its packaging, but when you look closer, all it says is, "I don't taste good at first, but trust me :) The taste gets better :)"

Huh. Bizarre.

Still, you don't think much about it, and pick up the chips and cookies and toss them into your cart, and then you go on your merry way.

So, why didn't you pick up the fruit snacks? After all, it promised that it was going to get better. Maybe you don't like fruit snacks? Or maybe you don't see the point of buying a snack that won't taste good at first. Or maybe you're a little creeped out by its assertion that you should trust it.

Stories and snacks are different things. Obviously.

But a common rebuttal that crops up with the authors I critique is this:

"The first few chapters are just preamble, and maybe a little boring at first, but trust me, it gets better."

...

I see.

And, why should I trust you?

Why should anyone?

There's only one thing and one thing only that matters when it comes to presenting your story to your readers. And it's this:

Keep Our Attention.

If you, as the author, are unable to keep our attention in the first few chapters, why would we trust that you're able to do so in the latter chapters? If you don't exhibit the skill to capture our interest from the get-go, what would compel us to keep reading? What would possess us to think, "But wait! Maybe this author is just holding out on us, and will show us their skills later on!"

We don't know you. We don't know your work. So we can only trust what we see so far, and so far, the evidence of the opening chapters tell us that this work is going to be one that will not grip our interest.

All stories need exposition, yes. All stories need room for worldbuilding and character building and space for pertinent information. But exposition does not equal dryness. Worldbuilding and character building does not equal boring info dumps. 

What sets authors apart from each other is how skillfully they can weave tension into exposition, and how expertly they can thread momentum and drive into character and world building.

So, how do you do this?

You read, and you read, and then you read some more.

Unlock how other writers handle exposition, how they liven it and make it interesting. Uncover how they hide information into scenes the way someone might hide medicine into their pet's food.

TL;DR:

Readers are, at the end of the day, consumers. And you will be hard-pressed to find any consumer that will be willing to 'wait it out' for a product they know nothing about.

Either grip them from the get-go, or watch them move on to better and greener pastures.