The Name of the Wind is considered one of the best fantasy novels ever, but it has a pretty unconventional beginning.
Why does it work?
Let’s read the first few pages together and discuss!
During the last stream, a subscriber requested that look at the opening few pages to The Name of the Wind and examine it paragraph by paragraph.
As we read it and went over it, I asked the viewers to pay special attention to what makes the opening work, despite it being slow. I think that, among several things, there’s three elements that particularly make it great.
Here’s a sample of the annotating we did to the beginning.
The opening paragraphs do a LOT of work setting the scene/tone.
Watch a short version of the stream here, or scroll down for a quick summary.
Here’s a quick summary of the three things that we can learn about slow openings from this book:
- #1. Use the slowness to set the scene/tone, not to give exposition on the history/details of the world
- When people think “slow opening,” they typically think lots of history/exposition
- But that’s NOT what happens at the beginning of this story!
- The slowness is use to enhance the atmosphere/character, not explain stuff
- #2. Don’t spend too long on any one thing, interrupt!
- The author both interrupts character monologues, and interrupts actions with other actions
- Focusing on one thing for too long can make a slow scene feel even slower
- Don’t be afraid to divide up a section if it feels too long, interruptions make it feel even more REAL
- #3. You get 3-5 pages of pure slow opening, but then you need to SMACK the reader, and then SMACK them again harder
- Just because you have a slow opening, that doesn’t mean it can be boring
- This opening smacks the reader with the pale/bloody man showing up, then again with the reveal of the giant dead spider
- Without those things, this opening would put people to sleep
After that, we did a prompt based on combining these two randomly-chosen imgur pictures:
Here’s what we came up with:
Oh to be a bird sleeping in a mask
Not a worry in the world, nor a question to ask.
Oblivious to the fate of this hellish domain
A world we’ve created filled with nothing but pain.The birds sleep soundly in their hanging beds
I rap my fingers, soothing dreams in their heads.
The tap tap tap eases my own anxious mind
As I watch out the window, the plague growing outside.Soon the rotten clouds will take me too
Turn me into a puddle of blood and flesh stew.
But my birds will live on, blissfully immune
No more tap tap taps for their sleepy-time tune.Such a terrible thought was far too bitter
So I crafted a hand to provide the pitter.
If flesh the world cannot abide,
A mechanical hand I’ll leave behind.My vision darkens, my coughs now scrape
Blood pools my eyes, there’s no escape.
But my final sight soothes me when I collapse:
The birds sleeping soundly
As the metal hand
Tap tap
Taps.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Amazon