by Mike Klaassen

Created on: November 09, 2007   Last Updated: November 10, 2007

Books about fiction-writing tend to fall into one of three categories:
A-Z books, which address a wide spectrum of fiction-writing issues
Quasi-biographical books, which are as much about the author as they are about writing
Narrow-focus books, which take an in-depth look at a specific aspect of fiction-writing

Hooked, by Les Edgerton(Writer's Digest Books, 2007), focuses on one aspect of fiction-writing: beginnings. In general, readers should expect a narrow-focus book to:

Adequately address its topic of focus, compiling and reorganizing the body of existing information
Debunk misinformation and out-of-date practices about the topic
Offer new ideas and insight about the topic
Les Edgerton has accomplished all of these in Hooked.

Why a whole book about beginnings? As explained by Edgerton, "The simple truth is, if your beginning doesn't do the job it needs to, the rest of the story most likely won't be read by the agent or editor or publisher you submit it to."

Edgerton addresses misinformation and out-of-date practices from a historical perspective and as they relate to literary fiction. Whenever an author sheds new light on a subject, there is a risk that someone will be offended: no exception here. Writers, of any genre, in the habit of beginning stories with hefty servings of backstory or description get an earful.

Those who believe that studying the classics is the key to understanding fiction may be turned off by Edgerton's take on beginnings: ". . . many of the great books from the past aren't practical structure models for today's market, particularly in the way some of those books begin." And, "Beginnings have changed more than any other part of story structure."

Likewise, fans of literary fiction may take exception to some of Edgerton's observations. "Bookscan has revealed the decline of what is usually referred to as literary fiction. This category of fiction may be dying because it has stuck with the story structure model of yesteryear much more so than any other category."

To Edgerton's credit, Hooked goes beyond a mere regurgitation and reorganization of the subject of beginnings. A cornerstone of Edgerton's lesson is the distinction between what he refers to as the initial surface problem and the story-worthy problem. Edgerton also breaks new ground by introducing the concepts of:
Passive vs. active description
Passive vs. active backstory
As with any new concept, time will tell whether these will be accepted by the writing community and incorporated

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>