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Alice Nah's avatar

I agree with your ideas on how the beginning of a book or movie should be crafted because when I was younger, I used to skip on the introductions and prologues of books I read, fiction or nonfiction. Nowadays, as long as it’s not too dragging, I’m fine with any type of “hook” authors use in the beginning.

That said, I think there can be exceptions made to the ten rules mentioned above, because even if you write something out as if they’re plain on first look, there can be content that looks simple but is actually intriguing or even disturbing. For example, I like the beginning of George Orwell’s 1984: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” It looks like a typical exposition but it actually gives us an irony, making a contrast between the tranquil weather and the dystopian setting mentioned later. It also gives us a sense of unease with the clock striking thirteen, a typically considered unlucky number.

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Daniel Muñoz's avatar

Love this post.

I'm reminded of *Ruthless People*. Dale Launer, who'd later become famous for writing *My Cousin Vinny*, was sick of screenplays that started strong and quickly lost momentum. Was it possible to write a movie kept the momentum up, so that the whole thing was as gripping as the intro?

*Ruthless People* opens with Danny DeVito resolving to kill his wife. Then he receives a phone call: his wife has been kidnapped, and if he doesn't pay a ransom, she'll be killed. So he hangs up.

To me, that's one of the great page-tuners in movie history, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor.

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