Beginning
I can’t count the number of times I was disappointed by the course of actions and endings of any books or movie. It seems that is it far easier to create a promise than to fulfill the glimpse of potential that was once given to the reader. Or is it that maybe the process of creating truly new and appealing artistic content is long and harsh, such that artists spend more time thinking about the premises and concept of a story but don’t when it comes to extend their work because they are tied by hard deadlines. I often realized that what happens after the main character took his resolution to part with his family and set out for a fantastic journey often ends up with a terrible series of clichés.
The more I consume contents - movies or books or series, the more I come to value the first stages of a narrative because I assume by default that the ending will be disappointing. Generally, the first paragraphs or first few minutes are those that I remember more clearly. I rewatch the beginnings of the series that caught my eye over and over again. I watch them so many times that I am able to play the scenes perfectly in my head, remembering the positions, characters and music.
What makes a good incipit? What are their essential characteristics? First it is imperative that a beginning makes ambitious promises about the story it will deliver. A fantastic world that is bound to face terrible challenges as the awakening of some evil country turns the tables? Sounds fine for an adventure-type of movie. A high school girl, who you never talked to within three years of being in the same class, suddenly slips on a banana and falls down the stairs? Sounds like a solid intro for a high school drama romance!
But what about a young girl getting lost in a maze for an unknown reason and ending up on the rooftop of a tall building, only to witness helplessly a forgotten friend from a previous lifetime facing up a massive creature causing disasters that threatens the city? Now we are talking about something! I cannot think of another incipit that has left an impression as profound as the dilemma faced by this girl. It has it all, the pacing of the story gives you the stakes from the get go and thus it makes a promise with the spectator that this story is about going out of her way for the first time to help a friend that has sacrificed all for her.
However, the most essential quality that is necessary to make the promise realistic and make the spectator believe is the summary in a few minutes of the whole artistic project. It is not about showing scenes that happen later in the story - dreaded flashback, only to rollback and starts over with the mention “a few days before”. This kind of methods often upsets the spectator who gets the impression of wasting his time. Indeed it pays no attention to half of the movie because she already knows the end of it.
However, what truly drives the curiosity and leaves a deep impression the spectator is the ability for a story to give hints that foreshadows the whole story through the ending. The watcher must rewatch later the beginning and notice all the elements that could have explained how everything played out. The beginning must contain the whole story, all the artistic choices within a limited space because that is all that is necessary.
The rest of the story can be watched but it is only secondary to the premises. In the end, the only role of an author might be to conceal a time of eternity within the premises enclosed in limited time and space, to the point where the reader can close the book after she has read as much as one sentence.
For a long time, I went to sleep very early… but she said she would buy the flowers herself.