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Fannish Friday: Favorite Beginnings
Tell me about a narrative of any kind--TV, movie, book, podcast, whatever--that has a beginning that just grabbed you. Especially if, once you've experienced the whole thing, you appreciate the beginning even more!
Some that I think of:
+ Octavia Butler's Kindred. When I pick up a new book, I like to read the opening matter--dedications, any author's notes, epigraphs the first few lines--as soon as I get it, even if I'm not going to read the book right away. I tried to do that with this book and...it did not work. I read the opening paragraph and I could not stop. I stayed up all night reading that book and it was totally worth it. Epitome of in media res used well!
+ Till We Have Faces. “I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods. I have no husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for.”
+ The Hour. Let's start the first scene of the first episode of this show with Ben Whishaw talking directly to the camera. I never had a chance.
+ It's a cliche for a reason: A Christmas Carol has such a good opening line! Well done, Dickens!
+ Up! The rest of this movie is, imo, just okay, but the opening scene is a montage that lasts several minutes and it leaves me a weeping mess every time. This is kind of a cheat--it's more short-form storytelling than it is an opening tbh.
+ The Prince of Egypt. 'Nuff said.
(Next week is going to be favorite endings, so be thinking about that!)
Some that I think of:
+ Octavia Butler's Kindred. When I pick up a new book, I like to read the opening matter--dedications, any author's notes, epigraphs the first few lines--as soon as I get it, even if I'm not going to read the book right away. I tried to do that with this book and...it did not work. I read the opening paragraph and I could not stop. I stayed up all night reading that book and it was totally worth it. Epitome of in media res used well!
+ Till We Have Faces. “I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods. I have no husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for.”
+ The Hour. Let's start the first scene of the first episode of this show with Ben Whishaw talking directly to the camera. I never had a chance.
+ It's a cliche for a reason: A Christmas Carol has such a good opening line! Well done, Dickens!
+ Up! The rest of this movie is, imo, just okay, but the opening scene is a montage that lasts several minutes and it leaves me a weeping mess every time. This is kind of a cheat--it's more short-form storytelling than it is an opening tbh.
+ The Prince of Egypt. 'Nuff said.
(Next week is going to be favorite endings, so be thinking about that!)
no subject
Antarctic Navigation by Elizabeth Arthur is about a woman obsessed with polar exploration who eventually recreates the Scott expedition. I knew I would love it as soon as I got to this part in the first chapter where she describes being born:
So I’m fighting and fighting to reach it, to gain an exit from that burning interior, and I’m scrabbling for purchase on the slippery walls that keep closing against me. For the first time in my life, I feel I have a thing to do, a place I must get to, and with only willpower to help me, I yearn to escape. I do battle. I see the world. It disappears. Again, I see it.
And then I am out, all in a slither, and the courtesy of the sudden cold is wonderful as I reach the place where, on maps, they used to write, “Here There Be Dragons.” I am euphoric because there is space, and there is whiteness, and there is something luminous trembling in the air. From up to down, from heat to cold, from darkness to whiteness, from enclosure to freedom. I have reached my first latitude; I am here, in the world, arrived, and I love it.
no subject
That is some compelling writing right there!