Many great novels have excellent opening paragraphs that arouse the readers curiosity and make them want to read on.
To grip the readers attention immediateIy, I dived straight into the action with some menacing dialogue from the sworn enemy of my protagonist. I did not introduce any back-story until page 43.
On my first story, I opened it a few pages before the first murder in the prologue and used it to set the initial location (a cliff top path in the dead of night), the reason the characters were there, what killed them and how. Then I launched into the investigation with the main characters in Chapter 1. The back story is spread out throughout the novel so that I don't overload people with too much in one go. By the end of it, hopefully people will understand how one modern-day murder had its origin in the early 1900s.
On my second story (which I'm working on now), I'm working on the premise that the characters are no longer new and therefore don't require as much back story. My female lead in the exception, as she's recently become more prominent and hasn't been explored as much as the main male lead in the first story. Again, I'm going to tackle the back story in the same fashion.
Normally, I end up writing the first chapter and then adding to it and chopping things out for quite some time until I am happy with it. My second story needs a complete re-write of its prologue as it now makes very little sense in relation to the story that has developed from it. I am presently sharpening my best writing hatchet for the job.
Good topic as usual, Adrian.
Spent a lot of time over my first line - it's changed since the last time I posted work on here -
"The first time Hannah Martin set foot beneath the eaves of the Wood, nothing extraordinary happened."
I'd like to think this puts across three things;
1) the book is about a Wood
2) the lead character's name is Hannah Martin
3) next time she walks into the Wood, a good deal of extradordinary things happen
The rest of the first page of course, is a different matter entirely....
Santwana, I agree with your comments. I think a hundred pages before introducing back story is to long.
My back story starts on page 43 of my novel. Back story is very important. It puts flesh on the bones of the main character/characters, and is essential to motivate the plot and storyline.