Beginning a Novel

Since I expressed my feelings about endings yesterday, I thought I'd mention a thing or two about beginnings. Because, as all editors and literary agents know, it's the beginning that can make or break a book.

Even I will put a book down and forget about it if it doesn't hook me almost right away. Perhaps not if I have a particular interest in the subject matter, but if I pick up a novel off a bookrack, and start reading it, that first page is super important if I'm going to buy it or even keep on reading it.

And you know what? Most of the time I won't keep on reading. I'll put it right back and move on to the next one. It's weird, really, You'd think that most books would have that hook. But no. I rarely get hooked. Maybe I'm just hard to hook. That must be it, even though I never saw myself as being particularly picky about anything.

But it's true I'm not an avid reader. I don't read a new book every month. Heck, I've been reading Washing of the Spears for the last six months. But to be fair, I'm not just reading it. I'm actually studying it, not unlike a text book. It's the perfect reference book of anything Zulu. Heck, by the time I'm done with it, and finished with my WIP, I'll be close to an expert on the Zulus and the Zulu War.