The opening

I am past the beginning of the (hopefully) final rewrite of my current novel, "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal." But I still find myself conflicted over the beginning.

I watched the beginning of the 1941 version of "The Maltese Falcon." I have seen the film at least once in the last year and re-read the book earlier this year. And I was amazed again at how effortlessly Dashiel introduced the hero, the villain and the conflict of the story at the beginning. It was compelling, which, I suppose, is why it is a classic.

In my critique group yesterday another one of the writers was happy to be getting a prologue for the work she was reviewing. But it struck me again how much a prologue can slow down the story. They can be done successfully and often are done successfully. But as a novice, I'm not sure I can pull that off.

Which brings me back to Jungle-bunny. Early on, several people who read the beginning thought my second chapter, which has a backstory, should be the first chapter. And in the fourth (or fifth version, I forget which one) it was. But I was also though I needed to introduce my hero sooner and develop him more fully so that people care about him and his problems, and root for him throughout the story.

But that would mean keeping my first chapter as the first chapter, which is the way it currently is.

In the end, I think I am past the objective reality stage and totally into the subjective. There is little telling what a particular agent will want. For some agents, a prologue, which in this case includes a backstory, is a red flag. For others, it is not.

I guess I must remain confident in my story and my writing because I'm not sure there is one right direction to follow.

And so I am starting Jungle-bunny with the chapters as I originally placed them.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.