If you read “how to” guides on writing novels, they all agree that your story should open with some sort of action that represents a change for your protagonist. The scene should be dynamic, not static. There should be a present state moving into a different future state. Depending on the genre of your novel, your dynamic scene can be any scale, from small and subtle to big and vivid. To use the language of film, you can start with a tight, intimate shot and gradually pull back to show the larger scene, or you can start big, with a wide shot full of action, and move in closer. Either way can work, as long as there is motion. While there must be dynamism, it can be as gentle as a summer breeze or as violent as a hurricane.

The Small Opening

I’m a big fan of Ian Fleming and the James Bond books. If you haven’t read them, it might surprise you to know that while the Bond movies all start with maximum dynamism, in the form of a violent fight and chase scene, all of the original novels begin very quietly, with a subtle close-up shot. For example, the very first Bond novel, Casino Royale, published in 1953, begins with James Bond in the casino at three in the morning. He’s burned out, so he quits playing roulette and strolls over to watch his nemesis, Le Chiffre, play baccarat. After a few minutes he goes up to his room to go to sleep. After this very understated dynamic scene, Fleming unloads a few pages of description and backstory before continuing the slowly unfolding action.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, also starts out small, with Katniss Everdeen waking up in the morning and thinking about her sister, Prim. But Collins drops a hint of foreboding when she casually mentions that today is the “day of reaping.” In any case, Katniss then goes out hunting in the woods, a routine activity.

Literary novels tend to open with scenes that are deliberately innocuous, mundane, and almost boring. Here’s the second paragraph from Dear Edward: A Novel, by Ann Napolitano. We’re at Newark Airport: “When the Adler family reaches the front of the line, they load their computers and shoes into trays. Bruce Adler removes his belt, rolls it up, and slots it neatly beside his brown loafers in a grey plastic bin. His sons are messier, throwing sneakers on top of laptops and wallets. Laces hang over the side of their shared tray, and Bruce can’t stop himself from tucking the loose strands inside.” It’s dynamic—the family is on the move—but gentle, easygoing. No murders here!

The Big Opening

According to the contemporary formula, thrillers must leap from the gate, fast and furious. Dan Brown’s best seller The Da Vinci Code opens big, with a prologue designed to snap the reader to attention: “Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Carravagio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-three-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas….” In vivid (many would say cartoonish) prose, the bad guy shoots him. But there is a deep mystery to solve!

One more big opening: The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum. The story begins thusly: “The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp. The waves rose to goliathan heights, crashing into the hull with the power of raw tonnage; the white sprays caught in the night sky cascaded downward over the deck under the force of the night wind.” Wow! And on the deck of this vessel struggling to stay afloat under the weight of its adjectives, two men are engaged in mortal combat. Now that’s dramatic and, as they say in the thriller business, “pulse-pounding.”

The Exceptions

Of course, you can’t have rules without also celebrating the successful exceptions. Consider Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This iconic novel that launched a literary empire begins with a description: “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense….”

Here, author J.K. Rowling has decided to introduce the setting before getting into the action. Risky, but it worked.

So what’s the answer? It comes in two parts. 1) No matter what you do, don’t be boring. 2) Deliver what you promise. Keep your reader happy and engaged!