Tom Mock

I read two more distinctly different openings this morning that I wanted to see more from. Both felt like light fun – a witchy contemporary fantasy, and a cozy LitRPG from Covers with Cassidy‘s group

107. SF Henne, The Last Lunar Witch

This does a very nice job of starting in the middle of the action. Our MC is already in the thick of things, confronting obstacles and working towards her goal.

There’s a piece of riding advice about never starting a story with your MC waking up in bed. That advice speaks to what this opening does well.

Instead of starting at a story stand-still with our MC going about her ordinary, hum-drum day, and only eventually deciding to do something about this problem in her life – thinking through where to go and how to get into this library, etc, etc – we begin IN MOTION.

Story motion isn’t about characters doing just anything; it’s about action that challenges the status quo of a character’s circumstances. This works best when there is risk, and consequence for failure. Something should be at stake.

The Last Lunar Witch nails this. It grounds us in the experience of its MC who has a problem she’s already trying to do something about. The prose is clear and it’s MCs problem is compelling. The narration progresses the action.

I do think what is at stake could have been a little more clearly enunciated, but I nonetheless get the sense that if our MC doesn’t find a way to tamp down on her fiery energies herself, the higher ups among the magical kind with seal off her magic permanently – lobotomizing her from her power. Yikes!

There were some elements of the action here that were a little jumbled for me – not exactly too fast, but maybe lacking in explanation. There’s some kind of magical fox that’s befriended our MC and it finds her a magical tome that will maybe help her…

I’m all for mcguffins and plot conveniences early on. That’s the stuff stories are made of! But because I really don’t understand what is special about this fox and our MC (a witch) having befriended it so that now it won’t leave her alone, I’m not excited by what’s happening. It’s mostly just information.

The setting of this piece is emerging slowly, and while there’s some things I’d like to know more about, I feel grounded in the experiences of an MC in a world that feels intentional and detailed.

I’m engaged from the very first sentence! Something important is happening, and it’s happening fast. This seems like a fun, 1st person, witchy read that focuses on an MC doing something existentially important. I’m in!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211013493-the-last-lunar-witch

108.

With regret, because of this author’s behavior online, I don’t feel I can provide a fair assessment of the beginning of his novel.

109. Flossindune, Courier Quest

This cleverly employs the truck-kun trope in such a way that, along with its humorous narrative tone, reminds me of Douglas Adams.

This opening delights in the mundane of our reasonably ordinary MC. He has a normal life, a normal start to his day. There are minor inconveniences he tries to avoid, and minor pleasures he takes the time to enjoy, however briefly.

And then he dies. Well, that’s the genre trope, after all, which our narrative voice explains to us in this self-aware opening.

I can’t say much about the magical world our MC wakes up in, just as I can’t say much about our MC himself, because like so many stories of this genre, there is nothing of substance to differentiate them. Not yet, at least.

But there’s nothing wrong with popcorn fiction, and so far this is the best LitRPG opening I’ve read. The prose is totally competent and was a joy to read. The humor was effortless. And the twist on our MC’s truck related accident actually made me laugh.

This is a roaring success. If you’re interested in cozy books and LitRPGs, or want to read one for the first time, this seems like an excellent choice. I’m in.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208280097-courier-quest

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