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FFC #76 - Opening impressions of The Stormlight Archive

Posted August 16th, 2021 at 03:04 PM by TGRF
Updated August 18th, 2021 at 02:20 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #76

A while ago, I finished the Mistborn trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson. In a word, I’d describe it as a solid read. Some things I took issue with, others I thought were masterful. The end result was that it got me excited to start the Stormlight Archive. I finally got my hands on the first book about half a month ago, but in all that time, I’ve only read through the second chapter.

While there are a few reasons for my apparent lack of enthusiasm for the book (some of which have nothing to do with the book at all), there were a few which I feel have contributed heavily to the book’s current un-read state, and which I think can be instructive in how not to start a story.

I’m coming to realize that Brandon Sanderson is known for his unique style of switching PoV constantly throughout his books. While he certainly managed to use it to his advantage in Mistborn, here it’s causing me to lose interest after I get through each chapter. This is because he's breaking the following rule for starting a story:

Always open with your protagonist’s PoV.

In writing, rules are meant to be broken. But they are there for a reason, and you can generally only break them so much before things start to go sideways. In Mistborn, Sanderson opens the trilogy from the PoV of a random antagonistic character we never see again. It works fine.

What’s the difference? There are, I feel, a few things at play, which I’ll get at soon. But the one which first jumps out at me is that Mistborn opens with a single PoV before getting to the protagonist. Stormlight goes through no fewer than three random characters before we get to the protagonist’s PoV. For the first two, the protagonist isn’t even present or known.

So why is this rule important? First and foremost, stories are about people. Not just any people, very specific people. These are your main characters. When reading stories, readers expect the story to revolve around a single person or small group of persons. Much like when playing an RPG, you can go through a few cutscenes or tutorial, but you expect that you’ll arrive with your main character soon. In the same vein, readers are used to the first chapter or prologue featuring someone else, but by the second chapter, they expect to have at least met the main character.

Sanderson doesn’t help himself out with these non-protagonist PoVs, either. Two are dead and gone (or at least I assume so) by the end of the chapters. This is the nail in the coffin for me. It’s like the author dangling a character in front of you and saying, ‘Is this the main character you’re waiting for? *character dies* Nope! You’re wrong!’.

I know Sanderson isn’t doing this intentionally. His host of prologues and introductions feel like he’s spent a lot of time building this world and story, and just needs to go through some different PoVs to set it up. It’s just… not working for the story.

This all presents a question though. I said Mistborn opened with a non-protagonist PoV. So why did that work where Stormlight so far isn’t? I mentioned that Stormlight goes through three PoVs where Mistborn only has one before the protagonist, but there is another reason, which brings us to another rule Sanderson breaks:

If you can’t introduce what you need to right away, use bridging conflict.

Bridging conflict is basically a mini-conflict, designed to tide the reader over until the main story arrives. Usually it takes the form of an unanswered question. This question serves the dual-purpose of keeping the reader interested despite the lack of a protagonist, and subconsciously lets them know that the main conflict (and presumably main character) is coming.

Mistborn has bridging conflict. In the one chapter without the protagonist, there’s a very simple question, which is answered in the second chapter with the protagonist’s arrival. Stormlight does not do this. Well, rather I think it tries to, and instead ends up breaking the third rule:

Give the reader time to digest things before introducing more. Answer questions before posing others.

This, more than anything else, is I feel where Stormlight fails in spades. I have the overwhelming feeling that Sanderson has spent so long developing the world and story, that there’s simply too much to introduce. I’ve struggled with this myself, so I know what’s going on.

Sanderson jumps in full steam, introducing characters, worlds, politics, magic systems, mystical creatures, and random conflicts at breakneck speed. Add in the complete lack of a solidifying protagonist, and the reader is left reeling.

When I was reading, I had only inklings of what was going on. Things were hard to keep straight, and more and more kept being introduced until I was genuinely relieved to see the end of the chapter coming up. That’s never something you want your reader to feel.

Compare this to Mistborn. In the first chapter, a shred of the world and its politics are introduced. No mystical creatures, no magic, no named characters aside from two, and no conflicts except for that single bridging conflict I mentioned earlier (which is good; a lack of conflict draws reader attention to that single question). Sanderson takes his time with Mistborn, introducing the world slowly, using our lack of knowledge about things like the magic to increase interest, and also hold our attention when the explanations finally come (side note: this is how you fix info-dumps).

Stormlight certainly doesn’t give us all the answers; it simply asks too many questions. There’s a rule with bridging conflict: when you ask a question, make sure you answer it before you ask another. Start failing to answer questions, and the reader subconsciously loses faith that you will, and thus loses interest. This is what started happening to me while reading Stormlight.

The verdict.

Now I’m definitely going to get back to Stormlight. I’ve heard way too many good things about it not to. I’ve only read the first two chapters, plus the two prologues, and I’m sure that now the protagonist has finally arrived (at least this better be the protagonist), things can start rolling. The interest isn’t there right now, so it might take me a while to get back to it, but it will eventually happen. I just felt like the opening was such a good example of what not to do when starting a story, that it warranted this FFC.

Meanwhile, what’s the status with my own writing? My last update was towards the end of June, when I wasn’t sure if my writing was going to take off or not. Unfortunately, the presence of my new job has made certain that I will not be writing while I am working. I require at least two days to recharge my creative thinking, and two days off is the most I get at a time, meaning that the stories I might be coming up with are consistently getting shoved to the side and forgotten.

It looks like this pattern will continue, at least for another three months. By the end of the year, there should be new developments which should allow me opportunities to get back into an environment more friendly to creative writing. Until then though, there will be no stories. I hope to use this time to continue working on what lingering writing issues I have. When I do return, I do currently still plan to write at least one fan fiction to test out some theories before starting work on my first novel. As always, plans are subject to change.

But until then, keep reading, keep writing, and remember to think outside the book covers.

~TGRF.
Posted in FFC
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TheAverageFan's Avatar
Reading this actually made me reflect on how rarely I start my stories with the protagonist, almost always opening with some other hook or inciting incident with other characters, going all the way back to my first entry on this site. It's an easy way to set up the plot in advance, grab the audience's curiosity, and get a bit of action in before the slow beginning.

The protagonist always shows up in the second scene though. I can't imagine doing three opening hooks in a row. Without knowing the context, I can't see it working.

~TAF
Posted August 18th, 2021 at 02:32 PM by TheAverageFan TheAverageFan is offline
Old
TGRF's Avatar
@TheAverageFan It was a bit jarring. It felt like three openings back to back, not counting the second chapter, where we finally have the protagonist's PoV.

If Mistborn is any example though, everything will turn out being crucial to the ending, so maybe there was no other way.

~TGRF.
Posted August 18th, 2021 at 03:55 PM by TGRF TGRF is offline
 
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