Thread: Rule #1: "Never begin a book with weather"?

I picked up Elmore Leonard's "10 Rules of Writing" at the local library. His #1 rule is "Never open a book with weather".

My first thought was: "Uh oh! That's exactly what I did!"
My story starts with a typhoon blowing in over a southern Japanese island. After a short paragraph, we zoom to a single house in the seaside village, and the man inside. But I did start with weather.

The weather is symbolic. The baby being born in that little house will have a rough and windy life. It is also symbolic of the birth pains and struggles of the mother, because when the baby is born, the storm fades quickly.

What do you think? Mr. Leonard does say there are exceptions to his rule, but he says "the reader is apt to skip ahead looking for people". I suppose, like most writing techniques, the way it's used could change the rules.

I hate rules that begin with 'never' or 'always'. There are always exceptions and a good writer should be able to judge for themselves whether a scene is working or not. I think as long as you don't go on and on describing every element of the weather in minute detail there is nothing wrong with starting that way.
If you have enough to set the scene, there's nothing stopping you from coming back to it after introducing some characters, such as: 'the storm continued to rage outside, as torrents of rain fell, drowning out the mother's cries with its deafening applause...' so that the reader keeps it in mind and understands its significance.

well that is really a question of choice and not someone else's.
I would not take any rule by heart especially if you are going to stand out from the crowd.
I especially like the weather description in my stories because you could almots add a poetic feel to it .

I've seen plenty of books published with exactly that.

Ignore all lists of absolutes from authors, they usually just draw on their own preferences.

If you establish a hook in the first paragraph, you can start the novel with cows standing in a field.

Originally Posted by Sam W

If you establish a hook in the first paragraph, you can start the novel with cows standing in a field.

cows standing in a field...lol
isn't a hook to do with fishing?
*sorry do not mean to derail from topic*

"Everybody talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it." - Mark Twain

Who was the writer who deliberately tried to write the worst story ever told and began it with "It was a dark and stormy night...?"

I guess what I am trying to say is that weather is what people talk about when they have nothing better to say. A reader can take it as a bad sign for a beginning of a story. The important thing is to establish a hook very early on. If you can do that with the weather then go for it, but there are probably easier hooks out there.

It was pissing with rain and my galoshes had sprung a leak...

Rain and footwear in the first sentence.

Originally Posted by C.M. Aaron

"Everybody talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it." - Mark Twain

Who was the writer who deliberately tried to write the worst story ever told and began it with "It was a dark and stormy night...?"

I guess what I am trying to say is that weather is what people talk about when they have nothing better to say. A reader can take it as a bad sign for a beginning of a story. The important thing is to establish a hook very early on. If you can do that with the weather then go for it, but there are probably easier hooks out there.

I disagree.
the weather is like your special effects in abook

Sounds like what I am hearing is: if you can link the weather to something important happening to the characters, then it can work. But weather "because you don't have anything better to say" should be removed or re-written.

As a side note, I started out to write a book I would want to read myself. That was my only guide and I was a complete newb as a fiction writer (still am, but I am learning). There had to be action and something interesting happening. No long and detailed descriptions, just enough to give the reader clues. (My preferences, and I understand that preferences vary a LOT!)

Now that I am a good ways into it, I started looking at books on how to write novels. It appears that by trying to write a book I would like to read, I have inadvertently and unknowingly followed most of the guidelines I am finding.

Originally Posted by egriffith

"Never open a book with weather".

Really?


I think it's a load of rubbish. A story's opening isn't defined by what's in it, but how you use what's in it, and to what extent, and the connotations that it has to the rest of the story.

Originally Posted by egriffith

Sounds like what I am hearing is: if you can link the weather to something important happening to the characters, then it can work. But weather "because you don't have anything better to say" should be removed or re-written.

As a side note, I started out to write a book I would want to read myself. That was my only guide and I was a complete newb as a fiction writer (still am, but I am learning). There had to be action and something interesting happening. No long and detailed descriptions, just enough to give the reader clues. (My preferences, and I understand that preferences vary a LOT!)

Now that I am a good ways into it, I started looking at books on how to write novels. It appears that by trying to write a book I would like to read, I have inadvertently and unknowingly followed most of the guidelines I am finding.

there are no guidelines to writing, ONLY yours.

Originally Posted by Cadence

Really?


I think it's a load of rubbish. A story's opening isn't defined by what's in it, but how you use what's in it, and to what extent, and the connotations that it has to the rest of the story.

isn't that a film made into a story?

Originally Posted by Nacian

isn't that a film made into a story?

I don't know. It's a book - I know that. The second I read about starting with the weather, it flashed in my mind. I mean, what if your story is about the weather?

Originally Posted by Cadence

I don't know. It's a book - I know that. The second I read about starting with the weather, it flashed in my mind. I mean, what if your story is about the weather?

true...a story about the weather is as good as it gets..