Alexander Parsons:  Lasting First Impressions: The Novel Opening (July 2011)

Alexander Parsons suggests that an effective novel opening can guide the writer in both subtle and direct ways, even in its early stages of composition.  Drawing on examples from Cormac McCarthy, Raymond Chandler and Haruki Murakami, Parsons argues that in drafting and redrafting this section of a novel the writer engages with structure, controlling metaphor, motif, and tone—narrative elements which can help define the book as a whole.