#writetip How do you start your novel? Are you a believer in action or summary? Me, I like to start with action, whether I’m reading or writing a novel.

In my humble opinion, the opening scene is where you get to “show” your stuff. An opening scene filled with action gives a writer the opportunity to show who their main character or villain is, what he/she is made of and how he/she behaves.

I find if I read a summary of a character in the first scene, I don’t tend to be that interested in the character or believe what the writer has to say about the character.

However, if the character is thrown into a situation, I get to learn through seeing and make my own decisions on what they are made of and then the writer has me, and I’m happy to go along for the ride.