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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38157
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38157
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The purpose of the Kansas section is to establish the Real World before embarking on the Quest (to use the terms from the Hero's Journey).

The Real World is the place which the Hero (gender/age/number neutral) must leave behind. You can use it to establish character traits, and the Quest could potentially begin there, but generally I think your beta readers are right: either leave the Real World quickly or establish the existence of magic quickly. If it's a fantasy book, get to the fantasy. If it's an urban fantasy book, you still need to get to some element of fantasy promptly.

This can be something the hero doesn't understand, by the way. The White Rabbit can hop by without the hero chasing him; the _reader_ knows what it is even if the hero doesn't. You can drop hints about Weird Things going on and not explain them for a few thousand words. So if you have a mob boss, one of the goons can be making a report about the night's activities and mention "this crazy thing that happened/that Fast Eddie told me about, you wouldn't believe it," and we don't have to get any more detail than to confirm that _something_ unusual is going on.

**ETA** The Hero's Journey is a classic literary structure, popularly explained by Joseph Campbell in [_The Hero with a Thousand Faces_](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1577315936) and broken down into writing terms by Christopher Volger in [_The Writer's Journey._](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/193290736X)

Original score: 42