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Q&A Bad to start story with VR/non-real scene?

I'm coming up with an outline for a cyberpunk story. I want to establish (at some point) that the main character has marksmanship proficiency by starting my cyberpunk story with a VR sequence, in w...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Ninjalah‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:05:27Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48336
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Ninjalah‭ · 2019-12-08T13:05:27Z (over 4 years ago)
I'm coming up with an outline for a cyberpunk story. I want to establish (at some point) that the main character has marksmanship proficiency by starting my cyberpunk story with a VR sequence, in which the character is firing arrows as an Elf/Orc/some other fantasy race (akin to World of Warcraft).

At first I thought this would be a fun, from left field way to establish this as opposed to simply making my character a mercenary or such, but I'm concerned it may be jarring to the reader.

**QUESTION:** Is starting a novel with a non-real scene too jarring or confusing for readers?

I plan on going from this VR sim to the "regular, Cyberpunk world" after the first chapter, and basically never returning to that specific game.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-10-03T01:43:53Z (over 4 years ago)
Original score: 4