Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Is it strange if a novel starts the first chapter without one of main characters?

Nope, works fine. Starting from the POV of a minor character to establish the setting is no problem at all; in fact, that can be an interesting prologue, particularly if you're dealing with a myste...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:16Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7788
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:51:01Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7788
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:51:01Z (about 5 years ago)
Nope, works fine. Starting from the POV of a minor character to establish the setting is no problem at all; in fact, that can be an interesting prologue, particularly if you're dealing with a mystery. It's sort of a sideways entrance into the story.

As an example, Susan Elia MacNeal has done this with all the books in her Maggie Hope mysteries. [Mr. Churchill's Secretary](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553593617) and [Princess Elizabeth's Spy](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553593625) both open with secondary or cameo characters and a murder. Book three, [His Majesty's Hope](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345536738), opens with cameo characters having a conversation.

In all three novels, the protagonist Maggie doesn't appear in the prologue — none of the main characters do. None of the books read strangely to me for it.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-04-30T17:20:44Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 11