The Far Corners of the Mind

Let's give it up for music unrelated to the topic! R Kelly - If I Could Turn Back The Hands of Time

I am currently reading Robert A. Heinlein's The Number of the Beast, and have happily been introduced to a variation of my favorite writing style. I have always been a fan of a book that kicks off with action rather than exposition. I think exposition is absolutely necessary in any story, but I also believe that it is important to grab the reader's attention, and have him or her desiring the exposition, rather than simply forcing it down their gullet. Several years ago, when reading Clancy's Line of Control (an Op Center book), I forced myself through several grueling chapters of exposition, before a market square exploded and I was sucked into the story. Now, the book is not the first in the series, it is the eighth, so I understand the need for a lot of explaining who people are, but I think the writers did a disservice to the readers by doing a ton of exposition first, as opposed to starting with action. I write action first, in most my stories, though the story I tried to do for NaNoWriMo last year, and will be doing this year, starts with exposition.

On another note, I have decided that if i could indeed turn back the hands of time, I would love a sit down with Robert Heinlein, closer to his death, as to get the most from his wisdom. I think the knowledge level this man had was ridiculous, and an hour with him would result in an conversation of a lifetime.