Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

Alternatively, the story can begin with a proclamation of what kind of history it is and who it is telling it, as
in this example:
"If you really want to hear this story, you probably expect that I should start by saying where I was born,
how shitty my childhood was, what my parents were doing before I came into the world and such drivel, as
in David Copperfield, but I do not feel like it. Firstly, I am so tired of it, and secondly my parents would
have a stroke if I revealed anything about their private lives. They are very sensitive on this point, especially
my father."
"I will begin to tell you about the day I left Pencey Prep. Pencey Prep is thus a school in Agerstown,
Pensylvania. You've probably heard of it."
From "Catcher in the rye" by JD Salinger.
It is not obvious that the novel begins with the start of the process that is to be portrayed. Take the story in
which Mats and the unfaithful wife, it is also reasonable that the story begins when he met her. Or maybe it
starts when his father is unfaithful to his mother, or ...
Say we start when Mats meets her at the university. Then one pretty soon realize that either it will be a long
haul until the excitement begins. Or a sharp jump in the history from teenagers in love to the occasion when
he finds her in bed. If one instead would start when Mats walk through the door and finds his wife in bed,
the risk would be great that the reader gets a little too overwhelmed. Who should the reader sympathize
with
I think that if the story is about Mats revenge, it would be appropriate to start with a few pages about him,
for the reader to understand that it is he who is the main character. Then to present the problem (his wife is
unfaithful), then ....
The story would then certainly be improved by that that the author occasionally added flashbacks from their
life together. Mats maybe wonder if she has stopped loving him. Has she ever done it and so on. In such
inner monologues it is probalby very suitable to write about things like the first time he saw her.
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