From the Magister's Notebook: Partial Prologue of The String

What follows is the opening of the prologue of the String. It's in first person point of view though that does not carry on into the rest of the narrative.... I'll let him speak for himself however.

Prologue: Inheritance

Beginnings suck. It’s the God’s honest truth. Beginnings are boring as sin. They’re usually slow, plodding, and by the time you reach page three, you’re begging for something- anything- to happen, including having your skull explode if only to relieve the tedium of the exposition.

Most storytellers will avoid all this by dumping their poor audiences in the middle of the action, then catch them up on the relevant back story later. I mean, how many people would give up the excitement of a Star Destroyer chase for a long and boring opening on how the plans got in a certain princess’ hands in the first place?

But not every story is lucky enough to have an eye popping space battle to hang its opening on. Mine certainly doesn't. But what it does have is the rare ring of truth. This isn't the kind of truth you’ll find in the phone book, at the mall, or the nightclub or bar you frequent. It’s not the kind of truth the daily grind world was designed to deal with, but it’s there, just the same. And pulling back that particular curtain of reality can change you. It can make you stronger, or it can break you into a monster.

Me? I was lured in by an attractively baited string and my own overdeveloped sense of duty. My name is Nicholas Whitehall… Follow me, I’ll show you what I mean...

Art Copyright: Richard Price 2014
Written Content Copyright: Penny Horwitz 2014