So basically, I'm writing a story where a regular boy, besides being kind of an outcast, lives a very normal life and sort of has a sort of character arc for about 5-6 chapters along with a few other characters that undergo changes along the way too. Just as things are looking good for the MC again and he is really happy with his life, he and his friend suddenly lose everything and everyone they knew and they have to somehow survive in this strange and magical yet somewhat familiar world. That's basically the plot for about the first half of the book. Now the reason I wanted those 'dull' IRL chapters was to set up a larger character arc in the MC later in the series and really build up the character of his friend who also will play a large role. But I'm scared that readers will not want to sift through 5 or so chapters of boring albeit slightly strange high school life. To try to combat this, I want to put a chapter at the start of the book from the perspective of someone integral to the plot later in the book and have it sort of vaguely describe an important event as it happens, just enough to make the reader curious and want to read further, as motivation to bear with the more boring parts. But maybe I've just been overthinking too much, idk. Please let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading all of this (and I know the plot description is vague, I just don't want to spoil anything)
The biggest question is not if something is "boring", it's if change occurs within the character being described. To put that in context, writing a chapter about someone enduring a church service would be boring, but take that same church, that same character, and write about the turmoil within as that character experiences guilt, shame, or self-loathing; and the same setting and character can be RIVETING. But the key is change. It would still be boring if the character got up at the end of the service and went home. It takes the character changing to have any interest for the reader, otherwise, what is the point? Ask yourself, does your character change from the start of the chapter to the end of the chapter? It can be that they change for the worse...which that is okay, but there has to be change. If there isn't, it is really time to take a hard look at those pages and seriously consider deleting them. Unsure? I always have a second word program set up called "title of my story" deleted scenes'. Then everything I cut, I paste on that so I have it saved in case I want to keep those cut scenes later. I have never kept anything, but it is nice to have that security!
Don't put anything boring in your story, for any reason. And don't start writing one story and then pull the old switcheroo halfway through without wrapping up the original storyline, and then start a whole different story. Whatever story you set up you need to finish. Maybe whatever you were considering doing halfway through the first story should just be the second story. Don't leave your readers hanging, they won't like it and they'll throw the book at the wall or in the trash and tell their friends how much it sucks.
The problem I read hear is that you are aware of the fact that five chapters worth of your story is at risk of boring the reader. I think you're going about this the wrong way . By that I mean, don't put a little teaser in the book to encourage people through the boring bits. It's a gamble. Cut the boring bits out, condense it, or make it more interesting.
Boring doesn't belong in any story, ever. Tell an interesting story. It doesn't have to be exciting but it has to engage the reader and if it doesn't, then it needs to be excised from the book immediately.
And even then, "boring" is subjective. If the OP writes what he fears will be boring in an interesting, engaging way, then it may not end up being boring at all. I, myself, continue to struggle with the fear that the slower-paced parts of my stories will come off as "boring", so I get where the OP is coming from. It's a really difficult balancing act.
But it's not a balancing act. Boring really shouldn't be part of the equation at all. The OP refers to parts as boring and dull. If that's how the writer is feeling, it's probably not going to be all that great for readers. Just don't write boring parts. It's pretty simple.
I'm not gonna say that it's not possible to start a story with five chapters of not-much-happening. It is, but it's hard not to loose readers along the way. Maybe all you need is to make your chapters serve multiple purposes. What would it take to move the actiony parts to the first chapter? Would you be able to set up the bigger story arch maybe in the first two? Rearrange characters and change events to make it such?
All of that comes with experience. The more you read well-written books, the more you learn through osmosis how to write well-written books. It allows you to see what works and what doesn't.
Note that my comment specifically mentioned slower-paced scenes, because that's what people tend to assume will end up boring. You can't have action and drama 24/7. I think you misunderstood me 100%.
My historical novel had some travel in it with a potential of being slow. I concentrated on giving the reader a bit of history in the scene as there were no major events happening, but a hint of things to come. The narrative of the travel was necessary as she was posing as a priest and all that the deception would entail.
You are absolutely right - it is a difficult balance to keep enough slower scenes that the book doesn't become "this happened then that happened and the other and some more... deep breath.. the end"... books that are frantic all the way through swiftly become tiresome... but the key is that the slow scenes shouldn't be boring... you need to find other ways of making the slower paced scenes interesting whether thats dialogue, exposition, setting description or whatever (most likely a combination of other elements)
There are 'setting' chapters where you kinda set up the characters before the big change but they don't usually go on too long. Mainly because you don't need them too. Usually it's just to show you who they are, what their weakness is, and what's at stake. It's like the movie Fatal Attraction - you show his cute daughter, sexy wife, and his comfortable take-it-for-granted home-atmosphere before he hooks up with Adrian and then the viewer can watch to see if he'll ditch his family, lose his family, or be saddled with another child to support and what lengths he'll go to avoid it. Try to cut out the boring stuff and try and address only what's interesting or needed.
Yeah, I think that's what I was trying to get at in my first comment, but I understand why several people accidentally mistook it as endorsing "boring" scenes.
