They’re mysteries to you. To a reader, they might read as generic tropes of the genre (as would my example). That’s the point: you can’t rely on a rule to govern what will or won’t work in a novel. Sometimes what draws the reader in is a beautiful turn of phrase. Sometimes it’s a question. Sometimes it’s a moment of such high action that you want to see how it plays out.
Your original comment was in reference to @mlucas saying:
You said:
So I was responding to your implication that what he was referring to was an exception to the rule, and subsequently that writers should avoid trying to build careers on finding those exceptions.
Honestly, I don’t understand the propensity on this board for these grand sweeping statements about writing. Where is it coming from? Some kind of extensive experience in the field? My seventh novel comes out this month and my books are published in more than a dozen languages, I get to travel around on promotional events and make a great living and I still couldn’t tell you a single truism about the craft beyond “don’t be boring.” I have lots and lots of theories about writing, but they’re all just approaches that are meant to add to a writer’s arsenal, not limit it.
But one person’s experience is only anecdotal, so instead consider the massive number of successful and beloved novels – both old and new – that bely the rule you’re advocating. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series is one of the most successful of all time. I’m pretty sure every one of them had a big omniscient prologue at the start. Most of Patrick Rothsfuss’s “Name of the Wind” is told in flashbacks. On the other hand, I’m sure we can find books that do start with an initial driver.
The only era I’m aware of where that approach was dominant, however, was during the Pulp era of the 40’s and 50’s that started with things like, “She was a tall drink of amber whisky and the first things she said as she walked into my office was, ‘My husband’s dead. I want you to prove that I’m the killer.’”. But the pulps were 40-50K word novels. And they mostly went away as genre readers wanted bigger, longer, deeper stories.
So in fact, what you’re advocating is actually not the current convention, which is precisely why it’s an interesting and worthy approach to try – one of many in a writer’s toolbox.