Bucking Tradition-Why I started my book with the character waking up.

One of the first pieces of advise writers hear is to never open a story by having the character wake up.
In my own writing, in my debut novel, I "broke" this rule.
Firstly the prologue is clearly a dream. The main character, Riona, is staring up into the summer sky imaging what it would be like to fly amongst the puffy clouds. Then she turns and finds that she is a giant white dragon. This scene does actually have great importance throughout the series, but I have to be careful not to spoil anything just yet!  After this we launch into chapter one. Riona gets shaken awake by her long time friend Damien.




Chapter One
"Riona! Riona, wake up!"
"Mmm, just let me sleep." She mumbled, making weak hand gestures at the man interrupting her sleep.
The man spoke again, "No, we have to go now."
Rolling over, she met fierce blue eyes. Damien. While rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands she wondered what he was doing all the way out in the foothills.
"Storm clouds are coming." His words helped her to clear her head of the fogginess left by her dream; it had seemed so real.
If Damien had found her to warn about a storm, then they needed to get out of the open. Damien's family was one of the oldest in the Rhydian Valley. They knew by trade, instinct, or otherwise, when the weather was going to be bad.


Instantly the reader is made to understand from context clues that this story is taking place in a world like our own, but is uniquely itself. There is an immediacy in his tone, and Riona realizes that and it forces the both of them into action.


I, scouts honor, have not come across one person who has read it criticize the opening. Not once has someone come up after reading and said, "you shouldn't open with her waking up." It seems that the "rules" of opening, closing, and even writing a story in general, can be broken. There is a clear reason why I chose to have the book open in this way. As long as there is a clear and understandable reason, and the opening of the story flows well, I say open it however you want!


It's your story. Tell it in the manner you think suits it best!