On a recent flight to Vienna, I noticed something about myself. I love that moment when you are on the runway and just about to take off. It’s the beginning of the adventure. I feel a lightness married to a sense of anticipation for what is to come. The thing I have been dreaming of is about to happen.
This feeling probably stems from my childhood. My father was a pilot in the heyday of air travel, the 1960s and 1970s. As a child, I was fortunate enough to benefit from his profession, in that we were able to fly and take a number of family trips. As a result, flying was not a strange experience to me and it became associated with fun and adventure. Sometimes where we were going changed due the availability (or not) of a flight that had open seats. Many a time, I have been at airports during the wee hours of the morning for a redeye.
When you read a novel, you experience that same sense of anticipation and ensuing adventure in the opening pages. What will the main character decide? What will the adventure be? Whether it is a thriller, a mystery, literary fiction, or a quiet novel, all main characters make a defining choice at the beginning—they get on the metaphorical plane and go on a journey.
What journey will you take your readers on?