Yuffie's Writing How-To's

Evidence that this guide means nothing

There was a discussion thread on Scribophile addressing the following opening paragraph to an unnamed novel:

"The place stank. A queer, mingled stench that only the ice buried cabins of an Antarctic camp know, compounded of reeking human sweat, and the heavy, fish oil stench of melted seal blubber. An overtone of liniment combated the musty smell of sweat-and-snow-drenched furs. The acrid odor of burnt cooking fat, and the animal, not-unpleasant smell of dogs, diluted by time, hung in the air. Lingering odors of machine oil contrasted sharply with the taint of harness dressing and leather. Yet, somehow, through all that reek of human beings and their associates - dogs, machines and cooking - came another taint. It was a queer, neck-ruffling thing, a faintest suggestion of an odor alien among the smells of industry and life. And it was a lifesmell. But it came from the thing that lay bound with cord and tarpaulin on the table, dripping slowly, methodically onto the heavy planks, dank and gaunt under the unshielded glare of the electric light."

The OP asked whether we would keep reading the story based on this opening paragraph.

The jury leaned heavily toward not reading on, though there were some people who found it interesting and well-written. Can you guess which team I was part of? *grins*

This was my response:

"I wouldn't read on. I was getting impatient after the second sentence describing smell and not a character in sight.

The first sentence is a topic sentence, not a hook. It's redundant because it's telling us the place stank, and then we get description. Same thing.

Also, I don't think even bloodhounds can pick out this many different smells at once. I counted at least 12 different smells depicted in that one paragraph, and that is ridiculous."

(And I was severely restraining myself.)

I thought it was poorly written, obnoxious and heavy-handed, and redundant. It basically does a lot of things you're advised not to do in your opening.

And then the OP posted: "In 1973 the story was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science fiction novellas ever written. It was published with the other top vote-getters in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two."

The book's title is: The Thing from Another World.

So moral of the story, kids? Maybe the rules we think separate good vs. bad writing aren't actually there.

But another point to consider is the large number of people who were immediately put off by the seemingly bad writing in this opening paragraph. Thus, this book has lost a lot of potential readers because it breaks the conventions of opening paragraphs and doesn't break them particularly well (in my opinion).

Just food for thought. I still advocate learning and following the rules unless and until you know how to break them well. I don't believe this opening paragraph broke the rules well, though scores of other people will disagree. That paragraph was definitely a bold move for the author, too, so good for him for trying something unconventional.

What are your thoughts on The Thing From Another World's opening paragraph? Would you read on? Why or why not?

EDIT: the story's name is Who Goes There. The Thing From Another World is the name of the movie baesed on the story. sorry about that!