# I Read 219 Novel Openings. This One Always Fails. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream.webp]] **Creator:** Alyssa Matesic · **Published:** 2026-07-22 · **Length:** 18:42 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M) > Caption source: YouTube **English captions** (`en-orig`, auto-generated), downloaded with **yt-dlp** (android_vr client). The first request hit **HTTP 429** on the `en` track; a spaced `en-orig`-only retry succeeded and covers the whole video (0:00-18:42). No TubeAlfred or youtube-transcript-api credits were used. Section headings follow the creator's chapter timestamps. Screenshots are from the downloaded video stream. The manuscript excerpts are quoted from the pages shown on screen and read aloud; the two subscribers are not named in the video. ## Outline ### 0:00 Intro - [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=0s) When she reviewed manuscripts at a top **literary agency**, she saw one specific type of opening in the **slush pile** constantly, and it almost never works. Two "brave subscribers" sent opening pages for critique, and both fall into the same trap. - [0:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=20s) As with all writing rules there are exceptions, and she'll show one at the end so you understand why the strategy usually fails and what separates the rare version that works. "Put on your editing cap" and try to spot the problem. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0045.webp]] ### 0:42 Example 1 - [0:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=42s) **Manuscript 1: adult sci-fi fantasy.** Under buzzing fluorescent tubes, **Adrian** runs down a hospital hallway toward a gunmetal-gray morgue door, crying "Mom, hold on. Wait for me." He crashes through; a young nurse tells him "the body's not ready yet." - [1:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=99s) The door and nurse dissolve and he is in a vast empty room with a single bed and a body wrapped head to toe in a white sheet, "so still as if carved from marble." The lights wink out, everything vanishes, and he sobs "Mom, please come back... where did you go?" - [2:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=155s) Adrian jolts upright in his own bed in sweat-soaked sheets. "It was just a dream," the same one replaying since his mother's unexpected death and her body's unexplained disappearance from the hospital morgue five years ago. - [2:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=179s) The writer clearly knows how to ground us in **sensory detail** (the buzzing lights, the morgue door, the marble-like body), and the emotional stakes "couldn't be higher." But the opening isn't working as written; she'll explain why after the second manuscript. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0090.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0150.webp]] ### 3:27 Example 2 - [3:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=207s) **Manuscript 2: also adult sci-fi fantasy** ("Chapter One"). A gray morning, clouds "layered as massive cotton balls," a green field of wild yellow flowers. A line of silver on the horizon turns out to be a **marching cavalry** with small flags. - [4:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=248s) **Jacob**, tall and skinny with bushy brown hair, "looked like somebody had dropped him in the middle of this field." He turns to face a massive scarred, bearded man with a shield and an ax, one of a long line of haggard foot soldiers, and wonders how he got there. - [5:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=310s) A bugle sounds, the cavalry advances, the soldiers roar. Jacob searches frantically for a gap in the line; no one notices him. The horses gallop to within a hundred feet and he thinks this is where he'll die. - [6:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=375s) The knights draw swords; just as the armies collide, Jacob shuts his eyes and hears metal on wood, neighing, a heavy thud, then a sharp rhythmic sound. He is "sucked into the sky" and wakes with a jump to his alarm at 5:00 a.m.: "Not again." His dreams are getting weirder, and he feels as exhausted as after the others. - [7:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=433s) Again there are great sensory details (cotton-ball clouds, galloping horses, the intimidating soldiers), and we are whisked into the center of a battle with momentum and urgency right away. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0208.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0280.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0380.webp]] ### 7:37 "It was all a dream..." - [7:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=457s) The shared problem: revealing that the whole opening scene was a **dream or nightmare**. "Don't open with a dream sequence" is one of the most common pieces of writing advice, one she has given before, and she still sees it all the time. - [7:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=472s) It's "right up there" with **opening with a character waking up**, which both manuscripts also do, because waking is the natural next step after a dream. - [8:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=487s) She isn't saying a dream opening can never work; a famous example is coming. First, why the vast majority fall flat. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0465.webp]] ### 8:24 Fixing Example 1 - [8:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=504s) She was discussing this exact issue with a client recently. Adrian's nightmare is meant to convey his **inner turmoil**, but it reads as **melodramatic**: heaving chest, cracking voice, uncontrollable sobbing and a string of exclamations ("Mom, hold on... Mom, I want to see my mom... Mom, please come back," highlighted on screen). - [9:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=542s) **Subtle, quiet displays of emotion** are often more effective than loud ones. We aren't invested in Adrian yet and know nothing about his relationship with his mother, so his anguish doesn't land. - [9:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=560s) The big issue: as soon as he wakes, all the tension **deflates** because none of it happened. The dream turns out to be a vehicle for **backstory**, as the last line about the death and the missing body five years ago makes clear. - [10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=601s) Ask what your dream scene is really doing and what purpose it serves. Her client needed key backstory moved earlier so readers understood the protagonist's inner conflict; the client offered to restore a dream opening from an earlier draft that showed it all, and she stopped her: a dream that does the "heavy lifting" of backstory is a **crutch**. - [10:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=646s) Better: **weave exposition into the main narrative's action**, as a brief memory or reflection triggered by something real in the present moment. - [11:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=662s) For Adrian, open on the **fifth anniversary** of his mother's death with him doing something: visiting the hospital or her grave, or dodging a check-in call from a relative. As he navigates that real conflict, the backstory and his anguish come through. "Give us a real scene with real stakes," and you avoid the jarring moment of being thrown out of a dream and having to recalibrate. ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0540.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0600.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0700.webp]] ### 11:49 Fixing Example 2 - [11:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=709s) Manuscript 2 fails for a different, trickier reason. In the first, the dream's conflict matches Adrian's real life. Here the battle has nothing to do with Jacob's real-world life as far as we can tell: when he wakes, there are no soldiers, cavalry or danger. - [12:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=741s) The writer spent the manuscript's **most valuable real estate**, the opening pages, on a conflict that doesn't exist. "We essentially just got faked out." - [12:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=754s) The dream probably isn't random; she suspects the battle **foreshadows** a later conflict, especially in sci-fi fantasy. Still, open with Jacob in the real world dealing with his real concerns, and let the fantastical setting be revealed in time rather than immersing us and then pulling us out. - [13:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=781s) **Readers invest in whatever you show them first.** A long dream signals "this is the character's situation, these are the stakes." When the first two pages turn out not to be real, you've **broken the reader's trust** and forced them to start over, which is why dream scenes "almost never work." - [13:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=816s) All writing rules are really guidelines, so next comes a dream opening that works brilliantly. Plug: subscribers to the premium tier of her newsletter **Chapter Break** can submit pages for future critiques and get weekly insights plus interviews with agents and bestselling authors. ### 14:15 A dream opening that works - [14:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=855s) She reads the opening of a famous novel: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." The narrator stands at a padlocked iron gate, finds the lodge uninhabited, passes "like a spirit" through the barrier, and follows a drive that nature has reclaimed: "The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end." - [15:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=952s) It's ***Rebecca*** by **Daphne du Maurier**, "one of the most iconic novel openings of all time." - [16:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=961s) Why it works: the **first line tells us outright it's a dream**. No bait and switch, no jarring transition, no fake-out, so readers never invest in fake stakes or feel deflated on waking. The narrator is self-aware and guides us through what she sees. - [16:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=991s) Its purpose: a **guided tour of Manderley** that **foreshadows** the destruction to come. The estate is "essentially a character in its own right," and showing it ruined and overgrown raises the question of what happened, making us keep reading, without heavy-handed backstory or false conflict. - [17:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=1036s) If you're set on a dream opening, ask: **Why is it necessary? What can it convey that your character's reality can't? What would the reader lose if you cut it?** Without really good answers, start with the protagonist's actual real-world conflict instead; she bets it will be just as captivating, if not more. - [17:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-l04swWr6M&t=1065s) Plug for her editing team (editors from top publishing houses and literary agencies), then a pointer to her video on the most common mistake that kills a story on page one. "Happy writing." ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t0862.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t1025.webp]] ![[images/Novel-Openings-Dream-t1060.webp]] ## Key takeaways - Dream openings rank with "character wakes up" as the most common slush-pile openings, and they almost always fail. - A dream that ends with waking deflates its own tension, because readers learn none of it happened. - Using a dream to deliver backstory is a crutch; weave backstory into a real present-day scene through brief memories triggered by real events. - A dream whose conflict has nothing to do with the character's real life wastes the opening pages and breaks reader trust, since readers invest in whatever they see first. - Quiet, subtle emotion usually lands harder than loud, melodramatic emotion, especially before readers know the character. - A dream opening can work when it is announced from the first line and does real work, as *Rebecca*'s tour of ruined Manderley does. ## Things mentioned ### Books and manuscripts - ***Rebecca*** by **Daphne du Maurier**: opening line "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"; the estate **Manderley** as "a character in its own right" - **Manuscript 1** (adult sci-fi fantasy, unnamed subscriber): protagonist **Adrian**, a recurring nightmare about his mother's death and her body's disappearance from a hospital morgue five years earlier - **Manuscript 2** (adult sci-fi fantasy, unnamed subscriber): protagonist **Jacob**, a battlefield dream ending with his 5:00 a.m. alarm - ***The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents*** by Alyssa Matesic (shown on the poster behind her) ### Craft concepts - **Dream / nightmare openings** and the "it was all a dream" reveal; **opening with a character waking up** - **Slush pile**; the opening pages as a manuscript's **most valuable real estate** - **Sensory detail** and grounding; **momentum and urgency** - **Melodrama** vs. **subtle, quiet displays of emotion**; reader **emotional investment** - **Backstory** and **exposition** woven into present action; memories or reflections **triggered by real events**; dreams as a **crutch** - **False stakes**, **fake-outs** / bait and switch, **deflated tension**, **broken reader trust**, recalibration - **Foreshadowing**; revealing a fantastical setting over time; setting as character - Three test questions for any dream opening: why it's necessary, what it conveys that reality can't, what the reader would lose without it - "All writing rules are really just guidelines" ### Links from the description - Work with her on your story: https://www.alyssamatesic.com/inquire#inquire-2 - Free Story Self-Assessment: https://www.alyssamatesic.com/#freebie-form - Newsletter **Chapter Break**: https://www.chapter-break.com/ - Query letter review (**Query Academy**): https://www.queryacademy.com - Related videos: [9 Mistakes You're Probably Making in the First 10 Pages](https://youtu.be/g_e9pnGskow) · [[I’ve Read 107 Novels That Open Like This. It Never Works|I’ve Read 107 Novels That Open Like This. It Never Works.]] ([YouTube](https://youtu.be/bVa4nnf9bwg)) · [My Subscribers Sent Me Their Manuscripts…They ALL Make This Mistake](https://youtu.be/AHZoqFud44U) - Socials: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/alyssabookeditor/) · [X](https://x.com/alyssamatesic) · [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@alyssamatesic) - Music credit: *Charlie Brown* by Smith The Mister (https://smiththemister.bandcamp.com) ## Biographies ### Alyssa Matesic Professional book editor with more than a decade of experience on both sides of publishing, at Big Five houses and literary agencies; she reviewed slush-pile manuscripts at a top literary agency. She critiques subscriber manuscripts on her channel, runs a team of editors for hire, offers a free story self-assessment and query letter reviews (Query Academy), and writes the newsletter **Chapter Break**, whose premium tier lets subscribers submit pages for on-air critique. (Sources: this video and its description.) ### Daphne du Maurier English novelist (1907-1989) whose 1938 Gothic novel *Rebecca* opens with the narrator's dream of returning to the ruined estate of Manderley; Matesic calls it one of the most iconic novel openings of all time. (Sources: this video; her dates and the novel's year are general knowledge.)