A Great Introduction To Writing Great Introductions



"Watson, Movember is over. Now shave that bloody thing off, it looks terrible"

Just read this fantastic introduction to Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (part of the Five Orange Pips... short story collection)

"Now, Mr Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me here this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes,  and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I have heard, it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is certainly amongst the most singular that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr Wilson, you would have the great kindness tor recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Dr Watson has not heard the opening part, but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."

I love the detail of the rationale for repetition here - there's dozens of different examples of writers introducing stories/ characters into their work and there are plenty of uninteresting ways of doing it (**if you're interested or just a cynic when it comes to good/ bad writing check out Selected Essays by Gore Vidal - his lowdown on the New York Times bestseller list of 1974 is both chucklesome and humourless in its dressing down of lots of the big names at the time of writing**). Plenty of folk would point to an aesthetic compulsion as motivation for this calibre of composition but I think it owes more to Conan Doyle's meticulous nature in his paid work as a physician.

It's a fine writer in my eyes that combines fun (enjoyable, not instructive) with the tapestry on show here. Conan Doyle, like his ineffably precise sleuth, weaves a net to catch all possible queries on re-publishing Mr Wilson's tale.

There's the intellectual element - perhaps the strongest component - demonstrated when Holmes remarks that 'the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes' - the groundwork for why the tale must be repeated is laid here with barely a creak or a groan as it's tamped in.

There's the 'real time' element - Watson strolls in to find his compadre with a total stranger, which you'd expect of any half decent scribbler in the same scenario - thirdly the oh-so-subtle 'As a rule...' which anyone familiar with Holmes's ruthlessly rational mind will immediately come to agreement with (the real trick there is of course parlaying the reader into agreement of this approach through previous strong characterisation) and finally Holmes requiring the tale again to cross-reference against his previous casework - adding depth, history and a flourish of his personality into the mix.

I've written here before that Conan Doyle's talent for granite characterisation could withstand tectonic movements in a tale (where planned obviously - Holmes is but a man) but this seemed like a particularly eloquent unfurling of a very good yarn.