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This study looks at the openings of works of fiction with the aim of understanding, from the writer’s viewpoint, what are the techniques and the challenges in beginning to tell a story. It brings together theory and practice, through a review of the history of openings in literature and critical writings on the subject, with a collection of short stories that experiment with the learning from the theory. The study looks first at the history and philosophy of incipits from the earliest writings on these subjects, and traces the way in which writers through the ages have signalled a connection with the past. Key approaches to the critical analysis of prose fiction, in the context of beginnings, are considered from the point of view of a writer looking to make choices on how to begin. The writer’s concern is how and when to introduce the reader to the story to be told, with the objective of delivering up the narrative within a context that is coherent as a whole and rich in meaning. Critical analysis is not designed to give guidance on how to achieve this. However it has proved possible to use a way of analysing beginnings, initially proposed by Andrea del Lungo and subsequently developed by Achim Hescher, as the basis for a framework which identifies the decisions a writer faces. This framework is built on the critical work but is translated into a practical tool which can be applied to texts in the initial creation or editing phases. It is a way of making and then testing the choices made at the beginning, against the overall objectives for a piece of prose fiction. The creative element of the thesis is a collection of short stories. The short story form was chosen because this offers the opportunity to experiment and to work creatively with the ideas and the framework in the critical element of the thesis. In addition, the beginning is more critical to the success of the whole work in the case of short fiction. The study demonstrates this through analysis of example

This thesis contains a work of historical fiction followed by a critical essay exploring the aspect of responsibility in historical fiction through the lenses of familial storytelling, memory, trauma memory, and collective memory. The historical novel produced is a variant of historiographic metafiction combined with the mode of a memory novel. My critical investigation has led me to explore creatively writing history through differing perspectives of memory. In Chapter One of the critical essay, I outline the differences between history and historical fiction, of how the past is presented and the definitions of what we consider history and fiction to be. Chapter Two investigates the term historical fiction, and engages with the emerging subgenres of historical fiction; examining the perceived responsibility of historical fiction authors, positing different conceptions of such. Chapter Three is concerned with the lenses through which we choose to view the past, those of familial storytelling, memory, trauma memory, and the collective memory, and how the utilisation of these lenses influences the mode of historical fiction. In Chapter Four, I discuss how these lenses are translated through literary devices, and how this impacts not only the genre, but the form itself; challenging the distinctive definitions of form by showing how they can overlap. The author's responsibility to the genre of historical fiction, I conclude, lies in how she chooses to view the past. I propose that this responsibility is shaped through the specific lenses she employs to render a complete picture of her story to a reader. Through the investigation of writing history through differing perspectives of memory, the genre of historical fiction expands into a possible variety of subgenres, including that of a variant of historiographic metafiction combined with the mode of memory novel, thus adding to historical understanding.

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 22, Issue 127, Page(s) 40-47, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-22.127, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-22.127:8, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 21, Issue 121, Page(s) 81-97, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-21.121, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-21.121:21, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 21, Issue 126, Page(s) 648-658, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-21.126, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-21.126:12, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 22, Issue 131, Page(s) 529-549, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-22.131, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-22.131:16, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

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Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 22, Issue 128, Page(s) 197-217, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-22.128, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-22.128:16, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 21, Issue 124, Page(s) 420-437, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-21.124, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-21.124:16, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

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Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 21, Issue 125, Page(s) 529-543, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-21.125, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-21.125:16, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html

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Overland monthly and Out West magazine. / Volume 19, Issue 110, Page(s) 161-168, (dlps) volume: ahj1472.2-19.110, (dlps) article: ahj1472.2-19.110:10, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/text/accesspolicy.html