Many moons ago, tt seemed to me that too many fiction book blurbs began with a "When..." clause. I found it rather boring and formulaic.
Recently, I understand why a blurb might start with "When". Most works of fiction are expected to begin with a life-altering event for one of the protagonists. Some would say that conflict must leap of the page in the first sentence. Here's an excellent craft article by Benjamin McEvoy.
https://benjaminmcevoy.com/7-questions-fiction-writers-can-answer-improve-writing/
Is there another starter-word in the "How/What/When/Where/Why/How/Who/Which..." set of questions? Some would say "Is" and "Does".
As I mused on "When" as the most important (first) word of a blurb, I remembered Orson Scott Card's use of the "M. I. C. E." quotient as a mnemonic.
"When...." would have to come under the "E." of the "M. I. C. E." acronym.
"M." is for "Milieu."
"I." is for "Idea."
"C." is for "Character."
"E." is for "Event."
https://fantasy-faction.com/2018/taming-mice-the-mice-quotient-and-storytelling
My preference is to write Character-Driven novels, so perhaps subliminally, I recoil at "When" and its suggestion of an Event-Driven story. Of course, one must have Milieu, Ideas, Characters, and Events.
No doubt, a Regency romance, or an inter-galactic warfare series would be novels of Milieu, but Fantasy Fiction dot com has a fine explanation. However, while poking around, I stirred up a veritable of plague of mice acronyms.
https://www.cvent.com/uk/blog/hospitality/what-is-mice
https://spyauthor.medium.com/mice-the-4-pillars-of-cia-spy-recruitment-61d3f5cf9d3c
https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/mice
Civl Engineers -- and aren't all Engineers civil? -- can be M.I.C.E. also.
For further entertainment, there is a handy acronym finder. https://www.acronymfinder.com/MICE.html
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
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