Do you start your story with a bang?

[JBryden88]

My newest project, and I think the one that really calls to me, is a project based in the same world as my unrevised draft (that project will take more research and other assorted things before I can revise it) in a culture that fairly resembles the old vikings and norsemen.

With this, I'm opening up with an event from the past. Vague, what seems like something that has nothing to do at all with the main plot, but as it turns out, is a significant battle waged that impacts the plot as we go on. The whole point of this prologue has a three pronged goal:

- Introduce the world, and the region the story is based in
- Get used to the fact that unlike my other project which is very shiny knightly and courtly/romantic, this is a very violent, brutal, and uncompromising setting
- Set up plot points that will end up haunting the hell out of my main characters

So yeah. I start things with a bang

 

[Lawfire]

I have to recommend the book, Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton. It really helped me rethink beginnings.

 

[FireBird]

I've always found that starting with a somewhat comical situation grabs my attention more than anything else. I find that I can grow attatched to characters very quickly if I can laugh with them. K. J. Parker does this with at least half of her books and I love her for it.