The very beginning of a story

[Deleted member 4379]

Hi!

I was just wondering how people prefer starting their stories? I have a bad habit of making and overly-complicated introduction and explanation, and then starting the actual story a few pages later.

I usually like the ones that go straight to action, though they are not what I'd usually write.

For example in my latest story, it begins with the main character travelling to a murder location. Sadly the first 2 pages are the main character telling about the kingdom and what the situation is right now. How do you guys think of this? I guess it also depends on the type of the narrative etc.

 

[Heliotrope]

Listen to this. 15 min will give you everything you need to know.

Writing Excuses Episode 4: Beginnings | Writing Excuses

(take notes)

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Write whatever you need to to get started... just don't marry to it. Add all that background in later in small slices, so you can knock that first bit out of the final story.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I like starting in medias res - in the middle of the action - and drop small bits of exposition as they are needed to explain what's happening right then. For example in our WIP, Faerie Rising, one of the FMC's is a surgeon and a wizard trying to hold together a city perched on the brink of political chaos. The first chapter opens with her taking an emergency patient who was caught in the middle of a factional street fight, thereby introducing a key plot point right off the bat.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

My current stories tend to be about characters who do a lot of self-discovery. To show the reader how the characters change I need to show how they are before, thus I tend to start a day or two before a major incident takes place. This allows the reader to get to know the character in their ordinary circumstance before the upheaval takes place. This could mean showing the person going to school or staying home with the kids. It can also mean a soldier engaged in a battle because he is in year two of his tour in a foreign country. I like to think of what my main characters were doing a few months before the story starts and then start writing from a few days before.

 

[goldhawk]

Always start with a conflict of some type. For example, the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings is about a minor conflict between Bilbo and his neighbours. But because of the conflict, people don't realize it's an infodump on hobbits. The only part of the entire first chapter that has anything to do with the plot is that Frodo gets the Ring. All the rest is infodump.

 

[Drakevarg]

My usual instinct is to open my stories as mundanely as possible. A character waking up, a character eating their lunch, a character riding into a new town for the first time. It helps to establish the character's idea of normal, to see them going about a low-stress situation and seeing how they respond to that. It gives a nice baseline to compare to when the stakes are raised.

 

[Russ]

The modern approach is to start a novel as close as is humanly possible to either the initiating event or the initial turning point.

I think this is very sound and standard and advice and would suggest that variation from it might well be considered an advanced writing technique and there probably should be very good reasons for departing from it.

I remember starting a fantasy book recently where the character is at a wedding and they are thinking about all these bizarrely spelled names for people with strange titles, from virtually unpronounceable places and about two pages in thinking "I am never going to be able to remember all of this crap" and literally leaving the book in the hotel room. Now if on page one our MC had been splattered in blood from the assassination of Underhost L'lewborgt from Sta'tklevorn at the wedding (which I suspect might have been coming a few more pages in) I would have been much more likely to read on.

 

[Chessie]

I start my stories in the best way that seems appropriate to that story. Normally, it's not action. Theme/point of the story is what's most important for me at the beginning, establishing the story's vibe, if you will. My openings start out with an idea of character, his/her dilemma and state of mind, setting. I've started stories with people getting drunk, waking up to a dog barking out of the norm, robbery, drug use, conversations, and the list goes on. I don't care so much about action as I want to show you what the character is like who'll be leading you along for the ride.

 

[Darkfantasy]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread because I have a similar problem. You start with action but then get the feedback that 'I didn't care what happened to the MC because for all I knew they weren't the MC and could have died'

And if you start in the 'a day in the life' thing you get 'this was boring'.
So what I do is start with 'a day in the life' but add in some hints of what is to come. Add in a conflict for the MC that has nothing to do with the plot and show the MC's personality, passions and goals outside the plot.

 

[Deleted member 4379]

In my current story, I have tried my best to make the beginning pretty normal, but still have enough action. As in the original post, the main character is travelling through the city and remembering things. He is also travelling very fast to a murder location. I think that is pretty good balance between them both.

 

[Velka]

As others have said, how to begin a story depends on what the story is. What can be considered a more concrete "must do" is that no matter how you begin the story (physical or emotional conflict/debarking on a journey/eating breakfast) it has to make the reader wonder and ask themselves questions - if there's no wondering what happens next or why the character did/said/thought something then there's really no impetus to read on.

 

[Jerseydevil]

I read somewhere that a good book lets the reader know within the first chapter exactly what to expect. For both of my works, I start with a brutal fight scene. It lets the audience know exactly what they are going to be reading, making a promise to the audience that there will be more to come, and not to expect a light heated comedy or a sappy love story. There may be plot twists, humor, and romance possible, but if they don't like violence, this may not be the right book. It is best to get that established right away, so expectations can be fulfilled.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

A day in the life... should have conflict, internal or external, no matter how you cut it. If a character wakes up in bed, they should be floating in a pond... heh heh. Okay, not every time... Very rare for any kind of fiction to have an engaging beginning without conflict. If a plot involves a character going to war and dealing with their commander, show how they deal with a conflict with mom/dad at home to set the normal... something, always something. Completely internal? Great.

Thomas Covenant spends a lot of time setting "normal" but is it conflict free? Ah, heck no.

 

[Heliotrope]

Yeah, I agree with Dem. A story does not have to start with a fight or a battle or a car crash to be interesting... And so, in fact, instead of the word "conflict" I would use the word "tension"... A story should start with creating that feeling of tension in the reader. That feeling of "ohhhhhh, I wonder what will happen?" Raising questions in the reader's mind so they read on for answers.

Look at romance novels. Not too much action happening there. They typically use the mc having to make some sort of choice... Or inner tension... To keep the reader turning pages.

The beginning of Tripwire (a Jack Reacher book) by Lee Child, one of the most highly acclaimed suspense novelists, starts the novel with Jack sipping water in a bar and a detective comes in looking for him. He lies to the man about his identity, they chat for a bit, the man leaves, Jack goes to work... Zero action, but so much tension. The reader is left wondering the same things the character is wondering, who is this guy and why is he searching for him? When the detective turns up dead in the next chapter the reader is hooked... But Jack does no fighting in any of these scenes. There are no car chases. No gunfights. No stand offs. And yet the reader needs to know "why" so they keep turning pages.

The beginning of Storm of Swords by George RR Martin starts with some nasty crows standing around plotting to kill Jon Snow and Sam Tarly. The question raised in the readers mind is "will they get away with it?" And they read on to find out. There is Zero action in that entire prologue.

The beginning of Harry Potter shows the baby Harry being dropped off at his aunt and uncles, who hate him. He is hailed as the "boy who lived" when his parents were violently murdered by an evil wizard. The reader asks "why?" And it takes the next 7 books to answer that question.

Start out with a character people are interested in, and start making the reader ask questions.

 

[SeverinR]

I have started a book in the morning before the action, then moved the beginning around to the better point.

Don't let not having the "perfect" start prevent you from starting.
Once you begin writing, you will find a better place to "start", and even further into writing you might even think of a better place to start.

Just start writing and you will find the beginning.

The beginning for the finished book is important. But beginning the writing is much more important at the start.
Editing will perfect the beginning you finally decide on.
Editing will polish up the scene you wrote that just isn't right.

Charge into the story and get writing it, before the obstacles slow or even stop you from writing.

Many a night I lay in bed, playing a scene out in my head, usually falling asleep in the process. Of course, the exciting parts might not make for a good bedtime story to tell yourself.

 

[Russ]

Thomas Covenant spends a lot of time setting "normal" but is it conflict free? Ah, heck no.

One of the great things about the Covenant works is that his "normal" is very abnormal and full of tension for me as a reader because his "normal" was just so brutal and I knew next to nothing about leprosy. The point I think you are making about keeping in mind the difference between normal for the reader and normal for the character is an important one.