I thought I knew where and how my book was going to start. I thought it was the best bit and most interesting part of my book, but as I wrote, I changed it, and my start became chapter two. Then I wrote some more, and added a new first paragraph to my opening, then I moved my opening to the middle of the book, and changed the start completely. Now I'm thinking of removing the original opening from the book altogether. Let thing develop naturally. I don't think anything is set in stone and I don't see writing and editing as two seperate tasks. For me it is all the same.
I struggle with this too, but if I could phrase advice. I think it would be the following. What action starts the plot? Take that moment, and back it up one day. That way we can see one day of the MC's "Normal" life before the plot starts forcing her into situations she may not like.
As others have suggested, read. Re-read the first couple of pages of your favourite book and see how those writers start their stories.
It's best not to concern yourself with finding the best opening paragraph right now. Just write the story. Deal with finding the perfect opening during rewrites. The biggest question you have to answer is: can I stay the course and write an entire novel? All other issues are secondary for now.
It's interesting to see the original first paragraph for George Orwell's 1984. It improved dramatically in rewrites. http://www.thefictiondesk.com/blog/george-orwell-manuscript-for-1984/
I did exactly this for the opening of the novel I'm currently working on, although tried to stick to the same genre. It's a great idea for a starting point to get you past those difficult first few paragraphs and start writing.
I personally use these guidelines for when making a first(or first couple of) chapter. 1. Make the opening line memorable. Or the opening first paragraphs. 2.Introduce the main characters of your story. I usually only start with the protagonists, antagonists come later. Make your main character likable and sympathetic. This is important as you want your reader to stick with this character throughout the entire story so you want their hardships and triumphs to matter. What do they want? What do they love, hate? 3.Set the tone. If it's a light story, make it light. If it's a dark murderous gory story make it so. Let your reader know what they're in for early and stick with it. 4.Set the rules of the world and the geography. This is especially important in fantasy and scifi. It's sometimes hard to get a good balance between telling too much and too little, but it's generally important to get these figured out early. 5.Introduce the conflict/possible antagonist. Introduce the main source of tension early. We don't have to know all about it at first, just that whatever it is, it's no good. 6. What is the inciting event? What is the event that takes your main character from their normal life into the conflict? What stakes do they have in it? What will they gain, what will they lose? This doesn't have to be introduced right away, just early These are all things that a first chapter should probably be doing; but don't worry about getting them all perfect in one go. The most important thing to remember is this: your first draft of anything is always going to be really crappy. I don't care who you are. Don't be worried about making it beautiful, worry about getting to know everything you can know about your characters and their world and it can be made pretty later :^) the age old adage goes: don't get it right, get it written
Depending on whether you are a planner or discovery writer. I am a discovery writer, and I did not yet know my characters well enough to write a good opening. My original first paragraph was to introduce two of my characters, get a feel for what they were like, and the feelings about being in a very strange place. It was really a character sketch for my own use, though I didn't understand it as such. The next chapter cut back to the beginning which was how they got set out on their way, and that was retained. I ultimately dropped the first one, a flash forward, to a hundred year flashback that set the stage for how there came to be Latin/Chinese translators: Battle of Carrhae in Syria 55BC, Roman survivors taken to China, ultimately settled Gansu, the account is fictional but is believed to have actually happened. Their descendants grew up bilingual and used as translators for the Chinese mission to Rome (actually happened also, but may or may not have made it all the way). Bottom line, is don't worry about writing the perfect first chapter... just write something down, you can't finish until you get started. When you are done, you will understand your characters much better and may find some twist in their life that set them on their way. A novel of a thousand pages begins with the first page, so take that step and don't put it off.
You can focus on a few options: The theme and how it is going to be shown throughout Character change The journey (thewritersjourney.com, kalbashir.com) But there is no one way to start - my present work started from a couple of inspired scenes. But it has developed into a proper story as a result of considering the theme, the character's journey and change.
Here's the beginning of my story I'm working on. Would like you guys to critique and give suggestions on anything I could change. I could hear the distant roaring from the cars at the local racetrack. My parole officer gave me two options. I could go to prison or I could go work for a raceteam. The racetrack is where everyone loved to be on a Saturday night. I began to think maybe this could be a new beginning for me. I had been arrested for running alcohol,and eluding police. I could definitely drive a car, so maybe working for a race team could help me possibly become a racecar driver. DBM racing is a local team that is allowing me to work for them. They have given me my own trailer to live In and pay me to work by the hour. The only is that I must stay at the headquarters living on company property.
I think you should post this in the workshop (you need to be a member for at least 2 weeks and critique other people's work).
You have to critique someone else's work. The rules say you have to write at least two critiques to be able to post in the workshop. And then, the more you read other people's work, the more people will read yours
I have the basis of a story but I am unsure how to start. Not the actual plot, just the opening of the story. It starts with a meeting in a dive bar between a criminal/mercenary and an employer wishing to hire his services. But what I'm struggling with is how to set the scene. Do I start with a description of the area/weather first, or the mercenary who is my protagonist? Do I start with a bang or build from humble beginnings? Will too much description turn the reader off before they've been gripped or is this necessary to establish the scene? Is there something I'm missing in my start that I haven't accounted for?
There's no right or wrong way to start a book. You should write out each scenario and see how it reads. You may choose one way for the first draft and end up changing it in later drafts. You should also consider getting the opinions of critique buddies and/or beta readers.
Set the scene as you go along. With this being the beginning of your novel, you want to accomplish one thing: get the reader curious enough to read on. But to do that with description is going to be tough, really tough. So, I'd suggest you: jump into the meeting (from the protagonist's POV, naturally, whether 1st or 3rd person), get the emotion of the meeting going, and as the characters look elsewhere around the room, introduce other elements and the environment. Deal with any details of what's outside the door once the MC leaves the meeting. (although you could have one quick reference to what's out there if it will help build suspense, increase perceived danger level, or whatever) Even in an action thriller, it's not necessary to start with a bang (although you can if you want) but in this instance, you're better off to start with questions: Can these guys be trusted? What's the job? Who's involved? ... that kind of thing. Raise the question, hint that interesting answers will be revealed later, but do it while dealing with the guts of what's actually happening in the scene itself. Any description you include needs to be succinct. If you've got a paragraph, boil it down to a sentence. If you've got a page, boil it down to a paragraph. The first paragraph should make the genre obvious or, at the very least, make hints strong enough in that direction they won't be missed by a seasoned reader of the genre.
The best way to start a story is to just start. Don't worry so much about setting a hook or anything else. Just get the ball rolling. 8 times out of 10, your first chapter won't survive the revision process anyways. This is because the first chapter is like an audition to the reader to help them decide if they want to continue the book. It needs to be representative of the story in its entirety, so many writers go back and re-write after discovering the tone, characters and other important details.
Think through your entire story arch as it exists in your head, evaluate the strengths of the story you hope to tell, and write several beginnings that will best present your ideas and themes. Is this an awesome swashbuckling adventure with swords and magic? Then show some action right away. Is it a dark fantasy adventure, with innocence and life hanging by a thread? Show how the characters accept and handle that truth. Is it about the feints and subtle cuts that occur in the shadows between powerful lords and starving killers? Have a character think through every situation before meeting with a mercenary commander, their next meal hanging on a few words and their posture. Write everything.
@Wexeldorf , the first chapter of your book is going to wind up being more for you than the reader, and will probably not fair well in the first edit. Mine certainly did not. Since it is for YOU, MORE of all of the things you list are important, because they will put you into the story. Some will be scaffolding that will serve its purpose, supporting your tale, then be removed in later edits when stronger items have been put in place and it is no longer needed. Others will remain, but need polishing. But avoid the hazard of writing a few chapters then going back and revising. I find for me, that kills the creativity of writing, because editing is critical, and directly opposite to what I need when I am creating. It is for me and many others, a recipe for procrastination. So after given chapter a quick review for consistency, SPaG and POV (and for me, run-on sentences... a paragraph should have more periods than lines!) The hardest sentence in your book to write is the first one, and the second hardest is the last one. So write, don't fret, get it down and started. The sooner you get the first sentence down, the sooner you get to the last one. Your opening sounds intriguing with a lot of possibilities.
Thanks guys, a lot of food for thought. I appreciate all of your input and I think I know what I'm going to do.
I would start right inside the meeting. "So who do you want me to kill?" I could feel my eyebrows involuntarily climbing, as I hissed, "For God's sake, keep your voice down!" He grinned. "In this bar? Son, if you think that anyone in this bar cares, maybe you should run along and find yourself a nice tearoom."
Assuming the character is going to change, why not start by showing who the character is at the beginning.
