Hello everyone, I am currently writing a fantasy novel, and I am facing some issues As I know, introducing the main conflict must be written in the first 30 pages or so, but I have more than one conflict. Let's say that (x) wants to kill (y), but (y) wasn't even born yet at that time. (first conflict ) 2 chapters must clarify the past, and that goes until page 40 Now, (y) is a young man, he has some problems must deal with, and until page 200 his problems are solved (conflict 2), however One of those problems throw our friend (y) in a a huge problem with (x), a new problem started: how to escape from (x) rather than killing him.( conflict 3) My question is: how to introduce my main character in the first 30 pages when I have to explain 10 years of important events before he was born! My second question: how to introduce conflict 2 in the first 30 pages? I have tried almost everything! Any ideas will be appreciated
Focus on attributes that are important to the plot. This should not be too difficult to accomplish at the beginning of your novel. Information like occupation, a few important events that shaped their character and how they see the world, and their current living situation (location, family, friends, etc.) can all be added in just a few paragraphs. Add some physical details about your main character during the first 'slow' moment in your novel where not a lot is happening plot wise. Other details about your main character's past can be sprinkled in throughout the novel. A lot can be learned by how he or she interacts with other characters so some early dialogue could help. Let readers learn more about your main character as the novel progresses. Your character will undergo growth and learn about himself/herself as well. Some well timed flashbacks, especially if foreshadowed, can be an interesting way to add backstory to your main character later in your novel. You might not want to spend too much of the beginning of your novel explaining the past or it might look like an infodump. Try to sprinkle in the important details you're referring to as the plot progresses. Just make sure that you have something there to hook the reader. I do not see anything wrong with introducing a second conflict later in the novel. You could add some foreshadowing about it unless you want it to be a plot twist.
Wellcome to the board, Alise! Some views which might help: 1. Don't focus too much to plot and it's timeline. Pay attention to character arch and theme. Break the timeline. 2. Use flashbacks. Start just before conflict 2. Use flashbacks to introduce conflict one. 3. Connect those flashbacks to conflict 2. 4. If you want to, you can make flashbacks some kind of revelations. Protagonist finds out that... 5. Story is not about plot. It's more about character arch. How does your hero change during everything that is hard, difficult, dangerous, counterintuitive from his/her view... 6. Why should we care? Pay attention to this aspect. What makes these things important to reader? That is how I would do it. Start with conflict 2 and bring conflict one to the side, to highlight and strengthen conflict 2, step by step. And two resolutions: conflict one first so that it takes things down and conflict two in the end.
I know how you feel. It's hard to start a story (that's a thing I find difficult) when there is so much that you need to explain. However, you actually don't. Start with your main character. Start with what he/she is doing now. It doesn't have to be full-on battle or anything like that. Just plop them in the world you've created and get us started. What is that character doing? How does this character feel about what they're doing? Who is this character interacting with? Where are they? How much of the setting do they actually notice? (Sometimes it's good to focus on what this character likes or dislikes about their surroundings. It's also good if something is not quite right with their surroundings and they notice it.) What's the issue that concerns them most, right there at the start? What are they worried about? What are they working on? I like to hearken back to the granddaddy of all Fantasy epics. The Lord of the Rings. Forget the movie. I'm talking about the book. How does the book start? With the loss of the One Ring and the Rise of Sauron and the peril of Middle Earth, and.... Nope. It starts with a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lives in a hole dug into the side of a hill (which is very comfortably furnished.) The hobbit is about to host his 111th birthday party, and the fuss and kerfuffle of planning the party is getting to him. By the time we get around to learning about all that went before, and all the perils of the world itself, we're ready. We know the hobbits, we know some of the other characters (especially Gandalf) and we're ready for our 'history lesson' and eager to learn about the One Ring.
There's value in the Fantasy prologue too (as seen in the Peter Jackson films); it establishes the scale and tone of the larger story at the beginning so that readers know what kind of story they are about to start. It gives the reader a taste of the payoff they will get from investing in the characters. A prologue is not the only way to do this, but is useful when the character's story starts slow and small. Executing this properly is a balance between whetting the reader's appetite and establishing sympathy for the characters. Too much action and it's boring; same for too little action.
I am normally a fan of a good prologue, but the LOTR movie one? Not so much. I do wonder just how much of it sunk in for somebody who was totally unfamiliar with the story (having never read the book.) Fortunately it didn't go on for too long, but it was basically an infodump. We didn't care about any of those characters yet. In the book, Gandalf told that same information to Frodo when Gandalf returned to Bag End to explain why he'd been away so long. He wanted Frodo to understand the history of the Ring, and realise how dangerous it was—how much danger Frodo was already in, simply by possessing it. It wasn't just a magic disappearing ring that Bilbo had found in Gollum's cave, was it? By the time Gandalf told Frodo the true story, we readers were more than ready to hear it. (The difference between an infodump and a timely release of information.) We'd seen Bilbo's reluctance to part with the ring, and we'd heard Gandalf tell Frodo NOT to use the ring under any circumstances and to keep it hidden. So we knew something wasn't quite right. We really cared about Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Sam, Pippin,and Merry by that point in the story as well. When the stakes turned out to be much higher than we'd ever imagined, we were very worried for them. It's certainly possible to load the start of a story with all sorts of background stuff, but it's not necessary. I would advise the OP to try starting small. I am reading between the lines in her OP, but it sounds as if she's already wrestled with the idea of starting 'big,' and it's been an overwhelming experience. When that happens, it's often a good idea to try an entirely different kind of approach. In this case, try starting with the characters, rather than 'the world.'
This was very helpful. I have already wrote the hook in page 2 and page 30.. I will explain something.. It is like I am writing harry potter and started the story From Lord Voldemort POV, so readers already know that harry will be born later, and Lord Voldemort will kill him. the only issues is Harry doesn't even know that he is the chosen one until later on page 300 ( the book is 400 pages ), it is a trilogy. My only concern if I will start from Harry’s POV is, when I am going to explain what happened before without it seems info dump or even worse, tell no show!
Thank you, Alan . you are suggesting to start as The Hunger Games started and that what I wanted to do. my only problem is, in my story it will look like Harry is standing in front of Lord Voldemort and go back slowly with a flashback, rather than it starts from The the boy who lived.
Ask yourself how did Harry learn about Voldemort's past? Harry learned pieces of information about him early in the series (e.g. Tom Riddle's diary in The Chamber of Secrets) but it was not until book six when Harry took private lessons from Dumbledore that he gained a substantial amount of knowledge about Voldemort's younger life. During their private lessons they used the "Pensieve" which was a clever device J.K. Rowling used to introduce flashbacks. I recently read On Writing by Stephen King and he called J.K. Rowling the 'champ of back story' so looking to the Harry Potter series for a solution to your problem is probably a good idea.
Interesting to take a look at how the Harry Potter books started. They didn't start with Harry confronting Voldemort, plus flashbacks, etc. Here is how the books began. (This is a screenshot from the Amazon Look Inside feature.) The Harry Potter books started 'small' didn't they? With a few characters. And look what they built to! Start with your characters. Your worldbuilding isn't interesting to any of your readers—yet. They'll get interested in your world THROUGH your characters. The art of storytelling is more than simply devising a cracking plot and spitting it out in all its glory in the first 30 pages. You need to cultivate the skill of drawing your readers in. Don't try to go too fast. Start small and build to bigger things. It's a mistake I've seen agents complaining about. Stories begin with a huge bang (some writers insist that's what a 'hook' is), follows by a loss of tension and momentum. A hook is simply something that catches the reader's interest. It can be a very small thing. An 111st birthday which is very unusual in the hobbit world. Some very ordinary people who are trying to keep their family's history hush-hush.
Thank you that was helpful. When I wrote the story in the beginning, I started as you said, upon finishing the story I added the first 2 chapters. As you said exactley, I started as the movie Lord of the ring instead of starting as the book Lord of the ring. In the book Gandalf tells Frodo what happened earlier, in my story, this will look like an info dump, that's my problem. plus I don't have some one like Gandalf that takes care of Frodo, Frodo is a total miss in my story, he will know that he is the chosen later around Page 300. You made a good point, but how to avoid info-dumping in this case? I have 2 POV voices, Frodo voice and the third voice who tells what happened before Frodo was born
Thank you, I wrote a brief prologue, one page only because I know most people actually skip it! But to be honest, my first 2 chapters are the prologue, I just named them chapter 1 and 2 so readers will not skip them!
Just keep on writing. Most writers will tell you that the way you begin a story is the thing you are most likely to change after you reach the end and start revising. The most important thing, right now, is not to get bogged down. Just keep going. You aren't writing anything that can't be changed later on. The only thing that will truly hold you back is if you never get the story finished.
True, start small and then revel the big events looks more interesting than starting with the big event. Most of you suggested the same thing. In that case, I will rewrite my the whole story again, but it's worth it. Thank you so much
True, my mother always said that no one is running after you with a stick! It means take it slowly. I spend a year writing the story, review it more than a hundred times, and I didn't even know that I started in the wrong place until recently. I am glad I asked and couldn't be happier with all your help
Welcome to the same problem I face in my story world. The way I've tackled this problem is that I introduce the person and the problem that bothers him the most, emotionally. Any other problem, and there are scores of them and some of them are much bigger, are left for later. I want the reader to get emotionally invested in my main character, as soon as possible.
Yes, this is the right way indeed Thank you so much, I started to rewrite the story again based on this information.
I don't think you necessarily have to explain everything before he was born just to introduce the conflict. But you gave only a brief idea of your story ad didn't say why you feel it's important to reveal all this information first. Is it important to the story that your characters knows everything? Could it be possible he doesn't and this information is revealed to the reader as your character finds out. Example: Someone wants to kill your character, for seemingly no reason. In order to stay alive he must root through his past, parent's past (whatever) and discover why someone has it in for him and how he can get them off his back.
Through narrative flashbacks. 1. No I am not. 2. If you make it look like that, then it will, otherwise not.
