Hello everyone! My problem is that I seem unable to start my story. I know what events are supposed to happen in what order, but I am unsure as to what point would be the best to start the story. Here's where I am at: The story revolves around 2 young adults, Joanne and Alexander, who are in love with each other, but through the course of the story they end up on opposite sides of a war. Joanne goes through a military training, while Alexander is a politician. I wanted to take either the first chapter to introduce them and show a healthy relationship in the status quo, only slightly hinting at problems that might arise from the different paths they want to take. A second conflict is with Joanne and her father, who is a bit of a control freak and amongst other things does not approve of the relationship. Here's where I am undecided: On the one hand, I want to introduce her father as soon as possible, because he is quite the important figure for her and it would seem really weird to only talk about him and not have him show up in person. But on the other hand, having a scene where Joanne and her dad have an argument follow an opening scene where everything is OK would feel rushed, at least in my opinion. Another problem I have is that I'm not sure what the location of the opening scene should be. There are several ideas in my head, like a party, a date, hell even a bedroom, but none of those seems fitting to introduce Joanne as the main character with her goals and motivations ... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
I assume that this is historical fiction around 1700 a.c. based on the character arcs. Would be strange for a modern story. A love story doesn't work if you cut away how they met, because it doesn't give enough room for growing your character arcs. It suddenly becomes much harder to move the story forward when they have done most things. I'd tell it from the beginning and have them meet in person when the second arc begins. When introducing how they met, avoid the typical flashbacks, long jumps and out-of-place scenes that make it seem like the writer is in a hurry to reach the climax of the first idea. It's like saying, "Sorry about the filler, we'll soon get to the real story.", in which I would pick up another book.
No, the story takes place in a sci-fi setting and it is not about a love story, it is how the desire for revenge drives a person nuts and makes them hurt the people they once loved.
Then you have to explain why the father even needs to know about their relation. A control freak would drive the daughter away in a society where women have freedom. Does the father use spy equipment or scare her into submission? Military training is already turning into running with a handgun from one server hall to another while drones and mini nukes do the actual attacks, so you would need to explain why she happens to be one of the few selected to run the machines when more soldiers mean bigger risks of leaking secrets.
Sorry, but none of this has anything to do with the question I posted. All of this you mentioned I have given enough thought, so I'd really appreciate if you would focus on what I asked or just moved on.
What an incredibly oversensitive person. I'd consider it more rude to derail the thread and avoid the actual question than any reminder of what the thread is about.
The person attempted to offer advice as you seem to be struggling. Although it wasn't the answer you were looking for you could at least have had some basic manners in your response. I imagine it'll also deter others from responding if that's the type of reply they can expect when you don't get the answer you want.
I'm sorry, but my answer was civil? Pointing out that his post has absolutely nothing to do with what I asked isn't rude. It's the truth. It's really not hard to stick to the topic, and if he wanted to give advice on something I hadn't ask for, maybe he could've asked first? Or at least additionally provide an answer to the actual question? Also, by your logic, implying lack of basic manners would be rude, too.
Getting back to the OP before the thread gets closed, don't start at the beginning. Start with the chapters you are ready to write and come back to the beginning later.
Hello friend, Why not start a dialogue with your MC with her father? Showing how control freak he is? And this can happen in his office? Or on her break from her training? Because you are introducing not just the characters but conflicting. There's another aspect to consider. When you start the story, does Joanne and Alezdander know each other? If yes, maybe her love interest said something to her father in each created the conflict in the first place, which can also start a conflict between them. If they don't know each other, then they could start their careers. Joanna is trying in military and Alexander is educating to be a politician. I hope this helps. Keep on good work and have fun.
Yes, I am probably going to do that. But usually I do like to start at the beginning @LoaDyron : Thanks for the thoughts! Thing is, if I put the scene with her father before the one with her boyfriend, it might be a little weird: The former ends with her being angry and sad, the latter one is a scene with relaxed atmosphere. This means, there would have to be some time between them, right? In which case, this begs the question: What happens between? Also, yes they know each other and I consider them a couple from the start.
You can always go back and ad another scene before it that makes sense to you. I do this a lot... if I dont know how to start the beginning, I jump to a scene that will take place, for example, in the middle, and then write what ever scene that spiders from that. When i finally get inspiration for the beginning, i write it and reorganize the scenes i've already written to fit in the newer, earlier scene
Why? Ask yourself, I don't need to know the answer. Who cares? Only you need to know the backstory until the story is finished, be it for a scene or for the whole story. You are creating unforced barriers for yourself.
Moderator hat on here: Fortunately this discussion has moved on of its own accord, but the forum moderators do NOT tolerate a personal tit-for-tat exchange of unpleasantness here on the forum—once we become aware that it has occurred. (We can't be everywhere at once.) If you feel you're being hard done by, or somebody has been rude, you have two options: 1) ignore it and move past it immediately 2) report it to us, via the 'report' option beneath each post There were too many instances in the past where perfectly good threads (like this one) went toxic via personal you did/I didn't/you did battles and ended up getting shut down. Consequently we have firmed-up our moderator response to this sort of exchange. The thread is okay now, thanks to the efforts of a few members to get the discussion back on track. (Thank you for that.) So far so good...we move on.
I totally hear you, @AnimalAsLeader . I have horrendous trouble with story beginnings myself. In fact, changing the beginning of my novel is something I did OVER AND OVER, long after the rest of it was finished. It's hard to know where to begin. In real life, our personal 'stories' seem to occur on a continuous line, don't they? We are all a product of what came before. If our parents hadn't met, we wouldn't even be here. And they wouldn't have met, if it hadn't been for the war. Which wouldn't have started if the two countries hadn't pissed each other off. If we hadn't gone to that particular school we would never have known that particular person. And etc. That's real life. Unfortunately, as writers, we have to start a story someplace and end it as well. Choosing exactly where is a trick that can be difficult to learn. However, I also agree with what lots of the members above were saying. I take it you haven't actually written much of your story yet? If that's true, then I would certainly advise starting somewhere, forget sandwiching in the backstory for now, and write a few scenes as you've envisioned them. Then work on connecting the scenes, etc. The story will emerge in a different way, and you'll have a better idea of what needs to be included and what doesn't. The other option is to start wherever you want. If you've got acres of backstory you want to include, write it. (That's what I did ...and it felt great condensing it and/or getting rid of it altogether later on.) Whatever gets you started and keeps you going. Writing instructors and advice-givers always emphasize that the start of a story must be more or less perfect. You have to create a wonderful hook that grabs the reader, etc etc. They're right. However, what they often DON'T mention is that the story's beginning doesn't need to be perfect when you first begin to write. You can perfect it after you've got the whole story written. By then, you'll have a much better idea of what needs to be included, and what doesn't. Nothing you write is set in stone until you publish it. I like to think of a story's beginning as the 'launch' of the story. Meaning you are sending it off in a particular direction. You won't always know what that direction should be until the story is done.
@jannert You are right, I haven't written much of my story. And actually, I sometimes do write isolated scenes, though my experience with these attempts is that usually I throw them away later, because I don't think they fit in
