Okay, so I'm writing a story with the opening scene being the main character waking up from a seven thousand year stasis. She last remembers falling asleep at her cousin's house, having a wacky dream and waking up in an unknown place. How might I start this?
Strange dream! Must have been something cousin Rosie fed me last night. She always was a one for exotic cookery, but this was a real peach. Wonder where she's got to? Better get up and look for her, she probably wants a hand with breakfast. Huh, don't remember this steel door with its curious metallic latch... The ringing in her ears became insistent, and finally resolved into some sort of alarm, going on and on. Slowly, agonisingly, she pulled herself upright and swung her legs over the side of a bed she couldn't remember climbing into. Nor could she remember much beyond that crazy dream. That old waterworks that she and her husband had converted into a house, a home for their children and grandchildren. Now, if only she could remember who her husband was... Just write it!
Starting a book with waking up is very cliché. It doesn't damn your book to obscurity (hello Hunger Games) but if you can find a more dynamic opening, do it. ...except starting with a dream. Don't do that, for sure. Where does she wake up? Is it an unfamiliar place?
Usually, when I feel like I want to start a story with a character waking up, I'll do it, but only to get the words on paper. I agree with @Tenderiser that you should look for a more dynamic opening. For now, though, just write whatever scene you have in your head. When I do that, a more dynamic opening always presents itself. And I don't mean always in the hyperbolic sense. I have never written a story in which waking up was the most interesting I could come up with. When you can get the story on paper, you'll get through the waking up scene and I'm positive whatever comes next will be more efficient and interesting.
Agree with the overall lameness (and laziness) of having a character wake up and start their day as an expository tool. But this case, a 7000 year slumber, might be an exception. As far as unique mornings go, that one would seem to be noteworthy.
I agree, waking up as the very first thing in a story is pretty well burnt. Doesn't matter if it is a day, or a millennium, it is kinda over done. How does one simply fall asleep, and then wake up 7k in the future? From a realistic standpoint they would have dehydrated after a few days. And if that didn't happen, starve in about 30 days. Unless they are in a special coma that shuts down everything, but their brain.
Her 'cousin's house' sounds a rather unlikely location for a 7,000 year stasis sleep. And would the house even be there after 7,000 years?
He should be awakened when archeologists unearth him. Look at things that are thousands of years old today: they are buried as dirt builds up, occasional flood deposits, etc.
Exactly. No way is the setting beyond the stasis field going to remain 'as was', after 7,000 years. Although I'm making incorrect assumptions here. The OP says the character fell asleep at her cousins and woke up in an unknown place, so ignore everything I've said in the last two posts.
When does the story start? Does it start when she wakes up? Does the reader need to be with her as she wakes up? When I started my WIP I did the same - starting with my MC waking up. Thanks to some advice here, I soon saw that it really wasn't needed. The story didn't start when they woke up, it started when they were looking over their balcony and noticed one of their possessions on the ground. Taking the reader all through my MC opening his eyes, remembering what happened last night and yawning and stretching didn't do anything to advance the plot.
Why not start the story with the main character just before going into stasis. Why is the character going into stasis? Was it on purpose of completely unexpected? What was the plan 7,000 years ago? If the character just went to sleep 7,000 years ago with no plan for stasis, describe where they were at in the story/stage of life. Then in next chapter can have the character wake up, but maybe not realize 7,000 years have passed and this chapter ends just as character suspects something doesn't seem right. Finally in chapter three it becomes apparent that something has gone horribly wrong and it is 7,000 years later. Then you can have a chapter(s) dealing with the character's shock at 7,000 having been passed (family is dead, whatever dreams were have changed, etc.). Then a chapter about how different the world is 7,000 years later. Then you have a chapter trying to figure out went wrong. Then you can have a chapter explaining what the plot twist is that must be navigated by the 7,000 year jump. Doing it this way allows you to create story arc with interesting detail rather than just waking up in chapter one and boom it's 7,000 years later. Just having them wake up in chapter 1 with it being 7,000 years skips all kinds of chapters that can be interesting. To my way of thinking, starting chapter one 7,000 years later skips over all kinds of chapters of story development. Doing it this way allows for the 7,000 year stasis to be an interesting and unexpected twist. Obviously every chapter I have described may not make sense since I don't know where you are going with your plot, but my point is there are all kinds of interesting opportunities for story telling, plot development and character development that you miss out on by starting the book with the character waking up unexpectedly 7,000 years late. This seems like such a major story twist that it is jarring to just start out with that plot turn. Build up to it. Have fun with it.
By the way, your premise makes me think of the movie Passengers starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in which the two main characters are placed in hibernation as the ship they are on heads to a new planet 120 years away but 30 years into the journey they are erroneously woken up 90 years too soon, which means they won't be alive by the time the ship gets to the new planet and everyone else awakens from hibernation. This is the opposite of your waking up 7,000 years premise but I think there are similarities in concept, just the flip side of each other. It might be worth watching the movie to see how the story arc was developed. For a recap of Passengers, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_(2016_film)
