Hi guys! I am writing a story, and so far I've started a little bit on chapter 1 and a little bit on chapter 2 (I tend to write what comes to my mind, and so far it's been in both of these chapters!), but then it suddenly hit me - I have planned to have the readers KNOW that one of my protagonists dies in the beginning of the story; my first chapter takes place in the end of the story, and then you go back in chapter 2 and follows the journey to the point where one of my protagonists lies bleeding in the battlefield - seconds from dying. Do YOU guys think I've revealed too much? Should I just delete this 'beginning' chapter and have chapter 2 be chapter 1 in stead, or do you think that the readers, or the possible readers - if I ever get published (or done writing), would find it suspense and interesting to read a story, where the end has been revealed? Let me know what you think
Well, it depends how much and what you revealed in the first chapter. You could just describe it vaguely so your reader doesn't know exactly what's going on.
I guess - well, they don't know for sure that he's dying; it's not like he closes his eyes, and then we zoom back in time to where it started. They're having a special time -the older brother holding the dying younger one, while the battle is still going strong. Then The older one asked how they ended up there, and we reflect back. In good time we'll reach the point of where they are in the beginning, and we'll find out if he dies or not, and if the battle they're in is THE final battle, if they win said battle, and so on.
w00t ulubelu representing Philly! Anyways to talk about the OP. It does not hurt to start a story at the ending. Think about films/movies that use this technique. Three examples off of the top of my head I could think of are: The Notebook, Terminator 2 and Inception. They start the story at a point where it is relevant to have to go back into the past and reveal how the protagonist got to that point in time. There is a small catch. Once the story catches up to the point revealed at the beginning of the story, you must have a strong closing where you reveal after the death or situation. It does not matter how you tell the story, if it is relevant to go back in time then so be it.
Live2write pretty much summed it up. To expand on it, Inception (one of my favorite movies ever) had a beginning similar to what you want. The main character is washed up on the shore and is unconsious and a bunch of guards take him to a warlord type guy and when the MC wakes up they recognize each other. After the main story, they go back to the moment, everything revealed and its pretty damn epic because you have no freaking clue whats going on the first time you see the beginning. So my advise to you to have ironic moment or a twist once you reach the beginning/ending. That way the reader doesn't wonder why (s)he read the book in the first place. It can be small, but give them a treat.
It depends on how you write the story. The point of the story need not be the character's survival, or it could even be a surprise in which the other character is killed while saving the first protagonist's life. There are many, many possibilities. Write your story, and then work out the kinks. If that means slicing out entire scenes, or even chapters, so be it.
I ain't going to sum up but 'll say this: Even if the dead of a character is revealed in the first chapter the story can still be suspenseful if you don't reveal how he/she died. This happens in crime stories all the time.
Like Cogito said, it depends on how you write it. If you manage to keep the reader interested about how the mc got to that situation, then go for it.
To be the voice of reason I will say that this is telling too much. If you plan on writing a character driven story, what will happen if readers don't connect with those characters? What if they reach the end of the book and they don't care if all of them die?
