Help with starting off a story.

I suck at starting off stories. I get my ideas and characters clear and then I just can't get my feet off the ground. It's awful since I have the stamina to finish something I start and if there's no start, then naturally there's no finish.

So how do you start off a story? Please post any tips or advice please. This is about short stories btw, but if you have techniques that can be applied to novellas and novels then they would also be very useful. (: Thanks!

If there's already a full thread on this subject then please can you post a link since I am yet to find one? Thank you once again. :B

I usually start off my beginning with a hook line and go from there. Something that puts readers as late into the story as possible.

Here is an article on the subject. If you don't understand anything in there, just PM me and I'll do my best to explain it. ^_^

~Rosey

If you don't have a particular beginning in mind, then the first tip to starting off your story is:

Don't start at the beginning.

Start writing your favorite scene, or the one that's clearest in your mind, or the one that's most moving - in short, write the scene you've been wanting to write the most. Then go from there. Either keep writing forward from that scene, or go backwards, or skip to another vibrant scene somewhere in the middle. You don't HAVE to start writing in order. Actually, there are very few people who begin at the beginning, go on until they have come to the end, then stop - at least when writing longer fiction. Most of the people that do tend to get bored somewhere in the middle.

Though there is something to be said for writing in order - and that is, your favorite scenes can work as bait to your switch. Either way, you're going to be changing the beginning a whole lot by the time you're done with editing, so... really, the best tip I can give you is: It's just a draft. I should really just relax.

And after you've gone through a few drafts, the beginning will start to get clearer. You'll have cut and pruned to get the trimmest and most elegant story, and the beginning will show itself.

Just write the darned thing first.

~Annie

Rosey: Thank you!
Annie: Thank you very much as well; I've tried that before, and it's a good tip for many but personally, it doesn't really work for me since I have trouble incorporating it together once I've completed all the bits. As well as this, if I write my favourite scene first I lose incentive to write the rest of it! [:
But yeah, I suppose after a few drafts it will suddenly hit me.
-Sophie

Write bits and pieces then find a way for you to put it all together. Ask your characters questions. What was the saddest time in your life? What was the happiest? Think of it like a movie. Where do you want your movie to start?

BerlynRae: At the beginning! haha, well I've already managed to start the story I want to start thanks to Rosey's help with her useful article, but I guess other people can post any tips they have up here just for future reference since I like to try something new.
;] Thank you everyone!

I try to come up with the best opening sentence in the world, first thing. Since that sentence could save or kill your reader's interest in the story, it's important. So think of some hook line, or possibly hook sentence, that might not even have anything to do with your story. Then MAKE it work with the story and start building from there. Usually something comes, and the rest of the story and follow. Good luck! Beginnings are HARD!!