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How do you start a story?



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Mon Aug 07, 2017 7:27 pm
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PastelSlushie says...



I've recently started working on a novel, but I'm having issues on the beginning. I'm too worried about what will happen in the middle of the book and closer to the end, and I was never good at stating stories.

The plot I have right now is that the main character, Phoenix, had his parents murdered when he was 15 by his friend Zane. And 20 years later, Phoenix runs back into Zane and horrible things happen to him as revenge.

It's still in the planning session, but I'll work on it as the story goes on. Does anybody have any tips on starting this?
  





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Mon Aug 07, 2017 7:52 pm
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Mageheart says...



I think your first thing to do is to figure out when you want the story to start. There's several different places that seem like good ones from what you've said. You could start with the murder and flash forward to the time that the novel takes place. You can also start a little before he meets Zane again, or even at the exact moment he runs into him.

The second thing you should think about is the mood of the story. Try to choose a starting point that works well with it. If you want something suspenseful and mysterious, bringing up Zane and Phoenix's past with each other might detract from that. But subtly hinting at it in the very beginning of the novel would work much better because the reader is keep in the dark, like Phoenix is when it comes to whatever Zane has planned.

My last piece of advice is also related to the mood of the novel, but it has to do with action instead of timing. What type of things would work well with it? Going off of the suspenseful mood I brought up earlier, starting it off with him, say, grocery shopping might not be the best way to open your novel. It's too normal and lacks the tenseness you would be looking for.

I hope that makes sense, and please don't be afraid to ask me if what I'm saying is unclear or you want me to elaborate!
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Mon Aug 07, 2017 7:54 pm
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Rosendorn says...



Pick a place that looks interesting and start from there.

Honestly, you're probably not going to have a solid beginning until at least draft 2, perhaps 3. If you get caught in endless rewriting, this number can go up into the double digits— I'm speaking from experience of my near-40 drafts before I sat down and wrote one from start to finish. When I did, my beginning smoothed out a lot.

The key to most beginnings is to start the story as late as you possibly can. There's a sweet spot between too early— not enough conflict to be interesting— and too late— too much conflict so we have no reason to care. This sweet spot takes awhile to figure out, so really, just pick a place you think is that spot and start writing.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:31 pm
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PastelSlushie says...



@saentiel - I actually have two ideas at the moment, I can't choose though. The first one is having bits of what happened with the murder at the beginning of each chapter, then fast forward to what's happening in the present, or just have an introduction or prologue of what happened and then going to the present in chapter one.

@Rosendorn - I have about three drafts of the novel from about fourth grade. I was looking at a web comic and it really struck my love for writing, as it inspired me to write my first story that wasn't a school essay or something. I found the drafts a couple days ago and I decided to work with it, changing some things up to find my modern writing style. I remember my writing teacher helping me with the novel a couple times after school, and she taught me about starting stories, but I can't remember it, sadly. I have a theme and where it'll start off at, but I can't get it started when it comes to wording, if that makes any sense.
  





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Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:34 pm
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Mea says...



In my experience, you can't get the beginning right until you've worked out your ending. This is because the beginning exists to set up your ending - you need to know all the things you need to introduce and how important they are.

If you're looking for advice on, say, the first couple of paragraphs, my suggestion is to try to make the tone of the novel and the personality of the protagonist as clear as possible - that's what hooks readers.
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Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:22 am
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Rosendorn says...



Is having the correct wording really that important? Because, as Mea said, you'll be reworking it later.

Of course, harping on that point would make me a rather large hypocrite as I have plotted and planned until I have found the Correct beginning because nothing about the story feels right unless I have a solid foundation to work on.

So if you want to work on a solid foundation, look for the following:

- How do you want to introduce conflict into the novel? You should be introducing conflict in the first scene, and it should be late enough that choices have to be made.

- Is this conflict the primary or secondary conflict? A primary conflict means starting the plot immediately, while a secondary conflict is interesting enough to draw us in but will eventually swap out for the primary conflict.

- What window into the character's life do you want to open first? The way you frame the conflict impacts how people will interpret the character, and the dominant traits you introduce will stick in readers' minds.

Answering those questions help you start to generate something that resembles a good beginning. It won't be the final beginning, likely, but it will be a little less nebulous than "pick a place and start", if you're having problems with it!
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:32 am
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Vervain says...



To be honest, Pastel, I have the same exact problem. I have everything in my head, I sit down to write, and...what are words?

I solve this by reminding myself that this scene probably won't survive to the next draft anyway. No one is going to read this but me (and maybe a few friends I show), so it doesn't need to be perfect. My first line could be "BLEHBARGLESMARGLBLAH" and it would be just as perfect as if it were "Mr and Mrs Dursley of Number Four Privet Drive..." -- which is to say, not at all for my story (since I'm not writing Harry Potter), but it's a way to get the story off the ground.

I have a lot of trouble writing. I'm a perfectionist. Nothing is good enough -- not even the things I read. I hate my own writing more than anything else, but I'm constantly critiquing everything around me, trying to improve and always staying the same because I'm not brave enough to take a big, silly first step into a new project and see it through to the end.

I'm working on it, though. It's taken me years and years to get to this point, writing-wise and psychologically. It's going to take a lot of talking to yourself, a lot of going "this sucks", and a lot of telling yourself "no, this is fine, it's not the final draft yet".

I'm 21. (oh god that feels weird to say you mean I'm not 16???) I've been writing for over a decade now. I'm still not to the point where I'm happy with my beginnings, and I doubt I ever will be.

But I don't have to be happy with my beginning until the final draft -- that's the one that matters! -- so for now, take it from me: Write crap. Write a lot of crap. If you think it's the crappiest crap that's ever crapped, write more of it.

One day, it won't be terrible. Today may be that lucky day. It may not.

Either way, you're writing. Save the beginning until the end, if you have to -- start in the middle. You may find that's the best place to start the story, anyway.

I hope some of this ramble made sense, and maybe a little of it helped.
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Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:15 pm
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Machupicchu14 says...



@PastelSlushie Justa recommendation (don't need to follow it but I'm only giving my thoughts on this), about the plot, when your character Phoenix seeks out revenge try to evade murder, as this would be the same as the start, but make your story more interesting by either doing a duel between them (OK,it's old fashioned but whatever), make your character seek revenge by other means without really just jumping into the 'murdered' (more so like Edmond Dantes did in the Count of Monte Cristo)Whatever you do, I know it'll be amazing :D
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