Although there are as many ways to start a story, whether it’s flash fiction or a novel, as there are writers, I think the key to starting any story is to ground it. What does grounding it mean? I means that, as quickly as you can, drop in information about the who, what, when, and where of your scene. If you get these basics on the page at the beginning, readers know how to orient themselves in the story and are ready to follow the development of it.
That doesn’t mean you can’t be mysterious. In fact, if you include the why and how of a scene at the beginning, your readers are likely to be bored because you’ve told them the point of the scene before they can read it. But there’s a fine line between being mysterious and confusing. Below are some examples of the key to starting any story.
“The Cloak” by Robert Bloch–short story
“The sun was dying, and its blood spattered the sky as it crept into a sepulcher behind the hills. The keening winds sent the dry, fallen leaves scurrying towards the west, as though hastening them to the funeral of the sun.
“‘Nuts!’ said Henderson to himself, and stopped thinking.
“The sun was setting in a dingy red sky, and a dirty raw wind was kicking up the half-rotten leaves in a filthy gutter. Why should he waste time with cheap imagery?
“‘Nuts!’ said Henderson again.
“It was probably a mood evoked by the day, he mused. After all, this was the sunset of Halloween. Tonight was the dreaded All Hallows Eve, when spirits walked in and skulls cried out from their graves beneath the earth.
“Either that, or tonight was just another rotten cold fall day. Henderson sighed.”
- Who: Henderson
- When: Halloween. The word “Nuts” indicates mid-20th century America
- Where: Probably American from the word “Nuts” and the reference to Halloween
- What: It takes a few more paragraphs, but readers discover Henderson is looking for a costume shop, and this hunt launches the story.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells–novel
“The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent light in the lilies of sliver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought runs gracefully free of the trammels of precision.”
- Who: The Time Traveller
- When: The diction and the way the after dinner atmosphere is described sounds like late 19th or early 20th century.
- Where: The Time Traveller’s house, because of the reference to the chairs he made for his guests.
- What: Friends of the Time Traveller, and the narrator is one of them, are relaxing with drinks after a meal he has served them
In the next paragraph, the Time Traveller begins his discussion of dimensions and time travel, so in two paragraphs readers know the basics of the scene and the problem that will be presented.
“Bovine” by JPC Allen–short story
“Yes. Yes.
“I scanned the miniscule living room. The mixture of search and destruction was quite similar to that found in the apartment of my agent after his robbery three years ago.
“Seat cushions, some ripped open, lay scattered on the hardwood floor with tossed books interspersed among them. Lamps overturned. A glass-topped table shattered.
“I inhaled deeply.
“Odd. I hadn’t expected staging a crime scene to bring out the artist in me. Although all my efforts were probably wasted on the audience for which I had prepared it.
“The reason I’d asked Sara to stay at her writer’s retreat for a few weeks was because law enforcement in such a forsaken county of this forsaken state had to be mediocre at best. From what I had learned through my research of the police presence in Marlin County, Ohio, the officers could trip over a body with a suicide note pinned to the shirt and still mull over the possibility of murder.”
- Who: Unnamed male narrator who is an artist of some kind and a snob
- When: Probably contemporary
- Where: A writer friend’s retreat in Marlin County, Ohio
- What: Staging a crime scene
The narrator’s motives for staging a the scene are unknown to readers. But even though they are in the dark about what the character is up to, readers do understand what is taking place and are getting a sense of who is narrating, so they can imagine the scene and follow the story.
What are some of your favorite opening scenes? Put the first lines in the comments
For more tips on writing beginnings, click here.
Excellent advice for all writers. I became a better writer when I was a high school journalist for my school newspaper. I learned to get the who, what, when, and where out of the way early. If it was a story piece, the how came next, followed by the why. Of course, I had to be mysterious and selfish with information when writing whodunit mysteries in my creative writing classes. I still tend to be mysterious in the first four W’s in the several beginning paragraphs of all the fiction I write. But I do agree that it’s best to ground the reader with them as soon as possible.
My biggest peeve is a current tendency not to describe characters beyond hair and eye color. I’ve been told that I’m supposed to impinge a character from their dialogue. But if an author doesn’t describe the main characters with some unique details, I’m not ground in the story at all.
Yes. Unless I’m writing first-person POV, I get right to the unique particulars about the main characters right away. Hats, scarves, freckles, gapped teeth, bald heads, ponytails, glasses, palazzo pants … whatever is important to fleshing out a character. I’ve had readers tell me TMI, and I’ve trimmed down descriptions when I agreed. But as a reader, I want to know what your main characters look like before I get to act 2, or in many cases, before chapter 3. If character A adores character B’s brown eyes, let me know that B has brown eyes when we first meet them. I think many of certain character descriptions, like eye and hair color, have been wrongfully placed in the ‘telling’ section of “show, don’t tell.” I remember a beta reader telling me that I should say jeans instead of blue jeans because all jeans are blue. Wrong advice makes its way into every writer’s toolbox. We just need to find the best tools for us to be better writers, even if that means going against what’s currently popular. Trends come and go, but good writing stays. (Sorry this is so long. I’ll get off my soapbox now. 😊)