Tag: Advice on how to begin a story

The Key to Starting Any Story

The key to starting any story

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.

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    Writing Tip — Start With Action

    Like a lot of new writers, I began my stories with two misconceptions: (1) That my characters were fascinating to everybody, and (2) I should start my story by showing my characters following their normal routines. Once readers got to know my characters, I’d bring in the problem or event that changed their ordinary lives and kick off the plot. I didn’t think I needed to start with action

    Now I know better. My characters will never fascinate readers in the same way they do me, just like my kids will never fascinate the other people the way they do my husband and me. Also most daily routines are boring. Boring readers for a couple of chapters, if they last that long, should not be the goal of any writer.

    Looking back, I see why I started like that. It was easier to introduce characters and backstory without having a pesky plot to deal with. Dribble in characters and description and backstory while the plot is under way? That’s hard!

    At first, I didn’t think I could do it. But as I pushed through revisions of my first novel, it became a game. What nuggets of information could I drop into this scene that would flesh out characters or settings without slowing the plot? Rather like a snowboarder surfing the half-pipe and judging how many moves she can work in without losing momentum.

    When I came to write “A Rose from the Ashes”,my YA mystery, I had several false starts. I need to start with action but which one? A mystery should be mysterious, but if I wasn’t careful, I easily could go from mysterious to confusing. I’ve set aside many novels in which the characters in the first chapter know a lot more than I do. Instead of these hints of a bigger story being intriguing, they are just frustrating. I give up.

    I decided to keep the opening scene simple. I stopped trying to be clever. I described the scene as my main character experienced it. Here’s the first paragraph:

    Glancing left and right, I crunched across the frozen weeds to the abandoned children’s home. I could not afford to be spotted now. If only I could take a few seconds and snap some pictures. The light from the early December sunset was perfect. Gashes of blood-red light seeped through the clotted clouds, creating an ominous background for the gray stone building that was rumored to be the scene of a murder.

    So I start with my main character approaching a derelict building and not wanting to get caught doing so. Why doesn’t she want to get caught? There are many reason readers can imagine, and I hope that was enough of a hook to keep them reading. Readers don’t know who the narrator is yet and don’t have to at this point. The character’s fear of being spotted and the creepiness of the scene puts the reader in the character’s shoes and keeps them reading.

    If you have an opening paragraph with action, please put it in the comments below. Or if you’ve read a particularly effective opening with action, please share it!

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