Hi, I'm writing an opening to a novel and have gone with an in medias res start, but I wanted to try a few beginnings that would still be engaging but not necessarily in the middle of an action. Any ideas?
Novel opening...
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The main thing you might want to do in the beginning, is establish your main characters goals, what they strive to do and achieve. Also introduce a small dose of the conflict that will unfold during the story. This will ensure the readers attention is caught.
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A socially driven opening sounds like just the ticket if your plot has action. Starting out with the MCs arguing about something could give you loads of ammo for subplot goodness throughout the novel while guns are going off.
If you're not jumping into the action straight away, then something with dialogue would be good.
Meanwhile, if it's an artsy book, then a good description of setting could also work in your favour, seeing as the tempo of an artsy book will likely be slower than a more actiony book.
I would only start with something completely ordinary if there is a strong element in your book about the MC having to deal with his life thrown into turmoil, at which point showing him shopping for dog food or whatever at the start gives you a chance to establish what type of person he really is and, more to the point, what comfort level he is used to.
If you're not jumping into the action straight away, then something with dialogue would be good.
Meanwhile, if it's an artsy book, then a good description of setting could also work in your favour, seeing as the tempo of an artsy book will likely be slower than a more actiony book.
I would only start with something completely ordinary if there is a strong element in your book about the MC having to deal with his life thrown into turmoil, at which point showing him shopping for dog food or whatever at the start gives you a chance to establish what type of person he really is and, more to the point, what comfort level he is used to.
Put it like this:
The opener is usually the last thing I write. I have an opener - but it never stays that way. I usually have to add at least two scenes before where i thought I would. It's only by the end I know the tone, the theme, the..everything.
Finish your draft. Get the story down. Then wonder which part you've already written is the opener - or whether you need a new one. Once you know the shape of the story as a whole, it should become easier to see where that shape starts.
The opener is usually the last thing I write. I have an opener - but it never stays that way. I usually have to add at least two scenes before where i thought I would. It's only by the end I know the tone, the theme, the..everything.
Finish your draft. Get the story down. Then wonder which part you've already written is the opener - or whether you need a new one. Once you know the shape of the story as a whole, it should become easier to see where that shape starts.
QFT.
I've found it helps to make a Post-It note train with a bunch of notes each containing a point of action. Stick them on the wall in order, then play with the order until you like it. Then cut and paste accordingly and fix whatever you have to in order to fill any holes that resulted from the cut and paste.
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Just a note--when they say start with action, it doesn't mean in the middle of an action scene. It means to start with the story because a lot of people start by introducing the characters and the backstory--taking 50 pages before they get into the actual story.
That's what I ended up doing (AFTER I thought I'd finished my novel enough to begin querying it!) I discovered that I could remove 15,000 words from the "beginning" of my novel entirely, and once those were cut, another 15,000 came out of the middle. It made editing easy!
I think you should worry about how your novel begins after you've figured out (and written) how it ends.
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I tend to sort of feel out my beginnings, basically doing what Cyia said, but I don't do it on paper, just in my head. Generally, though, once I have a pretty decent idea of the characters, I just try to think of when something happens and start playing.
Have you finished the rest of this novel draft? If not, then do that before worrying about your opening. The great majority of the time, openings change dramatically between initial writing and final draft.
I can talk best about what I do.
This is only one method.
There are lots of methods.
To figure out where to begin, I start by looking at the big crisis that shapes the whole story. The Climax. The Big Kahuna.
This comes late in the story, naturally, but a long sequence of protagonist thoughts, actions and decisions lead to that Dramatic Climax.
Now, of course, there's lotsa other stuff that led to that Crisis. Various characters did this and that and weather happened and a declaration of war and Susie came down with the pox.
But in finding my beginning, I'm only looking at what the protagonist did.
That's because the book is about the protagonist and I use her to shape the story.
So ... I go looking at the protagonist's actions.
I sort the actions into two piles:
Those actions that are absolutely necessary for The Crisis to occur just the way it does. This is 'story action'.
Those actions that could be changed or eliminated without affecting The Crisis. Not 'story action'.
Entering the vampire cave is necessary. It is 'story action'.
Buying eggs at the market -- not so much.
I ignore everything that isn't 'story action'.
I go through the story action, decisions and so on of the protagonist, looking for 'tipping points'.
I'm going to use one of these tipping points as the first scene in the story.
"'Tipping points'?" you say.
Ok.
Every story has many places where a different decision would lead to a different Final Crisis. These are 'tipping points'. These are moments where the protagonist has an opportunity to change the story. Her decision could go either way and what she does matters.
Tipping points make the protagonist strong and interesting. Story is not about what happens to the protagonist. Story is what the protagonist decides to do with what happens to her.
And the tipping points are her decisions.
We, as writers, try to show these decisions, because they are so important. Even if we know the protagonist will not run from the upcoming battle, the reader still wants to see that decision to stay and be brave. She wants to see the 'tipping point' where the protagonist has a choice and makes it.
So I look at where we got tipping points.
I want to start the story with a tipping point.
Which one?
-- The tipping point I choose to start the story should hit early in the sequence of story actions.
But not too early.
There's always a long history of protagonist actions, stretching way into the past and extending far into the future. Not all of this important action can happen 'on stage' in the book.
We want to scoop as much important story action into the book as we can. We want all the good stuff to happen 'on stage'. Essential story action that happens before the beginning has to go into flashback or backstory of some kind or prologue. This is a weakness in the story structure.
Note that I'm talking only about 'story action'. We want to scoop in the important stuff that happens, write it out as scenes, and put it on stage. We don't want to put in scenes that have no story action and only convey information. We especially do not want to start with one.
-- Ideally, we want to start with a tipping point that is chronologically tight with the rest of the story. That is, we do not want an outlier in time. This avoids a hiatus in the action. We don't prologue, 'Two years before'.
(Prologues are necessary in some stories, but I feel it may not be the tightest of all structures.)
-- You generally want a tipping point where the protagonist makes an active choice. He has the capacity for some sort of action.
Sometimes, however, there doesn't seem to be much the character can do. The protag is a victim trapped in the dungeon. A Cinderella bound to her stepmother's will.
What the writer does is give the protagonist some choice. That limited choice can be the tipping point.
In the dungeon, she makes a decision not to reveal her secrets, even if it means she has to commit suicide. She gives half her bread to the other inmate -- the man who will later be the key to getting him out of the fortress. She figures out how to blackmail the guard. She palms a spoon to scrape through the rocks.
Or she decides to approach each daily, demeaning, unfair household task with a stalwart heart and a generous spirit.
What's important is the decision.
-- It is especially exciting if the tipping point is a decision that rests on a knife edge. Where it could go either way.
-- All else being equal, I like a tipping point that involves 'big screen action'. That is -- the protagonist makes a decision that results in big bodily motion. Getting-into-a-car-and-racing-down-the-mountain decisions, rather than stern conversation or hiding the jewels in the sofa cushions.
This is just me. Personal preference. Ignore it.
-- You want a tipping point that reveals one of the most basic aspects of your protagonist.
-- A tipping point is always 'story action'. The scene is about something that changes the outcome of the story.
I can't say this too strongly.
The tipping point is not description of an average morning. We don't have two people talking about the lost gold mine.
-- If you can manage it, you want this tipping point to be important. If the protagonist had taken that different path, the crisis of the book would have been entirely different.
-- The tipping point, itself, has to occur somewhere in the first scene, but it need not be laid out right in the opening.
The decision itself may be quite a small part of the scene. What matters is that without this decision, the scene would have gone very differently and the story as a whole would be greatly changed.
-- In genre Romance, one or more tipping points are likely to arise in the hero/heroine meeting.
This is a 'neat' tipping point to start the story with because it ties up several plotting thingums the writer has to do in the first couple chapters.
So, in genre Romance, a good beginning is a tipping point of, for instance, the female protagonist's decision on how to deal with the hero . . .
'Will she rescue the hero or leave him in prison?'
'Will she approach this dangerous man on the street, or find some more cautious way to accomplish her ends?'
'Will she stay to spy on the approaching stranger on the chance he is the messenger she's waiting for, or will she run to safety?'
This is only one method.
There are lots of methods.
To figure out where to begin, I start by looking at the big crisis that shapes the whole story. The Climax. The Big Kahuna.
This comes late in the story, naturally, but a long sequence of protagonist thoughts, actions and decisions lead to that Dramatic Climax.
Now, of course, there's lotsa other stuff that led to that Crisis. Various characters did this and that and weather happened and a declaration of war and Susie came down with the pox.
But in finding my beginning, I'm only looking at what the protagonist did.
That's because the book is about the protagonist and I use her to shape the story.
So ... I go looking at the protagonist's actions.
I sort the actions into two piles:
Those actions that are absolutely necessary for The Crisis to occur just the way it does. This is 'story action'.
Those actions that could be changed or eliminated without affecting The Crisis. Not 'story action'.
Entering the vampire cave is necessary. It is 'story action'.
Buying eggs at the market -- not so much.
I ignore everything that isn't 'story action'.
I go through the story action, decisions and so on of the protagonist, looking for 'tipping points'.
I'm going to use one of these tipping points as the first scene in the story.
"'Tipping points'?" you say.
Ok.
Every story has many places where a different decision would lead to a different Final Crisis. These are 'tipping points'. These are moments where the protagonist has an opportunity to change the story. Her decision could go either way and what she does matters.
Tipping points make the protagonist strong and interesting. Story is not about what happens to the protagonist. Story is what the protagonist decides to do with what happens to her.
And the tipping points are her decisions.
We, as writers, try to show these decisions, because they are so important. Even if we know the protagonist will not run from the upcoming battle, the reader still wants to see that decision to stay and be brave. She wants to see the 'tipping point' where the protagonist has a choice and makes it.
So I look at where we got tipping points.
I want to start the story with a tipping point.
Which one?
-- The tipping point I choose to start the story should hit early in the sequence of story actions.
But not too early.
There's always a long history of protagonist actions, stretching way into the past and extending far into the future. Not all of this important action can happen 'on stage' in the book.
We want to scoop as much important story action into the book as we can. We want all the good stuff to happen 'on stage'. Essential story action that happens before the beginning has to go into flashback or backstory of some kind or prologue. This is a weakness in the story structure.
Note that I'm talking only about 'story action'. We want to scoop in the important stuff that happens, write it out as scenes, and put it on stage. We don't want to put in scenes that have no story action and only convey information. We especially do not want to start with one.
-- Ideally, we want to start with a tipping point that is chronologically tight with the rest of the story. That is, we do not want an outlier in time. This avoids a hiatus in the action. We don't prologue, 'Two years before'.
(Prologues are necessary in some stories, but I feel it may not be the tightest of all structures.)
-- You generally want a tipping point where the protagonist makes an active choice. He has the capacity for some sort of action.
Sometimes, however, there doesn't seem to be much the character can do. The protag is a victim trapped in the dungeon. A Cinderella bound to her stepmother's will.
What the writer does is give the protagonist some choice. That limited choice can be the tipping point.
In the dungeon, she makes a decision not to reveal her secrets, even if it means she has to commit suicide. She gives half her bread to the other inmate -- the man who will later be the key to getting him out of the fortress. She figures out how to blackmail the guard. She palms a spoon to scrape through the rocks.
Or she decides to approach each daily, demeaning, unfair household task with a stalwart heart and a generous spirit.
What's important is the decision.
-- It is especially exciting if the tipping point is a decision that rests on a knife edge. Where it could go either way.
-- All else being equal, I like a tipping point that involves 'big screen action'. That is -- the protagonist makes a decision that results in big bodily motion. Getting-into-a-car-and-racing-down-the-mountain decisions, rather than stern conversation or hiding the jewels in the sofa cushions.
This is just me. Personal preference. Ignore it.
-- You want a tipping point that reveals one of the most basic aspects of your protagonist.
-- A tipping point is always 'story action'. The scene is about something that changes the outcome of the story.
I can't say this too strongly.
The tipping point is not description of an average morning. We don't have two people talking about the lost gold mine.
-- If you can manage it, you want this tipping point to be important. If the protagonist had taken that different path, the crisis of the book would have been entirely different.
-- The tipping point, itself, has to occur somewhere in the first scene, but it need not be laid out right in the opening.
The decision itself may be quite a small part of the scene. What matters is that without this decision, the scene would have gone very differently and the story as a whole would be greatly changed.
-- In genre Romance, one or more tipping points are likely to arise in the hero/heroine meeting.
This is a 'neat' tipping point to start the story with because it ties up several plotting thingums the writer has to do in the first couple chapters.
So, in genre Romance, a good beginning is a tipping point of, for instance, the female protagonist's decision on how to deal with the hero . . .
'Will she rescue the hero or leave him in prison?'
'Will she approach this dangerous man on the street, or find some more cautious way to accomplish her ends?'
'Will she stay to spy on the approaching stranger on the chance he is the messenger she's waiting for, or will she run to safety?'
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There’s no point in thinking too long about the beginning because it will probably change during the editing, it’s bound to.
However, it’s the most important part of your book. You need to hook your reader over the first few pages, if not on the first page. A professional agent will at some stage read your first few pages, and whether he reads on depends on those pages.
However, it’s the most important part of your book. You need to hook your reader over the first few pages, if not on the first page. A professional agent will at some stage read your first few pages, and whether he reads on depends on those pages.
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I'm probably not the best person to reply to this since I've never changed an opening in any of my books -- I always know precisely where I want to start.
I drop my readers into the story moments before some life-altering event that is key to the basic plot. Imagine that the story is someone learning how to live as a quadraplegic. I would launch that story as the MC is preparing to dive off of a pier into shallow water.
Beth (aka Annelise Ryan)
I drop my readers into the story moments before some life-altering event that is key to the basic plot. Imagine that the story is someone learning how to live as a quadraplegic. I would launch that story as the MC is preparing to dive off of a pier into shallow water.
Beth (aka Annelise Ryan)
It seems many novels start with an action scene, which is fine, but I've read many good stories that haven't started with a particularly active scene.
Although I'm no expert, having only just completed my first novel, but I think a "slow-burning" start to a novel is OK as long as it raises questions, so that the reader continues reading in order to get the answers. ("Why is this man dressed in an Armani suit and yet is living alone in a scruffy caravan?" "Why does the woman turn her mobile (cell) phone on silent when her husband enters the room?" "Why is the boy wearing shorts and a t-shirt when it's snowing?")
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Yeah, my new novel breaks the "don't get into action"-model. It starts with a kid going to school. It's a slow starter, but the kid would be totally unbelievable without it, i think.
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You'll change things millions of times before your novel is finished. What you choose now is unlikely to be what you'll end up with.
Just start where you think the story should start. Why does this story happen to this person on that day?
You don't have to be in the middle of an action- the point with that opening is that it throws you right into it. We know something has gone on before this novel has started, which is the trouble with some novels. It's like the character lives in a vacuum.
Just start where you think the story should start. Why does this story happen to this person on that day?
You don't have to be in the middle of an action- the point with that opening is that it throws you right into it. We know something has gone on before this novel has started, which is the trouble with some novels. It's like the character lives in a vacuum.
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I can only speak for what's worked for me, and even then I am always changing.
After I have the ideas and the general concept of the story done, I try to formulate what I am aiming for - the climax of the story. It doesn't have to be definite, but if I know where I'm heading, then I can write much better.
Then I have to come up with a beginning. Even if it's not the beginning I'll stick with, I need a starting point. Once I have the climax and/or the end, and the beginning, then I can write.
But once the first draft is done, I change things around anyway. For me, I do most of my "ah-ha" moments when I'm first drafting, so I have to go back and start to fit it together anyway.
The last story I wrote I have 3 or 4 beginnings until I realized my middle was my beginning. After I settled on that scene, everything flowed much better
After I have the ideas and the general concept of the story done, I try to formulate what I am aiming for - the climax of the story. It doesn't have to be definite, but if I know where I'm heading, then I can write much better.
Then I have to come up with a beginning. Even if it's not the beginning I'll stick with, I need a starting point. Once I have the climax and/or the end, and the beginning, then I can write.
But once the first draft is done, I change things around anyway. For me, I do most of my "ah-ha" moments when I'm first drafting, so I have to go back and start to fit it together anyway.
The last story I wrote I have 3 or 4 beginnings until I realized my middle was my beginning. After I settled on that scene, everything flowed much better
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