Starting with a polticial event

Starting with a political meeting, setting up the stage, is okay. You could slip into action; a fight between royalists and revolutionaries, introduce your characters—maybe some antagonist(s). If you combine strong voices with a realistic show of characters and location, it could be a very strong opener Try to stay away from major political figures (or you better do lots or research); but it’s okay to introduce James ………. as one of Ben’s most ardent supporters.

To quote some AW genius whose name I cannot remember, "start at the point where your main character's life goes pear-shaped."

Focus on the character's progression (especially in YA) and you should be fine.

Try figuring out how you'll end the story. Then you can write the beginning that foreshadows that end. E.g. in a murder-mystery where the point is to solve a murder at the end, they begin by finding the body. Or in a story about saving the world, they begin with the hero getting involved in the greater conflict (or the conflict coming to the hero's little corner of the world).

Kitti is right -- figure out how the story ends. That will tell you what the most important conflict is. Then that will tell you which character is most important. And whatever that character most wants is what will drive the story. The beginning kind of writes itself that way.

you may also need to just write past your beginning and ignore it, even if it sucks. I ended up cutting about 20,000 words from the beginning of my manuscript because I didn't figure out where I should *really* have started the book until I'd finished the book.

I'm in a similar position, history gal.

I'm having trouble with the beginning. I REALLY want to start with the death of the MC's father, but I don't know whether I should start later--when she and her mother have been forced to move into her uncle's house, or even many years later.

I decided to do what Kitti and Libbie advised: just write something and move on. The beginning might change later anyway. Once I get something down, I can at least move on. I'll let you know if it works, haha.

A riot sounds like a decent beginning, by the way. Having a father or someone else just saunter into the room/house and start talking politics can come across as contrived--it feels like the author is saying, "now we're going to set the stage for you; your feature film will begin shortly." It does seem to be a fairly common device, but not one I like.

You can mix in action. For instance, someone could come in and say, "Political event xyz just happened, and now there's a riot. Hand me my gun." Either he wants to shoot the other guys or he wants to protect the house. This gives you a bit of room for exposition via dialogue AND it adds action/tension.

It's not really about politics. It's also about storms, and strangers coming to town and maurauding barbarians wiping out your village, and running away to sea.

Characters need a dog in the fight before a situation will bite. That's why starting with change doesn't quite work.

The question I like to ask most is:


We need to begin with the answer to that question.

angeliz2k said:

You can mix in action. For instance, someone could come in and say, "Political event xyz just happened, and now there's a riot. Hand me my gun." Either he wants to shoot the other guys or he wants to protect the house. This gives you a bit of room for exposition via dialogue AND it adds action/tension.

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Another way of doing this is having the MC and his family woken by or be distracted by the sounds of an angry crowd starting to gather. Their most basic reaction is going to go out and see what's causing the noise. Riots don't just magically happen. They're the result of an angry crowd reaching the breaking point and combusting.