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Multiple Beginnings?

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Ohgodaspider

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Has anyone here ever written two beginnings to see which one you enjoyed more?

i'm just wondering because i'm thinking of doing just that.
 

Kerosene

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The 1st book of my WIP, has 9 beginnings.
Later, I might write a new one. I might be insane...


It's a good trick to see what you like better, but the new one always improves from the old. I really can't say I would choose the first beginning over the newer ones though.
 

Waves

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I have yes.

But keep in mind:

a) Are you writing a new beginning for your already 'written' story?

  • Have to be careful to not mess with things 'set in stone' later on in the story, or go back and change them.
b) Are you writing a new beginning for an altered story? (As in keeping the basic characters/setting but rewriting the plot) (my experience)

c) Are you starting out on a story and seeing where you want to take it?
 
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WriteMinded

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I wrote my first chapter more times than I care to remember. Then, like Waves said, I had to change things later. It wasn't done for enjoyment, though. It was done so I could get it right. Beginnings are hard - for me, anyway.
 

dangerousbill

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Has anyone here ever written two beginnings to see which one you enjoyed more?

i'm just wondering because i'm thinking of doing just that.

I do it all the time. Beginnings are absolutely important in drawing a reader into the story and deserve as much attention as you can give them, including replacing them. More often, I'll find that chapter 1 is too dull and lop it off, making ch. 2 the beginning. In my wip, however, I added another chapter to get some action up front.
 

rwm4768

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The beginnings of my stories get rewritten more than any other part. I like to keep going at it until I get it right.
 

lorna_w

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oh, sure. Especially if you're a pantser--but even if you're not--as you write the thing, you realize there's a better beginning than the first one you wrote.

And many more times when I was a greener writer, I've taken the first fifty pages and just tossed it to get to the real beginning. Or the first three pages of a short story. I've finally learned, I think, to begin at the beginning, or at a beginning.
 

Bufty

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Agreed- start at 'a' beginning.

OP, write as many openings as you wish, but in many case the real beginning point for the story is not apparent until the story is finished.
 

Nick Rolynd

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I generally write a beginning about five or six times before I settle on one I like. Usually, it's more about finding the right starting point than anything else. All the same material gets included each time, but I'll usually rearrange the order in which I present it.

For example, in my current WIP, I originally started with my protagonist in post-apocalyptic future NYC and showed his normal life struggles as a lead in to his assassination attempt. But it wasn't engaging enough. So then, I moved the starting point forward, skipping the NYC scenes at first and starting with him arriving in the ruins of Detroit with a grand introductory image.

I didn't like that either because if I started him there, the lead in to the assassination was still too long, and I had to bridge gaps between the arrival and assassination with scenes that weren't very--you guessed it--engaging.

This went on for several more rounds.

I finally got it: it starts with the failure of the assassination attempt. In other words, it starts with the assassin getting his head blown off with a rock.

I pretty much go through this same process every time because I just cannot get a story going if I'm not confident with the beginning. It acts as a foundation for the rest of the story, so it needs to be strong in my eyes from the get-go or I'll just keep thinking about how much sucks and won't be able to continue writing the rest of the story.
 

Raventongue

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@#$% I hate beginnings! So I write one that sucks as sort of a placeholder, finish the story, then go back and replace it with something decent in editing.
 

AllyKitten

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My odd problem with beginnings is that I tend to go further and further back in time with each beginning that I rewrite. Or I'll decide that the history I created for my story sounds far more interesting than the actual story and I'll start writing the history in more detail and get sidetracked from the original story.
 

Wayward Daughter

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For my WIP I had a basic idea for...5...possible beginnings. I may go back and write one of them, but I like the one that I chose. Nothing wrong with having options :).
 

Miss Plum

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I'm very picky about beginnings and endings. I chisel them out of marble and polish them to a luster and then write everything in between. I think I want to begin and end with carefully crafted scenes because I want to grab the reader in the beginning and astonish them in the end.
 

WriteMinded

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My odd problem with beginnings is that I tend to go further and further back in time with each beginning that I rewrite. Or I'll decide that the history I created for my story sounds far more interesting than the actual story and I'll start writing the history in more detail and get sidetracked from the original story.
:) That's how I came to write my recently completed novel.
 

Shaded

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I've never written more than one beginning for a novel. But it is the single most revised chapter, because it's important that you get it right. For this reason, I think that options can be a good thing.
 

Orchestra

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There are two occasions where I might rewrite the beginning:
  • if it sucks, or
  • if I suddenly think of something that will make it 200 % better.
Otherwise I just move on, gently reminding myself that any part of story, including the beginning, can be good in more ways than one and it's not the best use of time to rework things just to make them different.
 

DanielaTorre

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@#$% I hate beginnings! So I write one that sucks as sort of a placeholder, finish the story, then go back and replace it with something decent in editing.

This. Always this. Why? Because it gives you the freedom to develop your story, and as you do, the ideas start coming and you can scatter bits of foreshadowing. That, and since you wrote the ending, then you can make the beginning do sort of a full circle to match.

Everything topic I've read on "beginnings" has always had one thing in common though: rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
 

yttar

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The worse part for me is that I've written multiple beginnings for my WIP to fix one problem or another im having with character, pacing, wtc. and now I'm thinking of going back to the more-or-less original version I started with because it feels the best for what I want.

Still, I'd say write as many different openings as you want, but then take a serious look at what you're trying to fix, what each opening accomplishes, does it fix those problems or create new one, then settle with the one that fits best with what you want and what the story needs.

Yttar
 
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