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150+ Story Starters: Creative Sentences To Start A Story

The most important thing about writing is finding a good idea . You have to have a great idea to write a story. You have to be able to see the whole picture before you can start to write it. Sometimes, you might need help with that. Story starters are a great way to get the story rolling. You can use them to kick off a story, start a character in a story or even start a scene in a story.

When you start writing a story, you need to have a hook. A hook can be a character or a plot device. It can also be a setting, something like “A young man came into a bar with a horse.” or a setting like “It was the summer of 1969, and there were no cell phones.” The first sentence of a story is often the hook. It can also be a premise or a situation, such as, “A strange old man in a black cloak was sitting on the train platform.”

Story starters are a way to quickly get the story going. They give the reader a place to start reading your story. Some story starters are obvious, and some are not. The best story starters are the ones that give the reader a glimpse into the story. They can be a part of a story or a part of a scene. They can be a way to show the reader the mood of a story. If you want to start a story, you can use a simple sentence. You can also use a question or an inspirational quote. In this post, we have listed over 150 story starters to get your story started with a bang! A great way to use these story starters is at the start of the Finish The Story game .

If you want more story starters, check out this video on some creative story starter sentences to use in your stories:

150+ Creative Story Starters

Here is a list of good sentences to start a story with:

• I’ve read about a million stories about princesses but never thought I could ever be one.
• There was once a man who was very old, but he was wise. He lived for a very long time, and he was very happy.
• What is the difference between a man and a cat? A cat has nine lives.
• In the middle of the night, a boy is running through the woods.
• It is the end of the world.
• He knew he was not allowed to look into the eyes of the princess, but he couldn’t help himself.
• The year is 1893. A young boy was running away from home.
• What if the Forest was actually a magical portal to another dimension, the Forest was a portal to the Otherworld?
• In the Forest, you will find a vast number of magical beings of all sorts. 
• It was the middle of the night, and the forest was quiet. No bugs or animals disturbed the silence. There were no birds, no chirping. 
• If you wish to stay in the Forest, you will need to follow these rules: No one shall leave the Forest. No one shall enter. No one shall take anything from the Forest.
• “It was a terrible day,” said the old man in a raspy voice.
• A cat is flying through the air, higher and higher, when it happens, and the cat doesn’t know how it got there, how it got to be in the sky.
• I was lying in the woods, and I was daydreaming.
• The Earth is a world of wonders. 
• The fairy is the most amazing creature I have ever met.
• A young girl was sitting on a tree stump at the edge of a river when she noticed a magical tree growing in the water.
• My dancing rat is dressed in a jacket, a tie and glasses, which make him look like a person. 
• In the darkness of the night, I am alone, but I know that I am not. 
• Owls are the oldest, and most intelligent, of all birds.
• My name is Reyna, and I am a fox. 
• The woman was drowning.
• One day, he was walking in the forest.
• It was a dark and stormy night…
• There was a young girl who could not sleep…
• A boy in a black cape rode on a white horse…
• A crazy old man in a black cloak was sitting in the middle of the street…
• The sun was setting on a beautiful summer day…
• The dog was restless…”
• There was a young boy in a brown coat…
• I met a young man in the woods…
• In the middle of a dark forest…
• The young girl was at home with her family…
• There was a young man who was sitting on a …
• A young man came into a bar with a horse…
• I have had a lot of bad dreams…
• He was a man who wanted to be king…
• It was the summer of 1969, and there were no cell phones.
• I know what you’re thinking. But no, I don’t want to be a vegetarian. The worst part is I don’t like the taste.
• She looked at the boy and decided to ask him why he wasn’t eating. She didn’t want to look mean, but she was going to ask him anyway.
• The song played on the radio, as Samual wiped away his tears.
• This was the part when everything was about to go downhill. But it didn’t…
• “Why make life harder for yourself?” asked Claire, as she bit into her apple.
• She made a promise to herself that she would never do it.
• I was able to escape.
• I was reading a book when the accident happened.
• “I can’t stand up for people who lie and cheat.” I cried.
• You look at me and I feel beautiful.
• I know what I want to be when I grow up.
• We didn’t have much money. But we knew how to throw a good party.
• The wind blew on the silent streets of London.
• What do you get when you cross an angry bee and my sister?
• The flight was slow and bumpy. I was half asleep when the captain announced we were going down.
• At the far end of the city was a river that was overgrown with weeds. 
• It was a quiet night in the middle of a busy week.
• One afternoon, I was eating a sandwich in the park when I spotted a stranger.
• In the late afternoon, a few students sat on the lawn reading.
• The fireflies were dancing in the twilight as the sunset.
• In the early evening, the children played in the park.
• The sun was setting and the moon was rising.
• A crowd gathered in the square as the band played.
• The top of the water tower shone in the moonlight.
• The light in the living room was on, but the light in the kitchen was off.
•  When I was a little boy, I used to make up stories about the adventures of these amazing animals, creatures, and so on. 
• All of the sudden, I realized I was standing in the middle of an open field surrounded by nothing but wildflowers, and the only thing I remembered about it was that I’d never seen a tree before.
• It’s the kind of thing that’s only happened to me once before in my life, but it’s so cool to see it.
• They gave him a little wave as they drove away.
• The car had left the parking lot, and a few hours later we arrived home.
• They were going to play a game of bingo.
• He’d made up his mind to do it. He’d have to tell her soon, though. He was waiting for a moment when they were alone and he could say it without feeling like an idiot. But when that moment came, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
• Jamie always wanted to own a plane, but his parents were a little tight on the budget. So he’d been saving up to buy one of his own. 
• The night was getting colder, and the wind was blowing in from the west.
• The doctor stared down at the small, withered corpse.
• She’d never been in the woods before, but she wasn’t afraid.
• The kids were having a great time in the playground.
• The police caught the thieves red-handed.
• The world needs a hero more than ever.
• Mother always said, “Be good and nice things will happen…”
• There is a difference between what you see and what you think you see.
• The sun was low in the sky and the air was warm.
• “It’s time to go home,” she said, “I’m getting a headache.”
• It was a cold winter’s day, and the snow had come early.
• I found a wounded bird in my garden.
• “You should have seen the look on my face.”
• He opened the door and stepped back.
• My father used to say, “All good things come to an end.”
• The problem with fast cars is that they break so easily.
• “What do you think of this one?” asked Mindy.
• “If I asked you to do something, would you do it?” asked Jacob.
• I was surprised to see her on the bus.
• I was never the most popular one in my class.
• We had a bad fight that day.
• The coffee machine had stopped working, so I went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.
• It was a muggy night, and the air-conditioning unit was so loud it hurt my ears.
• I had a sleepless night because I couldn’t get my head to turn off.
• I woke up at dawn and heard a horrible noise.
• I was so tired I didn’t know if I’d be able to sleep that night.
• I put on the light and looked at myself in the mirror.
• I decided to go in, but the door was locked.
• A man in a red sweater stood staring at a little kitten as if it was on fire.
• “It’s so beautiful,” he said, “I’m going to take a picture.”
• “I think we’re lost,” he said, “It’s all your fault.”
• It’s hard to imagine what a better life might be like
• He was a tall, lanky man, with a long face, a nose like a pin, and a thin, sandy moustache.
• He had a face like a lion’s and an eye like a hawk’s.
• The man was so broad and strong that it was as if a mountain had been folded up and carried in his belly.
• I opened the door. I didn’t see her, but I knew she was there.
• I walked down the street. I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty.
• I arrived at my parents’ home at 8:00 AM.
• The nurse had been very helpful.
• On the table was an array of desserts.
• I had just finished putting the last of my books in the trunk.
• A car horn honked, startling me.
• The kitchen was full of pots and pans.
• There are too many things to remember.
• The world was my oyster. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
•  “My grandfather was a World War II veteran. He was a decorated hero who’d earned himself a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.
• Beneath the menacing, skeletal shadow of the mountain, a hermit sat on his ledge. His gnarled hands folded on his gnarled knees. His eyes stared blankly into the fog. 
• I heard a story about a dragon, who was said to be the size of a house, that lived on the top of the tallest mountain in the world.
•  I was told a story about a man who found a golden treasure, which was buried in this very park.
• He stood alone in the middle of a dark and silent room, his head cocked to one side, the brown locks of his hair, which were parted in the middle, falling down over his eyes.
•  Growing up, I was the black sheep of the family. I had my father’s eyes, but my mother’s smile.
• Once upon a time, there was a woman named Miss Muffett, and she lived in a big house with many rooms.
• When I was a child, my mother told me that the water looked so bright because the sun was shining on it. I did not understand what she meant at the time.    
•  The man in the boat took the water bottle and drank from it as he paddled away.
• The man looked at the child with a mixture of pity and contempt.
• An old man and his grandson sat in their garden. The old man told his grandson to dig a hole. 
• An old woman was taking a walk on the beach. The tide was high and she had to wade through the water to get to the other side.
• She looked up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes past seven.
• The man looked up from the map he was studying. “How’s it going, mate?”
• I was in my room on the third floor, staring out of the window.
• A dark silhouette of a woman stood in the doorway.
• The church bells began to ring.
• The moon rose above the horizon.
• A bright light shone over the road.
• The night sky began to glow.
• I could hear my mother cooking in the kitchen.
• The fog began to roll in.
• He came in late to the class and sat at the back.
• A young boy picked up a penny and put it in his pocket.
• He went to the bathroom and looked at his face in the mirror.
• It was the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness. We once had everything and now we have nothing.
• A young man died yesterday, and no one knows why.
• The boy was a little boy. He was not yet a man. He lived in a house in a big city.
• They had just returned from the theatre when the phone rang.
• I walked up to the front of the store and noticed the neon sign was out.
• I always wondered what happened to Mary.
• I stopped to say hello and then walked on.
• The boy’s mother didn’t want him to play outside…
• The lights suddenly went out…
• After 10 years in prison, he was finally out.
• The raindrops pelted the window, which was set high up on the wall, and I could see it was a clear day outside.
• My friend and I had just finished a large pizza, and we were about to open our second.
• I love the smell of the ocean, but it never smells as good as it does when the waves are crashing.
• They just stood there, staring at each other.
• A party was in full swing until the music stopped.

For more ideas on how to start your story, check out these first-line writing prompts . Did you find this list of creative story starters useful? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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How to Start a Story: 10 Ways to Get Your Story Off to a Great Start

by Joslyn Chase | 0 comments

Perhaps you’ve heard the old publishing proverb: The first page sells the book; the last page sells the next book. I’m convinced there’s a mammoth grain of truth in that. The beginning and the end of any story are critical elements that you really want to nail. Today, we’re going to focus on how to start a story—in other words, how you can craft a spectacular beginning that will hold readers spellbound and get them to turn that first all-important page.

Whether you’re pitching to an agent, a publisher, or direct to the reader, your opening lines form the basis for how they’ll judge the rest of your story. You have about a sixty-second window of influence before that initial judgment solidifies. It follows that this is a good place to invest your time and effort.

Granted, a compelling opening is not an easy task to accomplish. Besides grabbing the reader's attention, you want to ground readers in a setting, establish voice, hint at theme, and introduce a protagonist readers can get behind. To do this, you need to answer specific questions for your reader, while at the same time planting others.

Story Revolves Around Questions

Cultivating questions for your reader is what keeps them turning the pages, but you’ll lose them if you don’t provide answers, as well. If you want your reader to commit to your story, it’s best to establish a few essentials right up front.

• Whose story is it? You’re asking your reader to spend serious time with your protagonist. They’ll want to know who they’ll be rooting for.
• What kind of story is it? Readers go into a book looking for a particular type of reading experience and you need to let them know they’ve come to the right place.
• When and where is the story happening? Setting is hugely important to selling your reader. I did a workshop with top editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and one of the most frequent critiques she gave writers was: “There’s no setting. You lost me on setting.”
• What’s the story behind the story? When readers think story, they think plot. Writers know the real story is internal—not what happens, but how those events affect the characters. While you won’t necessarily lay your hero open on the first page of your story, hinting at his internal struggle gets the reader on his side.
• Why should the reader care? The most glorious descriptions or action-packed drama won’t hook your reader if you don’t give them a reason to care about your character. Answering the four questions above will help do this, but you’ll need to give more.

10 Compelling Ways to Start a Story

You’ve got to command reader attention and answer some important questions, but what does that look like on the page? How do you structure your opening to accomplish those objectives?

Have you heard of modeling? Life coaches and success gurus talk about it a lot. It involves finding someone who’s wildly effective at doing what you want to do and studying their methods to duplicate their success. If in doubt, go to the opening pages of bestselling books in your chosen genre and see how the masters did it.

Beyond that, there are so many ways to go. Here are ten ways to start a story you might consider:

1. Strong Voice

Example: “Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August 1960. A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a bed in the morning.” The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Example: “I smiled when I saw the dead girl. Just for a moment. Reflex, I suppose.” The Snow Angel, Doug Allyn

2. Relevant Anecdote

Example: “When Ella Brady was six she went to Quentins. It was the first time anyone had called her Madam. A woman in a black dress with a lace collar had led them to the table. She had settled Ella’s parents in and then held out a chair for the six-year-old. ‘You might like to sit here, Madam, it will give you a full view of everything,’ she said. Ella was delighted.” Quentins, Maeve Binchy

Example: “I hope this video camera works. Anyway, this (click) is a blowup of a model’s eye, the bluest I’ve ever seen. The only other time I remember seeing that exact color of blue was the day my sister Nicole drowned. It was everwhere: in the water, in the sky, Nicole’s skin. Blue, I remember, and coughing.” Forgetting The Girl, Peter Moore Smith

3. Intriguing Mystery

Example: “Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end?” The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

Example: “People’s lives—their real lives, as opposed to their simple physical existences—begin at different times. The real life of Thad Beaumont, a young boy who was born and raised in the Ridgeway section of Bergenfield, New Jersey, began in 1960. Two things happened to him that year. The first shaped his life; the second almost ended it.” The Dark Half, Stephen King

4. Uneasy Suspense

Example: “The smell of newly rotting flesh hit Jakaya Makinda. He stopped his Land Rover, grabbed his binoculars off the seat beside him, and trained them in the direction of the odor’s source.” Death in the Serengeti , David H. Hendrickson

I used this as an example of Uneasy Suspense, but Hendrickson kicked it off with a startling first sentence and infused it with setting, layering the effect.

Example: “Water gushed out of the corroded faucet into the chipped, porcelain tub, pooling at the bottom with a few tangled strands of long, brown hair. The water was easily 120 degrees. So hot that Katelyn Berkley could hardly stand to dip her painted green toenails into it. The scalding water instantly turned her pale skin mottled shades of crimson.” Envy, Gregg Olsen

5. Stirring Theme

Example: “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

I used this excerpt as an example of stirring theme, but it is bursting with other elements and could be placed under setting, suspense, voice, character, world tilting off-center, and an enthralling first sentence.

Example: “Sometimes it’s overwhelming: the burden of knowing that the man you most admire isn’t real. Then the depression that you’ve fought all your life creeps in, the anxiety. The borders of your life contract, stifling, suffocating.” The Adventure of the Laughing Fisherman, Jeffery Deaver

This one’s got a pretty kicking first sentence, too.

6. Dynamic Setting

Example: “Out of a cloudless sky on a windless November day came a sudden shadow that swooped across the bright aqua Corvette. Tommy Phan was standing beside the car, in pleasantly warm autumn sunshine, holding out his hand to accept the keys from Jim Shine, the salesman, when the fleeting shade touched him. He heard a brief thrumming like frantic wings. Glancing up, he expected to glimpse a sea gull, but not a single bird was in sight.” Tick Tock, Dean Koontz

This is also a nice instance of uneasy suspense.

Example: “They were parked on Union, in front of her place, their knees locked in conference around the stick shift, Janna and Justin talking, necking a little, the windows just beginning to steam.” Shared Room on Union, Steven Heighton

7. Quirky or Startling Opening Sentence

Example: “The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted.” The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King

Example: “As soon as he stepped into the dim apartment he knew he was dead.” Garden of Beasts, Jeffery Deaver

Both of these examples also instill suspense, as they suggest danger and leave the reader anxious to find out more.

8. Compelling Character

Example: “First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.” The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

What kind of character is this you ask yourself, compelled to go on.

Example: “Everyone knows this kid. He is dirty and dumb and sits in a corner, lonely, but not alone. His face has an involuntary twitch, and when he makes eye contact, his lids and cheeks squeeze his eyes shut. We call him Blinky. Blinky rolls with it, though, smiles big and toothy when kids shout his name across the schoolyard.” A Bottle of Scotch and a Sharp Buck Knife, Scott Grand

I chose this for character, but it’s got a big dose of voice in it, as well.

9. Tilting World

Example: “The ravens were the first sign. As the horse-drawn wagon traveled down the rutted track between rolling fields of barley, a flock of ravens rose up in a black wash. They hurled themselves into the blue of the morning and swept high in a panicked rout, but this was more than the usual startled flight. The ravens wheeled and swooped, tumbled and flapped. Over the road, they crashed into each other and rained down out of the skies. Small bodies struck the road, breaking wing and beak. They twitched in ruts. Wings fluttered weakly. But most disturbing was the silence of it all.” The Doomsday Key, James Rollins

Is there any doubt the world in this story is twisting off its axis?

Example: “On the afternoon I met my new neighbor, a woman others in the cul-de-sac would dub ‘Ramba,’ I wasn’t looking for trouble. In fact, I wasn’t looking for anything other than to enter my first full month of retirement with a small military pension and dreams of a hop to Florida or Hawaii once a year until my expiration date arrived.” Many Dogs Have Died Here, James Mathews

Nothing explicit occurs off the bat, but Mathews sets up for the punch. This poor sucker’s world is tilting.

10. Engaging Dialogue

Example: “'You look like crap, Pen.' Pendleton Rozier, my longtime mentor, opened the door wide, then coughed into the crook of his elbow. ‘If only I felt that good.’” Rule Number One, Alan Orloff

Example: “'Which is even weirder yet,’ Gowan said. ‘But that ain’t the best part.’ At approximately which point, Kramer didn’t want to hear any more. It had been a mistake to let Gowan get started. He went outside into the mild March evening to take a leak and get away from Gowan for a little while before hitting the sack. ‘Seriousy, I got the skinny on ‘em,’ Gowan said, unzipping and joining him at the edge of the porch.” Spring Rite, Tom Berdine

You’ll notice writing voice and character here, too.

Invest in a Great Beginning

Spending the time and effort to craft a superb opening for your story is a good investment. However, worrying over it can hold you up. If you’re spinning your wheels over how to start a story, just get something down and move on.

Then, when you’ve reached the end of your story and you have a better understanding of the theme, tone, and characters, you can go back and fine tune or start from scratch to design your perfect beginning.

Beautiful Bookends

In fact, doing so may afford you the opportunity to bookend your story with a beginning and ending that reflect on each other, enclosing your entire story in a nice, thematic package that’s very satisfying to readers.

For instance, my thriller novel Nocturne In Ashes opens with the protagonist, a concert pianist, bombing her comeback performance. Then at the end, after surviving a series of harrowing experiences and battling her inner flaw, she’s gained the confidence she needed and nails the Beethoven that was her downfall.

I’ve touched on some ideas to get you off to a great start, but there are many other types of openings to explore. If you’re having trouble, hit the library and see how others have done it. You’re sure to find something that works for your story. And have fun!

How about you? Do you struggle with how to start a story? What book openings have made an impression on you? Tell us about it in the comments section .

Using one of the types of openings outlined above, write the beginning for a story idea you have in mind, or choose from one of these prompts:

Stella is nervous about meeting her ex-husband for dinner.

Darren takes his son on a hunting trip, determined to teach him how to be a man.

Cheryl wants to try out for the girls’ softball team, but the captain is her ex-best-friend.

Write for fifteen minutes and when you’re finished, post your work in the practice box below. And if you post, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow readers!

Joslyn Chase

Any day where she can send readers to the edge of their seats, prickling with suspense and chewing their fingernails to the nub, is a good day for Joslyn. Pick up her latest thriller, Steadman's Blind , an explosive read that will keep you turning pages to the end. No Rest: 14 Tales of Chilling Suspense , Joslyn's latest collection of short suspense, is available for free at joslynchase.com .

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Great Story Beginnings

by N. Strauss

Story beginnings are important, and in terms of getting published, they’re THE most important part of a story. On this page, you'll learn how to start a story in a way that hooks readers and sets up the right expectations.

Skip to topic: - Facing the blank page - Hooking your reader - Conflict - Character arcs - Setting expectations - Examples   - Mistakes to avoid

How to write story beginnings

The beginning of a story is where the reader (or editor) decides whether to keep reading. The beginning also sets the reader's expectations for the story’s middle and ending.

But don't let the importance of your story beginning intimidate you or make it hard to start writing. Some writers freeze up at the sight of a blank page; they feel that everything has to be perfect right away. It doesn't. Remember: even though the beginning is the first part of your story most people will read, it doesn't have to be the first part that you write. And you can always go back and improve your beginning later.

Your first task is to get something—anything—onto that blank page. If it doesn't come out right, then let it come out wrong. No problem. You’ll fix it afterward.

Unless you're very lucky, the perfect story beginning may not occur to you until you're at the revision stage. Then it is time to turn the first page, the first paragraph, the first line of your story into an invitation that the reader can't refuse.

Hooking your reader

How can you capture the reader's attention right away? Here are some strategies to consider:

1) Make the reader wonder about something. For example, let's say you mention that your character is terrified of going to school that day, but you don't say why (yet). The missing information raises a question in the reader's mind and provokes curiosity. The reader will want to read on to find an answer to the question.

2) Start with a problem or conflict.  This could be a small problem; for example, your character is about to miss their bus home. Even a small problem gives your main character something to do and creates some activity and momentum right away.

3) Start at an exciting point in the story.  Don't be afraid to start your story right in the middle of the action. But provide enough clues to orient your readers and make sure they can follow what's happening.

Story beginnings and conflict

A traditional story plot is centered around a character struggling to overcome a problem or reach a goal. This struggle is the story conflict and gives the story momentum.

Readers turn pages to find out if the character will succeed or fail in their struggle.

The first part of a story sets up the main conflict.

Often, a novel opens with a character in their ordinary life before something happens to shake up the character's world.

For example, your character is nervously rushing to get ready for an important job interview when she gets a text message from a phone number she doesn't recognize. "Your husband doesn't love you," the message says. "He loves me." (The story conflict will center on the breakdown of the character's marriage. The text message just kicked it off.)

In a short story, you don't have much room, so you'll normally want to kick off the conflict right away. The first line of a short story might be:  Her phone pinged.

Or, even better: "Your husband doesn't love you."

Or, the short story might start weeks after the character received that text message. The tension has been building between her and her husband, and things have finally reached a breaking point. The first line of the story is: She hurled her wine glass against the wall.

If you're writing a novel, you have more room, so you might spend some time showing the character's marriage before it's shattered by the text message. Then, when the text message arrives out of the blue, readers will understand what it means for the character.

Tip: If you don't start the main story conflict right away, you can keep the reader's interest by introducing mini-conflicts. For example, before the main character gets the text message about her husband's affair, she might be worried she'll be late to her job interview. The opening line might be: I'll never make it, she thought, glancing at the oven clock.

Story beginnings and character arcs

Another job of your story beginning is to introduce your main characters.

When I say 'introduce', I DON'T mean writing a formal introduction like this:

Olga was an attractive 35-year-old bank teller with a warm, extroverted personality, though she could also be impulsive and had a quick temper that sometimes got her in trouble...

That kind of introduction is a bit boring, and it doesn't make readers feel like they know the character.

Instead, you can SHOW the character doing and saying things that reveal what they're like.

Does Olga have trouble controlling her temper? Instead of saying so, you can show losing her temper during a job interview, sabotaging her chances of getting the job.

Readers will get to know your character the same way we get to know people in real life—by watching them in action.

The first part of a story is a chance to show:

• character flaws that will cause the story conflict, or make it worse
• character strengths that will allow them to overcome challenges during the story
• aspects of the character (habits, behaviors, beliefs, ways of thinking) that will change by the story's end.

Stories are generally more satisfying when the character evolves or changes in some way over the course of events. There's a "Before" version of the character who enters the story conflict, and an "After" version who emerges.

During the beginning of the story, you can show a "Before" version of the character in a way that will stand in contrast with the "After" version.

Setting readers' expectations

So, we've already talked about several tasks of your story beginning, including hooking readers' interest, introducing your main character and their world, and setting up your story conflict.

You don't have to accomplish all of this in your opening line! But you can keep these tasks in mind as you're writing the first part of your story.

Another task of your beginning is to set readers' expectations for the rest of the story.

What kind of story is it going to be? If it's a horror novel, readers will read with one set of expectations, and if it's a romantic comedy they'll read with another.

Readers who believe they've signed up for a romantic comedy will be upset if all of the characters are brutally slaughtered by a serial killer.

Does your story take place in the real world, or in a version of the world where magic exists? If there's magic, what rules and limitations does the magic have?

Let's say you're writing a World War II novel. Your hero, an American spy, is captured by the Germans, but escapes by summoning a dragon and flying away on its back.

If the dragon rescue occurs on Page 1, that's fine.

Also fine if it occurs on Page 254 but readers have known all along that the hero is a famous dragon tamer.

On the other hand, imagine that the novel reads as a realistic portrayal of World War II until Page 254, when there's a surprise dragon rescue. Readers will feel betrayed, like you've switched the rules on them.

They won't believe in the dragon rescue because you haven't trained them to believe in it.

As a writer, you get to set the rules of the game. But readers want to understand the rules, or else the game doesn't feel fair.

Examples of story beginnings

Let's look at some examples of story beginnings and the work each one is doing.

Example: BELOVED

BELOVED by Toni Morrison is a novel about characters who are literally haunted by the trauma of slavery. Here are the first two sentences.

"124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom."

In the first pages of BELOVED, readers learn that 124 is a house belonging to a formerly enslaved woman in 1873 Cincinnati. The house is haunted by the ghost of the woman's dead child.

This story beginning:

• provokes curiosity
• establishes the rules of this story's world (ghosts exist).
• immediately set up conflict.

Example: ELEGY FOR APRIL

Here's the opening sentence of Benjamin Black's mystery novel, ELEGY FOR APRIL:

"It was the worst of winter weather, and April Latimer was missing."

In one sentence, Black both sets up the novel's atmosphere and lets us know what the story's going to be about. The novel's first pages show April's friend Phoebe searching for April in foggy weather. Phoebe's actions start the plot moving right away, while Black's evocative descriptions of the fog create a sense of mood. Black introduces characters important to the story by showing them in action.

Example: "Gryphon"

Charles Baxter's short story "Gryphon" is about an eccentric and possibly sinister substitute teacher who disrupts the main character's world. Here's the first line:

"On Wednesday afternoon, between the geography lesson on ancient Egypt's hand-operated irrigation system and an art project that involved drawing a model city next to a mount, our fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Hibler, developed a cough."

In one sentence, Baxter shows the main character's ordinary world before the substitute teacher disrupts it—and shows the event that will set the plot in motion: a cough, that will get worse and cause Mr. Hibler to stay home, setting the stage for the substitute teacher's arrival.

Example: KLARA AND THE SUN

Here's the first line of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel KLARA AND THE SUN:

"When we were new, Rosa and I were mid-store, on the magazines table side, and could see through more than half of the window."

This sentence provokes curiosity because it's strange. "When we were new." What does that mean?

Quickly, readers gather that the novel is written from the point of view of a robot named Klara in a future version of our world.

The opening pages show Klara's daily existence in the robot store before Klara is sold to a family and the story's real conflict begins.

Example: "Ship in a Bottle"

Elizabeth Strout's short story "Ship in a Bottle" is about an 11-year-old girl named Winnie, who is forced to choose sides in a conflict between her sister Julie and her mother, Anita. Here's the story's opening line (Anita is speaking to Julie):

"You'll have to organize your days," Anita Harwood was saying, wiping at the kitchen counter.

By starting with dialogue, Strout pulls us right into the scene. She also introduces the character of Anita, showing her trying to control Julie's life. And she immediately sets up the conflict between Anita and Julie.

Example: SPINNING SILVER

Naomi Novik's novel SPINNING SILVER is based on the fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin". Here's the first sentence:

"The real story isn't half as pretty as the one you've heard."

The novel's opening page goes on to remind us of the traditional version of "Rumpelstiltskin". It lets us know what kind of novel this is going to be—a fairy-tale retelling. And it provokes our curiosity by hinting that the "Rumpelstiltskin" we know has been sanitized in some way. Now we're wondering what the REAL story is...

Mistakes to avoid

Here are some common problems to watch out for as you’re revising your story beginning:

1) Starting with background information. For example, inexperienced writers sometimes start out with little biographies of their main characters. These story beginnings feel a little bit like Wikipedia articles about people who don't exist. They are not very interesting to read. Don't feel like you have to provide all of the information upfront. You can start your story with a scene or action and gradually weave in background details when/if they become necessary for the reader's understanding.

2) Starting too early in the story. If your story seems to take a long time to get interesting, consider starting right at the interesting point. You might have to lop off a few pages. Don't feel bad about throwing away part of your draft—those pages you throw away are not wasted work. They are part of a necessary process of exploration that showed you where your story has to go.

TIP: Someone once said that most short story manuscripts can be improved by cutting the first page, and most novel manuscripts by cutting the first chapter. See if you can improve your beginning by cutting. 

3) Starting a different story. The creative process often leads writers down unexpected paths. You start out with a certain story in mind then are surprised at where it leads. As a result, the story's beginning (even if it seemed perfect when you wrote it) may not be an ideal fit with the rest of the story. When that happens, ask yourself: which version of the story do you like better? The version you started out writing? Or the version you ended up with? Based on your answer to this question, you know which part of the story you have to rewrite.

Click here to get our free fiction-writing course, Beginnings, Middles, and Endings.

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About the author

N. Strauss taught creative and expository writing at the University of Michigan before moving to the Czech Republic and then Spain. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in English from Oberlin College. In 2009, she founded Creative Writing Now in collaboration with the author Linda Leopold Strauss, who has taught writing courses for the Institute of Children's Literature and published children's books with Scholastic, Holiday House, Houghton Mifflin, and others.

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5 ways to start a story: Choosing a bold beginning

Great authors show us there are many ways to start a story. You could begin a novel with a narrator/character introducing himself, like Salinger’s Holden Caufield or Dickens’ David Copperfield. Or you could begin in the thick of action, as Ray Bradbury’s does in his classic novel, Fahrenheit 451.

• Post author By Jordan
• 46 Comments on 5 ways to start a story: Choosing a bold beginning

Great authors show us there are many ways to start a story. You could begin a novel with a narrator/character introducing himself, like Salinger’s Holden Caufield or Dickens’ David Copperfield. Or you could begin in the thick of action, as Ray Bradbury’s does in his classic novel, Fahrenheit 451 .

Have a read of the opening page or pages of authors you love, and explore how each starts a story, and notice how each is distinct from the other. A Stephen King novel will begin very differently from a Lianne Moriarty story, for example. Is there any bad writing? What makes it so, and what can you learn from it? Have they used active voice or passive voice? How does this change the opening? Compare a few to get a sense of the differences, and how each author’s distinct style comes through. 

Before you begin, write down your story idea or your story structure. This doesn’t have to be a outline, but merely a few lines, stating the premise of that story.

Ways to start a story that engage your reader

These five types of story beginnings work:

Introduce readers to a memorable narrator-protagonist

Begin with crucial memories, start with ambiguous action, lead with a purposeful prologue, open with the unexpected.

Watch the summary video on ways to begin stories now, then read discussion of the story beginnings below:

This is how to start a story about a character coming of age or grappling with internal conflict . These novels typically use first person narration. From the first line, the reader gets to know a characterful narrator. Decide whether you will use a first person narrator, or another point of view.

For example, Salinger’s Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye (1951) has a strong voice and clear, disaffected teen persona:

‘If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.’ J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye (1951)

This opening is effective because we get a strong sense of the character’s personality in his terse use of curse words, slang and adjectives (‘crap’, ‘lousy’). Being addressed directly by the narrator creates a sense of closeness and familiarity. This effect is similar to Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Reader, I married him’ in Jane Eyre .

Another strong example of this story opening type, the protagonist/narrator introduction, is Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955). Nabokov begins his entire novel with his depraved anti-hero, Humbert Humbert, musing on the name of Lolita, the young object of his obsession:

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)

Nabokov’s opening is strong because personality and character psychology are present from the first line.

When you start a story with your main character introducing themselves, remember to:

• Give them a distinctive voice: The grandiose language of Humbert Humbert fits the character, as do Salinger’s teen’s own cynical words.
• Show what matters to your character/narrator from the start: Holden values authenticity (‘if you want to know the truth’). We get a visceral sense of Humbert’s creepy obsession with Lolita through his rapture at even saying her name.

Often novels open with narrators recalling memories that are core to the plot. This can be part of the writing process and is of the ways to start a story that builds on a strong hook that is closely linked to your main plot. Tweet This

Starting with memories requires knowing your character well, such as how their backstory guides their goals, motivations and potential conflicts.

This is especially common in novels where a single, unforgettable event casts its shadow over the rest of the book (e.g. the murder in a murder mystery).

Framing an event in your story through a character’s memory gives it weight. It’s also a crucial part of character development. When you begin your novel with your main character remembering an earlier scene, it’s thus important to choose the right scene. As novel writing coach Romy Sommer says:

An issue I see with a lot of beginner writers is they tend to write the backstory as the story itself… that backstory is usually you as the writer writing it for yourself so you can understand the characters. ‘Understanding Character Arcs: How to create characters’, webinar preview here.

Consider that you might be describing too much of a character’s everyday life. While some details are good, remember that doing so should also serve the story, but not bog it it down in too many details. 

Choose a scene that shows a dilemma or choice, or a powerfully emotional experience that is bound to have consequences for your character.

For example, Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  opens with the 15-year-old narrator Christopher finding his neighbour’s murdered dog:

It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears’ house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they’re chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003)

Haddon’s opening is effective because it builds up to the revelation that the dog was killed violently. It’s effective because it raises questions we want answered.

When you begin with your narrator recalling a key memory, remember to:

• Choose a scene that immediately starts giving the reader keys to understanding: Haddon’s narrator proceeds to hug the bleeding dog, for example, so that we start to realise that Christopher is unusual in some way.
• Show the reader the memory: Haddon does not just say ‘Christopher found his neighbour’s dog, killed with a garden fork.’ We discover the dog through Christopher’s eyes, and this increases the scene’s impact.

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A little bit of mystery or confusion at the start of your novel can help to reel readers in.

At the same time, make sure your opening isn’t so mystifying that the reader bails in frustration.

Even if the purpose or reasons for your ambiguous opening aren’t clear at first, the action itself must sustain readers’ interest until there is more clarity.

Consider the opening of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 :

It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venemous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.’ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

The first sentence is ambiguous – who, or what, is burning? The next slowly fills in context: We learn a character is using kerosene to burn something, to destroy ‘history’, but we still don’t know what exactly. We only learn by the end of the paragraph that the character Montag is burning books.

This way of beginning a story is effective because Bradbury prolongs a mixture of suspense and confusion, yet the character’s action itself is clear.

If you begin a book with ambiguous, teasing action:

• Give the reader answers to at least one (or some) of the ‘5 w’s’. We might not immediately know who is doing the burning (or what they’re burning), but Bradbury gives us a strong why : Pleasure. The relish with which Montag burns the books is clear
• By the end of the first paragraph, give the reader a little more clarity, as Bradbury does

‘Prologue’ literally means the ‘before word’. This separate introductory or prefatory section in a novel has several uses:

• Giving broad historical context that paves the way for the main story
• Showing a scene or event preceding the main narrative, whose consequences ripple through the following story

Donna Tartt uses the second type of prologue to excellent effect in her mystery novel The Secret History . Her prologue tells us that a character is murdered, that the narrator is somehow complicit, and that he will narrate the events that led up to the murder in the coming narrative.

This teaser makes it clear that motive, rather than identity, is the main mystery behind the killing.

Tartt’s prologue wastes no time in revealing key information that shapes our expectations for the main story:

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He’d been dead for ten days before they found him, you know. Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992).

By immediately framing the story around Bunny’s murder and its aftermath, Tartt’s prologue directs our attention to the ground the coming story will cover. Not the fact of Bunny’s death but the swirl of events that spin out from this crime. It marks out a path into reading and making sense of the story.

Do you want to include a prologue in your book ? Ask:

Do the events in the first part of your book need telling explaining prior events?

If yes, why?

In Tartt’s case, giving away key events in the prologue is smart, structurally. Because the identity of the murder victim (and at least one person responsible) is revealed early, the main narrative of the story is free to focus on character motivations and consequences and not just crime-solving.

Would your story flow better if you told earlier events via character flashbacks or a prologue?

Try writing a scene as a prologue, then write the same scene as a flashback. Which fits the scene better?

If you’re unsure how to start your novel, our writing coaches will help you get on track.

The most memorable story openings surprise us and make us pause for a moment.

Take Bradbury’s beginning to Fahrenheit 451 above, ‘It was a pleasure to burn.’ It’s unexpected.

This is partially because of its inner contradiction. We know that getting a burn from a hot plate is painful, and the idea of pleasure is thus surprising.

The ambiguity of ‘it’ means we don’t know initially whether the narrator is describing an odd pleasure in burning himself or burning something else.

Examples from famous books reveal this has always been one of the popular ways to start a story. For example, Dodie Smith opens I Capture the Castle (1949):

‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.’

The narrator Cassandra’s choice of sitting place is unusual, intriguing us to read the next sentence. Whichever way you choose to begin your novel, getting the reader to read the second sentence is the first, crucial feat.

Start your own novel now: brainstorm story themes, settings and characters and get helpful feedback from the Now Novel community.

Related Posts:

• How to start a fantasy story: 6 intriguing ways
• Writing a story from beginning to end: How to take…
• How to start a scene: 5 ways to reel readers in
• Tags ways to start a story. story beginnings

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

46 replies on “5 ways to start a story: Choosing a bold beginning”

I feel you have made some excellent choices to illustrate the point of today’s lesson. Each extract is a finely crafted piece of flash fiction as it stands.

Glad you enjoyed the choices, Bob (and thanks for sharing on Twitter).

looking for a way to start my Wattpad story besides starting it with dialougue

Thank you for reading the blog 🙂

This is really interesting thanks <3

It’s a pleasure, Akane-chan, thanks for reading our blog!

Me, deciding how to start my story, brough me here. This gave an idea on how I would want start it. Thanks.

I’m glad to hear that, Daniel! It’s our pleasure, thanks for reading our articles. Good luck with your story.

How do I introduce a death flashback at the beginning of my story???

Hi Karthik, thank you for asking. If it’s a death flashback would that mean your viewpoint character is remembering their death from the afterlife? I’d suggest starting just before the event leading to their death so that the scene is already at a high point of tension. Good luck! We have some advice on writing flashbacks here: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/incorporate-flashbacks-into-a-story/

I’m writing a story where the female lead is posing as a male at this all boy’s school, where he missing father used to attend. I’m unsure if I should start with a history of the school, he family life and motives, a group of males figuring her out or a point in the story where said males already know of her true identity. Any tips?

Hi Eiseley, I would say starting with a high-stakes, high-tension moment (your protagonist’s identity being found out, for example) would be a good beginning – you can always circle back to how it is they came to be attending the school in disguise.

[…] http://www.education.com/lesson-plan/finding-the-moral/http://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/the-art-of-storytelling/http://www.literacyideas.com/latest/2018/2/3/5-fun-ways-to-use-fables-in-your-literacy-lessonshttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-storieshttps://www.nownovel.com/blog/ways-to-start-story-examples/ […]

“it was too late “she sigh. the act was already done .. do not know how to start this short story and include this sentence

Hi Shebekie, you’re getting there! I’d suggest editing to: ‘It was too late. She sighed – the deed was already done.’ To continue it, you could tease out the mystery surrounding the nature of the character’s deed further. For example, you could imply potential consequences (e.g. ‘Now she’d have to tell the others’).

Hi I’m trying to find out how to correctly start my sorry without boring the audience. The story is about a teenage boy transferring to a new high school which he finds a girl that is unloving and careless so he’s trying to win her heart over and prove that she can truly be loved.

Hi Darhnell, thank you for sharing that. I would say you have a good starting point in your MC transferring to a new high school, as that’s a situation that would likely be full of surprise, change, trepidation, anxiety, new friends (or new foes), etc. So showing the first time your character enters the new school, for example, or how he feels in the lead-up to arrival, would be one way to start.

Or you could start in medias res (in the middle of the action) with a significant moment during his first day at the new school. For example, his first interaction with the girl, circling back to how he got there later in the chapter. These are just some ideas. I hope this helps!

Hi, nice tips. I was wondering how to start a short story for 2 boys named Luke and Max stranded in their canoes. They were set on a research expedition on the animals in Antarctica but they got lost and couldn’t find anything. They are trying to head home by following the North star so they could reach their lab in Argentina. Pls, help me start. I was going with the idea of saying. “It was 7 minutes after midnight in Antarctica. The water swayed from ice-burg to ice-burg leaving a sparkling coat. Luke and Max were vigorously paddling their canoes towards the north start hoping at any moment they could get back to their warm and cpzy lab back in Argentina”

Hi Bob, thank you for the feedback and for sharing your idea. Not being much of an astronomer myself I had to check regarding Polaris (the North Star) and apparently it is only visible under certain conditions south of the equator, so perhaps they’d need another navigational technique. A compass, perhaps?

If it is after midnight and they are that far south, hypothermia would be a major risk, so perhaps the boys don’t get that far south to begin with? You can of course bend the rules of physics and geography in fiction if you want to tell a fantastical story. There are a few typos (‘ice-burg’ for ‘iceberg’, ‘start’ for ‘star’ and so forth) but other than that it is a suspenseful situation for an opening. Some readers may question the science behind some of the details mentioned though.

Beginning in the middle of the action is interesting, just make sure the exposition of the story continues to explain why the boys are there in the first place. I hope this is helpful!

Wow so good ways to start a story

Thank you, Priyank. Good luck with your own!

im writing a creative story about an orphan girl and im trying to craete the story but i need help any chance you would help me

Hi Ivokjuca, happily! What do you need help with? Please feel free to mail us at [email protected] too with your challenge.

Thank you very much for the tips… i was wondering how to start my story which i am writing about an incident of my life which is a complete secret to date. i hope this will help me start my piece

Hi Rashmi, it’s a pleasure! Good luck with starting your story and developing it further.

Thank you very much for the tips. it is really very helpful for me. Keep Sharing.

Thank you for your feedback, Anu! We will do so.

[…] https://www.nownovel.com/blog/ways-to-start-story-examples/ […]

Thanks a lot for this. It helped me a lot.

It’s a pleasure, thank you for reading our articles.

Hi there! I am a young writer (13 to be exact), and I am brainstorming for a way to start my first novel. Can you perhaps give me some inspiration? My novel is about three teenagers: Claire Minch, Samuel Ploy, and Sheila Crover. They live on a technologically advanced planet called Gyn, where the whole world’s population receives warnings from their future selves, or so they thought. In the end, I want it to state that instead of being warned by their future selves, the warnings are given by a Krewd (Demon) who has been leading them down the wrong path all along. Please give me some advice. I have been all over the internet, bt nothing really sparked my imagination for the start of my novel.

Hi Anani, thank you for sharing that (it’s great you’re working hard on your writing by the way).

It’s an interesting idea. Given the interesting warning system you described, starting with one of the warnings could be one way to go. How are the warnings broadcast, and is there a schedule (e.g. do they know when the warnings are going to come, do they each get their warnings at the same time, and is it transmitted via tech or something they just hear?).

Keep asking questions, as you will know best what to choose. Are you looking for inspiration for any particular character or part of the story?

I hope the questions I asked help!

It’s always good to read and learn about stories

That it is, Mark 🙂 Thanks for reading our blog.

I am trying to write a thriller and romantic story pls help me

Hi Nish, with pleasure. What aspect of the story would you like help with? Do you have a firm story idea developed already? What about it is giving you trouble? You can find all our articles on writing romantic stories here .

This tips were quite helpful. Though, I still have a few holes on how to start my story.

Thank you for sharing that, Georgina. What are there holes around? You might find this article on how to avoid plot holes helpful.

As a student and teacher of English, I had to read, write and teach a number of stories. I learnt about the essential plot parts, techniques, character-development and so on. The problem with me, while writing my own stories, I forgot mostly what I had learnt about story writing. I thought I was writing some really interesting stories though. I started sending my stories to online, offline magazines, started participating in Flash Fiction Contests where I had my fellow writers commenting on my stories. I felt that I could consider myself to be a competent writer. But aren’t competent, capable writers supposed to have name and fame? Aren’t they supposed to be rich? Even after having written over 500 short stories, forget about being rich, I wasn’t even earning a penny? If I don’t get published, if I don’t get paid by writing, am I going to die an unfulfilled writer? These questions have become paramount in my mind lately. In my early 60s, I am not sure any more if writing is the thing for someone like me with very little economic freedom. Writing is reaching a point in my retired life when it is not sheer fun anymore. My question to you is, would you still advise me to continue writing? Do you still think that there is a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel? Stay blessed.

Hi Rathin, thank you for sharing this personal account of your writing path. I would say it depends on your aims. To make money from writing, it is crucial to approach it as a business and do careful market research, invest time in marketing your work, and use every available resource (social media, Amazon author pages (if you’re listing work there), Goodreads, and other places such as book fairs to build an audience interested in what you have to say.

This being said, writing is lucrative for very few writers and many support their writing with side hustles. Fame and riches are goals beyond one’s immediate control, there being so many variable factors involved in earning them, so I would always advocate writing for passion and the pleasure of creation and communication above money or fame.

It is challenging to have ‘very little economic freedom’ as you describe, as that makes writing more of a luxury if it isn’t contributing income. Approaching it as a pleasure and an escape into creation rather than putting financial pressure on the process may be best for keeping the joy of it alive, though (one can do commercial writing such as copywriting for money as it tends to pay better per hours invested). I hope this is helpful, it is of course a highly subjective perspective.

This was so helpfull. And i think i know how i can start my story! But how will i switch from a prologue to a chapter

Hi Cliffton, thank you for sharing your kind feedback. I’m glad you have an idea about how you want to start your story. That’s a broad question, what information do you plan to share in your prologue? Many effective prologues do a little worldbuilding while creating a little curiosity, then the first chapter picks up with immediate, scene-level action or a character’s voice (the prologue giving more of a general sense of a situation, place or mood). There are so many ways to use a prologue – the main thing is to make it as interesting and curiosity rousing as chapter 1. Here’s something I wrote on prologues you may find useful.

Thanks for this useful tips.

Thanks George, glad you found them useful.

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Writer's Edit

A newsletter for novel writers looking for inspiration and advice on their creative journey.

15 Awesome Ideas To Get Your Story Started (With Examples)

There are many great ways to start a story .

Depending on the genre, you might begin mysteriously and gradually build to a climax. Or you might start with an image or description to orient the reader in the story’s setting.

Whatever you choose, it needs to engage your reader immediately and encourage them to keep turning pages.

Let’s take a look at some exciting ways to start a story. Who knows? You may become inspired to write the next bestseller!

Before You Start Writing

Most of the time, you need to have an idea of your key story elements before you can write the opening lines.

To avoid wasting time or writing yourself into a corner, it’s wise to have at least a rough idea of what your characters are like and what the plot will involve.

Sound plot and character development are essential in every story, so try to have their foundations in place before you begin.

Know Your Characters

Try to get to know your characters a little before you start writing.

Who is your main character (or characters)? What will they accomplish during the novel? How might they grow and change throughout the story?

Who are the supporting characters? How will they contribute to the story?

When you know who your characters are, you’ll have a better idea of how you want to begin (and continue) the story.

Plan Your Plot

A good novel also has an interesting, well-paced, believable plot.

Whether you’re a plotter, a pantser or somewhere in between, you need to have at least  some idea of what your plot will entail before you dive in to write.

You also need to be ready to move the plot along quickly through your opening sequence, or your reader will not be interested in continuing with your book.

Think of any good movie or TV show that jumps right into the plot before the opening credits roll. A lead-in scene often throws viewers directly into the story by creating mystery or questions.

Without an idea of the overarching plot, you’ll find it hard to come up with such a compelling opening scene.

Idea #1: Create a Hook

A great way to start a story is to draw the reader in with a hook – something that will create intrigue.

‘I’ve often wondered what happened to Steve – did he find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?’

Now you’re wondering what happened to Steve as well, and you want to know why he thought he could find that elusive pot of gold.

You’re also wondering what happened before the above musing, and how it all started.

Beginning your novel with a hook encourages the reader to keep reading , if only to find the answers to the questions the first sentence created.

Idea #2: Start with Dialogue

You might have seen advice about never starting a novel with a dialogue opening. But in certain cases it works, such as when you want to introduce a character quickly without a lot of explanation.

‘”Mistakes are a part of life,” she told me, “but what you did this time is inexcusable!”‘

Dialogue at the beginning of a novel can potentially confuse the reader, as the characters are not yet known, nor is the situation.

But this particular dialogue shows readers that the story starts in a place of conflict , inviting them to read on to find out how a simple mistake went too far.

Dialogue that introduces your plot without explanation can entice your reader to discover the story behind it.

Idea #3: Ask a Question

Questions are a great way to open a novel, especially when the answer (and the story that follows) could go in many different directions.

A questioning beginning has the effect of appealing directly to the reader. If they want to find out more, they have no choice but to read on.

‘What would you do if you knew the exact moment you would die?’

The story that comes after such a question is bound to contain surprising twists and turns.

Dealing with a universal subject such as death , it also suggests that the story will take the reader on an emotional roller coaster until the end.

Idea #4: Write Something Unexpected

‘I never knew the impact of the purple pen until it exploded in my face.’

Starting your novel with an unexpected statement takes your reader off guard and makes them wonder how your character got to this point.

The unexpected can create a sense of mystery and suspense . It can also subvert readers’ expectations.

Think about how people might expect the story to start, then surprise them by taking it in another direction entirely.

Once you have them in your grasp with the unexpected, they’ll be more invested in continuing the story.

Idea #5: Begin with an Action Sequence

Action creates excitement and propels your novel forward. Starting with an action scene can be dangerous, though, as you might leave yourself nowhere to go.

You don’t want to have a big action scene at the beginning that overshadows the rest of the story.

An action sequence should lead to the story, but not take away from the big showdown later.

‘Her heart in her throat, she sat in the car, watching the men frantically searching for a way in. She fumbled with a phone hastily sending a one-word text to her husband: HELP .’

This kind of opening sets the scene and creates a future segue into more significant action.

When the woman’s husband comes out, he will inevitably have a showdown with the men harassing the woman. But why are they in that situation? How will they get out of it? What other action scenes will happen?

Start small, build suspense and add more action as you get closer to the showdown.

Idea #6: One-Word Sentences

‘Run.’

A one-word sentence like this piece of dialogue will send chills down most people’s spines and implies so much with a single word. Who is running, and why?

The sentence creates mystery and intrigue. You don’t know why someone is telling another person to run.

Are authorities working to uncover a crime syndicate? Is someone coming to kill the main character?

It sets up an intense scene that propels the reader forward.

Idea #7: Start with Something Unusual

A random or unusual opening immediately catches a reader’s attention, setting your writing and story apart as something unique .

‘The light did not flicker; she did.’

This opening makes you do a double-take. ‘What does that mean?’ you wonder.

It’s the beginning of what promises to be an unusual story, making your reader take note and read on to find out what you meant.

It could be the beginning of a supernatural story where a girl disappears and reappears every time a light switch is flicked. Or it could just be a metaphor.

No one knows until they read further. An ambiguous opening has so many possibilities.

But remember: unusual turns of phrase throughout a book can be confusing to the reader, so don’t overdo the experimental language.

Idea #8: Write an Intense Opening

Intense  doesn’t mean you have to start with something showy or spectacular, like a car going off a cliff in a fiery explosion.

Rather than beginning the story in the thick of the action, you can start in the aftermath. Think of a smoldering fire that is barely burning, but still red-hot.

“Ashes rained from the sky for days. Not a single sign of vegetation remained, and we were hungry – no, starving for any morsel of food.”

This opening to what might be a firsthand account of surviving a volcanic eruption is intense enough to propel readers to find out more.

It describes the consequences of what has happened rather than the event itself, leading into what promises to be a compelling post-apocalyptic narrative.

Idea #9: Establish a Genre-Appropriate Atmosphere

The opening of a novel should create the atmosphere you want for your readers .

“The moment we stepped into the room, the putrid smell of death assaulted our senses.”

Immediately, you know that something terrible has happened, and what follows will most likely involve bone-chilling horror or intriguing mystery.

Or perhaps you’re writing an adventure novel, and need to evoke the thrills and dangers of seeking hidden treasure in your first sentence:

“As we entered what we thought was the treasure chamber, we discovered that we had been given the wrong map.”

The above begs several questions: who gave them the wrong map and why? What treasure were they seeking, and where have they found themselves instead?

Idea #10: Start in the Middle of a Scene

Many good stories start in the middle of the scene for a good reason: it generates momentum right from the start, so you don’t lose your reader before the conflict begins.

“Police cars barricaded the street. Ambulances and fire trucks raced to the scene. The house was surrounded, and yet… nothing. No communication. No one knew if the hostages were alive or dead.”

Starting in the middle of a scene drops readers right into the exciting part, giving them questions they want to read on to answer.

Readers want to know who is being held hostage, who is holding them, why they aren’t communicating, and how the situation will be resolved.

Rather than starting with a long lead-up to this key scene, readers get to delve right in, gleaning details along the way.

Idea #11: Disorient the Reader

Another great way to start a story is to disorient your readers. Throw them off-balance and make them re-read the opening lines more than once.

A great example is from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four :

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

The clocks striking thirteen creates a sense of something not quite right, suggesting to readers that an intriguing world unlike our own lies beyond this first sentence.

To add further impact, introduce plot twists later in the story that make readers reevaluate the book’s opening words.

They’ll return to that section in amazement to understand what just happened and how their expectations were subverted.

Idea #12: Mysterious Beginnings

There’s nothing better to start a novel than with a puzzle for your readers to solve.

Starting with a mysterious beginning or an unanswered question gives readers a chance to mull it over and meditate on it before it’s answered later in your novel.

“The door was never opened, yet everything was out of place. Someone had been here, but who?”

The above example raises all the important  questions: Who, What, Where, When, and Why (plus the bonus question: How). You’ll have the rest of the novel to delve into the answers.

Who went into the house? What were they looking for? How did they get in if the door was never opened?

The underlying feeling of a mysterious opening sequence is tension and foreboding, which lends itself particularly well to a crime novel or a murder mystery .

Idea #13: Prologue with Purpose

Often, starting a novel with an explanation or precursor to the main events can discourage your audience.

But if you do it right, writing a prologue can create suspense that keeps your audience’s attention.

For example, if you start with a chase scene where the protagonist searches for a hidden doorway but is murdered before he finds it, you’ve placed the driving force of your story in centre stage.

The most common prologues provide context for the main story through a past event. Once this is in place, you are free to flesh out the story, exploring why it happened and its consequences.

Idea #14: A Startling Start

Starting your story with a dangerous element, like many opening scenes in James Bond movies, can startle the reader into continuing.

“As soon as she sat down in his car, she knew she made a disastrous mistake.”

Now you want to know who she is, who she’s in the car with, and what mistake she made. There is an element of danger that must be addressed.

“It seemed the cat grew five inches overnight – five-inch teeth, that is.”

What?! The question of why a cat’s teeth grew into fangs overnight makes people sit up and take notice. No one expects that to happen to their cute, cuddly pet!

This could be the start to a supernatural novel, a horror novel, or even a children’s book .

The story that follows will differ, but the startling, intriguing opening element works just the same.

Idea #15: Use a Strong Narrative Voice

“Let’s get one thing straight: Holmes was a businessman. A dishonest, murdering bastard, but a businessman nonetheless.”

Immediately establishing a strong, engaging narrative voice is a surefire way to get readers invested in your novel.

If their attention is caught by the character’s voice and the style of writing, they’re much more likely to connect with the book and read on.

There are hundreds of ways to start a novel. Your imagination is the only limit! The ideas above are simply prompts to help get your creativity flowing.

The important thing to remember is that your opening sequence must draw the audience in from its very first words. How exactly you achieve this is up to you.

Writer’s Edit is a newsletter for novel writers looking for inspiration and advice on their creative journey.

How to Start a Story: 11+ Simple & Proven Strategies for Authors

Key Takeaways:

The steps for starting a story are to:

• Write Unforgettable Characters: Develop and write relatable, memorable protagonists.
• Have Great Hooks and/or Openings: Begin with an intriguing question or statement.
• Include Tension & Conflict: Introduce suspense and drama early.
• Start With Action and Dialogue: Start with dynamic events or conversations.
• Include the Setting & Atmosphere: Describe the time, place, and mood concisely.

When writing a story, getting started is always the most challenging part. How do you find ideas? How do you know if those ideas are any good?

And how do you start writing your novel , short story , or screenplay once you’ve found a good idea?

Writing a story is like taking a journey, and the first sentence is the first step. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when starting a story, but with the right strategies, you can get your story off the ground.

This article will explore simple and proven strategies for how to start a story. Whether you are writing a novel or screenplay or simply want to tell a better bedtime story to your kids, these tips will help you get started right!

How Can You Start a Story?

The first page is crucial, as the opening lines are your introduction to your audience – both in terms of your main character and your setting, but also in terms of your style as a writer and a strong narrative voice.

The first few lines are your story hooks and will largely determine your reader’s interest going forward.

So, let’s look at some tips and ideas for writers struggling to start their short story or novel.

1. Create Unforgettable Characters

One of the best ways to ensure your entire story stands out is to create unforgettable characters that audiences can relate to and root for.

To make this happen, focus on giving your characters compelling and unique traits, both physical and personality-based.

You can give them facets borrowed from people in real life or build them up with interesting quirks and abilities that set them apart from others. Either way, reflect on what makes them different than other people.

Think about your main characters’ goals, ambitions, and motivations to create character development and an internal arc for each one.

Show us a little of what drives or holds them back and how they’re not living up to their potential the first time we meet them.

Without truly fleshed-out characters, no matter how gripping your whole plot is, your reader won’t be as invested in it.

With engaging characters with definitive personalities, you’ll have a solid foundation for starting an unforgettable piece of writing.

2. Choose Your Point of View

One of the most critical elements to consider when beginning a story is the point of view (or POV) that will be used.

The point of view represents the perspective from which the story is presented to the reader, which can significantly influence the reader’s interpretation and understanding of the events and characters within the story.

Choosing a first-person point of view, for example, can give the reader a more intimate connection with the protagonist and their innermost thoughts and feelings.

At the same time, third-person narration can help provide a broader, more detached view of the story.

Depending on the direction that an author wants to take their story, the choice of point of view can make a significant impact on how the story is perceived and can be an essential factor in setting the tone for the story’s beginning.

By considering the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of points of view, an author can make an informed decision about the most effective way to create a strong narrative voice and start telling their story.

3. Use Hooks and Openings

When creating an enticing story, one of the most important aspects to consider is the story hooks and openings you use.

A hook piques the reader’s interest, introducing them to the world of your story and enticing them to keep reading. It can be anything from an intriguing question, a shocking statement, or an original opening line.

A good hook should give a glimpse of your story and why the reader should stay engaged with it.

Whether it’s the first paragraph or the first line, a good opening should provide enough information on what to expect in future chapters while maintaining intrigue and immediately establishing your writing voice.

A great way to start your story off on the right foot is to use characters that readers can quickly identify with as they embark on their journey. Additionally, vivid imagery in your first few lines can help situate readers within the scene and invite them into the story.

If done correctly, these hooks and openings will give most readers a strong foundation for enjoying your story for many chapters (and books!) to come.

4. Write a Prologue

If you want to create a truly memorable story, you may want to consider adding a prologue to your writing.

A prologue is a brief introduction or preface to your story that comes before the actual narrative.

Though this technique has become frowned upon in recent years, a well-crafted prologue can help set the scene and provide the reader with a glimpse into the world of the story.

This introduction can help better establish the setting, characters, and plot, allowing readers to gain a deeper understanding of the story’s tone and themes while building up anticipation for the upcoming narrative.

For example, a prologue may introduce a pivotal event or establish the setting by providing background information. It can also be an effective way to foreshadow future events or incite a sense of unease or excitement.

Whatever the purpose, a prologue is an excellent tool to grab the reader’s attention, set the tone, and prepare them for the story ahead.

Whether you decide to include it or not in the final product is up to you – but the exercise alone can still provide valuable insight into how to start a story.

5. Introduce Tension & Conflict

Introducing tension and conflict early on in a narrative is an effective way to draw the reader into the story.

These elements create intrigue, suspense, and drama that make the story more compelling for audiences.

Writers can establish tension and conflict by setting up opposing forces between the protagonist and other characters or raising issues without clear solutions.

Introducing these elements right at the start of a story can build anticipation and motivate audiences to continue reading to find out how the central conflict and tension are resolved.

6. Use Action and Dialogue

Starting your story with a bang can set the tone and excitement for your first page. Utilizing action and dialogue are outstanding elements to consider when getting started with your story writing.

Action captures the reader’s attention immediately, painting a vivid picture of what is occurring as your characters move through time and space.

Dialogue can give an intimate peek at various characters’ personalities without having to write long, detailed descriptions. Capturing character interactions or conversations between characters will draw audiences further into the story and keep them engaged.

Introducing characters by how they react and respond to their surroundings can be a powerful way to create suspense or hook readers.

For example, if characters are caught in a dangerous situation, you could start a story by having them struggle or make quick decisions that will ultimately change the course of their experiences.

Starting your opening lines with action and dialogue will make your opening scene compelling and make your reader immediately want to keep going!

7. Setting & Atmosphere

One of the most important things to consider when determining how to start a story is when and where it will take place.

Whether it’s a bright, cold day over a frozen tundra or a dark and stormy night outside a window by a smoldering fire, building an accurate setting with an intense atmosphere can help hook your audience in from the outset and make them feel part of the journey.

You can evoke the feeling of the setting through description or have your characters interact with it directly – either way, it helps draw them in.

To craft a genuinely captivating start to your story from the opening sentence, strive to create a vivid world that sucks the reader in through its uniqueness.

Every detail you add about the setting should contribute to telling the story, even if only subtly.

• What does this environment look like?
• What does it smell like?
• What does it feel like?
• What time period is it?
• What is the weather like?
• How do the answers to the questions above add texture to your character’s experience?
• How does this place and time shape their day-to-day lives?

The setting is so much more than geography – how you establish the sensory details of your story’s world will shape the impressions of your audience and provide context for them to get lost in the world you have created.

8. Start in the Middle

Starting in the middle of a story might sound intimidating, but it can actually be one of the best ways to grasp your reader’s attention from the first sentence.

With ‘in medias res’ (Latin for ‘in the middle’), instead of introducing characters in their everyday lives, you plunge audiences into a devastating conflict or another exciting scenario which immediately gives your story momentum.

This disrupts the conventional story structure that might otherwise be formulaic and makes for a more riveting read as tension is cranked up from page one.

Think about having readers thrown into an action sequence or dramatic moment – doing this well will keep them hooked until you give them the what and why of everything happening around them.

Often, starting in the middle also gives writers more creative freedom because they aren’t limited by needing to cover all of the plot points that typically come in the opening lines of a story.

The process of discovery serves as just another exciting component to draw a reader even deeper into the plot.

9. Provide a Backstory

Knowing what inspired your characters, formed them, and created their past is an essential element for any story. An engaging backstory for each character can make your narrative stand out.

To create compelling backstories, consider the details that led up to the major events in each person’s life. Think about where they come from and what has shaped them over time.

You can provide this information in different ways – through conversations or narration, for example – so that readers feel as though they know your characters inside out.

Establishing a timeline of significant events in each character’s past gives you a solid foundation to build upon as their role in the story develops.

A good backstory will allow you to give a taste of personality, social standing, education, and life experience through their words and actions in the opening scene.

With meaningful backstories driving your characters’ motivations and decisions, no matter if they are heroes or villains, audiences will be captivated by their story arcs.

10. Ask Questions

Hooking audiences into your story by asking questions and making predictions can be a great way to start a story.

This engages the reader’s imagination and encourages them to come up with their own conclusions or explanations.

You could also use this tactic to bring mystery or suspense into your story as readers try to guess the answers to the questions they have been posed.

Asking questions and making predictions is an effective tool for rousing a reader’s interest right from the beginning of your narrative and inspiring them to reach their ultimate resolution.

11. Paint a Picture with Description

Crafting an engaging story is a challenge, but painting a picture with a description can help to create the perfect opening.

Starting your narrative off with vivid imagery can capture a reader’s attention and will set the stage for the plot to unfold as you move through your story.

Think of it like taking a photograph – choose one moment in time in the world that you have created, focus on the details, and invite the reader in with vivid descriptions of what they are seeing.

Experimenting with adjectives, metaphors, and similes can not only help you find new ways to paint a picture but also give a distinctive voice and tone to the story from its very first page.

Ensure that your first few pages contain enough visual details of the story’s setting so that when readers pick up your book later on down the road, they’ll still be reminded of that initial breath-taking moment as if it were real.

12: Introduce Foreshadowing

When writing story beginnings, introducing symbolism and foreshadowing can help to generate interest and establish the tone. Symbolism is a great tool to give your readers subtle hints about certain aspects of the story that may be important later on.

For instance, if your protagonists enter a mysterious forest and encounter a black cat, this symbolizes something sinister they will need to face.

Foreshadowing involves weaving in clues that hint at what’s to come but create uncertainty and suspense.

For example, if one of your characters loses their watch as they set out, this could mean a difficult time ahead in terms of keeping track of time or their progress throughout the story.

Including symbolism and foreshadowing helps to create an immersive world for readers by creating an atmosphere full of questions and anticipation.

Examples from English Literature

Harry potter.

If you’re looking to create a good story and get your readers absorbed right away, why not start it off with a simple scene set in an ordinary location?

That’s exactly what J.K. Rowling did when she began her renowned Harry Potter series by introducing readers to the Dursleys rather than Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts.

Not only does it act as our first glimpse into the magical world, but it also serves as an excellent contrast between the mundane world inhabited by Harry and his exciting destiny in store.

Plus, it sets up a whole series of themes about which we immediately want to know more – like the rejection Harry feels from his relatives from the outset and his desire for freedom from his captivity under the stairs!

The Godfather

The renowned novel by Mario Puzo begins not with the titular character but a collection of side characters somehow being wronged, and then attending Don Vito Corleone’s daughter’s wedding to gain an audience as he is the only man who can solve their problems.

This is an effective introduction, as it reveals how the world views Don Corleone and the mystique that surrounds him – so by the time the reader gets to the part with the man himself, there is a feeling of anticipation and a question of whether he’ll live up to his legend.

And as anyone who’s ever read The Godfather or watched the movie, Vito exceeds all expectations!

Final Thoughts

By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your story will be engaging from the opening sentence.

Of course, there is no guarantee that your story will be a masterpiece from the first paragraph – but by using hooks and openings, action and dialogue, and establishing setting and atmosphere, you will be well on your way to writing a great opening scene.

With practice, you’ll be able to start all of your stories in a way that captivates your audience and keeps them coming back for more!

Common Questions (FAQs)

What is a good sentence to start a story.

Writing a perfect opening sentence involves sparking the curiosity and emotions of your reader. You could introduce a unique character, describe a vivid scene, pose a question, or set up a mystery. The goal is to entice readers to journey further into the story!

What are the 7 ways to begin a story?

To interest readers from the start, authors can employ seven techniques: initiating with a memorable quote or dialogue, thrusting readers into immediate action, vividly describing the surroundings, giving a glimpse of a character’s life or thoughts, revisiting a significant past event, presenting a mysterious scenario, or hinting at an impending conflict or plot twist .

Interested in great storytelling ? Check out these other articles!

Plot vs Story: What’s The Difference? [With 3 Examples]

11 Best AI Novel Writing Software Tools (Reviewed)

Filmmaker, Author, Actor and Story Consultant

Neil Chase is an award-winning, produced screenwriter, independent filmmaker, professional actor, and author of the horror-western novel Iron Dogs. His latest feature film is an apocalyptic thriller called Spin The Wheel.

Neil has been featured on Celtx, No Film School, Script Revolution, Raindance, The Write Practice, Lifewire, and MSN.com, and his work has won awards from Script Summit, ScreamFest, FilmQuest and Cinequest (among others).

Neil believes that all writers have the potential to create great work. His passion is helping writers find their voice and develop their skills so that they can create stories that are entertaining and meaningful. If you’re ready to take your writing to the next level, he's here to help!

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Plot and Character

Learning creative writing online. Reviews and support for confused beginners and lapsed enthusiasts.

Beginning fiction writing

Beginning fiction writing: Tips for writing your first story

If you’re just beginning fiction writing, you’re probably full of as much self doubt as you are ideas and dreams. 

This is very normal when you start writing fiction. The stories you have in your head probably mean a lot to you. Getting them out of your head and onto the blank page in front of you isn’t easy. But it’s important to remember that every writer was a beginner once. From Cormac McCarthy to JK Rowling to Marian Keyes: they will all, at some point, sat down nervously in front of their first blank page.

The bad news: the way you feel now might not change much, even if you write 100 stories. As Phillip Pullman once said “All writing is difficult”.

The good news: once you’ve got some fiction written, you’ll know for sure that you can write more. You’ll know how to write fiction, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. You’ll still feel nerves and frustration sometimes, but you’ll be much better able to push through them. In the same way, a first-time marathon runner who starts to flag at 20 miles will have a tougher mental battle to get to the finish line, than the runner who’s on their 10th marathon. Even if the first-timer is the fitter, stronger, more talented of the two. 

This article is designed to get you to push through self doubt and understand how to start writing a story, and then to finish it. If you’re like I was when beginning fiction writing, before I wrote my first story (way back in 2005), you probably have plenty of starts already. Character sketches, first lines, first paragraphs. Pushing through to begin something is one thing. Pushing through until the end is much harder. I paid for an Open University creative writing course to force myself to do it. My hope is that you can use this blog to get beginning fiction writing effectively for free (I can even give you an extra, personal nudge – more on that at the end). 

How to start writing fiction and create a finished story as a beginner writer

If you’ve never completed a piece of fiction writing before, start with a short story. You might have the most incredible novel idea, but novels usually take years to write. At minimum, they take months, and even NaNoWriMo are clear that you won’t finish their month-long challenge with a fully finished novel.

A solid, valuable and memorable short story can be as little as 1000 words (some would say even fewer). It can be up to around 10,000, though I would aim under 3000. That keeps the story simple and manageable (vital when you’re beginning fiction writing) and puts your finish line very firmly in view. 

And if you really can’t see past your book right now, create a self-contained spin-off short story around one of your minor characters. If your novel was Harry Potter, for example, you could write a story about something that happened in Hagrid’s childhood, or how Harry’s parents met and married. 

My advice though: give your writing brain a break from the novel (and from any other works in progress). Start something you’re excited by, but not emotionally invested in. It’s easier that way, at least this time.

Common pitfalls for beginning writers (and how to avoid them)

Beginning fiction writing pitfall 1: feelings of inadequacy.

Nearly all fiction writers have to beat feelings of inadequacy to get a first draft finished when they’re starting out. The nagging doubt that your writing isn’t good enough or that you can’t measure up to established writers. 

This fear isn’t failure. It’s a natural, even necessary part of beginning fiction writing, and the creative process. Experienced writers feel it too. 

Consider this: imagine you believed yourself to already be the most incredible writer ever. Where would you go from here? How would you begin to evaluate your own writing? What motivation would you have to improve? 

Rather than fighting your feelings, acknowledge them. Work around them by:

• Embracing imperfection. Write a shitty first draft and then edit it. The first draft doesn’t need to be good. It needs to be done.
• Being kind to yourself. It’s OK if you didn’t get your story finished today, or you only managed 100 words when you thought you’d write 500. Life happens. Bad days happen. You’re writing, and you have a plan. You’re a writer. 

Beginning fiction writing pitfall 2: Writer’s block

Writer’s block is a pretty much a universal experience. Everyone has days when their blank page stays blank for much longer than they’d like. 

It doesn’t mean you lack talent, or that your story is no good. It’s simply something you need to push through. The only cure for writer’s block is to write. 

• Write anything, even if you think it’s awful (it probably isn’t). Words on the page are the goal. You don’t need to feel inspired or creative. 
• Imagine you’re being paid for this. Would you just tell your boss you ‘feel blocked’ today, when they ask you to write an email or file a report? Of course not. In my freelance copywriting work, I often have to write when I’m tired, struggling, or not in the mood. Because I have deadlines to meet and invoices I want to send. It’s harder to push through without that external motivation, but not impossible if you choose to believe that your work is worthwhile, even when it doesn’t feel like it. 

As Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love author, said:

“I don’t sit around waiting for passion to strike me. I keep working steadily, because I believe it is our privilege as humans to keep making things. Most of all, I keep working because I trust that creativity is always trying to find me, even when I have lost sight of it.”

Beginning fiction writing pitfall 3: Lack of time or space to write

Most writers struggle to carve out time for writing. Often because it’s a solitary, self-indulgent thing to do. I don’t mean that in a bad sense: but it simply is. We write because we want to, not because it benefits others. 

Many other things we do involve obligations to other people as well as to ourselves. Jobs, kids, elderly parents, spouses, pets, house renovations: all these and many more mean it’s hard to find the physical and mental space you need to focus on your writing. 

Here’s some tough advice: if your diary is full, you need to make choices. You can only spin so many plates. You can’t drop your job or your kids, so what can you drop? You don’t need to get divorced, but you might need to reduce the time you spend on social activities or hobbies. 

Not necessarily forever. Just while you get this first story out of your mind and onto the page. Once it’s done, you can reevaluate what’s important and what a fulfilling life looks like for you. 

Crafting your story: what are the basics of fiction writing?

Many people see fiction writing as an art. It can be. But I would argue that it is far more a craft than it is an art. It can (and should) be learned, practised and developed. 

Your art might have provided you with the initial inspiration that’s brought you to the point where you want to write a story. It’s learning your craft that will allow you to actually write it. 

And there are many beginning fiction writing tips you could listen to. You don’t need most of them now. What you do need is to:

• Create believable characters
• Write a compelling plot

These are the most basic ‘rules’ of writing stories. A story isn’t a story if it doesn’t follow these 2 rules. This much might seem obvious, but many otherwise talented writers struggle with this. I once had a coaching client who wrote wonderful descriptions of places and people, but was absolutely against putting them into any kind of plot. Plots were something she associated with formulaic mass market fiction, not the literary fiction she wrote. And when I co-ran the Brighton Prize for short stories, we saw many, many entries that were wonderfully written, but frustratingly plotless. They didn’t get past the first round of judging, however evocative they were.  

Here’s the thing: as you’ve probably heard, character is plot and plot is character. Strong, relatable, believable characters will create their own plots, if you let them. And a compelling plot will strengthen and shore up your characters. Just like real people, your characters interact with each other, and things happen, and they react.

So even if you don’t want to follow the rules, I strongly suggest, at least just this once, that you do. Remember that writing ‘rules’ are simply the distillation of successful writing from writer after writer, to reader after reader, over generation after generation. Yes, fashions and boundaries change. Genres differ. But the basics of what we, as humans, find compelling in a story are universal. 

The framework you can follow for writing fiction

Rule 1 of fiction writing for beginners: create believable characters.

Believable characters are the characters we care about. If a character feels thin, or cliched, we quickly lose interest. Even the most carefully plotted stories don’t grab us emotionally if the characters don’t feel real. 

Many writers naturally base their characters on people they know or have met, especially in their early writing. Even so, it’s worth taking a little time (not too much, or it’ll act as a distraction) to develop a quick character profile of your main character. You can repeat this for more minor characters too, if you like, but don’t let it become a distraction. In a short story, the main character should be your focus. 

You can redevelop this as you go, if your story takes you somewhere unexpected. But I would start by taking 15 minutes or so, and writing just a sentence or two to define these 4 things:

• Who they are

The very basics such as age, gender, and where they’re from. Keep it very simple at this stage. You shouldn’t need to create a huge backstory, and if you do, you can do it later.

• What they look like (and perhaps what they smell, sound or feel like too).

Are they nondescript, or striking? What interesting details or quirks do they have? Think the man who always wears his trousers neatly rolled. Or the child whose hair is always tangled. Even if you don’t know why these things are the case yet, the detail provides feeling and depth. You’ll connect the dots as you write.

• What motivates them

What do they want that they don’t have? What are they at risk of losing? Do they want to be the best detective Scotland Yard has ever seen? Do they want to travel? Change the world? Or do they simply want a comfortable life, or an escape from emotional pain? Think broad, rather than specific goals. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo’s quest to take the ring to Mordor is motivated by his desire to keep Middle Earth as a peaceful, harmonious place. Throwing the ring in the fire might be the focus of the story, but it’s not his actual motivation. 

• What’s stopping them, or could stop them, from having what they want?

Knowing this is fundamental. Without it, there can be no story. 

It’s likely that there are either internal or external forces at work, or both. Internal forces are things like lack of confidence, negative past experiences, illnesses or addictions that mean your character struggles to change their situation or achieve their goals. External forces can be things like political regimes or social structures (including poverty, or gender roles). They can also be other people: workmates, family, friends or partners who stand in your character’s way. 

Think of Frodo again: he had to overcome numerous forces, including Sauron, Gollum and his own weakness in the face of the power of the ring. You’ll notice that you’re veering sharply into plot here, rather than character. That’s inevitable. If plot and character were a marriage, it’d be a co-dependent one.

Rule 2 of fiction writing for beginners: write compelling plots

You might have read about things like rising and falling action, story arcs and denouement. 

This kind of technical study of plot can be fascinating (it is for me). But it’s not particularly helpful when you’re getting started. At this point, I would simply think of your plot like this:

• Beginning. Where you set up your story by introducing your main character, their situation, their goal and the struggles they have in achieving this goal. 
• Middle. Where your main character fights against the things that are stopping them from achieving their goal. And receive either help to do so from others, or come across people preventing them from doing so. 
• End . Where they either achieve their goals successfully, or don’t. If they don’t, there should be a resolution of some other kind, such as the main character coming to terms with a different path. 

This might seem overly basic. But if you’re writing a short story of less than 3000 words, you don’t need anything else. Even if you have a far more complex story running through your mind, with multiple subplots and characters, pare it right back so you can focus on finishing. You can always expand it later – though you’ll probably find you love it as it is. 

To see how to do this, think about Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Most Dickens novels are highly complex, and couldn’t realistically be drastically cut down much. But A Christmas Carol, a short novella at just 36,000 words, could. Instead of 3 spirits visiting Scrooge, there could have been just 1. Instead of showing him the error of his ways through multiple subplots and links to his past,  just one powerful event could have led Scrooge to realises the benefits of kindness, society and generosity. 

Would it be as powerful or famous a story if you cut it down to 10% of its current size? Almost certainly not. But it would still be a viable, interesting and impactful story. It would still be a story worth writing. And it would still be a complete and finished story with a beginning, middle and end. Right now, for you, that’s what matters. 

Quick and powerful writing tips: worldbuilding, theme, point of view, language and dialogue

• Worldbuilding. Particularly if you’re beginning fiction writing with a fantasy or historical story, you probably feel you need to set the scene, and explain the world in which your story takes place. And you do, but you might not need to do very much of it. A short story should be simple, and so the only worldbuilding details you need are those that your reader needs to understand the story. If you find yourself getting bogged down in detail, cut back ruthlessly. You can always copy and paste the details you cut to an outtakes document, just in case you want them back. 
• Theme. Your story may have a theme, or a point to make, but it should primarily be a story. As Stephen King says ‘good fiction begins with a story and progresses to a theme’. Highly political novels like 1984 might be led by their theme, but they don’t make ideal first stories. Follow the rules now, break them later.  
• Point of view. Short stories usually work best when told from a single point of view. This can mean first person. Or it can mean a closed third person narrative, where the story is told from the main character’s perspective, even if it’s not in their voice. It doesn’t much matter which you choose: start with whichever feels most natural, and switch if it doesn’t seem right. One of the benefits of short stories is that this is easy to do.
• Language . Remember that when you write fiction the words you use exist only to help your reader understand and connect with your story. Forget any hangups you may have about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ writing. Simple language is very often more effective and meaningful. 
• Dialogue . Many writers hate writing dialogue. The good news is, in a short story, you can usually get away with writing either none or very little of it. Especially if you write in first person. If you struggle with it, just try and avoid it for now. 

No more writing tips. Just write! 

This might be frustrating advice, but at this point, you simply need to write something. 

Even if it’s a shitty first draft. Because editing that draft will be far less difficult than you might imagine. It’s nearly always easier than writing. 

Forget about writing prompts, forums and feedback. These quickly become distractions that get in the way of actually writing. 

Follow the advice in this blog if it helps you get off the blocks and over the line. Ignore and do it your own way it if it becomes another distraction. 

Your sample writing plan: adapt as you choose

Set a goal to write a 1000 word story. It can of course end up longer, but it doesn’t need to be. That’s only around a third of the length of this blog.

You could write 200 words a day over a 5 day working week to get to 1000 words. See where you can snatch up to an hour a day (or 2x 30 minutes) for a few days running. Use your lunch break, your train commute, your toddler’s nap. Get up a little earlier or go to bed a little later. You don’t need to do this forever, just for 2 weeks. Probably much less: remember people write 50,000 words in 4 weeks for NaNoWriMo.

Set a timer for 30 minutes. Focus hard and aim to get  200 words on the page in that time. If the timer goes off before you get to 200 words, take a 5 minute break and do another 30 minutes (or come back to it later). 

After those 60 minutes of writing, if you don’t yet have 200 words, refocus and try again the next day. You’re allowing yourself to become distracted somewhere if you can’t meet this goal, so just keep trying until you get past the distraction.

You can then take a break over the weekend, clear your head, and spend the next week editing at a similar pace (though you’ll probably find you end up working faster). 

Adjust the timings if you want or need. You might find it easier to write at weekends, or maybe you have a day off every Wednesday when you can write all day, for example. Do whatever suits your schedule. 

But however you do it, you should aim to have a complete, edited 1000+ word story within 2 weeks. Which will mean, you have solid proof to give yourself that you are a writer. 

What if you decide you hate the story you just wrote?

I bet you won’t. But if you do, simply file it away. Accept the learning experience you’ve gained. And write the next one. It’ll be easier, I promise. 

What if you find you just can’t get it done, despite following all the advice in this blog?

Email me . Tell me what you’re struggling with. I’ll email back with pointers, or a pep talk. I want nothing in return, expect the chance to read your story once you’re finally done. 

You’ve got this. 

By plotandcharacter.com

Related post, story writing basics, 2 thought on “beginning fiction writing”.

[…] are very often down to fear of not being good enough. Especially if you’re just beginning fiction writing, though it happens to experienced writers […]

[…] If you’re a beginner writer desperate to get your first story out of your brain and onto the page, you might also find this blog on beginning fiction writing helpful. […]

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Starting Stories: 5 Great Beginning Strategies

Minilesson print.

The beginning of a story sets the tone for everything that will happen next. An opener is like an appetizer, offering a tasty morsel of what's to come.

When you start to write a story, you might not know where it is heading. That's okay. Play with possibilities! Try one or more of these strategies.

Strategy 1: Begin with action or dialogue.

I crouched in starting position, hands poised on the track and back coiled like a spring. "On your mark! Get set!" The starting gun boomed . I launched myself forward, trying to spring ahead of the pack.

Strategy 2: Ask a question.

Why does trouble always follow me around? Do I have a "kick me" sign on my back or something?

Strategy 3: Describe the setting.

I sat cradled in three branches at the top of an old oak behind my house. I could see over the rooftop, could see for miles. Overhead, planes lined up in the sky, heading toward O'Hare Airport to land one by one.

Strategy 4: Begin with background information.

Tommy's my little brother, and he's in the first grade. He's fearless. One day, he wore a cape to school. I told him everyone would laugh at him. The next day, five other boys came wearing capes.

Strategy 5: Have the main character introduce himself or herself.

I'm Tabitha. I just turned 13, and I'm here to tell you a secret.

Your Turn Practice each starting strategy. Think of a time recently when you accomplished something important. Try each strategy to start a narrative about that time. Then trade your story starters with a partner. Find out which starter makes your partner most interested in reading your story.

• Start with action or dialogue.
• Ask a question or set of questions.
• Describe the setting so readers can imagine it.
• Give background information that will interest readers.
• Introduce yourself to readers in a surprising way.

From page 148 in Writers Express

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The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

• LAFS.K12.W.1.3
• 110.5.b.12.A
• 110.5.b.11.B.i
• LAFS.3.W.1.3
• 110.5.b.11.B.ii
• 110.6.b.12.A
• 110.6.b.11.B.i
• LAFS.4.W.1.3
• 110.6.b.11.B.ii
• 110.7.b.11.B.i
• 110.7.b.12.A
• LAFS.5.W.1.3
• 110.7.b.11.B.ii
• 110.22.b.10.A
• 110.22.b.10.B.i
• 110.22.b.11.A
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• 110.23.b.10.B.i
• 110.23.b.11.A
• LAFS.7.W.1.3
• 110.23.b.10.B.ii
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Home › Writing Topics › Writers' Tool Box › Story Basics 101: Beginning, Middle, and End

Story Basics 101: Beginning, Middle, and End

By Tannille on June 26, 2021 • ( 2 )

Introduction

If we strip any story down to its core, we are left with a beginning, middle, and end — as cliche as that may be. The beginning, middle, and end are story building blocks and together create a structure. Most of us innately understand every story has a beginning, middle, and end; after all, stories have been with us all our lives. As writers, exploring structure on a deeper level offers tools for us to use when creating our own stories. Writing stories is a craft. As a starting point, to become good storytellers, we need to know the basics, aka the foundation of “story”; what elements make up a story, what a story is and isn’t, and basic story structure.

This post will focus on structure by dissecting the follow popular fairytales; “Hansel and Gretel”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “Cinderella”.

Beginnings 

The beginning of a story sets up a promise for what’s yet to come. The beginning shows a snip of the protagonist’s life, their status quo (life as the protagonist knows it). Consider the openings for the popular fairy tales; “Hansel and Gretel”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “Cinderella”. 

Hansel and Gretel: Impoverished parents leave the brother and sister to perish in the forest. The beginning paves the way for the middle of the story; lost in the forest, the siblings find the gingerbread house amongst the trees. 

Snow White: The widowed king remarries and dies, leaving his kingdom and daughter to his new wife. Jealous of the princess’s beauty, the queen detests the young woman. The setup of the relationship between the women promises the reader conflict between the evil queen and innocent Snow White will come.

Cinderella: Orphaned, Cindy is at her cruel stepmother’s mercy and raised as a servant, her social status is similar to a slave. The story’s beginning promises the reader conflict between Cindy and her well-off step-family, and the class system within society. 

Once the protagonist’s status quo is established, the story progresses to the middle. 

The middle of stories is where the bulk of the action happens and should make up at least 50% of the word count. Middles feature the trials and errors the protagonist faces. Let’s consider the middles for “Hansel and Gretel”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “Cinderella”; 

Hansel and Gretel: Abandoned brother and sister try following bread crumbs home and fail. Lost, they find the gingerbread house and are captured by the witch who enjoys eating children. Gretel plans their escape. 

Snow White: Fearing for her life, Snow White escapes her stepmother and survives an encounter with a hitman sent on the queen’s orders. Seven little dudes offer the girl asylum. The queen finds her, and in disguise of a hag, offers her an apple. Snow White eats the poisonous apple and falls into a comma. 

Cinderella: The poor girl can’t go to the Prince’s ball, because she has no frock, shoes, or transport. Her fairy godmother comes to the rescue by providing her with the resources she needs and sends her to the ball. Cindy charms the prince. The clock strikes 12 and Cindy runs off, leaving her slipper. The prince hunts his kingdom for the slipper owner with the promise of marriage. 

A lot happens in the middle of the story. The protagonist has a tug-a-war of “wins” and “loses”. These “wins” and “loses” charge towards the climax (final showdown) and ending. 

The end of a story includes a climax and conclusion. In other words — the outcome of the story set-up and the trials established during the beginning and middle. Let’s return to “Hansel and Gretel”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “Cinderella”;

Hansel and Gretel: Gretel saves her brother from the cannibal witch by roasting her in the oven. Free at last, the siblings find their father and return home. Their mother died during their absence and is blamed for their child abuse. They all lived happily ever after, except for mummy and the witch. PS the children need therapy. 

Snow White: The prince conveniently happens to be in the area and kisses Snow White (thankfully they don’t live in the 21st century or Prince Charming would be arrested for sexual harassment). Snow White wakes up. The pair marry.

Cinderella: Cindy is the last woman in the kingdom to try on the slipper. Perfect fit (she must have deformed feet or something if her shoes only fit her). Anyway, she won the lotto and marries royalty. Her step-family is punished. 

The protagonist’s story reaches a conclusion and a new status quo is formed — they all lived happily ever after. Of course, endings can be happy, sad, or neutral depending on the writer. 

Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end. I’ve only provided a starting point for beginner writers. Writing beyond a short story is a different beast and the story structure more complex. However, a story, no matter the size, needs a beginning, middle, and end.

What every story needs and what story isn’t… 

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• Story Basics 101: The Elements Every Story Needs – THE WRITING ASYLUM
• Story Basics 101: What Story Isn’t – THE WRITING ASYLUM

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Checklist for Beginning Your Story: Plot Considerations

I talked in that video about how complex a topic beginnings are and how the first chapter has so many moving pieces and so many things to think about, not just in hooking readers and convincing them this is an entertaining story, but also in laying the groundwork for everything to follow. If your beginning can’t do all that, then it compromises the story that follows.

So I wanted to divide this topic into two posts (and you can also watch the video or listen to the podcast , if you prefer those mediums). Really, there’s so much to talk about and we’re not covering all of everything that there is to consider about beginnings.

>>Click here to read “ Your Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 1: Hooking Readers “

>>Click here to read “ Your Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 2: Writing the Opening Scene “

>>Click here to read “ Your Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 3: Introducing the Story “

Today, we are going to be talking about plot considerations for your story’s beginning.

Creating Character Arcs (Amazon affiliate link)

Obviously, character is a huge part of this. You can’t have plot without character . Beginning with some of the things we talked about in the last video as a foundation is important in creating or highlighting elements of your character’s personality that drive the conflict and show your character’s relationship to the thematic Lie and Truth , which are going to drive their character arc and influence what they want and how they interact in the plot.

Setting Up Your Character’s Plot Goal in Your Story’s Beginning

One of the first things to remember in introducing the plot in your story’s beginning is that every scene in your story is like a domino in a row of dominoes. You know how people create those really elaborate designs, where if you push one domino over, it creates this chain reaction? Every domino has to be perfectly in place for this to happen, or the action comes to a halt and, at best, the person has to come in and manually bump over the next domino to recreate the chain reaction.

The first domino in your plotline of dominoes is the first scene. Ask, “How does this set up the chain reaction that’s going to follow?” It can’t be this arbitrary scene that’s tacked on in order to accomplish other important things that have to happen in the beginning (such as introducing characters or even just hooking readers). It has to do so in a way that is integral to the entire story and that creates this sense of cohesion and resonance .

Setting Up Your Character’s Desire and Plot Goal

What is plot in a nutshell? We can simply think of it as the character wanting something. They have a goal, and that goal is met with obstacles, which is what creates the conflict and therefore the entire drama of the story. It all begins with something your character wants.

This desire is something specific. It’s the plot goal, whatever that may be in your story, whether it’s a relationship (i.e., they want to be with somebody), whether it’s an actual item they’re pursuing that they need, or whether it’s to defeat an enemy. The plot goal can be something very specific (i.e., something they can hold it in their hand), or it can be something more abstract. Whatever it is, it is something specific within the plot. That specific goal is driven by a deeper desire on your character’s part. This is the Thing Your Character Wants .

Structuring Your Novel (Amazon affiliate link)

Setting Up the Thing Your Character Wants

This is important to consider when setting up your first chapter, because the plot goal will continue to gel as the story goes along. Particularly throughout the First Act , the goal may not be something the character specifically is after or even knows about necessarily. It may not fully come into view until the beginning of the Second Act , but you still have this whole first part of your story that you have to fill with stuff that has to happen. These events need to engage readers and make them want to read on until they get to that full immersion in the story’s drama.

So what do you do? What drives the plot in this early part of the story? Again, the answer is the Thing Your Character Wants. This is a deeper desire. It’s a deeper Want that fuels the desire and the need for that plot goal. As the story progresses, this desire will funnel into something that’s more specific. But this initial Want is founded upon and driven by the character’s relationship to the thematic Lie the Character Believes.

The Lie is a limited perspective the character holds—a limiting belief about themselves or the world they live in—that is motivating their actions in a way that is ultimately dysfunctional. It becomes increasingly so within the events of your specific story. Think about in this first scene as you’re crafting. What is the Thing Your Character Wants?

Even if you’re not yet able to craft an opening scene that is specifically involved with the plot goal that will come to light later on, you can still craft a scene based around the character’s desire, around the Thing Your Character Wants in this opening scene. In so doing, you get the opportunity to dramatize their relationship to the Lie and their relationship to the Normal World .

>>Click here to read “ What Does Your Character Want? Desire vs. Plot Goal vs. Moral Intention vs. Need “

Setting Up the Thing Your Character Needs

You can also think about the Thing Your Character Needs , which contrasts the Want. Generally, the Thing the Character Needs is the thematic Truth, which the character will come to believe as the story goes on. The Truth is the more expanded mindset contrasts the limitations with which they start out. Obviously, they don’t have the Truth in the beginning of the story. They may never get the Truth, depending on what type of arc they’re following. In a Positive Change Arc , they won’t fully integrate the Truth until the end of the story.

Use your awareness of the Thing the Character Needs—and their lack of it—to show how they’re interacting with the Thing the Character Wants. How are they trying to pursue the Want as a replacement for the Need?

A basic example of this would be that the character needs to let somebody love them, but their want is to fill that need with other things. Maybe they want to be a pop star. They think they want fame when what they need is love. Maybe the story is about falling in love or maybe it’s about reuniting with an estranged parent or something like that, the events of which will help the character evolve their perspective of and their relationship to love and to themselves and to loving themselves ultimately. You’re setting up this plot in which they’re pursuing a mistaken mode of trying to get love via their pursuit of fame. They start out thinking, I’m going to become a famous pop star and everybody’s going to love me! That kind of thing. Set that up in the very first chapter, even as you’re waiting to fully bring in the dynamics that will challenge that mindset and make it difficult for the character to get what they need via what they think they want .

The Structural Job of Your Story’s Beginning

From a structural perspective, the main function of the beginning is to set up the story that is to follow. Its job is to introduce all of the important elements, whether that’s the characters, the settings, the stakes, the theme, the pieces of your character’s arc (i.e., the Lie the Character Believes, the thematic Truth, the Thing the Character Wants, the Thing the Character Needs). All of that has to be introduced within the First Act. Usually, you will at the very least start foreshadowing almost all of those things from the very first scene in the first chapter.

How can you bring in all these crazy disparate elements that have to start happening within a very confined space? Think about how this first chapter structurally relates to other important structural moments throughout the story.

Using the First Chapter to Set Up the First Plot Point

What happens in the beginning, whether it’s exactly the first chapter or a little later on, sets up and therefore foreshadows whatever happens at your story’s First Plot Point . The First Plot Point happens around the 25% mark. It’s the the doorway between the First Act and the Second Act. It’s a big moment. It is the moment when your character becomes fully engaged with the story’s main conflict against the antagonistic force in your story. Think about how you can set that up in the very first chapter, even if it’s subtle.

How is what’s happening in this opening scene creating a line of cause and effect within your plot that will lead your character to the First Plot Point? If you realize some of your ideas for this beginning chapter don’t seem to influence the First Plot Point, then it is possible you’re beginning too soon. The true beginning of your story is that moment where the character’s life begins to change. It’s not necessarily dramatic yet; it’s not overt. Very subtly, the circumstances are changing.

The character’s own inner experience is changing in a way that means they cannot remain the way they were anymore. This could be mainly the result of external circumstances. Maybe their neighborhood is going to be condemned, and they have to move, whether they want to or not.

Writing Archetypal Character Arcs (affiliate link)

Or the change could be the result of internal circumstances. This is what we see very often in archetypal character arcs, such as  I talk about in my book Writing Archetypal Character Arcs . Wherever you’re at within the life cycle brings you to a point where you’re changing. Puberty is a great example. You don’t get a choice that you’re going on this next character arc into adulthood.

Maybe your character can’t help what’s happening, or maybe they’re excited for it. Maybe they think they know what they’re getting into and they want it. Either way, something is changing. It’s probably subtle. In the first chapter, it’s not at a point where they even recognize their life is going to change forever. But readers get to witness the first rumblings. Those first rumblings are where you want to begin your story. That is what then leads into and foreshadows the First Plot Point at the end of the First Act.

Using the Hook to Set Up the Resolution

One other thing you can think about structurally, is how the Hook in your story’s beginning mirrors and sets up the Resolution in your story’s ending.

The structural point and job of the first chapter is to act as a hook for readers . It’s to create that opening dynamic that not only kicks off the plot but pulls in readers. The Hook is that first beat in your story’s structure. By the time you get to the Resolution, whatever happens in the beginning, even if it seems very ancillary to the rest of the story, readers should be able to experience a harmony between the beginning and the ending.

For example, perhaps the character returns to wherever they were in the beginning of the story in that first scene. In some stories, this can be an extremely effective way to bring the story full circle and to show how the character and or the world has changed because of the effects of the story.

But the mirroring can be much subtler than that. Sometimes you might literally mirror whatever the Characteristic Moment was in the beginning with another Characteristic Moment in the very end , showing how the character has changed—or maybe they haven’t changed and that’s what you’re trying to emphasize.

Sometimes something you’ve created in the opening scene is something that you can mirror by the time you do get to the ending. Just keep that in mind when writing your story’s beginning. Realize that even if the beginning of the story seems very separate from what’s going to be the main conflict, you can create cohesion and bring the plot full circle by thinking about how any questions (whether overt or subtextual) that you’re raising in that first chapter can eventually be answered in the end.

Again, this can be very subtle. It is probably isn’t something you want readers thinking about throughout the whole story. But you can sow little seeds that can come to fruition at the end. This makes the whole story feel very grounded and resonant and purposeful. Even if you didn’t intend for the foreshadowing and the connections—even if it just magically happens that in the end you’re mirroring something in the beginning—it makes the story seem very intentional.

Techniques for Opening Your Story With a Bang

The last couple of things I want to talk about are techniques for opening your story. How can you take these elements we’ve talked about apply them to the actual story? How can you bring these techniques to life in a way that works for readers? It’s one thing for you to say, “This and this and this is going to happen.” It’s another thing to dramatize those events through words in a way readers will enjoy and relate.

Again, the Hook is your primary tool for pulling readers in with all of the great stuff you’re trying to share with them in the story. There are many ways to accomplish this. Bottom line: the Hook is a question. You’re not necessarily necessarily trying to get readers to ask an explicit question, but you do want to pique their curiosity and make them wonder what’s going to happen? with this dynamic.

You want them to ask, “What are the consequences of what just happened?” or “What would make someone do this?”

We’ve talked about backstory in previous video posts and how it can create a whole layer of subtext that makes readers wonder, “Why would someone do this? What’s the motivation?”

Think about how you can sew little hooks that get readers curious. If they’re curious, they keep reading. You can start with a little hook to pull them along until you can start planning bigger and bigger hooks as you continue to develop the main plot.

Opening Your Story In Medias Res

Now, one relatively popular way of trying to hook readers and beginning a story is starting in medias res . This is Latin for “in the middle of things.” Very often we see this in action stories where there’s already a battle going on. There’s already a car chase or a battle or whatever, and we are plunged right in the middle of it without knowing what’s going on. We don’t know why these characters are doing this or what’s at stake. It’s just action. The type of action will depend on the context of your story. Maybe it’s relational. For instance, maybe you open right smack in the middle of characters breaking up.

Regardless, the idea is that you’re cutting out the throat-clearing—the explanations of what’s happening—and just getting readers right into the good stuff. This can be very effective, but it’s also quite tricky. Particularly in written fiction, readers need a reason to invest in reading about action. Very often, descriptions of action are quite dense. Action isn’t the easiest thing for readers to immediately jump in and be interested in. Readers need a reason to care about the action. They need to know why your character is running through the streets. Very often, it’s better to hold the action back until at least later in the first chapter, if not later altogether.

Opening Your Story With Movement

However, the exception is in understanding what it means to open in the middle of the action. You may remember me mentioning in the last video how valuable it can be to open with your character in motion . You want them moving toward something. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re running through the streets or shooting it out or some big action moment. It just means there’s a sense of movement. They’re moving toward something. There’s momentum. There’s a sense they want something—and therefore there’s a plot. There’s a goal, and there’s the opportunity for that goal to be obstructed, which is conflict.

If you can just impart that in your first chapter, that is often enough to allow your story to open in a way that cuts through the throat clearing, gets straight to the point of what the character is doing in this first chapter, without asking readers to invest in a really intense scene where they don’t yet know who they’re sympathizing with or they’re identified with.

Opening Your Story With Dialogue

Very often opening with dialogue is one of the best ways to begin in the action because dialogue actually is action. I like to say dialogue the purest form of showing rather than telling because, literally, you don’t have to describe it or explain it. It is straight from the horse’s mouth—straight from the character’s mouth. This isn’t to say you want your first line to be dialogue. And you probably do not want a dialogue conversation without the context of dialogue tags that point out who these characters are. But the back and forth of dialogue gives you the opportunity to get readers into the action of the story, while also sewing in bits of information about the characters who are speaking and whatever they’re doing as they go.

Dialogue won’t be appropriate for every story’s first chapter. Obviously, the situation that you’re trying to convey in your first chapter will have a lot to do with deciding whether dialogue is your best opening gambit. But, generally speaking, it is an effective technique for grabbing readers and creating that perfect balance between action and forward momentum, while also giving readers an opportunity to invest in the characters, to understand what’s going on, who’s talking, what they’re doing, what they want, etc.

Beginnings have so much ground to cover. There are so many things we could still talk about! Between last month’s video and this one,  this a good overview of the basic elements and considerations for crafting a really solid beginning that sets the groundwork for the plot and the whole story to come, while also hooking readers and giving them a reason to be interested in the story.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! What were your primary plot considerations when beginning your story? Tell me in the comments!

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K.M. Weiland is the award-winning and internationally-published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel , Structuring Your Novel , and Creating Character Arcs . A native of western Nebraska, she writes historical and fantasy novels and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.

This has been an incredibly helpful post for me in rethinking my first chapter and looking for “dominos” there. I confess I have rewritten this chapter numerous times. Now I’m think that it will be more effective to not have the protagonist and the antagonist in the same room until a later chapter. I can assure you that I will watch and/or read this post again before I start re-rewriting that chapter again. Thanks so much for your help. I have given myself a deadline for this novel, and I will be celebrating its completion by that time, I promise you!

Glad it was helpful, Colleen! I think the first chapter is one of the most challenging for MANY writers. There is just so much to get right.

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Back to Reedsy Live

How to Start a Story

15:00 EST - Nov 24, 2021

Oksana Marafioti

Oksana Marafioti is the bestselling author of AMERICAN GYPSY: A MEMOIR (FSG, 2012). Her writings have appeared in RUMPUS, SLATE, TIME magazines, and more. Oksana was the 2013 BMI - Library of Congress Fellow and the 2020 recipient of the Picador Excellence in Literature Award from the University of Leipzig, Germany. She is the founder of Lounge Writers, an online creative writing studio that offers craft classes to writers of all genres and levels.

Oksana is an editor on Reedsy, head to her profile to find out more and work with her on your book.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and includes writing exercises not covered in detail during the live webinar.

The first thing that I want to say is that reading is the best way to learn how compelling stories begin or just the craft of writing. But you can also do it by watching movies — storytelling is used heavily in scriptwriting playwriting. So don't feel like you only need to look at other writing, even though it is helpful. I come from a film background, so I always look at movies as a writer, which is a great way to learn. 

I hear people say, just write what you like, and everything will just work out . But that doesn't give credit enough credit to the craft of writing — because there is a structure. There is some sense of formula if you will.

Know the rules before you break them

And for those who are serious about writing, it behooves us to learn how to do it right. Even if we're not going to follow the rules — even if we want to break the rules, you still have to know them first. 

What I'm going to talk about is just a general overview of how to start compelling stories. It’s based on an analysis of thousands of stories that have been done over decades. To see what works and what doesn't. Professional writers often have to write to a deadline and employ these rules because they know they work. But it doesn't mean that this is the only way to do it. 

So you shouldn't take a writing class and assume that when a writing teacher talks about a certain way of doing something, this is the only way to do it .

Everything is structure

Storytelling follows a structure that comes to us from antiquity. Here is an example of a structure in a rising action in Cinderella .

This is just one example of thousands where a story starts with something that seems to be ordinary. Then suddenly, things change, and our main characters are thrown into an extraordinary situation. 

Here is another example of a three-act structure — something that filmmakers use as well as creative writers. Believe it or not, this also applies to non-fiction writers.

You have a setup in act one : certain things need to happen for our reader to be engaged enough. If you are writing for the public, this is especially important to remember. Our public expects certain things of us as writers. And if you don't quite believe me, think of yourself as a reader, what kinds of books do you put down? What kinds of do you love to read? 

Act two relies on the results of the setup.  

Act three is when we have our resolution. The central climax takes place near the very end of the story.

This is a pretty well-known structure, and you can apply it to a lot of different stories.

Free course: Mastering the 3-Act Structure

Learn the essential elements of story structure with this online course. Get started now.

This particular webinar will cover these four things:

• Where to open; 
• How to open; 
• What to put in your opening; and 
• Where to close. 

We are specifically talking about Act 1: probably the first 30 or 60 pages, depending on the length of your book. 

What do we need to get the story started? 

Before we go into the details of what I just mentioned above, we need to introduce a desire , a danger, and a decision.  

• A character must want something; 
• But they cannot get it very easily (the danger);
• So they must decide, “Do I want to go after this thing or sit it out?” 

If the character chooses to sit it out, then we don't have a story. So by nature, we need characters who come in and say, “I want this enough.” And this is what jumpstarts the story.

The start is also where you also orient your audience. This is where you show your reader what kind of a book they're reading. 

Establishing genre 

This is a common question: how do you establish genre? From reading the first five pages, I should be able to tell what the genre is, based on these three elements: desire, danger, and decision.

Where to open

Editors often say, “start on the day that is different.” Think of every story you've ever loved: we don't have a character to whom nothing happens. Even if something doesn't happen to them externally, something is happening to them internally.

In Hollywood, a very, very common premise is “start with an arrival.” Now, I've binge-watched many shows, and I see so many series and films where it starts with somebody arriving in the new town, somebody arriving in a new job. Some might say that element is almost overplayed. 

In Pulp — a genre that’s reemerging — they often say, “start with a fight.” Of course, we're not talking about not necessarily a literal fight. We're thinking about something really dramatic at the beginning of the book.

The element of change

So the element of change is trouble. A moment of change — the start of a story. Something will need to change at the beginning of our story to get a reader interested. The reader needs to know is that something may or may not work out for the character. They will keep reading the story to see whether the character makes it through their problem.

This change: 

• Will be the trigger for a continuation of consequences throughout the entire book; 
• Will set off a chain reaction; 
• Will build conflict .

The character’s state of affairs must also be intolerant to them: they cannot attain or retain their desire at the start. 

This is the same whether you’re writing a mystery or literary fiction: the main character is in such conflict that you, as a reader, must keep reading to figure out what's going on. In Pride and Prejudice, it might seem like nothing's happening at the start, but there are internal conflicts — an intolerable state of affairs for more than one character. 

Formula for Conflict

Existing situation + affected character + consequences = desire + danger

I’m not saying that this formula means you have to do this just like this all the time — just be aware of this. So you have an existing situation.

As we open the book, we have:

• An existing situation that comes from before we met the character;
• We have an affected character — something happens to them;
• Then there are consequences to what happens after this change takes place. 
• This equals a renewed desire to either face the change or step away from it.
• And then some kind of a danger to that. 

The stronger the desire and the greater the danger to it, the stronger your beginning will be. 

Now, this could apply to something simple:

We can have a young character who just changed schools because their family moved (existing situation) . They didn’t want to move and leave all their friends behind (affected character) — and now they come into class on the first day, and they get bullied (consequences). All they want now is to fit in and prove they belong there (desire), but maybe the bully will stand in their way (danger) .

The character will decide that they will go after the thing they desire — and this sets off a chain reaction of events that we’ll follow to the end of the story.

When should the change happen?

Well, your story can start right before a change, during the change, or just after it. If you read enough and you watch enough films, you'll be able to put a bunch of them into these categories. 

• Start immediately before the change: maybe on the drive as the family's moving to a new town. 
• Some stories start during the change: something extreme like somebody running away from a volcano. 
• Or you could start a book directly after the change: Somebody is stranded on an island after a shipwreck, and the first scene sees them on this island by themselves. 

Where you should start depends on your story. This is again where your creativity comes in. You might know the formula, but how you handle it is completely in your hands.

Knowing this information that we're going over today should give you the tools to change things. Instead of saying, “I don’t like how this starts — obviously, I can't write,” and just stopping, you can look back and say, “Okay, I probably didn't start in the right place. I need to go back and look at it again.”

Building the beginning around change

We have an existing situation. We have a change. We have a character, and we have consequences: what happens to the character mentally or physically as a result of this change?

Let’s put this into another scenario:

• Situation: A winter’s day
• Change: A gust of wind
• Character: A man who’s walking down a path in a park
• Consequence: He turns up his collar and hurries home.

Why does this not work? That’s because it’s too easy . Think about this and apply it to a story that you're writing. Is your challenge too easy for the character? Will the reader say, “well, I could easily just overcome that.” If that's the case, you need to rethink your beginning. 

I'm sure that you've seen moments in stories where you thought, “why didn't they just do [this simple fix]?” It's kind of weird that they didn't realize that they could’ve easily avoided this problem.

Opening with change: potential problems

If you open too far ahead of the change , the reader might get bored. You might be revealing a lot of back story. Depending on the genre, a backstory might be required, but it's never actually required . 

If you open during the change , the reader might lack the context to help them see what's going on. If that’s the case, you might need a little bit more setup.

And if you open too far after the change , you might have a lot of explaining to do. 

Exercise #1: Use a story or film as an example of a situation/character/change/ consequences.

How to open

We're talking about, literally, the first paragraph. It's pretty well known amongst editors that the most critical parts of your book are the first and the last paragraphs — and in that order. In fact, I should be able to read the first and last paragraphs together and get a really good idea of what your story is about.

I have some examples here of various first paragraphs that work. 

An effective opening will make readers want more information. 

Example: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.” 

It can introduce a theme

Example: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” 

They often begin with striking character actions that set the stage for further developments

Example: Animal Farm by George Orwell

“Mr. Jones, of Manor Farm, had locked the hen-house for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes.” 

It can set a fitting tone 

Example: Harry Potter and the Philosopher/Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” 

So you have a narrator whose tone is very important, and your paragraph might serve the role of introducing that tone, that character, right.

It can play with the narrative timeframe

This is where you tell your reader that this will be the kind of book that will jump around in time a bit. 

Example: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” 

Introduce the narrator’ voice

Example: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” 

Exercise #2: Write an opening line or paragraph using one of the six methods listed above

By the way, these suggestions are not meant for you to look at as you write your first draft. When you write your first draft, I'm sure many of you have been told before to just let your creativity out and not think about anything related to editing. 

First Lines

Here are some approaches to take with your very first line.

1. The unique

So, of course, you should start with unique lines. In your edit, it’s something worth working on for a very, very long time. If any of you are poets, you already know the value of a unique line — and if you're not a poet, you should be reading and writing poetry because poets are masters at words. They're wordsmiths.

So depending on the story, you should have something at the beginning that will make your reader say, “I need to keep reading here. There's something magical about this.

• “I am an invisible man.” — Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man
• “124 was spiteful.” — Toni Morrison, Beloved
• “Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” — Ha Jin, Waiting
• “It was the day my grandmother exploded.” — Iain Banks, The Crow Road

2. The unanticipated

You start with an anticipated. So perhaps the delicate heroine turns out to have multi-faceted insect dial eyes, or a hero proclaims himself a damned fool.

3. Deviation from the routine

Instead of getting off the elevator on her usual floor, perhaps Jenny rides two floors higher than walks back down. The reader's wondering, “Why? What's going on?”

4. Start with the change that is about to happen 

Someone hears the hoofbeats of a galloping horse coming closer and closer down the road.

This is where you're tricking your reader — creating anticipation. Writing is often and very much about the psychology of emotion. We create a connection between the writer and the reader through emotions. That's pretty how it is with creative writing. Yes, there needs to be logic that comes with a story, but if you're not triggering emotions, the reader turns off, and they don't want to read anymore.

5. Inordinate attention to the commonplace

Another way to start is by paying attention to something commonplace. 

Sometimes we do that unintentionally: describing a doorknob in tremendous, painstaking detail on the very first page. This will make your reader assume there's something important about it.

If you pay an unusual amount of attention to, say, a tree in the front yard or a little girl peering out from behind the dresser, you might say, “well, I'm just trying to create an ambiance.” However — your reader will immediately think, subconsciously, that something important is going on here. Why are we paying attention to this car part for a whole page?

It will be memorable and make your reader want to keep going because that image is fascinating for [what the readers assume is] a good reason.

Opening shots of movies do just that. That's often their purpose — it’s an image that hooks you into the rest of the movie. So writers can do the same.

Exercise #3: Write the first line of a story using one of the five methods listed above.

3. What to put in your opening

When we create a world, we start with a blank mind. The reader doesn't know anything about our story. They cannot tell where they are. They can not tell the genre. They don't know anything about the characters. They're going to ask three specific questions: 

• Where am I? 
• What's going on and 

Those three things need to be answered. And I know that sometimes, there are contradictions — and of course, there are many different ways of telling stories — but by page 30, if I don't know where I am, I will assume it's a mistake unless you make it very clear that this is intentional. 

So, here’s how you might answer these questions. 

Pinpoint only what is significant

So if you describe a girl or a boy or anyone within a certain way, it's going to stand out for your reader. 

If somebody is acting clumsy in the very beginning, we're going to assume, as a reader, that this character is somewhat clumsy.

If you describe a girl as a “ditsy blond,” and you tag her far beyond appearance. In calling attention to that stereotype, you deem it a significant detail. Similarly, describing a character as “bull-necked” will give them a connotation that’s the opposite of sensitive. 

Create significance by association 

A little girl discovers a tiny demon monkey in her bed. Does she greet it with a warm smile and a hug? Or does she run shouting “not again”? Creating significance by association means how your characters react to things initially will dictate how your reader reacts to things in the book. 

For example, if your story is set in a city floating through space: we open with a character walking through a hallway, look at the stars through the window — and they’re absolutely fine with it. So we, the reader, know that this is fine. But if the character wakes up, discovers that they’re in space, and go, “Oh my gosh, what’s going on?” — then we know that this is not normal.

So creating significant significance by association is a great way to build the world without back story.

Use symbolism (Freudian, dream interpretations, etc.)

If you have a storm brewing, it is almost always a metaphor for change — something is going to happen really soon. This is something that Shakespeare used often and well.

Exercise #4: Start a story in which character and setting are introduced in the opening line/paragraph.

“Where am I?” is a very important question for readers. They really want to know where they are, both in time and space, from the start. Of course, the exception is if you are intentionally and masterfully writing it ambiguously — otherwise, I’d want to know if I’m the 1500s or the 2000s pretty early on.

You can also add in a few significant details from the setting to set the scene. 

So I hear this often: “When do I stop describing things? Because we're always told you need to be very descriptive in your writing.” You do not need to be very descriptive in your writing. You need to describe only things that serve the story. So in the very beginning, you should only show the things that are important to the mood you're setting and what kind of a story you're telling. 

And again, this applies to non-fiction as well. I write creative non-fiction, and this still applies. What's going on literally means what is happening right now: we're starting this story right at this point. 

What’s going on?

Establish the situation. What's the existing state of affairs, right? Show what happens in real-time.

What’s going on? means exactly that. The now. Not 'what's gone on' or 'past history/background'.

Show what happens. We can employ multiple senses. You don’t have to be nutty about it and write about all five senses in one paragraph. As writers of first drafts, we mostly employ the sense of sight and hearing — but in our rewrites, we can look to use the other senses. If we're, let's say, in a room where a lot of people are smoking, we're probably going to smell something too. So employing that smell, in the beginning, will help us set the scene and create a real opening. Our reader taps their emotions into the emotions of the character, and suddenly they're there.

Present conflict/opposition in real-time. We try to avoid backstory and explaining too much. This is one thing I see a lot as an editor: explanations about how the world works and why the characters are a certain way. The entire time I'm thinking, I just want to get to the story! So show me what's going on in real-time. Show me the conflict and all of that. 

Establishing conflict without history

Now some people might ask, but how can you establish conflict without history ? How can you have a fight without any background to it? Now you can, and trust me, the reader will be fine. We'll be just fine with that.

Okay. So how do we do that? 

We write striking, self-explanatory scenes. Show events happening in real-time, show the characters interacting with their environment or other characters now , not in the past. The reason for that is that you can only truly experience a story in the present. 

Whenever we go into a flashback, the reader switches the way they perceive the story — and it becomes passive. I'm not saying flashbacks are unnecessary. Sometimes they are right to have somebody remembering something. But we need to remember that where the reader connects clearly with the characters is in the present time.

Show what happens while it happens, in chronological order.

For example:

The paper clip lay on the desk between them. It was an old clip—discolored, somewhat bent, with a couple of small rust spots visible upon it.     

Idly, Olivas reached for it.

In a soft voice, Sheenan said, "Touch it, you son of a bitch, and I'll cut your throat." Olivas' hand froze.'

Exercise #6: Use the text from exercise #4 to add a happening, a self-explanatory scene.

Who are the characters ? The readers want to know.

Bring the character on “in character”. Think about what kind of a character you want to portray from the very beginning. What kind of a person are they? And again, look at other books, look at movies, look at shows. The first time you see them, you can tell exactly what kind of person they are. This will be expressed in their quirks, in things that they say and how they're behaving. 

The first time they appear, they must perform an act that characterizes them. 

Free course: Character Development

Create fascinating characters that your readers will love... or love to hate! Get started now.

Remember that book people are different from real people. Real people are multifaceted, and we're all over the place. You can be one person one day, a different person on a different day, and a completely different person on a third day. You change your mind about things all day long. But book people can not necessarily be so multi-faceted. So we usually choose the main characteristics that we want to portray in our character. Does this mean they will not change? Of course not. They need to change at some point. 

Avoid telling us what to think of the character. The best way to persuade our readers is to describe the character’s reality. Then let the reader decide who these characters are. If you want to portray a villain, don't tell us they are a villain or a bad person. Show us something that they do. That is important — especially in the very, very beginning of a story. 

As a test, those who have a manuscript go back to the first time you show your character on the page. What do they do? You will be able to tell what kind of a character you have on the page, right there from their action — even if you didn't mean to.

Exercise #7: Identify any or all of the following characters’ main traits.    Rumpelstiltskin • Braveheart (William Wallace) • Ebenezer Scrooge • Norman Bates • Morgan Freeman (as God) •  Wednesday Addams • Sherlock Holmes • Inigo Montoya •  Peter Pan • Alice   You can pick your own characters if you wish.

A bit more about beginnings

Or… Act One: Where Desire and Danger Gives You a Story Beginning

Again, remember that change comes in when our character desires something.  Our character will then either face the change or run away from it. But whatever happens, there will be obstacles, and the first obstacle comes in at the very beginning. 

So we open our story with curiosity-arousing devices that established two things:

• Your focal character has a goal, and 
• This goal is threatened somehow 

This is how you build suspense. Will they or will they not succeed?  

They might not succeed at all in the end — and I'm sure we've read enough stories and seen enough movies where the character doesn't get what they want. In fact, the best stories are not about what the character getting what they want, but what they deserve . Or what they need . 

But they do have a goal in the beginning — and from the very beginning, it is threatened. 

4. How to Close Your Beginning

So, where does the beginning end? When this change comes in, how does it end? 

The moment your focal character commits themselves by deciding to face 'danger', your actual story begins.

I always use this example: Let’s say I’m done with this webinar, and I try to get out of my office — but the door is locked. So that’s a change — because this door doesn’t normally have a lock on it. So I’m freaking out. What’s going on? Why is this door locked?

I move the handle and try to try and open it, but it doesn’t give. Well — I also happen to be afraid of small spaces, which adds to the problem. There’s no window, I can’t open the door, I’m screaming — this is an intolerable state of affairs.

Maybe the only way out is through a tiny door that leads to a basement that I know is haunted. I’m terrified of it, and I never go in there. But this is the only way out in this scenario.

Now, the moment I commit myself to face the danger is where the story starts: Am I going to go down this hatch into the basement to get out? Or am I going to stay in this room? 

Now, the story is not going to start if I stay in this room — so you, as the writer, are going to push me to that door and make me face the one thing I’m afraid of. And once I open that hatch, stare into that black empty space and say, “I can’t believe I’m doing this” — that is the end of the beginning. This is where the story actually begins.

This decision must link to the story's very core and follow through to the very end. Everything else before that was a setup to show you what kind of a character I am — so that this decision can be linked to the very core of my story. If I go down the basement, hopefully, it's not going just to end there. Other things are going to start happening.

And this is where we hook a reader, and they have to see what's going to happen next. They have no choice. So this is all about giving a reader no other choice but to keep reading.

Exercise #8: Think of any examples of where a beginning ends from books or films.

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