Gryph sits down to write a story. She has characters, a plot, a main conflict… she just doesn’t know where to begin.
Begin at the beginning. Seems self-evident, doesn’t it?
Except: Where is the beginning? Why is that the beginning?
Deciding where exactly to jump into a story can be tricky. Sometimes it’s obvious: start at the beginning of a conflict, when a character first encounters some sort of change.
Samuel is eating lunch at a local diner, wondering how he’s going to pay his rent next month, when a mysterious woman in latex smashes his fries beneath a well-heeled foot.
Sometimes, though, it’s less clearly-defined: beginning in medias res and catching the reader up later.
Samuel is in the back of a car with a mysterious woman in latex as she picks the fries out of her boot treads, and shouts at the driver that they need to find the Big Cheese.
And sometimes, it’s unclear as to where the “beginning” really is. How far back should you take it? When does the conflict really begin?
Samuel is six years old and is inadvertently responsible for sending a little girl to the future.
The problem is that there really is no “right” answer to these questions. Sometimes it can take several false starts to find the right beginning. Sometimes the beginning is the last thing written, or edited, or just plain picked. Very often, it’s just a matter of picking a point and running with it. In the middle of a conversation, an exciting scene, or just with a character’s first introduction, just pick a point and start writing it.
And hey, you can write for pages and pages, only to realize that your beginning isn’t working. It’s okay. Just pick another beginning. Another spot in the timeline, another scene, another character introduction; try things out! The best part of beginnings, of writing in general, is that nothing is concrete until you decide it is.
Samuel is a wizened old caretaker of a government building when suddenly the girl he sent into the future so many years back appears.---
I'm GryphonFledgling. Welcome to 'Scratchlings'.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete((Bah. Removed a typo... Blogger-fail))
ReplyDeleteAnd so it begins! 8D
With an excellent post, I must say. Please tell me that you're writing this story. ;)
Anyway, I agree that sometimes it takes a few tries to find your beginning. I just read a friend's story, and ended up suggesting that he cut his first scene entirely and incorporate the information into a later scene.
But one thing I'd suggest is to WAIT to really start tweaking your beginning until after you get through the whole book. You might spend six weeks just trying to find the 'perfect' beginning, and then end the book realizing that your story has changed, and your beginning's not so perfect after all. And then you'll find a new beginning.
For the first draft, just get things down on paper. Jot down ideas if you have a stroke of inspiration for your new beginning, but don't forget about the rest of your story. ;)
I'm Silent Pages. Welcome to 'Scratchlings.' :)
HA! If only a book idea came with an easy schmeasy pre-packed outline...
ReplyDelete"Dear writer, please start your novel here... after 10 pages, proceed to conflict... also, be sure to keep your hands and arms inside the computer at all times. Thank you!"
[sigh]
Wistful thinking!
P.s. New blog stalker alert! ( ;
Ha! Wonderful post and intro!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the blogging.
P.S. Another stalker here!
Poor Samuel. He has no idea what he's getting into.
ReplyDelete