Ellechor Publishing House

Synopsis

Starting your story in the wrong place will stop the reader from getting past page one, so you must  learn to find the right moment to begin and where not to start. By using story questions to get the reader hooked, you can ensure the start is not a dud.

Lesson

Although the climax and ending are important parts of your story, readers will never reach them unless they get past your first sentence, first paragraph, and first page. Your job is to keep them reading, and you have to earn every line.

The best way to create the all-important start? Begin in medias res

This Latin phrase is a writing term meaning, “in the middle of things.” It means starting at a point where there’s action or conflict (and possibly both)—something relevant happening right this second that the characters care about and that the reader cares about too.

The action or conflict does not have to be of the James Bond variety. It can be simple, provided it does the job of hooking the reader. Your goal is to give the reader enough story questions that they will not put it down because they want to find the answers.

Think back to Disney’s movie Beauty and the Beast. The opening scene is where we see how Belle does not fit in with the villagers. She is different, and everyone knows it, including her.

It’s a simple conflict, but immediately we get a sense of her discomfort. She’s different (not like the girls throwing themselves at Gaston). She’s likable and smart. We also learn that Gaston has eyes for her and that her father is a fellow misfit. We have many potential conflicts and story questions presented in the course of a single musical number.

An opening conflict might be internal, inside the character (Nemo hates that his dad thinks he’s too little to anything alone) or external (Nemo gets lost and can’t find his way home). Most good stories have both external and internal conflicts. Which you choose to start with doesn’t matter so much, as long as there is a conflict that we care about.

Keep in mind that an opening conflict doesn’t need to be the story’s main conflict. Dorothy’s original conflict in The Wizard of Oz was about running away from her nasty neighbor. That was enough to hook the viewer until the main conflict showed up with the tornado and Oz.

A great example of starting with action in medias res is Ray Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451, about a society that has banned books. It begins in the middle of Montag’s workday. He’s a fireman—a man who sets fire to books.

Note where the story starts: we don’t enter when the alarm sounds. We don’t travel with Montag to the scene. Instead, we arrive when Montag is spraying kerosene and watching flames eat the pages. The opening lines are riveting:

     It was a pleasure to burn.

     It was a pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.

The scene continues as Montag aims his “python” of a hose and watches books turn to ash. We don’t know who Montag is, just that he’s got a hose of kerosene in his hands, that he loves the power and compares his actions to those of conducting a symphony as he destroys history.

That’s plenty to hook us—we have all kinds of questions. What is this society where books are destroyed? How did it come to be? What happens to people who own books? How did Montag become this kind of fireman?

We have these and more story questions. For now, Bradbury provides no solid answers. As well he shouldn’t, because the questions hook us into sticking around long enough to learn more.

Two pitfalls

Beware of two very common beginner ways of starting: flashbacks and a character waking up.

Flashbacks are a step removed from the current situation, and they almost always contain back story that we don’t need, at least not yet. A flashback is not in medias res, because it takes place in the past, so it’s not in the relevant story present.

Waking a character up is even worse—it’s the ultimate way to NOT begin in medias res. There’s no “middle of things” going on. A character is just opening their eyes and getting ready for the day. No conflict, no action, no story questions.

When to Jump in

Generally speaking, rough drafts open earlier than they should. Quite often writers will find their “real” beginning on page three or four, after they’ve done their literary “throat clearing” to get there. Be tough with yourself. If you find your true start on page four, chop off the front end and start where things get good.

Remember: it doesn’t matter if things get interesting on page eight (or forty-eight) if an agent, editor, or reader never gets there.

Lesson Assignment

For this exercise, you can use something you’ve already written. If you don’t have a story beginning, write one. Be sure to use something where a character does NOT have a flashback or is waking up. (If that’s your beginning, rewrite it before going on.)

Analyze your beginning with these questions:

    Does the story start in medias res with conflict or action that will hook the reader?

    Does the story start at the most effective moment within that scene? (Would it be more effective to start even 15 seconds later? What about 5 minutes later?)

    Does the start provide enough story questions to hook the reader?

    Revise using these guidelines in mind.

© Review Fuse 2009