The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 21 April 2009

Writer's Digest, May 2006, pages 20 to 21, in the Fiction Essentials column, has an article by Nancy Kress with the title "When Do I Start?" Nancy points out that there are basically five choices of when to begin your story:

1. The initiating event. "The simplest way to begin is with whatever action will launch the rest of the plot." It needs to be a strong action that provokes reactions, setting all of the events in motion. If you're going to do this, think about these three points:

• pick an action that sets off all of the conflicts to come
• jump right into the event, saving the background for later
• make sure the protagonist reacts strongly and believably, and then let other characters react to him

2. The limited dramatic scene. We're all familiar with the little five minute scenes that movies and TV shows often use at the very beginning. Those are limited dramatic scenes, that foreshadow the major events. It's like an orchestral prelude, that often contains hints of the music to come. This may or may not involve the main characters for the story. Decide whether such a limited scene makes your readers curious, or just forces them to start twice? If you want to do this, consider:

• pick a scene that is a microcosm of the coming conflict
• pick a scene that's exciting
• pick a scene that raises questions so that readers keep reading

3. The distant past. Sometimes, stories start with an event from long ago. These are often events that set up the story, but not directly. This might be in a prologue, to help set it apart from the main story. The main advantage here is that the reader now knows something that the characters may not know -- the deep dark secret that will be revealed later. But, the scene needs to be directly relevant and interesting enough for your readers to put up with two beginnings.

4. The distant future. Sometimes stories start with a scene after all the action, making the story a flashback. This may reduce the curiosity or tension of the story -- we know the protagonist will live, because as an old woman they are telling us the story. But, it does give the writer two viewpoints to play with -- the younger character who doesn't know what is going to happen and the older character who knows how it all turned out. It's complicated having this kind of a frame on the story, so make sure that the loss of tension is compensated for by the richness of the insights and voice and that there are some surprises.

5. In medias res. [I almost always misspell this, in media res, but the correct spelling is medias] this is simply an action-filled scene well into the story. Then with the readers already curious, some flashback and fill-in can be used to bring us up-to-date and then go on from there. The advantage is that an exciting scene hooks the reader. The disadvantage can be that backing and filling, which can make it confusing. Some suggestions about how to make it work for you:

• start with a scene that becomes more significant as the reader learns about the characters, so that when they find it again, it's almost like a different scene
• make the opening scene dramatic enough to remember
• use the contrast between the action-filled first scene and what usually a slightly slower thoughtful pace in the backfilling part.

Nancy points out that most stories can use any of these openings. It's up to you as a writer to decide what you want the reader to feel, and then try out different beginnings until you get a really powerful one for your work.

Five patterns: linear, a little prelude and then the main part, past history and then the main story, they-lived-happily-ever-after framing their dramatic memories, start-in-the-middle and then fill-in the background before continuing. And our job is to figure out which one we want to do.

The exercise? Probably take a look at your work in progress and see which of these you have used. Odds are it's either linear or in medias res. Now consider one of the other openings. How would that work for you? Does it add strength to your story? You might even want to try doing a rough draft version of it to see just what it would look like.

Where's your beginning?