How to Begin a story?

Question

I have a great idea to write a story, but I'm just not sure how to start. I even have a general plan, but the first words are always daunting.

How do you useally go about starting a story?
What catches a readers attention and holds it for the story to get moving?
Examples? A web page... anythign would help.

Answer 1

If the beginning is daunting, then start by writing the end. You will build from there. There is no set rule in writing that says you have to start from the absolute beginning. When I write I usually end up starting somewhere in the middle.

Answer 2

How To Begin A Story

Answer 3

The first words are daunting, yes, but you'll never get anything finished if you never start!

For me, I just worry about getting the story down on paper. First drafts are rarely ever perfect, and they ALL take editing. So, I figure that it is more important to get across my point then to worry about what will hold the reader's attention.

By the time the story is finished, it often becomes more clear how it should begin. Most of the time I end up completely cutting the first few paragraphs that I wrote because they just weren't necessary.

If you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend taking a look at the book "Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life" by Anne Lamott. She has a really excellent section on first drafts and what to expect from them. The focus of the book is really taking things one step at a time and not getting overwhelmed by anything.

So, for now just write. You can worry about making the beginning more compelling once you have the ending down!

Enjoy!

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How to Begin a story?
I have a great idea to write a story, but I'm just not sure how to start. I even have a general plan, but the first words are always daunting.

How do you useally go about starting a story?
What catches a readers attention and holds it for the story to get moving?
Examples? A web page......

Answer 5

There are many different ways to begin, depending on what the story is. It needs to be something that will grab the readers attention at once and draw them deeper into the story. So many writers begin so badly that the reader will put the book down after a page or two, never to pick it up again. I like to remember the words of Frank Herbert in the opening of Dune: "A beginning is a very delicate time." Very true.

Answer 6

First of all, there is no reason you have to WRITE the story as it is READ. Start at the end and work your way forward. Start in the middle and skip around. But here's the key - start writing. ANYTHING. If you never start, you will never start! If it sucks, you can edit it out later. Pencils have erasers. Make mistakes. But START!

Which leads to the second implication of your question. Once you have a bunch of stuff that looks like the start of your novel, how do you pick the exact beginning?

I think it almost always helps to start things off interesting. You may have lots of information that you think people need as background, or a wonderful setting to set up, or whatever, but that's not going to sell books (or even just get people to read them). The last book I wrote, I threw out the prologue and the first chapter and never looked back. They were good and interesting, but chapter 2 was where things started happening! Depending on your book, it may not be physical action, but most books have SOMETHING happen... start when it starts really happening. If you have to cover stuff before hand, there's memory, conversation, flashbacks, and so on!

Hope that helps! Write! Now!

Answer 7

In all of my Creative Writing classes, I have always been taught that a story should begin with an action, because that sets the scene for the story you are about to tell. For example,
"Sean slammed the cup of coffee on the desk, carelessly letting the hot drink spill over onto the Engagement announcement of his ex-girlfriend, Gia."
So why is Sean mad at Gia? Did she breakup with him by way of this announcement? Did she abscond with all his savings, and is just now resurfacing?
Try setting up your story with some similar action that sets up the characters and plot.
Good luck!

Answer 8

Another thing to try is 'stream of consciousness'. Face down the intimidating power of the blank page with words words words. They won't be your finished writing, they will just get things flowing. Just write a page without thinking, without stopping and without judging. A not dissimilar process to drawing without looking at your page.

Answer 9

Ask a question or talk about something like it's a riddle. when I wrote for my school newspaper I wrote about a football game and I started out by saying "students are screaming, the ground is shaking, and here comes our Vikings"

Answer 10

Some people start at the end of the story then build the plot leading up to it!!