How can i begin to write a short story with a strong beginning ?

Question

I Have to write a short story that focuses on 3 characters who find themselves at the mercy of forces they can neither understand nor control.

IF possible can u give me a nice starting..( it would help alot because im lost)

Answer 1

Mark, Mary, and Madeline in a monsoon. It sounded like some cornball title for an essay wrote by a highschool student somewhere. If only that were true! This IS an essay about 3 people named Mark, Mary, and Madeline and they WERE caught in a monsoon! But let me start at the beginning...

Our senior honors class was studying about India, Uttar Pradesh to be exact. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state, but farmers could not coax the soil to support plant life. In 1998 a farmer driven project funded by the World Bank and the United States decided to turn things around. It was a worthwhile project that would help to feed millions who currently lived at starvation levels.

Mark, Mary, and Madeline, wanted to do something to help. They wanted to give hands on help. All that year they did things to raise money for a trip to India. Their parents decided that if the teens could raise enough for the trip and their own expenses they would be allowed to go.

And they did just that. They were amazed to see what they had only read about or seen in pictures. It was much worse in person. The heat was draining, but they knew they would adjust and made arrangements to help where they could do so.

One day as they were working in the hot dry fields everyone starte to talk excitedly and point towards the sea. The monsoons were coming!

They couldn't believe how quickly the downpour was upon them. The dust quickly became impassable mud and visibility went down to zero. Now thouroughly soaked they tried to find shelter under a scraggly tree. It was better than nothing, but not by much.

What could they do? They couldn't see and they weren't familiar with the area they had been driven to that morning. All they could do was wait and hope for rescue.

They heard the Jeep when it was almost on them. The driver motioned them to get in and they didn't hesitate. Mary almost slid back into the mud, but Mark grabbed her and hauled her aboard. It was rough going, but they finally made it back to the field shack.

Mark, Mary, and Madeline in a monsoon. It was their first experience with the torrential rains, but it wouldn't be their last.

Answer 2

Grab the reader's attention as soon as possible. Draw them into the story. Don't start gently or in a cliched way, start strong... for example:

"Richard Aldmann felt himself dying. His mind was gradually slowing to a stop as the drug paralysed his respiratory system, making him unable to cry out, and he was aware of the feeling of icy coldness beginning to creep into his fingers and toes. As his consciousness drifted away and he slumped upon the sidewalk, he thought longingly of his wife, hoping that she, at least, would realise in time, that they had accidentally picked up each others pills that morning..."

Then explore why they mixed up the pills, or what happens after Richard dies (if he does die, perhaps he only loses consciousness and is revived), and whether the wife does find out in time, or any of the myriad doors that a can of worms like this opens. :)

Answer 3

Nobody's going to write it for you, but here's how to do it for yourself:

Just write your story, then go back through and pick out the strongest passage for your beginning. Revise the story to make it work, and there you have it.


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