How should I start this story?

[NerfedFalcon]

This is a problem I get a lot when I'm writing. I get some ideas, I write them down, and then I let them sit for a while. The only reason I don't get them written out immediately is because I never know exactly how to start them. Everything I write just sounds...wrong, or else just not fitting to the actual story. What I really want help with is one I'm writing right now...

It starts in the first person, following my author avatar stowing away on board a jet to spy on a few girls who all got on properly. (Weird, I know, just roll with it, 'kay?) Like I said, the trick is exactly what I should do: how much of his background I should give immediately, how much detail I go into about getting on board the plane, stuff like that.

Can you help me out with this? I'd really appreciate it...

 

[Raven's Nest]

Just drop straight into the action. Start describing an event, build a scene by naming things as they become relevant. Give the first few passages a bit of flow and allow a character's actions and dialogue/monologue to establish them in your story... I find it's more interesting to keep a reader guessing at the main character's features, clothes, voice, personality, motives etc. Particularly if the book is told from a 1st person perspective.

If you really are struggling just read the first few paragraphs of some random books of different genres and see how others do it. Most that I've read just start describing the events as they happen. It kind of plunges you straight into their world and if you have something interesting going on, chances are the scene will practically write itself out.

 

[HapexIndustries]

Start with as little real background as possible and reveal things as you go, though you probably want to make reference to his physical characteristics early on. As to how much detail you want to go into, if it's a short story and largely inconsequential I would breeze through it in a couple sentences. For instance:

"Getting onto the plane wasn't as hard as I expected. Television really overexaggerates the security; it took me fifteen minutes of waiting for the right moment, a 20 yd sprint and knowing where to go and I was in." Etc.

If it's a big deal, if that's the real story, then you should focus on being as descriptive as possible.

"I rested my shoulder against the luggage car, trying to catch my breath. How many guys were out here, manhandling other people's things with the casual disregard of teamsters unloading crates of fruit? I saw three but I couldn't be sure. I wiped the sweat from my eyes, my heart beating, my head swimming with adrenaline. The plane was only a hundred feet away. I could make it." Etc.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Just write down everything and every scene you can think of. With now criticism. It doesn't matter if there's lots of material you'd never use. You can always remove them, edit them, put them in the right order. You can do anything. The main thing is to get going, and it's just much easier when you don't criticize your thoughts. You might also come up with plenty of other things. It's the most difficult, and basically a wrong, way to write a story straight as a final product. Just create, create, create without thinking, remove, edit, and you're well on your way.

You can even begin on a later part of the story, if you're not quite sure about the beginning. As for really where to begin: it can be anything, but preferably something active that gets attention.

 

[Neverhoodian]

The comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" once coined an epic line to start any book:

"The sea was filled with angry monkeys."

In all seriousness though, I'd start the story with him already on the plane. At first only drop vague hints as to how he got there, then you can start elaborating bit by bit as the story progresses. Dropping these "bread crumbs" for the reader to follow will provide extra incentive to continue reading.

 

[Floppertje]

you don't have to jump RIGHT into the action, but don't give us 5 chapters before anything happens, and don't spend an entire page describing what someone looks like, and DEFINITELY don't do it out of context, that makes it read like third rate porn. For instance, when describing something, do it only when your main character would pay specific attention to it. you don't go through life examining in minute detail every inch of how everyone you meet looks. You should describe it when it is relevant. if your main character is stricken by the appearance of a certain lady at a dance where everyone is all dressed up, it's fine to spend a little more time describing what she looks like and why she's so stunning, because that's what your character is paying attention to. same goes for the situation where a young lad sees a marine recruitment officer for the first time and is in awe of his splendid uniform, which he remembers in later life as ironic because war is hell etc., etc.

same goes for environments other things that need describing. if it's a room your main char's lived in most his life, he won't stop to examine it closely all of a sudden, so describe it gradually as you go along. if it's a place he's never been before, he might take a moment to take it in, which you use to describe it.


the same thing goes for describing actions, really. If it's a super-experienced-'makes james bond look like a clown'-ultra-spy', he'd mentally shrug off getting aboard the plane just as he would shrug off tying his laces. If it's a young guy fresh out of the spy-academy, he'd pay much more attention to it because it's a much bigger deal for him.

see how it works? describe things in a way that suits the character from whose point of view you're narrating (both in first and third person storytelling)

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Okay, I've listened to a few suggestions. Anyone want to see what I've done so far?