How to (Not) Write Story Beginnings · 7:03am Apr 28th, 2020
So you have a story with a good description, fitting cover art, original title, and an appealing premise, yet it seems that the views and votes are not coming in as fast as you‘d like? There might be many reasons behind your lack of success, including, but not limited to, bad luck and bad timing, the title, description and so on not being as perfect as you think, and, lastly, the story itself not being as good as you advertised it to be.
An important thing to keep in mind is that most readers are going to judge the story’s quality just by the first chapter or a portion of it. If it doesn’t live up to their expectations, they leave to never return again. It may seem a bit harsh and unbased, but in most cases the first thousand or so words are enough to provide you an idea of the story’s overall issues and quality. (That’s a good thing to remember if you need feedback and you need it fast.)
I often liken the first chapter to a foundation. If that one is faulty, the house, no matter how grand it is, falls. It’s the same in case of stories—not matter how much of an epic tale the next chapters may contain, if the first chapter is unlikeable and riddled with errors, nobody’s gonna stick around to read on. That’s why pleas such as “It gets better in the next chapters, please read on!” don’t leave the best of impressions.
I’m going to focus on some basic tips and tricks on constructing the first few paragraphs of an opening chapter, and I’ll try to point out some of the most overused and annoying cliches connected with story openings. However, I’ll not talk about grammar, spelling, pacing and so on. If you need to read more about that, you can find it in some of my blogs.
If you have ever heard anything about how the first chapter should look like, I’m pretty sure it included something about the chapter piquing interest, hooking the reader and so on, ideally within the first few paragraphs or at least the first 500 words (the number may vary a bit, depending on the genre and pace of your story). That’s all true and good, but an important thing that ought to be mentioned more often is that the opening should also give the readers a taste of what the whole story’s gonna be like. That may seem like common sense, but I’ve already seen stories about a calm tea party at a park that for some reason started with a crazy car chase. So, if a story’s all about calm and serenity, start with calm and serenity and not exploding vehicles.
While the example above illustrates that every story requires an opening specific to it, genres that depend on action and suspense—e.g. horror, thriller, and some adventures—still provide an excellent model for showcasing an ideal opening of sorts. Have you noticed how many action-packed stories (and also games and films) start with a scene that’s one of the most intense in the whole work? It makes sense, since you want to emphasise how much your story relies on action. If we look at it in more detail, a few sentences or paragraphs of build-up may precede the action sequence, or the reader may be thrown straight into the action—in media res, so to say. However, so much action usually doesn’t allow you to properly introduce the characters and settings, so a calmer scene follows in the same chapter or the next, and the audience have time to acquaint themselves with your world. The pace gradually builds up from there again as the story progresses.
Drama, slice of life, and some romances work in a similar manner, though instead of action, you just have to introduce the conflict (i.e. the driving force of the story, if there is one) early on. Defining a proper opening is a bit more tricky in case of comedies, given how broad the genre is (if it even can be considered a genre), but making the opening fresh and novel and introducing your sense of humour early on should be a pretty good rule of thumb. Genres aside, the opening can also present the reader with some minor aspects of your work, such as the tendency to toy with your audience using small plot twists and so on.
That were the do’s, let’s now move onto the don’t’s. What I oftentimes see on the site are lengthly, exposition-heavy info dumps. Often it’s just a very detailed description of a character, including their looks and life history. Sometimes it’s spiced up by looking in a mirror, (un)dressing and meeting the character’s friends or family, who are then described in a similar fashion. Depending on the amount of details on the character’s mane style, cutie mark, clothes, piercing, scars, chipped horns and ears, and a plethora of other accessories, the readers will likely remember about a third of what you listed. If you want to know the readers how exactly your character looks, provide them with some concept art in a blog attached to the story. In the story itself describe just the essentials in a spot that’s relevant—the story’s opening is often no such spot. The same goes for character backstories—place them somewhere fitting or get rid of them altogether. I don’t really need to know how many wives or troubles with alcohol your character has had if it’s never again brought up in the story.
The other kind of exposition that appears a bit too often are history lessons. Don’t get me wrong, if the writer knows what he’s doing and sticks only to the stuff that’s vital to the story, then there are instances where putting that in the story’s beginnng is the best thing one can do. However, people oftentimes neglect that and dump in so much information that the first chapter is more akin to a boring history textbook. Just like in case of character descriptions, a lot of redundant stuff can be cut, with the rest allocated to spots that are relevant.
Of course, take everything I said with a grain of salt. A lot of the tropes may be subverted and the wanna-be writing rules can be broken, but you already have to have some experience in order to do that properly. Furthermore, keep in mind that you should maintain the quality you have set in the first chapter thorough your story. A good story shouldn’t look like: excellent opening—filler—filler—scene that I quite like—filler—epic ending.
And, of course, this text was by far not exhaustive. Still, if you’ve made it all the way here, have a slice of apple strudel. Cookies are overrated.
(This has been originally posted in the forums of The Writer’s Group and Struggling Authors. Reposting here for safekeeping.)
Thank you! This will help me quite a bit!
Also, I too, believe cookies are overrated.
5251826
I'm glad to hear that it's gonna help!
Yay! Also, coupled with your profile pic, it's a really great statement
this is defiantly something I've experienced before. thanks for posting it
I like apple strudel
5251873
Thank you for your kind words
Hey Ever, your various guides are much appreciated, rock on.
Let me give you an example of what a great opening can do for you. I randomly picked up a book by an author I had never heard of. Read the first 225 words (two paragraphs and one sentence.) I was hooked. I devoured the entire six hundred (ish) page novel in one sitting.
The book? _A Fire Upon the Deep_ by Vernor Vinge.
5380216
Thank you
That sounds like an expertly done begining, I’ll check it out when I have the time. And I have to say, openings are probably my favourite parts of stories (and not just stories, the same rules for hooking your audience apply everywhere), I’m always looking forward to finding out what approach to hooking the reader did the author choose.
I don't if it's relevant to the article but I thought I could share a opening line which I think was kinda cool from Deaky Freaky by Elmore Leonard.
This is a kinda think that can hook me
5495301
Yep, it’s quite straight to the point and escalates very quickly. The very first Mission Impossible also has a masterpiece of an opening that not only hooks the viewers, but also that hints at what the whole story is going to be about. It requires one to watch the film a few times to fully grasp how much it actually conveys.
5495310
I would even say that the thriller genre, in general, is the really good use case for writers to watch or read (even if it's not their cup of tea) when comes to pacing, work with POV, or how to keep tension from start to beginning because these are important ingredients to have a good thriller.
5495319
Indeed. Thrillers (and any genre that relies heavily on manipulation of the readers' emotions and attention) are a great case study material for this, since you can easily tell when they work as they are supposed to.