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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/24657
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Only you know where your story begins. I'll ask you a few questions to help you figure out what you already know, deep inside:

1. What is, for you, the seed of that story? The initial core idea from which you built all of it? Sometimes it is a scene. Could that be the beginning?

2. What is the [logline](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/10916/how-to-distill-a-plot-into-a-logline)? The premise? The moral? The theme? The message? The change? The crisis or climax? Can you foreshadow the essence of rthe story in its first sentence?

3. What is the plot or the main character's arc? Were does the protagonist stand at the beginning (in terms of life situation and personality development)? Can you create a scene that shows this outset to the reader?

Look at the beginnings of novels. A Google search for something like "novel first sentence" turns up many lists with famous examples. Also go to Amazon.com and look at beginnings of novels in your genre using Amazon's "Look inside" function. Go through these beginnings of famous and genre novels and try to understand how they work. Looking at them with the questions above in mind will give you many ideas for first sentences for your novel, and the rest will flow from there.

Original score: 2