How do you drop a reader in the middle of nowhere at the beginning of a story?
My story begins with a little girl waking up in a creepy and probably very haunted house in the middle of nowhere. She has no memories of how she got there, what happened or what the place even is, but she does remember who she is. The main goal of the character is to escape from this house and find a way back home.
Is this a bad way to start the story? And if not, how should I start the story? What should I focus on the most when I throw the main character (and the reader for that matter) in at the deep end like that?
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In Media Res
Your idea of starting right in the middle is a good one and is used by the best stories. Readers quickly become bored with stories which just tell a lot of backstory.
The idea is such a great one it is an actual literary term known as In Media Res (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res) which means "into the middle of things".
That's what we want to do as writers, throw our characters (and readers, vicariously) into the middle of the action.
Your next question was:
What should I focus on the most...?
That is easy and difficult to answer.
Easy Answer
The easy answer is focus on what is important to your story. Focus on what the character sees and experiences. That leads us inexorably to the (more) difficult answer.
(More) Difficult Answer
The difficult answer isn't really more difficult. It actually makes logical sense too. However, it is more work.
Act Out The Scene
The way to get to "what you should focus on" is to act out the scene in your head.
Ask Yourself The Following Questions
- How would you feel, if you awoke in a strange place?
- What would be the first thing that would go through your mind? (Where am I? Where was I last?)
- While you are thinking those things, how would your body react? (Cry? Curl into little ball?, etc)
- What actions would you then take? (try to find a way out?, cry more?)
Visualize The Scene
Begin to visualize the actual scene taking place with yourself as the protagonist. Capture the reactions step by step in your writing and write it clearly so someone else can see the scene play out in front of them.
If you follow these simple steps you will find that your fiction becomes very realistic and will be clear for readers.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33878. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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This is a somewhat usual start for something that goes in the direction of a horror story - which means it works for the general audience
You will want your character to wake up and have a look at her surroundings. After getting a first impression you should dwell for a moment on the fact that she does know who she is, but she does not know how she got to this place and why she is there - there is a gap in her memories.
Often you will find that this gap is an important part in keeping the reader engaged by giving them little bits of information and having the character remember a bit more. Maybe they only remember leaving their house in the morning like every other day - before suddenly waking up in this cold and dark place, their head hurting like they've hit the ground pretty hard. And then they slowly start to remember how they took the bus after leaving for work. For example because they met a friend there and something they found in the creepy place reminded them of that friend.
It's a normal way to start and like every story has been done quite often. That means it works pretty well and as long as your character is engaging and your narration of the environment is interesting your readers will probably like it - they likely expect something in this direction from a horror story.
You need to keep in mind:
- Who is your character? -> What does your character know? What do other characters that are nearby know?
- What is the last thing your character remembers? -> What are important bits that need to be recovered? What are helpful things that your character will try to act on?
- Where is your character? -> What does it look like? What does it smell like?
- How does your character feel in this situation? -> Is your character scared out of their mind? Is your character trying to remain calm as best as possible?
- What will your character first try to do? -> Will your character run away at the first noise from a mouse? Will your character try to examine the room they woke up in?
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how should I start the story?
This is obviously a matter of opinion, the story I would write may be far different than the story you want to write. So this is basically how I would start such a story. (All elements can be toned down for a non-adult story.)
You need to establish the little girl as your hero, which means she has to be able to overcome her fear and DO things. DOING is very important for character likability, rely less on pity (because she is a frightened little girl) and far more on a natural inclination to try something even if it fails. Think of Bruce Willis in Die Hard; a long series of failures, getting beaten, cut, bloody, burned, always just barely on the trail, he's like Wile E. Cayote vs. The Roadrunner, except he prevails in the end.
So she may be fearful when she wakes up, but she does NOT deal with fear by taking the fetal position under the covers and waiting for a ghost to force her out of it. She does not try to hide in the closet. She deals with fear by taking action; searching for her mother or father, or whatever is the last thing she remembered. If her door is closed, she will open it. If it is locked, she will try to force it. If she can't, she will try the window. If that doesn't work, she will break it with the lamp.
Her fear cannot be disabling (or never for long), it must be accompanied by determination to move forward, to open the next door even as her hand trembles in fear, she doesn't back down. It can help her likability if she has to hurt herself: Jump from a height; grab something on fire; intentionally cut herself for the blood it takes to open a magic book.
Start with her taking action, what she does will define her character, and that will lead you to the rest of the story. Her reaction will be to find out where she is, and if confined, to escape.
You start by her asserting those goals (through action) and failing to achieve them: She cannot figure out where she is (nobody answers her calls), and she cannot escape (leave the room). That first scene can be a microcosm of what the story is about: She needs to escape the house, but first she needs to escape the room.
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