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This lecture series from Sanderson has a lot of good insight in it. Specific to your question, in this episode on world building he talks about how to open a story while engaging with both chara...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T08:42:54Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35823 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Amelia
·
2019-12-08T08:42:54Z (almost 5 years ago)
This lecture series from Sanderson has a lot of good insight in it. Specific to your question, in this episode on world building he talks about how to open a story while engaging with both character and setting right away. (He also discusses the epic fantasy prologue which might not be relevant to your genre). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98Zy\_hP5TI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98Zy_hP5TI) In the example of the girl searching for the egg, he opens with the girl engaged in direct action (scaling a wall) that speaks to both setting (to steal an egg from a giant monster that lives on top of a cliff) and character motivation (to feed her family). I found the way he broke down what was compelling about the hook to be helpful. While the advice is epic fantasy specific, the series may have helpful techniques for writers in other genres or non-genre writers.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2018-05-02T15:28:40Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 3