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Generally, do not start with a pronoun. Start with a MC name. Other than that, sure, open with "Jack ran, [Why Jack is running, something about the scene]." On the first page readers are forgiving...
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#5: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-05-30T20:45:11Z (over 4 years ago)
Generally, do not start with a pronoun. Start with a MC name. Other than that, sure, open with "Jack ran, [Why Jack is running, something about the scene]."On the first page readers are forgiving, they are aware they know how stories work and that not all information can be dumped at once. They expect to understand within 5% of the story, but in the beginning you don't have to explicate everything at once, and if you do it is boring.The opening is where you deliver the most important things about your MC, so talk about him, his thoughts, his feelings, and indirectly teach the reader about the world through his eyes and experience, but **_slowly_** , avoid information dumps. Devise your opening so the MC is active and doing things, and preferably not in a way that will require a flashback later (although references to the past in dialogue are fine, the MC explaining or reporting something to somebody else).Let us follow the MC doing whatever he is doing, and you make sure that what he is doing reveals (by showing, not telling) elements of his character for us to latch on to, sympathize with him or root for him.> Jack ran through the woods, looking for a tree tall enough to use as an ambush station, ...>> Jack ran, sprinting down the street at dawn. He was ten minutes late, and if he didn't catch the school bus on Kennedy street he couldn't save a seat for Karen, and then he might as well not have lived this day. Jack ran.Add character-specific tension in the first sense, it isn't enough to be running or fighting, show us something the character wants or needs from the beginning, tied to the main plot or not, but tell us something about why the MC is running and something about his character. The first Jack above is a likely a soldier planning to kill an enemy (or enemies).The second Jack is a schoolboy in love with a plan and a minor problem to solve, running late. That is unlikely to have a huge impact on the overall plot, but it tells us something about Jack and his setting, so we (readers) are semi-anchored. It doesn't have to be much. As long as we have a pretty good idea of the time-period and setting and who we are following (the MC, or first MC introduced), we'll keep reading. Both sentences above are enough to buy you (the writer) a few pages because they raise questions for the reader; "what happens next?" Does Jack catch the bus? While they wonder that, Jack can think so we know him better, or pass things on his way so you provide more of the setting, etc. But we keep reading because Jack has a goal and we immediately want to see Karen and see Jack interact with her, on the bus.Do NOT get bogged down in backstory or the setting or Jack's "situation" or big problem, that can all dribble out later. The inciting incident is 10%-15% into the story, this first 10% is showing us what the MC's **normal** world is like, then we encounter the inciting incident, and by 25% the MC is leaving the normal world (metaphorically or literally) to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident, which has escalated by 25% to something the MC can no longer ignore or solve with a simple fix.This is how stories start, not by any rules set by any authority, but when we analyze successful stories the vast majority follow this pattern: Normal World (10%), Something Happens (5%), It Gets Worse (5%), We must leave our normal world to deal with it (5%).More details in my answer to [Where Do I Start?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/36551/26047)
- Generally, do not start with a pronoun. Start with a MC name. Other than that, sure, open with "Jack ran, [Why Jack is running, something about the scene]."
- On the first page readers are forgiving, they are aware they know how stories work and that not all information can be dumped at once. They expect to understand within 5% of the story, but in the beginning you don't have to explicate everything at once, and if you do it is boring.
- The opening is where you deliver the most important things about your MC, so talk about him, his thoughts, his feelings, and indirectly teach the reader about the world through his eyes and experience, but **_slowly_** , avoid information dumps. Devise your opening so the MC is active and doing things, and preferably not in a way that will require a flashback later (although references to the past in dialogue are fine, the MC explaining or reporting something to somebody else).
- Let us follow the MC doing whatever he is doing, and you make sure that what he is doing reveals (by showing, not telling) elements of his character for us to latch on to, sympathize with him or root for him.
- > Jack ran through the woods, looking for a tree tall enough to use as an ambush station, ...
- >
- > Jack ran, sprinting down the street at dawn. He was ten minutes late, and if he didn't catch the school bus on Kennedy street he couldn't save a seat for Karen, and then he might as well not have lived this day. Jack ran.
- Add character-specific tension in the first sense, it isn't enough to be running or fighting, show us something the character wants or needs from the beginning, tied to the main plot or not, but tell us something about why the MC is running and something about his character. The first Jack above is a likely a soldier planning to kill an enemy (or enemies).
- The second Jack is a schoolboy in love with a plan and a minor problem to solve, running late. That is unlikely to have a huge impact on the overall plot, but it tells us something about Jack and his setting, so we (readers) are semi-anchored. It doesn't have to be much. As long as we have a pretty good idea of the time-period and setting and who we are following (the MC, or first MC introduced), we'll keep reading. Both sentences above are enough to buy you (the writer) a few pages because they raise questions for the reader; "what happens next?" Does Jack catch the bus? While they wonder that, Jack can think so we know him better, or pass things on his way so you provide more of the setting, etc. But we keep reading because Jack has a goal and we immediately want to see Karen and see Jack interact with her, on the bus.
- Do NOT get bogged down in backstory or the setting or Jack's "situation" or big problem, that can all dribble out later. The inciting incident is 10%-15% into the story, this first 10% is showing us what the MC's **normal** world is like, then we encounter the inciting incident, and by 25% the MC is leaving the normal world (metaphorically or literally) to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident, which has escalated by 25% to something the MC can no longer ignore or solve with a simple fix.
- This is how stories start, not by any rules set by any authority, but when we analyze successful stories the vast majority follow this pattern: Normal World (10%), Something Happens (5%), It Gets Worse (5%), We must leave our normal world to deal with it (5%).
- More details in my answer to [Where Do I Start?](https://writing.codidact.com/a/28620/28626)
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-19T22:13:37Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40860 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T10:16:12Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40860 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Generally, do not start with a pronoun. Start with a MC name. Other than that, sure, open with "Jack ran, [Why Jack is running, something about the scene]." On the first page readers are forgiving, they are aware they know how stories work and that not all information can be dumped at once. They expect to understand within 5% of the story, but in the beginning you don't have to explicate everything at once, and if you do it is boring. The opening is where you deliver the most important things about your MC, so talk about him, his thoughts, his feelings, and indirectly teach the reader about the world through his eyes and experience, but **_slowly_** , avoid information dumps. Devise your opening so the MC is active and doing things, and preferably not in a way that will require a flashback later (although references to the past in dialogue are fine, the MC explaining or reporting something to somebody else). Let us follow the MC doing whatever he is doing, and you make sure that what he is doing reveals (by showing, not telling) elements of his character for us to latch on to, sympathize with him or root for him. > Jack ran through the woods, looking for a tree tall enough to use as an ambush station, ... > > Jack ran, sprinting down the street at dawn. He was ten minutes late, and if he didn't catch the school bus on Kennedy street he couldn't save a seat for Karen, and then he might as well not have lived this day. Jack ran. Add character-specific tension in the first sense, it isn't enough to be running or fighting, show us something the character wants or needs from the beginning, tied to the main plot or not, but tell us something about why the MC is running and something about his character. The first Jack above is a likely a soldier planning to kill an enemy (or enemies). The second Jack is a schoolboy in love with a plan and a minor problem to solve, running late. That is unlikely to have a huge impact on the overall plot, but it tells us something about Jack and his setting, so we (readers) are semi-anchored. It doesn't have to be much. As long as we have a pretty good idea of the time-period and setting and who we are following (the MC, or first MC introduced), we'll keep reading. Both sentences above are enough to buy you (the writer) a few pages because they raise questions for the reader; "what happens next?" Does Jack catch the bus? While they wonder that, Jack can think so we know him better, or pass things on his way so you provide more of the setting, etc. But we keep reading because Jack has a goal and we immediately want to see Karen and see Jack interact with her, on the bus. Do NOT get bogged down in backstory or the setting or Jack's "situation" or big problem, that can all dribble out later. The inciting incident is 10%-15% into the story, this first 10% is showing us what the MC's **normal** world is like, then we encounter the inciting incident, and by 25% the MC is leaving the normal world (metaphorically or literally) to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident, which has escalated by 25% to something the MC can no longer ignore or solve with a simple fix. This is how stories start, not by any rules set by any authority, but when we analyze successful stories the vast majority follow this pattern: Normal World (10%), Something Happens (5%), It Gets Worse (5%), We must leave our normal world to deal with it (5%). More details in my answer to [Where Do I Start?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/36551/26047)
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2018-12-22T13:57:18Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 0