October Novel Prep Challenge

In my opinion, beginnings can be quite tricky to nail. There's a whole checklist. For example, there's a character's life at the beginning of the story to establish what's "normal" for them, but then there's a moment James Scott Bell likes to call an "opening disturbance. So now I am going to look at examples from popular books and movies.

I'll take the recent Barbie movie for an example. We see that life, for the most part, is pretty "perfect" for her. But the story then starts with a question. "Do you guys ever think about dying?"

Another example is Encanto. In the movie, we start off with a song introducing the family, and establishing a sense of normal. But then, there's a point where she mentions Bruno, and it becomes clear that people don't talk about Bruno.

In The Hobbit(referencing the book here), we start off with Bilbo meeting Gandalf and pushing him away, because he didn't want an adventure. Later on, Gandalf and the dwarves show up. But that specific meeting gives the duality. Bilbo has his normal, but when Gandalf shows up, it shows that there's something more to be desired.

In many cases, there's an unspoken want within the foreshadowing when showing the stasis.

There are so many different examples and different ways to transition from "normal" to the opening disturbance. And in many cases, you can hear about starting your story either too soon or too late.

But trying to answer those questions for your own stories can be quite intense.

So for today's question/prompt, I want you to think about a popular book, movie, or tv show that you like. Think of the beginning, and then look at the very first scene. What is that scene like? What are the following scenes like? At the end of the first chapter, episode, etc, what do they leave the audience with?

Now consider the own story you're growing. What kinds of impressions do you want to give your readers? How do you find the balance between setting a sense of "normal", but still hinting at the story to come?

Good luck with the assignment, everyone. You're all doing so well so far.

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