  Action/Adventure
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In the beginning…
"Beginnings are always messy." -- John Galsworthy
The beauty about being an author is the complete and utter control we have when creating our stories. Even when stories seem to “write themselves”, we sit in the driver's seat turning the steering wheel right or left, tapping our foot on the gas or brake.
The same holds true for a story’s “beginning”. As authors, if we don’t like our story’s start, we can tighten up, rearrange or reconstruct our words so they capture the reader’s attention in the first few sentences, or paragraphs, or pages. After all, we don’t want to lose our readers to other short stories or novels when their fingers are already gripped around the pages of ours stories!
What makes a good beginning?
Beginnings are messy, or loud, unmistakable, intriguing, full of life and action. I love Galsworthy’s quote. Plop me down in the messy beginning. Make me think, look, feel, and wonder. Solid starts offer these things; but, they also offer more. They take care of some housecleaning by accomplishing some of the following:
 establish voice
present character(s)
determine setting
set the tone
How can you as an author achieve all this in a few short sentences, paragraphs or pages? Here are two of my favorite approaches.
The risk/threat approach – Few things get the reader’s heart racing like imminent danger. An approaching train –with its whistle blowing in the not so far off distance, while Lucy trips over her shoelace, hurts her ankle and can’t get up off the train tracks. Opening your story with undeniable risk to a character hooks a reader right off the bat.
If you’re unsure how to get going, why not write your story with little thought of how your first few pages will go. Once you have your first draft completed, try slicing a bit of an action-packed scene and moving it up front. You can do a little back-pedaling when it comes to background, after you’ve hooked your reader.
The shock approach – Launching your first few sentences with some out-of-the closet information about your character is a definite attention getter. Announcing Jeff gambled away his family’s mortgage money on a whim bet grabs the reader’s attention. Most of us want to know more. What will his wife say? How will he tell his children?
Revealing something about your character’s personality produces curiosity in the reader who wants to see how other characters in your story will react when they discover what he, the reader…already knows.
Don’t be afraid to try out several different beginnings to see what works for your story, making sure to hook your reader while providing some of the housekeeping items listed above. Remember, if at first your don’t succeed, write, write again.
Until next time,
Robin
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from billwilcox
Robin,
What an inspiring newsletter! But I've got another one you can add to your list...Writing. Sometimes just writing will open up a stubborn muse, or give you an idea you never thought of before.
Aw, shucks...thanks, Bill.
mlarsen05 had this to say about my last newsletter - the one entitled Forces of Action.
A great newsletter. Aristotle's seven causes(and your one addition) provide a good way for a writer to analyze the events in his/her story and make sure they make sense. Everything must happen for a reason that is within the story, not just b/c the author wanted to force something on the character, though an act of nature comes close. I wouldn't use that one very often since the main character is supposed to drive the story. I think this newsletter will benefit a lot of writers out there. I definitely enjoyed the reminder. Thanks.
Thank you!
Want to earn gift points? Write me three different beginnings to a story you already have in your port. First one to send me this gets 5k worth of gps. I'll give a MB to the one who has the widest variety in their approaches.
Email me your efforts.
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Action/Adventure: June 25, 2008 Issue [#2467]
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