I have story that involves three men whose past intertwine with each others unbeknownest to them.

Seth had his parents murdered by a mob when he was five.

Josiah took place in that event and regrets it.

Mason had his family killed several years later by Seth's people. Seth had no part in it himself, but Mason seeks justice for that even.

Each of these men will meet up with each other, form a friendship then discover...one by one, each others past.

The story takes place in 1860.

Where should I begin? Thanks soooo much for your help. I've invested eight years with these characters and have many scenes already written for them which I love dearly. I just don't know how to begin the story.

I have enough material for each man to fill volumes. Also the events that happened are based on historical events. It's one of those "what if" stories.

Thank you so much for all your advice and help.

There's just so much history behind all three of them that I could write three other books. Make sense?

Tell the pasts in flashback and maybe let the audience in on their connection before you let the characters in.

I'd start with the first discovery, or hint, of their shared past. Mason's first suspicions, perhaps. This would establish what seems to me to be the story's main arc, Mason's quest for justice.

Edited to add:

I guess there are some key decisions that might help with how to start. Do you want the reader to be "in on" their connections, or figure it out alongside them? Do you want an omniscient POV or is the POV one of the characters?

Or perhaps, POV could be another character who's friends with all of them but something of a bystander--one who needs to have things explained to her, perhaps Mason's wife, and gives you an alternative for flashbacks, which I think can get tedious if overdone. Maybe she could figure things out before Mason does and add to the tension.

My suggestion above was based on assuming Mason's POV, close third, and the reader learning about their shared pasts through Mason's discoveries of them.

Good luck with this.
Pat

Seth brings up his past to Josiah very briefly over a campfire. Josiah realises that He took place in what happened. How does he now tell Seth that he helped kill his parents? How will Seth react to this information? When will Josiah fully reveal his past to Seth? (I love this kind of conflict)

Mason, who has formed a close friendship with Seth, will find out that it's a group of Seth's people who murdered his wife and father, Seth having nothing to do with it. He trusts no one save his own instincts.

Having said all that, as I said, each chapter will be dedicated to each man as thoughts, feelings and past are revealed through flashbacks or dialogue.

Does that make sense?

(Of course that doesn't apply so strongly if you're doing the whole thing in omniscient, though I suspect that if you do, you risk losing some character insights. OSC says that motivation is the one thing we need to tell, not show, and that will surely be more powerful from close third, or even first person.)

I'd almost want to take it from the last BIG event before they all meet. If the timing works out, I'd start with Mason's relationship with Seth, then the murders of his family and his search for justice assuming the search for justice is what brings the three men together in the end.

But, starting in 1860 is just as valid.

OSC has a good explanation of this in his book Characters and Viewpoints (also in Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy) - he calls it his "MICE" quotient, and goes through an explanation of how to find the story starting point once you know what kind of story you're telling (millieu, idea, character, or event story - that's the MICE part.) I think there are even some bits here on the bigger website that cover this.

I'll say this kindly because it's something I've had to learn (mostly the hard way) over the last 18 months - but the hard work from here on out is yours. Hatrack will help you with ideas, but remember we can't write the story for you. It's your story, and while the ideas may help, ultimately there'll be a point when we can't help anymore, you need to write it (and people will start to tell you that in no uncertain terms.) Once you have a start, stick it in the fragments and feedback section and we'll help you refine the first 13, and you'll find readers for longer segments.

quote:

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Seth had his parents murdered by a mob when he was five.
Josiah took place in that event and regrets it.
Mason had his family killed several years later by Seth's people. Seth had no part in it himself, but Mason seeks justice for that even.
Each of these men will meet up with each other, form a friendship then discover...one by one, each others past.
The story takes place in 1860.

---

quote:

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Seth brings up his past to Josiah very briefly over a campfire.

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With these assumptions my recommendation is to start with Seth inside a dream of his parents’ death. Most native tribes put great stock in dreams. It also gives an immediate chance for you to show us the ongoing effects of the event on his adult character. If he wakes up suddenly crying out and his friends are there, then you have a reason for Seth to bring this up “briefly” in explanation. And how he would handle such an explanation is very revealing about both him and his relationship to these other men. Their attitudes toward him in such a situation tell us a lot about them too.

Is it this difficult really to begin a story? Or am I making it so?

My story is character driven mostly. I love putting my characters in places where they don't want to be and see how they handle the situation. Wether they grow or flounder.

These three have decisions that they need to make regarding their friendship and how much of the past they are going to let affect it.

Truth be told, I hope to carry this over to another book (yes thinking of a second already) because I, myself am in love with the storyline and there's to much to cover in just one novel.

Even if I never get it in print, I want to see how it turns out in the end.

Maybe you need to start with Josiah doing whatever it is he does to win Seth's friendship and vice versa, then show the two of them doing whatever they do to win Mason's friendship and vice versa, or whatever order you've put them in.

An example of that (in film, instead of book) might be the way the Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, and Kevin Kline characters join up with each other in SILVERADO.

I'm starting it with the reason they all meet up. I posted my 13 lines in the other forum in case you'd like to read them.

I'm slowly becoming more comfortable with this and not so much worried about the "background" because I know it'll come out throughout the novel.

If anyone wants more...well then there's always another book.
:-D, but right now THIS is the story I want told. About how three men with pasts that still haunt them have to come to terms with that and each other and how they go about doing so.

Sound cheesy? Eh...I like it.