Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Picking your starting place

This is topic Picking your starting place in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by bladeofwords (Member # 2132) on :

I'm positive that this has been discussed about a jillion times, but after searching through the archives (albeit not exhaustively) I thought that maybe I should ask it here. If there is a thread that somebody knows about that answers my question that is just a good. My question is this:

How do you pick a place to start within the events of your story?

I had a point that I always thought was the beginning but after thinking about it and I decided that those things might be better as backstory that gets discovered later. I've also thought of having a prologue (because I will almost definitely need to have an epilogue). The problem with that is that there is a pretty hefty chunk of information so it might take a while to write as a prologue and it could be tough to slowly slide into the story otherwise.

The reason I'm having this dillema is that the story starts before the main character is born and doesn't end until some time after he dies. Any advice?

Jon

[This message has been edited by bladeofwords (edited June 16, 2005).]

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

"Let's start at the very beginning, / A very good place to start." (from The Sound of Music)

Ignoring for the moment the idea of a prologue (which I think works in some cases but which many people seem to abhor), this is the very type of problem the MICE framework is meant to handle.

As far as your MC is concerned, the story starts on the day the status quo shifted and he was forced to get involved or take action. And that change should lead (eventually) to the climax.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

The answer depends on the expected word count. Is this a short story, a novel, or somewhere in between?

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

Speaking of prologue, I have a question about that. I submitted three chapters of my WIP for critique, and one person suggested that Chapter One should be a prologue. I am trying to figure out what is the difference? If it comes at the first of the book, does it matter?

I always considered prologue to be something that contains some background information, but isn't the actual story itself.

So I'm wondering what the rules are about prologues?

Posted by cklabyrinth (Member # 2454) on :

I'm having this trouble myself on the current short story I'm writing. It's a mileu(sp) story about someone going to a different planet and not wanting to leave, but in my first two attempts at writing it I've started too early. The first one I wrote about 1200 words and the guy is just getting into space. The second one I have about 200 words, and it started with him leaving Earth, but I still think it's the wrong place. (To clarify, I only write short stories right now, but the 1200 word draft I have seems to me like it would count as a novelet if I continued with that draft.)

I have no idea what to do; I've done this exact thing with another story of mine and I never got around to finishing it. I think it's just me being extremely self-conscious and afraid of failure, but eh, my television has to be used sometimes.

Prologues are meant, I think, to be nothing more than a hook to make the reader want to read further. Sword and sworcery fantasy seems to use them a lot, and I normally never read them, as the ones that I have read all seem to include things that were revealed in the story later on anyway.

[This message has been edited by cklabyrinth (edited June 16, 2005).]

Posted by NewsBys (Member # 1950) on :

On prologues:

One thing I don't like (and have seen too many times to count) is when a writer wastes a STORY by labeling it "prologue."
They write a detailed setting, introduce a sympathic POV character, establish conflict, and introduce an antagonist. I get totally hooked by the story and anxious to see where it will lead.
Then the "prologue" stops and the rest of the novel is about the character's grandchild doing something else.

What a waste and disappointment!

Posted by bladeofwords (Member # 2132) on :

Ha. That's basically what I was planning on doing (at least at one point, but I've decided to not do that) except the MC was going to show back up about half-way through the novel.

Don't worry, I decided to skip on the prologue buisness.

Jon

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Card has done a number of stories that basically went all the way from birth to after the death of the main character.

Usually, he starts with a scene that shows that character's first real contact with the antagonist of the story. Songmaster begins with Assnet's entry into the Songhouse. Ender's Game opens with a vingette showing Graff and somebody deciding his future followed by a scene where the first result of that decision affects his life.

Generally, that's where you want to start, at the point in time where the protagonist makes first contact with the true antagonist of the story. The contact doesn't have to be direct, but it does have to reward the reader by having that event be the "trigger" of the story proper.

Posted by pixydust (Member # 2311) on :

"Generally, that's where you want to start, at the point in time where the protagonist makes first contact with the true antagonist of the story. The contact doesn't have to be direct, but it does have to reward the reader by having that event be the "trigger" of the story proper."

Thanks Survivor! That's what I needed to hear. The perfect explenation.

As to what Newsbys said: So is it wrong to start with a secondary character? Is that bad juju or something? The first chapter of my novel starts with a character that you won't see again until book two. But she's the midwife for the main character's mother. If this is all wrong than I'm at a loss as to what I'm supposed to do. I've had people say--"Take it out" then someone else said "put it back, it needs to be there"--and they were both editors. I'm so lost.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Put it back, but somewhere else. After all, your main character presumably learns about this woman sometime after this very important event. We can do so as well.

Posted by Lord Darkstorm (Member # 1610) on :

I read in one of the writing books I have, that your story should start at the point that the character's biggest problem is starting.

The problem with telling a whole life story from pre birth to after death would mean that the main character will be in trouble from birth. Now if that is the case, ok, it might work. Otherwise you are going to add a lot of extra information that will probably be boring.

Posted by Shendülféa (Member # 2408) on :

I basically do what Lord Darkstorm said. I start in the middle of the action. I introduce the main conflict right at the beginning of my story.

Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :

Well . . . starting in the middle of the action is often--in fact, usually--overkill. What LDS said is:

quote:
start at the point that the character's biggest problem is starting.

That's generally a bit before the middle of the action. If the reader doesn't know why those people are fighting, or running, or whatnot, he won't care. But if you can catch the moment when something out-of-the-ordinary happens that propels the MC into the story, the reader gets the chance to see the normal state of affairs and understand how something significant is happening, all at the same moment.