How to Start a Story?

Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

A Brief Update

Now that I've concluded Gate of Hell, I'd like to try something new. Of course, I'll be posting short stories regularly, especially since I have four short stories and novellas ready, of which two are over 20,000 words. 

One of these novellas is "Voice of God". It's about a teacher who travels to a small hamlet, where she suspects the villagers of child abuse. 

The other one is highly political. It's satire at its finest and it tackles ongoing war crimes in a horror setting and is indirectly related to my short story Call to Action.

It's called "Second Chance" and is about an afflicted young woman of Turkish background who, along with other "minorities", is forced into a double-decker bus to the countryside as part of a rehabilitation programme, which is a scheme to get rid of people who are seen as "burden" by the elite.

It's political because I do not just insinuate ongoing war crimes and the perpetrators who do it; I say it as it is. This is why I did not publish this along with my other stories in Human Animals (which is no longer available as an ebook). 

How to Start a Story?

I began my writing journey back in 2019 at the tender age of twenty-three. In the beginning, I just wrote. This led to an epic fantasy novel, which can now be found at Royal Road along with another fantasy novel of mine (I've only rewritten the first book in the trilogy, though). 

Honestly, I don't recall how I started that novel. But one thing that has worked for me is to start with the setting/background. So, questions like "Where are we?" are in focus.

I've done this for Night Watch for example. And to address the elephant in the room, I actually named this story Night Shift. However, upon learning that a bestselling author had a short story named that as well, I changed the title. 

Let's take a closer look at what I mean:

The wind’s icy breath carried a mournful tune across the desolate farmland, where the forgotten tombs lay buried beneath a thick layer of powdery snow. Beyond the church lay a village, secluded and isolated from the rest of the world.

This part is actually from my first draft. I did not change a lot in this particular paragraph during the rewriting, only added some details, such as "powdery snow" instead of "snow" and so on.

The thing is, the better we start off a story, the easier it is to continue and build on it. That's why I like to start by setting the scene and atmosphere, which is not for the reader per se, but for me, the writer, to be intrigued by my own creation and get the creative juices flowing. 

If you start on the wrong premise, it's not about if you'll get writer's block but when you'll get it. 

But this example is from a horror short story, I hear you say. How do we actually apply this to a broader range of genres? Luckily for you, I happen to write children's, middle grade and young adult stories as well. 

Let's take a look at how I started my children's fiction Madison's Peculiar Adventure first:

“The car will be here any minute!” The sharpness of Mrs Walter’s voice cut through the air as she shouted from the kitchen on the first floor. Madison let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Mrs Walter was her grandpa’s bosom friend, whom he had known ever since they were not much older than she was now.

In this particular instance, I've started with a dialogue to introduce the main character and add some crucial backstory that I build on during the second paragraph. The sentence tells us that Madison is not happy about something that the reader is about to learn in the coming paragraphs. 

What about The Hezakhal Dungeon, then? Let's take a look:

KIANO LUMBERED IN through the cracked steel gate and kicked a stone. The smell of baked bread and musty soup pervaded the vicinity. A swarm of homeless people sang in a corner, drinking their lives away and pleading with him to give them coins. The fountain at the heart of the ancient village depicted a woman with birds; water gushed out of her stony mouth and drenched the kids to the bone.

The background and setting are on focus here as well. Although I've introduced one of the main characters in this first paragraph, I did this by linking him to the setting itself. 

Last but not least, I started my first-person young adult fantasy romance, The Labyrinth of Negrastir, with the following line:

My gruelling journey into the ancient past set about with the death of my entire clan. Over countless generations, my people waged an implacable battle against the demons.

This is pure backstory from the get-go. Is it the most ideal way of grabbing the readers' attention, then? From my lack of sales, clearly not! But I stand by this decision.

I could've started with the main character, Hera, finding herself in the past. But figured that showing the reader why Hera isn't your typical heroine, who's willing to abandon her mission for love is crucial.  

But these beginnings are all from stories that have been rewritten and edited numerous times. What about how you start a first draft? Well, I've got something for ya!

The following line is from a fresh WIP, ya fantasy romance, that I've begun yesterday. I meant to write it much earlier and had some scenes I wanted to include tattooed on my mind, but I kept delaying writing the actual thing. 

Why? Well, because I couldn't make up my mind on how to begin the story. If I don't get the beginning right, I can't finish the story itself and getting writer's block every few chapters isn't going to help me finish the story. 

So, how did I write the first paragraph then, after several weeks of not knowing how to? Well, I decided to give the "dialogue" method a go, since I figured it was best to start in the middle of the story/inciting incident:

“So…? What do you think?”

Aerith stretched her arms high in the chilly air from where she sat when her sister made her grand entrance.

Obviously, I'll be adding some details to this sometime down the road. But for now, it works. In the coming paragraphs, Aerith's sister's grand entrance is explained.

Is it perfect? No. Does it work? For now, yes. 

Observe that I'm an underwriter, so I tend to add some 20,000 words to my stories during the rewriting. So the above line works quite well for me.

But if you're an overwriter, you might want to look at how other writers tackle the beginning of a story and go from there.