Starting a story is one of the most difficult parts of writing.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the different ideas you have, all the possible ways it could begin, and then ending up overwhelmed and with nothing to show for it.
So let’s break down how to start a story into three easy steps.
During the last stream, at the request of some viewers, we went over how to start a story.
Putting the fingers on the keyboard and actually beginning a story can be scary, but not when we break it down into three sections!
You can see what we did here,
or scroll down for the quick outline.
Here’s the three steps to starting a story:
1) Outline Preparedness
– An outline is like a map for a trip, or an emergency kit at home
– Neither is super fun, but they help ease stress
– If you don’t like outlines, at least make a SETUP and PAYOFF
– Doing that will help you TRUST your idea2) Mental Preparedness
– Understand that your 1st draft WILL suck
– If it doesn’t, you’re doing something WRONG– “You can polish a turd into gold, but you can’t poop gold.”
– “Don’t worry about the house’s paint color before you even have the foundation built.”
– “Writing IS re-writing.”
– Writing is where stories are drafted, EDITING is where stories are born.– Tell yourself, out loud, several times, as often as you need to: “I’m writing garbage, and that’s fine. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing now.”
3) Story Preparedness
– Set the scene/tone in the first 1-3 paragraphs.
– Setting the Scene: WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE
– Setting the Tone: HOW does the character feel? HOW are we supposed to feel?
– Try to do both in an organic way, not just a laundry list of specifics (have your character DO something, even if it’s simple)Above all remember: You’re STARTING your story, not finishing it. It’s normal to not know what your story is about until you’ve finished the first full draft, and for it to not be good until your 10th draft!
After that we put the three steps to use and wrote the beginning of a story that chat voted on: “A Roman girl is forced into marrying her enemy.”
Here’s what we came up with:
The day before my wedding, I was in the kitchen with Cassius, wishing that I was marrying him instead.
“What do I do next, Cassius?” I asked. My hands were sticky with flour and rosemary-scented olive oil, almost as much as my stained tunic, but it was the perfect grease to bring out my smile that had been hiding away. It was nice to feel happy for the first time in weeks.
Cassius strolled over and examined the dough I’d been kneading. He rubbed his strong fingers over my white concoction, as I let my eyes wander up his arms to his face that was like a warm loaf of bread itself, his curly dark hair and beard like little burns marks. He always called them “love marks” whenever we shared loaves together, all the way from when we were kids running around the courtyard, to when he’d found me alone in my room after I’d gotten the news.
“Not bad,” Cassius said, nodding. “For a senator’s daughter. Looks fit for a real Roman feast.”
My heart swelled with joy, but then Cassius clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“Ah, never mind,” he said, stabbing the dough with his finger. “Look, you messed up right here.”
“What?” I said, looking closer. “I don’t see anything wrong.”
“It’s so obvious,” he said. “Here, come a little closer.”
Desperate to know what I did wrong, I brought my nose right up to the dough, smelling the sweet aromas of olive and rosemary.
“I don’t see anything wrong, Cassius,” I said. “Are you sure that—”
Smoosh! The next second Cassius’s hand pushed the back of my head right into the dough. It filled my eyes, nostrils and mouth, so much that when I tried to yell it just came out as a muffled puff of flour.
Is it the best beginning to a story ever? No. And that’s exactly the point.
If we’d tried to make it perfect, then we would have never gotten anything down on the page. But by getting something down, we’re no longer starting a story, we’re continuing it. And doing that is a lot easier than trying to start over and over and over again.
For example, we would’ve never known Cassius was part of the story, or that bread would play a role in it either. Because obviously of course what’s going to happen next is the girl will be married to the enemy, long for Cassius, and her husband will have Cassius killed, and then she will vow revenge and poison her husband using the bread-baking techniques that he taught her. Happy sob.
A romance/revenge story for the ages, and we would have never known it even existed if we didn’t just start writing!
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 6:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming March 2019.
Featured image: Pakutaso