Beginning a Story: What Has to Be There

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Writing is subjective as many of us know. One person may love a book; another reader may not. It's why Agent A rejects your novel, but Agent B brags about it all over social media. But I still believe there are certain things that the beginning of any solid fiction piece should do, whether you are writing a five-book series or a short story for children. I taught these same principles to my elementary students when we learned about what makes a good beginning. Here's the simple list:

• The beginning catches the reader's attention.
• It sets the time and place.
• It introduces the main problem in the story or the point where life changes for the main character (inciting incident).
• It makes the reader want to keep on reading.

It seems if I'm teaching these four basic principles to elementary students--that as experienced writers, we should understand and even master these criteria for a good beginning in our fiction. But I've read hundreds of drafts of stories and novels (including my own!), and these four points often elude even the best writer. Why is that?

One, I think we are often too close to our story .We think our readers just really need to know A, B, and C about our main character before we show the inciting incident at the beginning, so that the reader truly understands the depth of the problem. This is usually NOT TRUE. We need to give readers more credit and present them with an interesting or exciting beginning that starts at the inciting incident. They will catch on to our character's flaws and back story as the story moves forward.

The second problem is almost the opposite. Many times we know our story so well, we forget to put important information down on the page. For example, you know your story takes place in New York City, 100-years into the future after aliens have invaded Earth. But does your reader know that when he is first introduced to two main characters sitting in a pizza place, discussing what to eat for lunch (right before an alien attacks them)? The setting details don't need to slow the pace of the beginning down--that's the last thing you want to do; but you can write hints here or there in dialogue tags or in the dialogue to set the reader up. Some writers think it's cute or interesting to keep readers in the dark for the first few pages or even the first chapter. This only works in a VERY FEW well-structured books. If the reader is confused, he or she will put down your book and pick up another with a better beginning. An agent will offer that other writer a contract--trust me.

So, look at your beginning. Does it meet those four criteria mentioned above? Ask your beta readers, critique group members or peers if the beginning works. After all, it is one of the most important parts of your book or short story. If readers can't get past it, they won't make it to your brilliant ending.

Margo L. Dill is teaching writing short fiction for children and teens in an online class, starting June 4. Sign up now at the link to take this class. Margo is the author of the YA novel, Caught Between Two Curses , and the middle-grade novel, Finding My Place.  Find out more at http://margodill.com/blog/

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4 comments fiction writing, Margo L. Dill, novel writing, short story writing, writing beginnings

Story Flaw Fixes

You write a book, you begin to market it to agents or publishers, and then, zero. Nada. Zilch. In other words, the story you poured your heart and soul into sits in the document file of your computer or is shoved to the back of a filing cabinet.

If you find this happening to a piece of your writing, take another look at what you've put on paper. More than likely, the story has a flaw that can be fixed, and in the long run, these edits will make it a stronger piece of writing.

1. No action, no reaction. Without a catalyst for action, a story sits - and will more than likely never sell. It's a basic notion of physics, and in this case, literature: Something must happen that causes a reaction from characters. Now, the action doesn't have to be major, but a single event or non-event acts as a turning point for a story. 
2. Whoa, Nellie! Have you ever started reading (or writing) a story that has too much exposition and by the time you reach what should be the beginning, you've lost interest? I find this a lot when I edit stories for a publishing company, and it always reminds me of lines from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. "Begin at the beginning." "The beginning?" asked my  mother. "The beginning of the story." Readers don't want to get bogged down with information that does not impact the storyline.
3. Repetition. I'll plead guilty to this common flaw. I find I overuse certain words or phrases. They are everywhere! A few weeks ago, I was reviewing several poems I have written to submit to a contest. That's when it struck me: I have a pet phrase that showed up in all five poems. It's the same principle when you write fiction or non-fiction: tell us what you want to tell us. Readers don't need to be constantly reminded of something that happened.

 If you have a manuscript stuck in a drawer, give it a second perusal and see if you can apply any of these fixes.

Have you committed any of these story flaws?

by LuAnn Schindler

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3 comments action reaction, LuAnn Schindler, repetition, story flaws, writing beginnings

Sometimes inhabiting a fictional world makes me cranky and impatient. Other times, as I am building a fantastical world to share, it makes me joyful and hopeful.
Excuse me, but lately I've been in the cranky and impatient stage.
When I write fiction, I don't pull out the index cards and start plotting until AFTER my characters have started inhabiting the pages. I don't write the complete draft without some outline, but I like to start taking notes and writing to get to know my characters.
Sometimes my characters make me a little cranky because I can't quite figure out how the scenes are to play out. I have an idea in my head and characters to inhabit a storyline, but we haven't all quite figured it out yet.
For months, on this particular story, I have been taking notes, mind mapping, doodling and clutching a pad of paper to catch all my character and plot notes. In the other hand, I am clutching kids forms for school, my 2-year old and other real world reminders. Some days, it gets a little messy. So yesterday, I took a small break from my family (both real and fictional).
I went to the bookstore. I walked amidst the aisles of the books I hope mine will someday inhabit. It felt good to get away and remind myself that reading lives on (even for those without a Kindle) and to remember what it is I hope to accomplish. My crankiness subsided as I returned to my notebook, my research books and my family.
Even when in the throes of creating, sometimes it is restorative to to get out and away from all the projects demanding your attention and just have a quiet experience. Hopefully, it will chase the crankiness away and put you in a good mindset to plop into your writing seat, which is where I am now and feeling joyful again.

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach and freelance writer. She also blogs at www.CoastalCarolinaMoms.com and www.TheWriteElizabeth.com, delving into creativity in everyday places. She appreciates your patience with her cranky start to the week.

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3 comments Elizabeth King Humphrey, novel writing, writing beginnings

Crafting Nonfiction Articles: How to Begin

Writing nonfiction articles can be just as much a creative process as crafting a short story or a poem. I've been thinking about this fact a lot lately because of my news correspondent job at The News-Gazette in Champaign/Urbana, IL. I've recently been writing some "Home and Garden" type articles, and I've had a lot of trouble with my ledes.

With the first article, I was writing about a neighborhood garden, and I wanted to focus on the fact that the gardener had pretty much started with a yard full of grass and a few trees, and she has turned it into so many different gardens that she hardly does any mowing. But I was all over the place with my beginning. I started with a statement from the gardener. Then I started with a bit of her history, and finally, I decided I needed to just start with her story. Ten years ago, she had a yard full of grass, and now she has yards full of gardens and hardly has to mow. Simple, easy, and right to the point.

In my other recent experience, I was writing an article about a man who has several antique cars and a yard barn made to look like a 1960s Shell gas station. I turned the article into my editor, and she wrote back and said, "I encourage you to have a little more fun with your lede. Be more descriptive." Yes, yes, she was so write. So, I rewrote it and played on the gas station/car theme, saying things like, "The 1963 gas station pump parks itself in front of the gas station," and so on.

So, what am I learning about ledes and beginning of articles? I need to go ahead and write the whole article, starting in any way I can--not spend too much time on it in the beginning. But then I need to go back and rewrite and rework my beginnings because ledes are not my strong point. I also need to remebmer the focus of the article and the purpose of the lede: 1. to catch a reader's attention, so he will keep reading 2. introduce the article 3. set the mood, tone, and voice.

I can also look at how other writers have started articles for that same publication, and maybe get some ideas from them. All writers have strengths and weaknesses, and there are some amazing writers out there who are so creative with their ledes for NONFICTION! To me, it takes creativity to begin an article and do all three things mentioned above.

So, do you have trouble with ledes or article beginnings? Know any tricks you can share?

Happy writing!
Margo Dill
http://www.margodill.com/
http://margodill.com/blog/



photo by Annie Mole http://www.flickr.com/

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