Ways to Start a Story, Novel, etcetera

by Ylanne Sorrows 

(note to educators: you may reproduce this material for classroom use only without prior permission, however, full credit must be given where it is due) 

By the way, you can combine any two, three, or more of these. But just to simplify, here are the basics.

1. Dialogue. Have a character say something. (ex. "Hey, wait up!" he called after me.)

2. Introduce a character. Start your exposition off with a character analysis, or characterization, or something of the sort. (ex. [My name is Maria. Two years ago I was in surgery.] [The detective was a patient man.]) 

3. Introduce a place. Talk about the place the characters are in in the first scene, or a place that will become important later on. (ex. [The city was full to bursting] [The Hoover building was tall and ugly]) 

4. Emotion. Talk about an emotion a character is experiencing, or experienced recently. (ex. I was angry because...)

5. Time. Talk about time. See examples. After all, it's self explanatory. [It was year 1492] [Two hours had passed, and she still wasn't back yet]

6. An action. Have someone or something DO something (as in a verb) to start off with. (ex. [I screamed and twisted away from the man] [She stared at me])

7. A past event. Talk about something 'historical' like, even if it is fictitious and pertains only to your work, it is still considered historical, because it is necessary for the events in your novel/story, etc. (ex. [talk about a recent war, plague, famine, etc.] [talk about a break-up, first date, etc.] [talk about a first heist, first crime, etc.] [talk about a crime, a newsworthy item, a town's recent fair, etc.])

8. A memory. Similar to past event, however, what ONE character specifically remembers from it. Can be used in third or second person, but works best in first. Note, if a character has written this in a diary or journal, it belongs under extraneous source. (ex. [unxampleable])

9. A thought. What a character thinks about a place, person, thing, or event, or idea. (ex. Las Vegas is my home, no matter how high the crime rate it.)

10. (most rarely used) An extraneous source.  (ex. [talk about a dream a character had/is having] [have the full text of an article, or book excerpt or letter visible] [anything like any of these that were not mentioned])

11. An idea. Such as a philosophical idea, or a character's interpretation of an event. Different from a thought in that a thought is random and often short, whereas the idea is more of an enlightened perspective. (ex. People always say that criminals are evil, but after ... I began to think otherwise.)