Where am I?

Where Do We Start a Story

I don’t know about you but I need to get a quick lay of the land when I begin to read a story. When your readers begin your story, you want them to become immersed in your story from the start. Suspend your readers inside your story. All life and reality now gone, only the world you create fills their minds. Get your reader immersed and suspended in your story to keep your readers reading. But how do you do that?

My analogy is this. You grab your readers by the collar. You throw them into a chair in a locked room. Imagine this scene like in a police story. What is the first thing he says?

“Where am I? Who are you? What’s going on?” If you do not answer these three questions directly or by foreshadowed at your hook or in the first chapter, the conversation (next set of words) becomes blurred. You go on talking, but your readers are not listening. They may become confused. He asks again. Will you tell him? Do you want to keep your readers confused?

1)      “Where am I?” Your reader wants to know something about the scenery to get the lay of the land. Just a small portion, not an information dump. Describe the proverbial four walls (basic scenery through the characters’ five senses). Then move on.

2)      “Who are you?” Who is (are) the main character(s)? Introduce one or two from the start. Give the characters’ name, age and sex in at least a one visual line of the character. Let your characters speak for the first time. Use dialogue to give your readers a sense of who your intro-characters are. Then move on.

3)      “What’s going on?” This might be tricky. Don’t write an information dump about the situation. Just a hint or for shadowing of the plot may be enough. You also don’t want to give away your ending. Your scenery and many characters will give your readers a taste of what’s to come. Then move on.

Now Let Your Story Explode

Answer those three questions to let your story to unfold. Keep your readers engaged and golfed and suspended them will keep the flow of information coming to immerse your readers. Then move on.

How to Start Your Novel: The 7 Ways Every Story Should Begin

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Don’t forget to edit your colorful character’s story. Do you use too many adverbs? Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

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R. M. Scott Author Site