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Narrative Writing – How to Start a Story

When you’re writing a story, the beginning of it all is the most important part. It holds the power to capture your audience’s attention and keep them engaged as you unfold the rest of your story before them. Here, we discuss different ways of writing the beginning of a story. Take your pick according to the content, genre, and tone of the entire story you’re trying to tell.

  1. Frame a dialogue

When you open a story with a powerful dialogue, the reader is taken aback by it and proceeds with the story to figure out who is the character that said it and why. A good example of this is the beginning of Tom Sawyer, in which the story opens with Aunt Polly scouring the house for his nephew, calling out his name again and again in rising anger. It immediately makes one wonder what Tom did to get into trouble like that.

  • Pose a question

A simple question goes a long way. It makes the reader find the answer to it by reading forward.

  • Describe a setting

Painting a picture makes readers feel like they’re moving through time and space themselves. In such a frame of mind, readers wish to move forward and see how events unfold. They try to live vicariously through your book. This is the tool that great fiction writers like J. R. R. Tolkien often employ. It makes their stories come to life.

  • Build a background

Starting with background information makes it easier for the reader to put the rest of the story into perspective.

  • Introduce the main character

The audience feels for characters when they find them interesting enough to explore more about them. Give your main character a distinctive and unique personality. In the writing of Twilight, Stephenie Meyer makes sure you spend a day in Bella’s life to gain some perspective into the ordinary world that is disturbed by the presence of the vampire and werewolf clans.

  • Play around with the timeline

Some writers start their story from the end, with shocking moments that grip the reader and then work back from there, some start with a lesson and trace their way back to how that was learned. Others start their story in the middle, just when the main character is about to uncover a secret, or when the girl is leaving the guy because of a misunderstanding. This method is good for making your reader get invested early on.

References:

  1. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-begin-a-short-story#5-ways-to-start-a-short-story

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