A Ranter's Advice on Writing a Story

How to: Start a Story

The toaster burst into flames.  Heavy smoke spread across the ceiling and an alarm wailed down the hall.  Dropping my notebook to the floor, I rummaged my kitchen for the fire extinguisher.  It had to be here somewhere,  the cabinet doors were swung open but the window was too heavy to pull.  I paced across the smogged corridor, coughing in fits as I tried to find it.  Why didn't I keep my fire extinguisher where it was meant to be? 

Now that the lengthy intro to this chapter is over, let's get straight down to starting your actual story.  There are, of course, a multitude of ways you could do this, but for the sake of sparing you time, we'll go over a few.

Lets start with my favourite method (and the one that I demonstrated above): starting with action.

This is pretty self explanatory; but your story would begin at a point of action/interest, something strange or exciting is happening and we as the readers are already hooked in to see what would happen next. 

 Dos:

Add the five senses; what we hear, what we see or feel, perhaps smell or even taste.  (Don't go overboard with these!  Two or three should be enough).  Perhaps we hear a piercing yell, an avanche of snow can be seen destroying the little cabin house, or even Jimmy's aunt chasing him with a rolling pin.

Make the character seem to be running out of time; in the example above, the character needs the fire extinguisher before the fire spreads.

Don'ts:

Give us too much information;  this is the introduction not a summary.  In the first few chapters, we meet the characters, and we start to see their struggles or something that they want.  We don't need a background on 6 of the main character's siblings, the war that disrupted their lives, and why the little one always cries in the first chapter.  This would be spread out throughout the book.

With this example, you could start with the little one crying because he's having a flashback of the war, the sound of gunfire, or etc.

Other ways to start a story:

-Starting with a question (usually directed at the reader)

ie.'Where would you be in your life if you didn't flip through the same websites everyday?'

'Have you ever had the urge to double check that your door was locked, even though you lived in the safest city in the state?'

-Starting using opposites

ie.  'I hate the way she loves me.'

 'A garden of flowers, peacefully swaying in the wind, hid a trembling, scared mouse in midst of them.'

-Opening stories with dialogue

ie. ''Just do it Brittney!''  Evan shouted.

''Unless you want to raise that boy alone, you better listen,'' but that's all that I payed attention to.

As an activity, identify the examples that you think are exciting ways to start a story: 

My name is Sandy and I live in a big city.

The lights flickered in the hospital waiting room.

"Look out behind you!"

I woke up and stared at the whirring fan above.

A parade of ducks quacked across the road.

Why can't I get this right?

Will you marry me? 

A rough hand muffled over my mouth and I was pulled back.

Hi Sarah, will you go to prom with me? I wiped my sweaty forehead as I practiced.

Have fun coming up with different ways to start your story!