Writing for dummies

Starting your story

I'm going to list some bad beginnings and explain why they're bad and then list some others to use instead

Waking up~

Why, just why?
Starting your story with your character waking up (from being knocked out, from being asleep etc) is not only cliche and vanilla as fuck, but boring. Most readers are going to see those 2/3 lines where your MC is waking up and say 'Hell nah, I'm not reading this shit!' The cherry on top is when you take your character through their morning routine. It's not uninteresting despite what you might think, you just need to do it right. If you DO choose to start this way, some interesting shit better be happening and you better have a good reason to start this way.

If you say: 'Her eyes blinked open. She groaned, her voice thick with sleep. Cara dragged herself out of bed and walked into to bathroom, she brushed her teeth and did her hair into twin braids as per usual. Soon she was dressed and she grabbed her bag, walking outside to wait for her bus.' Or something similar/more detailed BORING! No body gives two fucks what they do, introduce that later when something important happens!

But, if you write: 'Her eyes blinked open. She groaned, her voice thick with sleep. Cara dragged herself out of bed and walked into to bathroom, she brushed her teeth and did her hair into twin braids as per usual. Soon she was dressed and she grabbed her bag, walking outside to wait for her bus. Suddenly a brush of wind swept past her, bringing a mouthful of leaves into her face. "Eww!" Cara gagged, desperately attempting to rake the leaves from her hair. The orange lights of the school bus came into view and she prepared to hail it. To her horror a sting hang clamped around her mouth and dragged her into the foliage behind.' With more detail that's better, or make the important thing happen earlier. Otherwise readers will think 'Why couldn't this have started as she walked out of her house?'

Dreams~

Bitch what-

Your character having a dream makes them look soft as fuck. Unless they are they better not be dreaming about riandbows and fucking unicorns. Like waking up, starting your story with a dream is another cliche and it cheats the reader. We've already spent time reading the prologue, now believing that this is real only to find out it wasn't really the beginning. And then we go into the real beginning, which is your character waking up... If you do use this idea bitch better be having a nightmare and wakes up covered in sweat or in class otherwise I'm pissed.

Again, you need a solid reason to start with a dream. The beginning was a dream, but the dream was an active part of the story and it was interesting. LIKE A NIGHTMARE! It contributes to the characters mental state and personality in general. It can make them soft and sweet on the outside but cracked and bloody on the inside. It makes sense.

Back story/Flashback~

Ex-fucking-cuse me, wait here while I go vomit in the bathroom!

We don't care about your character yet! Get right to the action, don't start with an info dump of background information on your character. We don't know enough about them to truely understand and sympathise in there. Bring that in after 5-6 chapters if you must, otherwise I want it WAY later or in the sequel if there's one. Or sprinkle that information throughout the story, again we don't want an info dump no matter how much we know the character!

Alternatives~

I would personally start with maybe a fight or maybe a moment with friends, family or their partner. No matter what it needs to be interesting, descriptive and enticing, drawing the reader in so they continue. If the character has abilities start with the manifestation, them learning to control it or anything about it. If the character is abused or bullied start with one of those scenes. Maybe start with a chapter from the villain doing his plan or make that a prologue, the main character discovering something or them meeting someone important to the storyline (like a best friend or the future antagonist). Have them enter the new realm or an important place if you want, anything but the boring, cliche, vanilla ideas I've mentioned above this!

The whole dream or backstory is great for a prologue though, aswell as a condensed version of an important/story changing scene as long as you don't give it away just more of like what they're feeling/thinking (for example 'I couldn't believe this was happening, after all the time and effort, the broken bonds and heartbreak. All this mental barrage has come to this?' Ect). If you've read KotLC think of the Preface's