How do you start your stories???

[Iamnotabot]

I have this "thing" to put a small paragraph before i start the story, like a small poem, some quote of a book in the story, etc etc....

 

[RyujiSakamata]

sex, we're in scribblehub anyway

 

[RepresentingWrath]

sex, we're in scribblehub anyway

 

[Ellieporter]

With seggs...

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Put a word down. Put another word down. Keep doing that until you have a sentence, and then use those sentences to make a paragraph. Make another paragraph. Make another paragraph. Keep doing that until you have something resembling a chapter/idea.

As other people said, there is no singular formula. Some people start at the end. Others start at the beginning, letting their story guide them into unknown territory. The most important thing is that your ideas are building off of each other. As long as the first paragraph isn't a massive info dump, then it doesn't matter that much. Even then, some people like info dumps. I had a commenter tell me before to describe literally everything. Quote: "I am used to massive walls of text..."

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Put a word down. Put another word down. Keep doing that until you have a sentence, and then use those sentences to make a paragraph. Make another paragraph. Make another paragraph. Keep doing that until you have something resembling a chapter/idea.

based

 

[Major2501]

Either something mundane with the main character, or something with other characters involving the main.

The first sentence thing in my world is reserved for essays and acting auditions.

 

[AliceShiki]

The first line/paragraph of your story is the most important, as it brings people in (Or so I’ve heard). So, if I may ask, how would/do you start your story? (any pov)

I don't think this idea makes any sense in novel writing tbh.

Like, the first 10minutes of your media being the most important is a valid rule because it's when you hook the person you're trying to aim your product towards, but like... First line/paragraph? That's more of an elevator pitch kind of thing than something related to novel writing.

It might be useful if you're trying to pass an audition or whatever, but not really something for novel writing.

I mean... Think about it, who is going to read the first line/paragraph of your novel? Well... The people who liked the cover/synopsis/genres/tags of your novel.

As in, the hooking process doesn't come from your first chapter, but from the other parts of your novel. That's what makes a reader decide if they wanna try your story or not.

Once they've already decided to try it, they're gonna try it... At this point, the reader will only drop your story at c1 if it's complete garbage or the complete opposite of what they expected... Otherwise, they'll most likely read c1 until the end and quite possibly a few more chapters before they decide if they wanna drop your story or not.

So uhn... Don't overthink it too much? The first line/paragraph don't mean much in terms of writing novels. It's generally more important to worry about the prologue/first chapter as a whole than it is to worry about the very first words you're writing.

And honestly, for as long as you aren't dropping some info dumps on the first chapters, you'll probably do alright.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

READ THIS BOOK OR I WILL FEAST UPON YOUR SOUL.

I find that works well.

 

[NitroxDarks]

I literally go foolproof.

 

[MajorKerina]

Lately, I have started stories with a line of dialogue that introduces things and sets a conflict or an invitation to something compelling. Wife mad at her husband. Traveling family talking about arriving at their destination. One of them was just a description of what kind of things the main character likes to drive and the fact that they're a bus driver now and show their passion. Mischievous spirit about to go do something. Interdimensional traveler receiving information about their transit from a travel agent. Folklore teacher tempting her students with a mystical location. The last one was the most recent and one of the roughest because I put it through a few different things like deep learning editing and I let some other programs throw suggestions at me because I wanted it to sound lyrical and compelling and I still made a mistake by invoking Skinwalkers as part of local folklore instead of the Wendigos when the latter is more of a local folklore monster whereas the previous is not local. I did it because I mention Skinwalkers in every story I write… It's gonna pay off eventually.