Author's Do You Ever Wonder About Where You Should Start Your Story?

     I was in a writer's group on Facebook recently and the topic came up about how to begin a story.  There was a debate about whether to start with a prologue that dealt with something exciting that would appear later in the story, or just starting with chapter 1 and setting the scene.  I have to admit that I have started my books in various places, although I do like having a prologue.  I wrote an article previously about a prologue on this blog and if you missed it you can still view it here. 

     There was someone in this group who admitted that because they didn't know where to begin their story that they hadn't begun writing their book.  I asked them how long they had been stuck in the where should I start my book mode? Surprisingly, they told me for about three months. I suggested since they didn't know where to start their story that they should just write the part of the story where their idea resided.  I then told them to work on that idea and see where the story led them.   

     I have found this to work for me recently in the historical romance novel that I am currently writing.  Yes, I knew where to start this book, and I also knew how I wanted this book to end, but the middle part of the story has been troublesome for me.  So I wrote as far as I could from the beginning, then I just jumped over to the ending, and I have been basically writing backward; hoping I'll make it back to the beginning of the story.  I've never written a book this way, but so far it seems to be working.

     Here is a video discussing this topic:

     I think the best thing to do if you are struggling with your beginning is to just start writing.  Remember this is usually your first draft so it definitely won't be written in stone.  You might find when you go back to edit your first draft that you'll discover a better beginning for your story.  So just start writing and stop worrying about where you're beginning your story at in the first draft.

     In my next blog article, I am going to discuss now that NaNoWriMo is over, what to do next.

     So stay tuned!