One of the most common mistakes in an early draft is not starting the novel in the right place. It’s true, here are the most frequent culprits I have seen in my work on manuscripts, in no particular order:
- Starting with backstory
- Starting when nothing is happening
- Starting “in media res” but it is so much without context that the reader has no hope of understanding what is going on.
- Starting with quotidian details that are not important to the plot at any point
- Starting with an infodump
Take a quick look at your beginning—is yours one of these? If it is, it’s okay, you can fix it! Here’s a hint for where to start your story. It seems simple, but think about it.
A story starts when something changes.
Examples:
- I Have Some Questions for You starts when someone sends a video link to the protagonist that starts her down the path that changes everything.
- My Mother’s Secret starts when Regina goes on the run to escape the secret police.
- Act of Oblivion Starts when the father of the Gookin family brings two regicides home to Massachusetts to hide them in his family home.
- Mexican Gothic starts when Noemi’s father sends her to find and look after her cousin.
- Hamnet starts on the day he becomes ill.
Where does your story start?
