Starting A Novel

Today, I read a post on one of the forums I frequent (I will not reveal the forum out of slight embarrassment) asking how to begin a fantasy novel. I thought about it for all of two seconds before coming up with a few good, solid pieces of advice for beginning a novel, and I thought they were worth typing up and sharing. Here we go.

Rae's Advice For Starting A Fantasy Novel:

1. You don't have to start writing at the beginning

Although I started The Second Sister and The Witch's Daughter at the beginning, all of my other novels began somewhere in the middle. I wrote the scene that had captured my imagination and filled in the rest later. It is much easier to write that way. This is good advice for the entire novel-writing process. Do NOT force yourself to go through from beginning to end, or you'll get stuck. Write the fun bits and do a little filling in every day.


2. Start scenes late and end them early

For any scene, but especially for beginning scenes, it is helpful to introduce the reader to what is happening after the action has already started and leave before the conflict is resolved. This will help build suspense and cut out some of the boring bits that don't do much besides pad your word count.


3. The three (and a half) ways to start a novel, a chapter, or a scene

a) Dialogue
Beginning a scene with dialogue puts you right in the action and introduces characters, their thoughts, and their speech patterns immediately. I highly recommend it.

b) An action
Beginning with an action is similar to starting with dialogue. It introduces a character and their thoughts (at least some of them) immediately, without any fluff. The reader will want to know what happens next.

c) Description of a character/landscape/ect
This is the hardest but the most common way to begin a novel. You need to be very careful when you begin a story with a description instead of an action (verbal or physical). Describing the landscape or location should only take a few sentences AT MOST, and after a few punchy, vivid descriptive adjectives or adverbs, you want to move right to the dialogue or action. You can take a little longer with characters, especially if they are doing something while you describe them, but you still want to get to the interesting stuff fast.


4. There is plenty of time for backstory

If your fantasy world (or sci fi world, or modern day world...) has lots of backstory, don't worry. There will be PLENTY of time for you to add that in later. Feed the reader little pieces until they get a clear picture, don't shove it all into the first chapter and definitely don't add a prologue. As I've mentioned before, just because some great Sci-fi writers do it doesn't mean it's a good idea... trust me.


5. Don't copy the greats (because some of them are boooh-riiiing)

Just because someone writes a great fantasy novel doesn't mean that they wrote a great beginning as well. Tolkein comes to mind. I despite Tolkein's writing, but his world and characters and conflict are just SO damn good that no one cares about his clunky word choices. Write a beginning that interests you, don't go imitating great novels that might not have the best start, no matter how amazing the rest of the novel might be. If you have to imitate someone, you're better off with the novel with a bang at the beginning and no substance later on. You can go back to copying and idolizing the masters once you've gotten past the first chapter.