The 3 Story Moments That Start Your Novel

Writing is hard. This can help get you started.

Everyone’s writing process is different, especially when it comes to the dreaded outline.

Some people need to go into meticulous detail, and others are perfectly comfortable cracking their knuckles, cigarette dangling from their lips, and tearing into their keyboards like an old-timey explorer hacking their way forward with a machete.

Both approaches are totally valid, so long as it keeps you productive.

For me, I fall somewhere in the middle, preferring a sort of fluid outline.

With this approach, I use a five-point outline composed of significant events — or “Pillar Moments” — that I know can hold up my story, and I write toward those moments.

In this post, I’ll share the first three of those five Pillar Moments, and whether you’re a meticulous planner or a whimsical trailblazer, they will hopefully provide you with both the structure and freedom you need to get started.

1) A New Situation

You’ve probably heard you need to hook your reader in the first page, the first sentence if you want them to stick around for the rest.

Throwing your protagonist head-first into a scenario they’re not familiar with is the perfect way to do it.

And it can work for any protagonist in any story.

We all have a status quo, even if you lead an extraordinary life.

So say your protagonist is this cool, calculating assassin, right?

Going around bumping people off from the shadows is her every day; slitting throats is her cup of coffee in the morning.

Now, you could easily open with your assassin on any old assignment.

Going after the monarch of a rival kingdom, for example.

You’d establish who she is, what she does, and how she approaches her job. A lot of people advise opening your novel with an action scene, and this checks that box.

But what if the monarch she’s been ordered to assassinate is an old childhood friend?

Or she goes in thinking it’s just another assignment, but it turns out to be a trap?

For my money, throwing your hero straight into a situation that knocks them off guard is infinitely more compelling than letting them hang out in their comfort zone for too long.

2) The Promise of Something Cool

Despite being second on the list, my instinct tells me this is the first thing most people come up with when they have an idea for a novel.

That’s certainly how it works for me, and it’s usually in the form of “what if?”

For instance,

“What if an eleven-year-old boy found out he was a wizard?”

I’m not saying this is how J.K. Rowling came up with her idea for Harry Potter; this is simply how it works for me, using a famous story most of us will be familiar with.

This is also a good approach if you want to write a novel but have trouble coming up with ideas. Simply ask yourself “what if,” and then come up with something you, personally, would think would be cool to see.

My ideas usually involve demons and magic and alternate dimensions, but that’s obviously not what works for everyone.

Figure out what makes you excited, and that’s as good of a place as any to start.

3) The Sucker Punch

Remember that cool thing we just promised to ourselves, our characters, and the audience?

Turns out, there’s a cost.

Oh, you’re a wizard? Neat. Did you know that our version of Hitler is actively trying to kill you?

Basically, there’s some kind of set back — it can be physical, emotional, or both — that shows your protagonist there will be consequences for setting off down the path offered by the “something cool” they were promised.

Obviously, they have to choose to go down that path whether they like or not, or else your novel is over before it’s begun.

Before You Go…

In most stories, you’ll find these three moments clustered at the beginning.

Why did I take up more than half of my five-point outline on a relatively small portion of the overall story?

Because again, my goal is to give you the tools you need to write and finish your novel, and the stronger you make your beginning, the more momentum you’ll have going into the rest of it.

I have another post coming that will feature the final two Pillar Moments.

Where the first three were focused on getting you started, the final two are aimed at keeping you going all the way to the finish line.

So what do you think? Are these helpful for your process? Do you need to know more than this to get started, or do you not even need to know this much?

I’m always fascinated to learn about other writers’ processes in the hope I can make myself more productive and efficient, so let me know!

Originally published at andrewnmc.com.