5 Ways To Start A Story
And when to use which one
I would argue that in every great story you’ve ever read, the introduction and first chapter is what the writers fretted over the most. First impressions matter, especially for a story you’ve never started. Within a few sentences, you’re forming opinions over whether this story is worth your time.
Cover art, the author’s name, and the back cover matter a lot — but at the end of the day, it’s how the story starts that pulls a reader in for the long haul.
“The artist is a collector… Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.” — Austin Kleon, Steal Like An Artist
It’s a good author’s job to make sure you know it is. And that’s where beginnings to stories come in. Just like there isn’t one way to skin a cat, there is a plethora of ways to begin a story, and arguably a time for each kind.
Using examples from some of my favorite stories, I’ll be going through the different types of introductions authors often pull from, and how you might go about implementing each one into your own story if appropriate.
Let’s get into it:
1 — Dialogue
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” is the beginning line of Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women. Jo utters this line as a child, lying on the floor of her family’s modest home, sitting amongst her equally poor sisters who are lamenting their supposed poverty.
It would only make sense that a book about the “little women” would start off in a scene with all of them. In a story without a true main character, I find this essential, so as not to lose the readers when trying to cover an entire family.
“I like good strong words that mean something…”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
The dialogue that ensues on these first couple of pages also sets up the stages of the girls four distinct personalities quite well. Amy is young and pitiful, declaring “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all.” Beth, happy to just be with her people, responds with “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other.”
We learn about Beth’s love for music, Meg’s teaching job, Jo’s work and spirited attitude, and Amy’s pride. All of these characteristics and all of this context is essential to understanding the ensuing story.
It also sets up the tone of the book, the lives of these little women that, while fantastical and fun, is normal — just a family sitting around a fire place talking about life at the end of the day.
2 — Exposition
“Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away to London during the war because of the air-raids.” — C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis, in my opinion, is easily the king of exposition. In this Chronicles of Narnia novel he does an exceptional job of laying out the story in a way that feels personal and interesting. He describes the world that we’re in, and introduces us expediently to the situation, setting up a story we won’t be able to put down.
“Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.” — C.S. Lewis, On Writing
This is congruent with his very fairy tale-like style of telling stories that never fails to pull children and adults in using simple words and storytelling. He doesn’t waste time, telling us immediately who we’re reading about, but still holds an air of mystery in his description.
In the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia series, the story begins apart from the children and the lion which we’ve grown so fond of.
The story begins with an Ape and a horse and a pool — and these characters finding a lion’s skin in the water, instantly making us wonder what has happened to beloved Aslan.
“Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else.” — C.S. Lewis, On Writing
It’s this kind of exposition that makes us feel completely immersed in the story that’s happening, while also knowing, both through our own senses and the way Lewis describes, that we’re reading a history of sorts.
We’re being told, just as the title indicates, the Chronicles of a place long long ago in a world far away from our own. Somehow, that makes us love it more.
I think this type of exposition goes incredibly well for stories that involve a lot of worldbuilding, like in The Chronicles of Narnia or in The Lord of the Rings. These mystical stories often require a little more work up front to get our minds shifted into this other world.
Otherwise, you might lose your audience at the lamp post…
3 — Character narration
“I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat icecream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.
I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go. If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. […] the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.” — R.J. Palacio, Wonder
Wonder is, by so many standards, an anomoly. This children’s book is so vastly different in its structure than other books I’ve read, and it conquers this so well.
The storytelling is so pure that when they made the book into a film starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, and Owen Wilson, that they kept the structure of the different character’s perspectives.
The story goes through each character and tells the first person account of what it’s like to be them in this family. It paints a beautiful picture of how many different experiences are being had within the same family situation, from August himself, to his sister and his sister’s best friend.
The story works like an onion, beginning at the center of the issue and peeling outwards. Rather than telling us what’s happening, Palacio challenges us to put 2 and 2 together as we hear each character’s unique experience, shaping what’s really happening in our own minds as we get to know the Pullmans and their cast of friends and family.
“The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you.” — R.J. Palacio, Wonder
I think this type of introduction to a story works well if you have a protagonist that we might not otherwise understand.
If you want and need your reader to put themselves into the footsteps, eyes, and ears of your character, use first person narration like this — and then jump around throughout the book to build together what’s really happening.
4 — Action
“Ash fell from the sky. Vin watched the downy flakes drift through the air. Leisurely. Careless. Free. The puffs of soot fell like black snowflakes, descending upon the dark city of Luthadel. They drifted in corners, blowing in the breeze and curling in tiny whirlwinds over the cobblestones. They seemed so uncaring. What would that be like?” — Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn
If you’re telling an action story, I would begin with action, much like Brandon Sanderson does in his books. Tell me about the bad guy — who I’m supposed to be afraid of. Tell me about the main character and their powers, and the way the world is falling apart.
While not novels, I think it’s important to note that most Marvel films and similar action movies start the same way. We enter into the story with a 10–15 minute action scene, where our villain for the next two hours is introduced, with a few funny quips from our cast of protagonists.
This is where we’re introduced to the problem that our friendly neighborhood heroes will spend the next steps of the story trying furiously to solve in the face of action, pending death, and some really cool bad guys — not to mention the forces of evil itself.
5 — Mystery and world building
“Mr. and Mrs. Durlsey, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense. […] The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.” — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter
It makes it better that the name of chapter 1 of the first Harry Potter book is called “The Boy Who Lived”.
Anne of Green Gables starts much the same way, where we don’t hear about the main character of the story by name until the second chapter. I think this technique of opening the story apart from the main character works exceptionally well when the book or series happens to be named after the main character.
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything would it?” —L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
The reader begins the story on a hunt — a hunt for the person who’s name is on the front cover, and often find themselves sucked in until they see that name first appear. And by that point, they care a lot about what happens to them before they even know who they are.
This works well for underdog stories too, which both Harry Potter and Anne of Green Gables are, tales of children who nobody loved — who will find themselves exceptionally important members of their society later on, which friends, connections, and a family of some sort who loves them.
Storytelling is an art — and I think learning it begins with reading from the greats. Read as much as you can. Read from current popular authors, old classics, and books you may have enjoyed as a kid, like Harry Potter. Everyone starts their stories differently, but there are some themes that run tried and true through our favorite stories.
And like Austin Kleon would tell you, great artists steal — and you have to read widely in order to steal all of the good ideas.
Best of luck in all your storytelling endeavors!
