How do you like to start a story?

[kmlangleyauthor]

I like starting with my MC in some sort of mini conflict, even if it’s an internal one. This lets me introduce my MC, keeps a line of tension running through that first page (and hopefully helps show readers at least a few reasons to care), and also showcases several parts of their personality - like their thought process vs their actions and reactions to the problem. Not a full-blown jumping right in kind of start, but hitting the ground at a solid jog

[thedude3445]

In a novel? I like to do one of two things:

1) Start in medias res, already in the midst of the plot with the characters already knowing each other and basically everything but the central conflict already set up. No flashbacking afterwards because I tend to hate when stories start 2/3 of the way to the plot then flash back to the beginning. The story has got to be as absolutely close to the central conflict starting as it can possibly get, preferably starting by the end of chapter 1.

2) Alternatively, I am a sucker for a well-written monologue-style prologue. Think The Great Gatsby, or most Nisioisin novels, where the narrator talks about issues in an extremely tell-not-show way, but we are introduced to that narrator's personality and interests in a very strong way before anything else in the story truly begins.

[HaltArrtay_RangerGod]

I like to start my story ark with the Antagonist hinting to his/her plans or just a simple dive into the story.

[cherrystark]

I like to start at the beginning. It's a very good place to start. Aside from my wonderful musical reference. I think a good opening needs to give the reader a connection to the characters. I generally shy away from a lot of 1st person stories because the story becomes a list of "I did this" and "I did that" with a laundry list description of what the characters look like. One of the stories I'm reading is a paranormal romance that is like this. The opening is literally the single mother MC describing herself (the stare at herself in mirror description), her son, and gives us a full history of how she ended up in the town where she meets her werewolf BF.

Showing is a powerful way to start a story. Instead of telling me about an MC being single for X years, show me the MC lugging a sleeping toddler up the steps while trying to carry the diaper bag and groceries, later collapsing on the couch because of stress and exhaustion, I'd read the heck out of that.

[lilithfairenwrites]

I like a scene that gives a strong hook into the conflict that drives the plot. Something that establishes character, immediately sets up questions for the story to answer as it progresses.

Using the first two books in my Glints Saga series: Papillon starts off with the main character wistfully gazing at a selfie of her and her friends from five years prior—and reveals that they'd been involved in saving the world—right before the main character remembers she has to get going into her present, mundane life. That immediately raises the question of what sort of conflict her and her friends fought, the aftermath of such, what her life is like five years later.

Dove begins with the main character at her front door, but hesitating to enter. Why doesn't she want to go home? Why isn't her dad's car in the driveway? What is this "Outsider incident" that disrupted her school life? Why does the thought of her mother prompt her to turn away, to go elsewhere?

In both cases, the conflicts that are set up in the opening scene play a major part in both characters' motivations. Both give hooks about the main character and the setting of the story.

[Sadboihours]

Personally, I like to start it off with instant action.

[raaky]

I like to start with an important event. I'm writing a werewolf story, and the main characters are teenagers who have just graduated high school. The story takes place over the summer, so I started on the last day of school. If I were writing a thriller, I might start with a fight scene.

[Zaboem]

Unpopular answer: It depends on the story being told.

My opinion is that a first chapter should represent the story as whole. It can thus establish a tone for the reader.

Readers don't hate surprises like plot twists, but I think they do hate unexpected tonal shifts. If they begin reading what they think is a quirky romance and half way through find out that it's a slasher horror piece, that leaves a bad taste the mouth.

However, if a story begins with the type of material one sees throughout the book, the reader can begin to develop an appreciation for how the creator handles these elements.

[AmazementComics]

Unpopular answer: It depends on the story being told.

My opinion is that a first chapter should represent the story as whole. It can thus establish a tone for the reader.

Readers don't hate surprises like plot twists, but I think they do hate unexpected tonal shifts. If they begin reading what they think is a quirky romance and half way through find out that it's a slasher horror piece, that leaves a bad taste the mouth.

This whole thing right here. I can say from the many stories I've told and will continue to tell, there's not one real way of beginning a story. I like to put my characters in multiple alternative storylines similar to Marvel's "What if" series, and writing how the plot starts is one aspect I always look forward to.

[NickRowler]

I might be basic but I like one that simply introduces the characters and their setting. Usually by them doing something casual like getting up, going to school/work, or just interacting with their friends and family.

What I hate is the ones that begin in the middle of action, everything freezes and you hear the character say "I bet you are wondering how I got here?"

[Zaboem]

NR, the term for that literary device is En Media Res. It can be effective, but yes, it has been overused recently, particularly in movies and tv.

[Hexigate]

I'm big on setting audiences/readers into the world of the story, so most of my stories start with observing the physical environment the MC is in at the moment.

It's funny I say that, because the way my only comic starts is with dialogue. I would change it if I were to remake the comic.

[Panpan]

I like to start/read with a prologue - maybe a scene near the climax!

[nostalgicroxas]

My openings trend along the lines of what a movie might do - establishing shots. Nearly There Nicely is the worse example of this lol But other stories I've written do follow this general rule where the first few paragraphs or chapter involves a few subjects simply because I write 3rd person omnipresent.

They are in, no order:

• Where am I
• Who am I
• Who or what am I interacting with (generally establishes a core for the entire story)
• Is there an immediate failure or triumph

This means that some stories I do have prologues, while others are left obscenely vague until the mystery is revealed to the reader later. And usually that mystery involves a hidden identity or a secret the MC has kept from the reader, unless they're like.. super astute.

By following this uh... methodology kind of by accident, I've started and stopped stories because I hit various .... dead walls. I don't lose sight of the core principals, but I can't pan them out farther to make it satisfying. One of my favorite dead-walled stories is about this prince who's entire family is murdered (think like Romanov's being murdered) and he ends up becoming this literal mystic thing hidden away from society (becoming actually comatose) until a group/single person finds him because they're looking for the true ruler to the throne and not the current tyrant. Then it becomes an issue to 1 find him, 2 wake him, and 3 what happens after that.
It's a story premise that to me sounds interesting and fun, but every time I attempt to work on it, it just reminds me of it as a trope that's just been highly overdone and that you can really only take the idea of "wake up to become a ruler in your rightful throne" BS so far before it's stale.

In a way, I write the way I like a story being told to me. FFX and Tales of Symphonia both are fantastic of checking off those same marks I give myself within, what, twenty minutes, of starting each game.
Tangent:

Summary

I actually was trying to explain to a friend of mine why I liked Symphonia soooo much more than FF 10 and since he had only played the demo and broke the game by putting it on auto-battle pilot, he was max level after going to sleep and before hitting the first ranch... Like. Child. So I put it in terms to him similar to FF 10 and broke his brain.
Take Yuna and have her go on her linear journey. Except that every time she prays at a temple for a summon, she becomes less and less human.
And he's like, okaaaay?
She loses her ability to feel temperature. She doesn't need to sleep because she doesn't get tired. She doesn't get hungry. She eventually can't even talk.
Then I broke his brain as he was trying to put all of that onto Yuna's character.
And I'm like right... Now take a character like Tidus and the other guardians. Do you think they'd let her suffer or not find a way to change her back?
Him: Oh hell no. They'd do anything!
Exactly. That's the entire first third of Symphonia.
And then his brain just shut off from shock He's not a Symphonia fan yet, but when I explained to him that what FF10 had accomplished in an entire story more or less, Symphonia had accomplished it better, differently, and went beyond it in a single game.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

I'm a big fan of dropping the readers right in media res, whilst the characters are doing something or something's happening. No time to waste on exposition, let's get right into the stuff

[allenT]

This overused opening: start by waking up.

[darkone4587]

Often times I like to start in-medius-res or in the middle of the story or more accurately in the middle of an action. It moves the pacing along rather quickly if things are already established between characters and maybe have an early action scene.

[DiegoPalacios]

With a bang!

[SilverLugia456]

An attention grabbing opening, something that will get the reader wanting to know what happens next. A mystery or suspenseful scene that leaves questions unanswered or an action scene that paints the characters in a clear picture. I try to change it up as often as I can so that I'm not using the same thing over and over again. I also always try to come up with new combinations as well.

[Zaboem]

I don't have a specific method nor philosophy. I simply observe that an opening scene should establish the tone and style of the story as a whole. If it's an action tale, en media res or some other action sequence is great, but that same scene would be wrong for a brooding mystery or a smoldering romance.

I love my opening chapter in Alien Fiction because of the bizarre absurdity and extreme language (actually somewhat exaggerated compared to subsequent chapters). Some readers hated that, but at least they knew to not go farther because more of the same will follow.

My current project has a bad opening scene by my own standards. I might replace that in revision.