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TristanJensen
Apr '16

How much information do you need to give at the start of a story?
Because I recently launched one (called "Li" but there's not much there yet) and I have it scripted out more like a tv show rather than a movie where it kind of has a really slow start (with a lot of exposition) and I'm worried people will lose interest before I get to the more dramatic scenes later on. So I'm wondering if I should cut it short to prevent that.
Also I've noticed most stories Ive read have some kind of interesting conflict right away within the first few pages, should I try to add something like that with a flash forward or something?
I honestly don't know...

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Damatris
Apr '16

Usually it's good to start as close to the action/conflict that drives the initial plot as you can.

But it does depend on what kind of a story it is. Slice of life or similar comic may not even have conflict driving the plot. There's no need to tell everything bout the world on the first pages. Dumping info turns quite a lot of readers off unless they are already invested into the story and want to learn more about the world. I'd advice to cut things if they can be cut. If it's character development or something otherwise important don't skip it but having 50 pages without any sort of goal, internal or external, for the characters isn't very appealing (talking about plot driven comics here).

whovianandwriting
Apr '16

You could start with a really exciting action/conflict scene which slowly sets up the main conflict (like the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron). Or you could have a really exciting action/conflict scene and then go back in time to the slow beginning which leads up to the really exciting action/conflict scene.

AnnaLandin
Apr '16

The main rule of thumb is to start as close to the start of the story as possible.

If your protagonist is going on an adventure, we don't need two chapters of their childhood first; you can start it with the incident that causes them to decide to go on that adventure, and then send them out the door.

You say your story has a lot of exposition at the start. Does it really need all of that exposition? Why not start with a v. basic presentation of the concept, introduce the characters and get the plot going - you can deliver the relevant bits of exposition/information as you go.

There are plenty of tv-shows that start with an action scene, and then go back to fill in information and build back up to the action-scene. There are plenty that begin with a brief scene and a flash-forward. But you can build more slowly, as long as you keep the pace of the plot up, and don't let it get bogged down in endless exposition.

shazzbaa
Apr '16

We need to have a reason to care about your story or your characters in order to become invested. Talking scenes aren't automatically boring, but you can't walk up to a random person and start telling them your life story and expect them to care -- and it's no different if the person telling the life story is fictional! We have to have met them and come to care about them before we'll be interested in all that.
You say it's like a TV series instead of a movie, and that's fine -- but if you tune into a TV show for two weeks and you still don't know what the story's really about or why you should be watching, you're not gonna tune in again.

Why do you feel like your story needs that slow start? Why does it need that exposition in the beginning? I mean this as a genuine question -- do you have an answer for why the story is better that way, and why that build-up is needed?

You talk about flashing forward to some action -- imo that might be a red flag that you're using the idea of a flash-forward as a crutch for a boring opening, basically the equivalent of saying "I promise this gets interesting later!!" It's... I mean, you CAN do that, but if that's the case, it'd be way better to actually make the beginning of the story not boring!

So what scene would you flash-forward to? What's the first REALLY INTERESTING part of your story? And follow-up question: why can't you make that the opening scene -- what information would we be missing? Anna's advice is some I've heard too, phrased as: "start as late in the story as you possibly can" -- think about what would happen if you cut out as much of the beginning as you can, and see how much of it is really necessary to the story!

THAT SAID, please don't make the mistake of thinking action = interesting, not-action = boring. Over the Garden Wall is a 10-episode cartoon series that is unsettling and funny and excellent storytelling, and yet 90% of the show is walking and talking. It contains TONS of exposition, but you don't notice that -- you don't register it as exposition -- because the characters are engaging and fun, and so opening on these two kids just talking about how they're lost and talking to a magical bird about whether not or not she can get them home and talking to the woodsman about The Beast and debating with each other about whether or not the woodsman is going to kill them -- all of that is entertaining.

So when you say "it has a really slow start with lots of exposition," does that mean, there's talking, and we don't get to ACTION right away? Or does that mean, someone just telling us a bunch of information or explaining the world or the characters to us? Because the first one can be just fine, but that second one usually isn't. It feels counterintuitive, but it's often better to let that information come out AFTER we have a reason to care about it, later on in the story.

joannekwan(ง ˙o˙)ว here to help~
Apr '16

I say you can have a slow start as long as something's happening, and slow is relative to what the rest of the story is going to be like. But if you're just going to have three pages of establishing shots and just a person walking, yes please cut that down.

And yessss I totally picture Demon House as a sitcom! And it took a while before I even got to the demons. Think of most sitcoms, the episodes usually start with just a conversation between two people that lead up to the main conflict of the episode. Best slice-of-life equivalent to most of the ones on here is Friends. They're young people, single and without children (at least at the start of the series), and you just watch them interacting with each other.

Now if the dramatic scenes are totally different from the real world, like a portal to another dimension opens up, then yes, you should cut to that quicker. Great example of this is the game Oxenfree, there was 45 minutes of frikkin' exposition dialogue explaining the relationships between these fake young people before the main plot point happens that sets these characters off on their objective. OMG, we were watching a let's play of this and had to skip the dialogue 15 minutes in, and as we kept skipping, we were asking "Is anything happening yet? We don't care about these kids." We probably would have cared more for the characters if they weren't so damn long-winded. UGH.

AnnaLandin
Apr '16

This exactly.

My story starts with a death and my two main characters meeting, because their meeting and travelling together is the story. I could have started in a different place, to introduce the characters separately so that we know them before they run into each other, but I didn't. I introduce them and their personalities to the readers by the way they interact - because their interaction is one of the biggest focal points of the story.

Bleach starts on the very same day that Kurosaki Ichigo is somewhat-accidentally turned into a death-god, because that's what the story is about. We get a brief look at the fact that he is able to see ghosts and a short intro to his social context - highschool student, single-parent family, two younger siblings, etc. - but then we go straight to the monsters and the death-gods. Everything else we know about Ichigo and his backstory gets told in later episodes, deepening his character and giving us an understanding of his motives piece by piece.

nobody
Apr '16

This is an article2 using the Dark Knight as an example to demonstrate the concept about being "In late/Out early" - this applies not just to the opening chapter, but is something to think about for every scene in your story - come in as close to the action as possible, and make sure you leave in due time; don't keep it going for too long. The example in the article is from an action scene, but slower scenes benefit from the same thinking too.

Good luck! blush

TristanJensen
Apr '16

Ok, I think I know what I'm gonna do. To answer @shazzbaa's question the reason I had originally decided to give this as long of an opening as I did was mainly because once the first major event happens the character is going to start changing at a very rapid pace and I wanted to have a calmer opening so you can get a feel for who she was like prior to it. Because if not and you were just introduced to her as she is after that happens it would hard to peice together her actions and reactions later on (she kind of goes from someone in a good place but constantly pissy to being overly confident and gleeful in hell if that makes any sense)
Also there are a few other people I wanted to establish without a proper introduction to the reader (there's no narration in this so I want there to be enough for the reader to accurately guess so they don't have to wonder "who the hell is that anyway?" later on)

@AnnaLandin and @ingunn also made some good points too but as I mentioned earlier it might not work in the context of the story (but I'll read into it more and test it for a while before I make a sure decision)

greyshire
Apr '16

I wouldn't worry too much about putting in action right away. I honestly worried about the same thing a lot in my comic (which has a ton of exposition) but I've come to find that if people enjoy the characters and watching them interact, whether or not it's doing something exciting, they'll keep reading. I looked at your first few pages and you've got great art and fun dialogue, I'd say that's plenty to keep readers going!

demthorshie
Apr '16

Yeah, while I do enjoy a little exposition at the very beginning, i'm with most everyone else here in that you should start from the main story as soon as possible! I had to squeeze in part of one character's backstory in the span of 1 and 1/2 pages out of necessity, just to cut to the meat of the story. I also can enjoy and appreciate gradual release of back story stuff in between the story's main plot as well.

nobody
Apr '16
TristanJensen

You obviously got to do what you think works best for your story - it's all about what you want a scene or chapter to convey to the reader, and then find the best way to achieve that. No rule without exceptions wink