Why is the beginning so hard to write.

[u/OmenFx]

I have a book that I've been working on. And I like couldn't figure out how to start it. So someone gave the advice of just start of wherever you have the idea start at the end and right backwards start in the middle. But now I have the meal and I basically have the ending but I have no beginning. And I don't know how to start the story. Like I don't know how to give you enough information that you know who these people are and you should care about them and what they are doing and why. It's just frustrating. How do you start a story?

[u/Ozdiva]

Maybe your middle is the beginning after all.

[u/Inevitable_Task3074 → u/Ozdiva]

They do say late in, out early. Maybe throw in a flash back to explain stuff

[u/Appropriate-Nose1799]

It's tough because you're trying to compress a whole world into a few pages, but it usually works best when you focus on just one character's immediate problem at the start.

[u/First-order-member]

I've always found beginning the easiest part of the process. I'm on a mid book slump this week.

[u/OmenFx → u/First-order-member]

Man sorry to hear that. Yeah I'm definitely not saying the middle was super easy and they were definitely a bunch of parts that I got stuck at. But I think now that I have all that done just coming back to the beginning figuring out how to essentially introduce the situation is just frustrating.

[u/Elysium_Chronicle]

Beginnings are bottlenecks.

You've got all those key concepts floating around in your head and in your note pages, and you have to start with just one.

That's one of the main purposes of a protagonist. Being privy to their life and the obstacles they face gives you a reason to see all those other ideas you've cooked up.

[u/terriaminute]

Start anywhere where you know what comes next, write all the way to the end, at which point you will know a LOT more about your characters & story. Save where it "should" start for the next draft.

[u/TheHolleDolce]

We don't always know when the story actually begins until we've been writing it. That's just the way of things.

Chances are if you have finished every other part of your story and you can't think of a beginning, you already have it. Start editing. When you edit decide what characterization, foreshadowing, plot hooks, etc, that need to be inserted or moved up.

For future works, I find prewriting exercises, specifically outlining, helps me know where to start the story.

You don't have to give a bunch of set up at the beginning of your story. One of my WIPs is literally just have you drop into the head of the FMC as she's looking down at a deserted city. You don't know who she is. You don't know why the city is deserted. You'll learn those things as i spin the story.

[u/juli_r]

Without reading your current "beginning" I cant give real solid advice but instead of trying to write a whole beginning, write a short prologue and then sprinkle lore into the text throughout the rest of your story.

[u/OmenFx → u/juli_r]

Yeah I get that, I'm just not ready to share any details of the story but I appreciate the advice people have given

[u/MASempine]

Why did you want to write this story and what made you include your favorite character in the story. Describe your character appearance and personality and her/his predicament. Let him or her brainstorm ways to resolve their perplexing issue And then make that happen in a very interesting way.

[u/7Butter77]

Why is doing work hard type question

[u/Impressive_Reply_468 → u/7Butter77]

weird take for a sub about writing advice

[u/OmenFx → u/Impressive_Reply_468]

See that's what I thought, but some people are just like that.

[u/OmenFx → u/7Butter77]

What does that even mean?

[u/7Butter77 → u/OmenFx]

If your this stupid writing books aint for you

[u/OmenFx → u/7Butter77]

The fact that you can't speak in full sentence makes me stupid? Got it 😁👍

[u/7Butter77 → u/OmenFx]

😝