Writing a story is like standing in a pitch dark room in the middle of the night. You shuffle forward, trying not to bump your shins on any hard surfaces. You squint your eyes, trying to perceive the outline of the furniture in the room. You pat your hand around, trying to find that flashlight you know is on the top of the dresser. Once you find the flashlight, you turn it on and swivel its beam around the room. You can’t see the whole room at the same time; you can see only what the beam is pointing at. Eventually, you shine the light around the room long enough for the gray light of dawn to start creeping through the windows. The outlines of the furniture become clearer. Daylight grows, and the flashlight becomes superfluous. In the full light of day, you can see the entire room: every item and piece of furniture in its place. It might not be a clean and tidy room (that’s what editing is for, to stretch the simile to the breaking point), but it will be the room of the story you were stumbling around in since the beginning of this (admittedly now tortured) conceit.
Over the next five posts starting today, we’re going to talk about the flashlight; that is, the first part of the story that you pick up in order to catch a glimpse of the shape of the rest of the story. Today we’ll briefly sketch out four ways to enter into a story, and then in the subsequent posts, we’ll color in the sketches of each one. Here are four ways to begin. (And notice I didn’t say “the” four ways, as these are four of many.)
Character
You can begin with a character. An interesting person (or animal, or heck, plant or fungus or protist) pops into your head one day like Harry Potter apparently did for Rowling. You wonder about this character who has somehow taken to living rent free in your imagination. You begin to sketch out the character’s life along many line, including:
- Distinctive qualities (why is the character bopping around your brainspace?)
- Relationships
- Appearance
- Likes and dislikes
- Backstory
- Desires/hopes/dreams (this is where the stakes come from)
- Lies they believe (about self and/or the world)
Starting with character makes you feel like a therapist speaking to a patient. Sketching out some of these elements of the character’s life can help you discover what kind of story the character wants to tell with your help. (We’ll get back to this flashlight on March 15th, using Harry Potter as an example.)
Setting
You can begin with a setting. A strange, otherworldly place invades your consciousness (or an utterly normal one, though that’s harder to kickstart a story from). There’s a desert planet that is the most important place in the universe. Why is it so vital? What kind of story takes place on this world? Who lives there? From these questions, you can start worldbuilding, building out elements that will lead to the kinds of stories you can tell in this place. Some of the elements include:
- Geography
- Environment/biology
- Weather/climate
- Civilization
- Politics/government
- Religion
- Culture/society
- Magic
- Technology
Starting with setting makes you feel like an explorer of your own imagination. Any one of the elements above, or a combination of them, brings enough fodder to get a story going. (We’ll get back to this flashlight on April 1st, using Dune as an example.)
Scene
You can begin with a scene. You might know nothing at all about the story, but you have two people in a black box theater with no props or costumes. As you develop the scene, the sets, costumes, and characters start coming into view. The scene can be as simple as two people talking in a car:
- What are they talking about?
- What about their different points of view makes the conversation interesting?
- Who are they?
- Where are they going?
Starting with scene makes you feel like a improv comedian saying “Yes, and…” to a partner. You let the scene unfold without judgment, just letting it take you where it will. And sometimes a scene reveals its place in an entire story. (We’ll get back to this flashlight on April 15th, using When Harry Met Sally as an example.)
Mood
You can begin with a mood. Some stories are compelling because of a particular feeling they cause due to their compelling atmospheres. So you start with an emotion you want to instill, perhaps dread in a horror story or longing in a romance story or serenity in a cozy story. For myself, this is the hardest place to start, but for other writers I know, the “mood board” comes first. They gather images and songs that will help them get into the right imaginative space to strike the tone they are going for. The story spills our of this ethereal environment and stays true to the mood throughout. (We’ll get back to this flashlight on May 1st using The Name of the Wind.)
Adam Thomas, Author 