How To Start Your Story With A Bang

Starting your story can be a daunting process. It’s just you and the page. Nothing else. Nobody else. Who’s responsible for creating the next best-seller? You are. Who’s helping you? No one.

It can certainly feel like a lot of pressure as the weight of the book industry rests on your shoulders.

The best way to create a beginning that soars through the ranks and lands in the hands of your potential readers is to:

1. Start In The Middle. 

The middle of what, though? Honestly, the middle of anything. Some people say the middle of conflict, others say the middle of your story. Let me share my own personal thoughts. 

For my recently published novel “What’s Left”, I decided on the story I wanted to tell: A great aunt and her great niece sharing a home when an event occurs that turns their worlds upside down. 

But where to start?

I could start in the middle of the story when the event has already happened… But that didn’t feel right. There is also a theme around Barbara’s birthday. I could start the book at Barbara’s birthday, but again, that didn’t feel right. I felt readers needed to know a little bit about who the characters were and why they were there before the party.

I played around with how far back to start. When Jordi moved in with Barbara? When Barbara first moved into the house? When she was first born? I decided to start the story in the middle of them living together. They were comfortable with each other and had already established their roles but the main events of the book hadn’t occurred yet. 

I figured this would be the most interesting place to start for the reader, while giving them enough time to understand who everyone was.

2. Set the scene. And set the expectations.

You want to introduce the world to your reader “as it is.” Think of it like when you visit a friend's place for the first time. You learn where the bathroom is, if you have to take off your shoes, what you can help yourself to in the fridge, etc. 

After you’ve learnt the rules, you can then sneak into the fridge and take something you’re not supposed to. That makes it exciting, that raises the stakes, we’re on the edge of our seat to see if you can do it.

Hell, you can tee-pee the house if you want, because after learning the rules, you know what pushes buttons and what you can get away with. 

If you don’t know the rules of the house, you’ll walk in there with your shoes on and then be asked to leave, “But why? No one told me!” You’ll declare. You’ll feel so embarrassed and so wronged that you’ll never want to set foot in the house again. 

Same with your world. Don’t surprise readers with rules they didn’t know were there. If you’re writing a romance and the main point is the girl can’t seem to keep a guy - open with the guy leaving. The reader will get the sense that this is the norm, and that will be enhanced by her reaction to the situation. 

If you open with a marriage and two people living happily ever after, that’s the expectation. If you then have them divorce and one of them goes, “That’s just great, I can never make them stay.” The audience will go “Ha? How many times have they been married? How many people were there before? A marriage is a big deal. Why are they focused on the numbers more than the emotions?” 

Too many questions. 

Start strong. Start simple. One character walks out on the other. 

“Not another one leaving. Only four months this time, at least they didn’t string me along like the last one.” 

Bam.

Now we know the norm.

3. Have a minor conflict.

Something needs to be happening. A break-up, an argument, a broken appliance, an issue at work, etc. Something needs to be happening. 

We’re all busy and our attention spans are shrinking. We don’t have time to read about someone waking up and cooking their favourite breakfast while the birds are singing. 

Think about TikToks. They’re sharp, they’re sweet. 

“Look, my bedroom is ugly. Help me fix it. We’re in Costco! Oh no, they don’t have what we want, guess we've got to figure something out. But will my plan work? Ta da, yes it did!”

Beginning, middle, end. Conflict in 10 seconds. 

Open up with your character internally struggling with an addiction.

Start with an argument with a loved one.

Begin with your main character being bullied at school.

Pick a conflict which is a norm. You’ll later have your character decide to make a change and get out of this situation. But that comes later.

4. Add some teasers. 

You know what will happen later on in the story, but your audience doesn’t. You can tease this information in amongst the normal world you’re setting up. You can do this by dropping hints on the pages. 

Will there be a sword fight later? Have your character notice a sword hung up on the wall. 

Is a character about to flip their entire personality? Have the goody-two-shoes hold up a heavy metal t-shirt and contemplate it for a beat. 

Will someone die? Have them play a prank where they act as though they've already died.

Utilise what you know in your story and drop hints throughout the first chapter. Readers will love re-reading the beginning to pick up on the hints they missed.

5. Leave it on a cliffhanger. 

No banging beginning is complete without a cliffhanger. This comes at the end of your first chapter, where you leave the audience hanging. 

In Stephen King’s It, he finished the chapters mid-sentence. So if you want to know the end of the sentence, you have to turn the page. 

Another way is starting some conflict and not finishing it. Let’s try:

“Why would you feed me this soup? I’m allergic to the main ingredient.”

“No, you’re not, try it, you’ll like it.”

“I’m telling you, I’m allergic.”

“You’re not. I used a different ingredient.”

“It looks and smells like what I’m allergic to.”

“Just try it and see for yourself. Do you not trust me?”

End of chapter.

What will happen next? Will they eat the soup? Flip the bowl? Something else?

If you want your reader to turn the page, you must give them a reason. 

What’s your secret to starting your story with a bang?