This sounds like the punchline of an old joke. Stories have a beginning, middle and end - surely you start at the beginning? Perhaps, but the beginning of what, exactly? These days, readers want action and to get to it straightaway. You have to choose something that pulls in the reader, be it a secret meeting, a whispered conversation, a discovery, a murder, a realisation, a confession. Although it often is, this start need not be the start of the time span on your story. The initial piece could be near the middle or even the end, the narrative returning to the start to show how it all came about. Often there is a lot of back story to fill in by flasbacks or dialogue because characters are not newly-synthesised one-dimensional beings: they have pasts, friends, family, relationships etc.
You may find yourself trying different places to start. This is OK - go with the version you feel happiest with, because there's nothing worse than having to ditch a story halfway through. The same thing applies to viewpoint characters - choose the wrong ones and the story seems flat and uninspiring.
Pull in the reader with something that quickly introduces a main character, possibly a some crisis point, that allows the reader to ask who, what, when, where, why, and how. Keep them asking questions, and they'll read the whole book!
Jack Orchison, December 11, 2013
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