11 Terrible Ways to Start a Novel

I haven't yet uploaded the video on how to start a novel, so don't go searching! It's in the works and I'll release it soon.

[ShayanMallick]

"Don't introduce too many characters at once."
Gandalf, Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin, and Bilbo walked into a bar.

[FlyFederalist]

The 11 terrible ways to start a novel are:

1. Starting 10 pages before the beginning
2. Introducing too many characters
3. Not creating conflict
4. Not introducing your main character
5. Starting with summary
6. Burying the reader in info
7. Making the reader feel dumb
8. Changing point of view
9. Starting with a dream sequence
10. Waking up to an alarm clock
11. Believing confusion is the same thing as subtlety

[grimmdanny]

I am going to break all those rules and succeed.

[nurabsalxc]

The alarm clock opening I think is writers not realizing they’re writing a novel instead of a TV show, where in 30 seconds of screen time you can get some decent visual world building in and go from there, as a viewer can clearly see where the story’s world differs from the real world. Writing it out, it ends up being Chapter 1: Hero’s Personal Hygine where we learn more about the protagonist’s colon function than the plot

[alfredomaclaughlin]

I also hate dream sequences, because they NEVER look like any real dream anyone has. They are always super obviously symbolic, the character always wales up with a start before any real revelation, and they never go to their friends and tell them “I had the weirdest dream “!

[perogun]

the story i'm making begins with a dream sequence and the main character waking up- but that's because dreams in my story are actually re-caps of events from an alternate universe, making them "real" in that world

so i guess the best way to incorporate dream sequences is to actually have them be relevant to the plot

[norfangl]

"woke up being turned into a giant cockroach" I loved that reference

[futurestoryteller]

In a way it is kinda sad that attention spans have gotten so bad the simple unfolding of a story gradually is seen as the writer wasting the reader's time

[RelativelyBest]

I generally don't like this "list of things you should always/never do" type of writing advice videos, because they tend to discourage thinking about what you're doing and why you do it in favor of simply following arbitrary rules.

That said, this is actually pretty solid advice. So, good job. You managed to convince me to not close the video at the halfway point and delete it from my view history.

[SamElliottsStache]

"Don't introduce 10 characters and don't front-load..." (proceeds to read Hyperion)

[JanVee]

Turgeniev started his books with side characters. Always. Tension was created by atmosphere 'It was a sunny day in the outskirts of the very pretty village X...' and a hunch of a conflict - 'He wanted tot talk to her, but didn't dare to'. The main story and the main characters start somewhere in chapter 2. You will not feel cheated, you will feel friendly carried away in the world of the story, before something important happens: the arrival of a stranger. It's classical, old fashioned 19th century storytelling, but by no means boring.

[huskymcfluff]

So many times I find myself closing the tab before a video is finished, but you don't give me time to do that. I really, really like the way you end your videos. Information packed into of the video, and a <5 seconds "check out this other video" at the end. No useless fluff wasting my time.

[alexmcgilvery]

The modern view of writing is to dump your character into the story, then go from there. There are advantages to that, but tension and conflict are not the same thing. Conflict is about obstructed goals. Your MC wants something, the antagonist wants something mutually exclusive. Voilá, conflict. Tension is the sense that something is going to happen and it may not be good. Hitchcock's bomb under the table shows tension, but no conflict.
What I see a lot is people thinking they need physical conflict at the beginning. This isn't bad, I have a few books that begin with fight scenes, but it could be non physical conflict: the MC wanting breakfast and someone has eaten the last of the cereal, or some kind of rejection of the MC. Beginning with tension is different. There is some kind of limit set, and the character, knowingly or not, needs to accomplish something within that limit.
I also have a problem with the 'don't start in the ordinary world' advice I see a lot. Unless the character has no attachment to the world they live in, we need to get at least a hint of their world before the inciting incident etc breaks it. If we jump into the new world right away, we don't get the sense of loss from the character that the familiar is broken. Imagine Harry Potter starting with him walking into Hogwarts.
This doesn't mean that there is no conflict or tension in the familiar world. It shouldn't be boring, or there isn't much reason for the MC to want to stay there. So create your throughline here. What question will the character answer by the end of the book? How can you first ask that question in the start. I have a character in my newest draft who makes up challenges for himself, but they are physical challenges, he doesn't pay attention to the personal drama happening around him until he starts losing people and he realizes that's he's a bit of a jerk. Cue quest to become less of a jerk etc. It needs lots of work, but that quest to define himself and pay attention to others instead of his own needs will echo through the story in a variety of ways.

[nickwoodfin]

I definitely think the start the conflict immediately advice depends on the genre. I think in the case of horror your audiance is buying into the idea of build up and it benefits showing normalcy first for a contrast later.

For sci fi and fantasy where you have these complicated or weird worlds, it benefits to show what normal looks like in this world to ground the reader, thats not advocating description or lore dumping at the start but i think conflict often requires some set up. If you immediately have two armies fighting with no stakes, thats also bad.

[livewireOrourke]

This video has it all: Writing advice, and dance moves: 3:40

[Lilly-iq]

The mention of starting a novel with a dream sequence reminds me of one book I read a few months ago, "The Honeys", by Ryan La Sala. When I first started reading I thought, "Okay, it's starting with a dream, " but I was wrong. The first scene just seemed too intense to really be happening, and when I realized that it was actually real, that's when I knew that I was going to love that book. And I was right- I loved the entire thing, and it's still one of my favorites, now.

[ariesmarsexpress]

I'm fully on board with all those points, except for the bit about ditching dream sequences. As long as dreams play some kind of role in the story, I say go for it! There's actually a really practical reason for this, especially when it comes to self-publishing. See, most self-publishing platforms use algorithms to automatically categorize your book into different genres. They really do not care what you think your genre is. They usually pick three, based on a sample of the text. Now, if you've got a prologue with a dream sequence that dives right into the heart of the story, it gives that algorithm something concrete to work with. It's like a super-condensed version of your book in just a few pages, which helps those algorithms accurately categorize your work. That section should not be written until your entire novel is completed and ready to be published.

[Plymouth-ju]

On the Changing point of view. I worked on a book with two point's of view and solved the problem by having the character write in first person in a Diary, but narrate the events and actions in the story through third person. This can work.

[dawnkravagna]

I agree except that many mysteries start with a focus on the victim and their POV, before bringing in the sleuth to solve the murder. Such as The DaVinci Code for a famous example.

[MarcusGlobal]

You’re doing great work for us Novice writers. Thank you!