Starting something is, for me, the hardest aspect of writing. All too often I’ll take a decent idea, do some worldbuilding, invent a couple of characters, and sit down to write…. only to find I have absolutely no idea where to begin. (And the same thing happens when I outline, so don’t start in on me, outliners.)

Seeing how we’re about to dive headlong into NaNoWriMo (we’ll have some great posts on that next week), I thought now would be a good time to cover some tips and tricks for starting that novel that doesn’t want to get started. Some of these can be combined, others are a bit exclusionary. Play around with them and see what works for you.

1) Do a prologue.

I know this is horrible of me, coming on the heels of Jordan’s post about getting rid of prologues, but it’s a viable option. Don’t know where to start? Then go jump back in time and write out that three thousand word infodump you’ve been longing to write in order to get yourself inspired. (Just be sure to cut it out of the final product if it doesn’t lend anything to the story.)

2) Start with a bang.

If you’re having trouble setting up your story, maybe it would help to jump right into the action. More often than not, you’ll find that all the information you would otherwise have delivered in the slow buildup to the action can be more effectively delivered in short snippets during or after the action. Besides, if your character is in mortal danger, your readers have more of a reason to keep reading than if they’re just busy applying their makeup….

3) Show the protagonist doing something they do well.

But preferably not their makeup. Unless your target audience is tween girls, that’s still not going to go over well. If your character is competent at something, don’t be afraid to show it. And if it happens to also be something you enjoy (or at least enjoy writing about), then you have an excellent way to open your novel.

4) Attack or take away something your character loves.

This is good in general terms, but especially in the opening of a book– to see what our protagonist loves and how they react to having that taken away immediately establishes the character in your readers’ minds (and can also create sympathy, which is useful for later when you have to tort– ah, I mean, when you put them through ‘character building’ exercises. *exaggerated wink*)

5) Establish the inciting circumstances.

What is it that ends up driving your protagonist to get out there and ‘protag’, as Howard Tayler says? Are they bored with their life? Tired of their mom nagging them? In search of ultimate power? Whatever their motivation, it needs to be there from the beginning. Write a scene that showcases it clearly.

6) Kill somebody. Then kill everybody.

This is kind of a last-resort tactic, and it goes with #4 up there– take away something your protagonist loves. But if your poor protagonist is suddenly left without a family or a friend in the world…. well, you have a very interesting start to a book there.

Those are all the ones I’ve used at one time or another. What tricks have you found, in the course of your writing, to help you start those projects that don’t want to start? Comment below and tell us! Then buckle up and prepare for NaNo month at Vaguely Circular… it’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.