forum Any ideas on how to start writing a book?

Started September 10, 2018 by Deleted user

tune

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I have characters and a world alllllll mapped out i just have NO CLUE as to how to start. any ideas? (also: is 1st person or 3rd person better ?)

First person is better if you have mainly one point of view you want to show. For example, my realistic fiction WIPs are both 1st person because the stories are more character-driven, I guess? But my dystopia-type WIPs are told in 3rd person because I have several mains who have several different opinions and personalities I want to convey.

any ideas?

I find it best to start as close to the action as possible, if that's what you mean. No one wants to read a story where there's like 12 chapters of nothing happening (and also from a writers standpoint, you probably don't want to write that either).
Also, this was some advice that I got about writing essays but I think it can apply to stories as well. Start in the middle. Start with a scene that you're really excited to write about so that at least you're writing something and not just staring at a blank word document. It might help you get a better idea of where you want your story to start. You can always go back and change things later if things aren't adding up.

also: is 1st person or 3rd person better ?

I think it's mostly just a matter of preference. I kind of prefer reading things in the 3rd person, and for a long time I thought I preferred writing it as well. I tried experimenting with 1st person for one of my stories and found that the main character was much easier to write in the 1st person. I kind of struggle with describing my characters' surroundings in a way that doesn't seem forced or awkward, but I found it much easier when I was describing it from the viewpoint of a very sarcastic 18 year old.

First person is better if you have mainly one point of view you want to show.

I agree, and disagree at the same time. I've only read two books that were told in the first person, but from several different POVs. The first one was really well done. It was easy to tell which character was narrating the story because all the characters had very distinct voices and personalities… and there were a lot of characters narrating this story (like 3-4 if I remember correctly).
The other one was like, the opposite of that. The characters had really similar voices, so I often found myself thinking that I was reading about character A, but then I'd read read a line like "I look over at character A" which clearly suggests otherwise. To top it off, the narration from both characters were just very dull, and devoid of any real personality.
So yeah, I think you can absolutely do a 1st person story with multiple POVs, especially if your characters all have really distinct and different personalities and voices. In fact, if that's the case, writing in the first person can be a great way to highlight it. If you're having doubts though, I would just play it safe and write it in the 3rd person.

wow thank you SO much!

….it may have been….

I didn't like Alligient, Four and Tris didn't sound different at all!!

Glad I'm not the only one then :P
And if anyone else was wondering, the other book is Under My Skin by Charles De Lint, which I'd highly recommend.