Lisa Schroeder knows where to start a novel. She’s written several YA and MG novels including The Day Before (June 2011) and Sprinkles and Secrets, which releases next month.
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That was very helpful and you gave some great tips. My novel came to me in the middle, so writing the beginning was very difficult. I wrote and re-wrote a handful of first lines and first chapters. Only recently did I become confident with my intro.
Best question: “Why this moment?” This will be my standing guideline from here on out. Awesome! Thank you.
Love this. I love thinking about it as a significant moment rather than just starting in the middle of action. Any moment can be action, hard to determine. Thanks so much! This is awesome!
Great tips.
My first novel started with an “ordinary” paragraph. Then I changed it to a wake up scene. When I was told not to start that way, I turned it into a dream scene. Yeah, I was clueless. I think the only faux pas I didn’t do was dialogue.
And being married to my words was a huge problem. It took me a long time before I was able to let them go. Thanks for bracing me for the eventual editor and agent hacking away at the manuscript!
Thank you Lisa. This was very helpful. I was smiling because I write so many different beginnings to my novels, I sometimes have a hard time picking one. I also like your advice on not becoming so attached. This is difficult to do, but you must be open to change. I have to admit there have been times when I thought–seriously? I can’t cut that. I love that scene–but after I step back and really detach myself I realize the critiquer was right.
Thanks so much.
I started my WIP novel with a dream. It has some very important details in it, and yes, it may make it harder for me to get the novel published, but since I feel it’s the perfect beginning, I refuse to sacrifice it.
My point: If you feel it’s the right beginning, you should leave it. You don’t always have to write to be published. Just write to live a story from someone else’s eyes.
Great post. I always love hearing from you Lisa! You always have great advice. I definitely didn’t get this in my first book. I’m glad also that you added ‘beginning with dialogue’ to the lists of ‘don’ts’. I’ve never heard that as part of any list of what not to do when opening a story, but it is something that has always been jarring to me. Glad to know I wasn’t alone.
I’m currently guilty of dropping into dialogue straight away, thanks for the great tips Lisa!
Thank you, Lisa! Awesome advice, but of course we expected nothing less. Thank you so much for sharing and reminding us of something so important *scurries off to rethink MG story opening*
Thank you so much for being part of WriteOnCon again this year, Lisa! Your sessions are always terrific! I loved hearing some of the tips from editors on what not to do in beginning your novel and especially loved the “Why this moment?” question .
Oh! You did such a good job of clarifying what a good opening needs to have. I’ve heard many of the “don’t do this” suggestions, but you’ve shown the path to what to do. Thank you!
This was so helpful and gave me a lot to think about! You packed a great deal of good information into a short period of time. Your question about “why this moment” is a great takeaway for me, and one I hope to remember to ask myself with all my writing projects. Thanks.
That was excellent advice! So helpful. Thank you so much for this one!
This was awesome. It helped me to look at beginnings a bit differently. Thanks,
I love this advice especially talking about starting at a place when something significant is going to happen.
Thanks, Lisa. That was excellent and just what I needed!
Absolutely wonderful, Lisa!!
Sarah Frances
Great advice! Especially about not being attached to a particular beginning.
Great job, Lisa. I hope the website stays up. My students could use this advice too.
This is great, Lisa, thank you! And I still refer to your vlog from WriteOnCon 2010. Such good advice.
Thanks you so much this was very helpful. I will be link to your video from my blog (http://sweatercursed.blogspot.com)
You’re awesome, Lisa! Thank you for the great tips on beginnings. I love the questions you want us to ask ourselves (why this moment is my favorite).
Great advice Lisa! I think this will really help me a lot with my story.
I just started a novel (like 1/2 hour ago-lol). Originally, I wanted to start very in media res, but then I was like, no, l’ll ground the story some first. After this I’m going back and forth. …
Excellent session Lisa! Very helpful advice on where to begin!
Experiment! Best advice ever about beginnings! Thanks, Lisa!
This is so great, just the vlog I need! I am rewriting my story and I am having the hardest time with the beginning! Thanks Lisa!
Thank you! Very helpful info.
Woot! It’s Lisa! Out of all of your YA books, I liked “The Day Before” the best, with “Far From You” as a close second. My jaw dropped when I read that you’d be on this panel! I’m going to do a blog post about TDB in a little while.
This was very helpful, however I’ve had a few authors and editors tell me at writing conferences (Teenager-based writing conferences specifically) that dialogue isn’t the worst way to start. So that’s another “cardinal rule” that can be broken. I’ve seen it done in a lot of my favorite books, but it’s usually done in sequels.
This was great. Made me think about my own WIP’s beginning. Best of luck, Lisa!
That was super helpful. Thank you!
Thank you! You made me think about how to make my novel better, and gave me some ideas about my first sentence.
I took lots of notes! Thank you for the helpful suggestions!
Thanks so much for your advice—I took lots of notes. The beginning of my books drive me to pull out hair. Once I get past the first chapter, things flow so much better. Multiple beginnings sounds like a technique I will def. try!
Excellent post
Thanks.
Wow! This was really helpful, thanks so much!
I love the quote you shared! So helpful! Beautiful presentation. Thanks so much!
I like what you said about readers not wanting to read about an average person in an average life. So true! Thanks for all your tips!
We all went through the beginnings angst in our crit group–we’d worked so hard on those first pages, only to be told that our book actually started on page 3. Or page 30. Ouch. But as painful as it was to hear, it was true and a good lesson about how objective eyes can see things you can’t. And great quote from that Donald Maass book! I’ve seen so many openings that try to be pretty, but don’t do any of the work they need to (establish tone, voice, setting, etc)
Haha. Glad to see you’re a Reiki mtsaer…with all that “and then something else happens” talk. Nice work buddy ol’ pal!
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