Hi! So I’ve been thinking about this for a while... do I have patterns in my writing? (Of course I do.) Then what kind of patterns do I have in terms of starters?
Nobody has to read this, of course, though I’ll try to put advice where I can (but obviously I’m no professional!)
The idea actually came from a bit ago, when I was talking to some fellow writers on a carat discord server (which you should totally join btw...) who were discussing having a difficult time starting off narratives. And I get it. It’s hard. I feel like a lot of aspiring writers might be experiencing the same problem, so I thought about doing a bit of a self-study!
Obviously, my word is not gospel! This is simply a post about different ways that I personally start narratives, which I put together mostly as a way to see how I write. I found it really interesting going through all of my posted works.
ALSO, IF YOU’RE A WRITER, I’D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR OWN TAKES ON STARTERS/PATTERNS (I’d make a tag game but I think this is too long for that lol)
If you’re still reading this, I’ve put all the rest under the cut!
So, I’ve got an idea, it’s forming, I’ve already got a totally unnecessary side plot planned, but how do I start? The beginning sentence is quite daunting... what happens if I don’t get all the information in? What if I can’t entice the reader?
I think to best explain, I’ll just give examples of different starters I tend to use:
THE NARRATIVE ESTABLISHER
This is a classic, simple way to start a story. Simple and effective. Honestly, there’s no bad way to start a story. I wanna get that out of the way first. Just because this is a classic way, that doesn’t mean it has to be “overused” or “easy”. I use this one when I want to make the setting apparent, and sometimes tone and/or perspective.
Crystal chandeliers and mile high stained glass windows were certainly not your scene, but you supposed you could deal with it for tonight. [Repeat: Do Not Improvise]
⤷ From the start, I establish a setting with “crystal chandeliers and mile high stained glass windows” as somewhere fancy/expensive, as well as point out that the main character (mc) does not belong there even in their own opinion. It establishes that the mc is tolerating being in that setting, and is there for a reason.
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The forest almost gleamed in the morning sun, each ray of light kissing the emerald leaves and dancing off beads of dew. [#55 Past the point of no return]
⤷ This is a simple setting explanation, however, I made it catered to this specific story more than just describing a forest. Because this is a prince au, I wanted to make the setting more... fantastical. Using “emerald leaves” and describing the way light “kissed” and “danced” creates a bit of a magical feeling even though there isn’t any magic in the story. (I feel like I’m tooting my own horn here... it’s not that I think these are all hugely successful in how I wrote them, I’m just explaining how and why they work for me :))
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The last thing you expected when going to Ikea was hearing your name on the intercom, but hey, life’s full of curve-balls. [#41 Lost in Ikea]
⤷ Easy. Simple. The mc is in an Ikea and they just got called on the intercom, introducing the “conflict”. This also puts in a little bit of tone from the mc and introduces the perspective.
THE DIALOGUE ESTABLISHER
I usually use dialogue establishers for setting as well, but they can also introduce characters and relationships. Dialogue does well to introduce tone, but not as much for perspective.
“Step right up, step right up one and all!” [Bad Luck Charm]
⤷ With the right cultural context, most readers are able to tell just from this first sentence that some sort of show or display is going on. For me, I immediately think of a carnival or circus. The tone also comes in here as relatively cheery, an effect of both the established setting and the exclamation point.
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“Hi, can I take your order?” [Slip Up]
⤷ Opens up with someone introducing a place like a fast food restaurant or cafe. A simple setting establisher, not much else to it.
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“What would you do if I said I was in love with you?” [Two Cynical]
⤷ This one doesn’t establish any setting, but instead, a relationship. I think a question as heavy as this one has to be between two people that are relatively close, which introduces that fact the the character speaking and the character being spoken to are in some sort of established relationship before the story has started. There’s also tone in this depending on how the reader begins the story. Because I didn’t tag this one as either angst or fluff, the first sentence could be interpreted in different ways.
THE FORCED PERSPECTIVE
Okay, so as a reader-insert fanfic writer, I always write with second perspective. With, not in. Sometimes I use what I call “second person limited omniscient” (but the name isn’t really accurate). What I mean by that is I’m writing not from the reader’s perspective, but a different character’s. It’s third person limited omniscient with second person on the side, basically. Usually when I do this, I start off with a sentence that makes that clear.
Kevin likes your hands -- your fingers. [Good]
⤷ With this I make it pretty clear that the story is from Kevin’s perspective, plus I introduce an important part of the blurb. It’s a simple establishing sentence that makes my intentions clear: this is gonna be Kevin thinking about the mc.
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Haknyeon nearly ran into the glass door of Dream Daycare in his haste, but he caught himself just in time, hands pressing up against the cool glass and leaving his fingerprints behind. [#1 Over tea]
⤷ Here I introduce a few things: one, this is from Haknyeon’s perspective, two, he’s in a hurry, and three, where he is. This is also an example of the narrative establisher.
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Sanha doesn’t know who keeps leaving him candy when he dozes off, but he can’t say he’s ungrateful. [To Catch (or Be Caught) Off Guard]
⤷ Seems I have a pretty easy pattern with the forced perspective... I almost always start with that person’s name! It’s also true in other forced perspective starters that I’ll bring up in other categories. With this one, I introduce the conflict: Sanha wants to find out who is leaving him candies. It also characterizes him as someone who dozes off often enough for someone to keep leaving him sweets.
THE NARRATIVE QUESTION RAISER
One kind of starter that I love is one that makes me want to know more right off the bat. It creates a question from the get-go. With the narrative question raiser, usually something is explained -- but not fully.
In your friend’s defense, you never told her that you hadn’t talked to Younghoon in four years. [#21 At a wedding]
⤷ What did the friend do that needed defending? Why didn’t mc tell her? Why hasn’t mc talked to Younghoon in four years? This sentence opens up the rest of the story, which proceeds to answer those questions throughout. It’s a bit of a tricky tactic to introduce the questions so that the reader will have to read the story to answer them.
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You couldn’t see the moon from where you stood, which only served to make the whole situation that much worse. [Of Opportunity]
⤷ Okay, so first, mc likes the moon, enough so that it affects their mood about the current situation, but wait, what is the situation?? It sounds pretty bad, given the tone, and it (hopefully) makes the reader want to find out what it is.
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You almost considered not coming to the wedding at all, what with everything that had happened, but who were you to deny the puppy dog eyes of your best friend? [The Us of Tomorrow]
⤷ Another wedding one... weird. Anyways, this one raises two questions: what was everything that had happened, and why was it almost enough to make mc skip out on their best friend’s wedding? I think this starter works well because the question is quite drawing, and it also introduces an mc who will tolerate something bad for the sake of someone they care about. With reader-insert fiction, sometimes readers don’t enjoy being an “unlikable” character (and I don’t love writing that either)
THE DIALOGUE QUESTION RAISER
Same premise as the narrative question raiser, but with dialogue instead. I think this one can be used really well, but I don’t have amazing examples of it.
“You know, when I said ‘Let’s hang out more,’ this isn’t exactly what I meant.” [Shortstop’s Dilemma]
⤷ The tone in this sentence is sort of sarcastic/sassy, and I think it helps imply a relationship right away. With this starter, the question comes up of what this supposed version of “hanging out” is that doesn’t sound ideal
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“This... is ridiculous.” [Mistletoe Misbehavior]
⤷ What is ridiculous?? Who is calling it ridiculous? Why is it ridiculous? Going into this knowing who is in the pairing, will the reader make guesses as to what’s happening? -- that’s my question
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“What the fuck do you mean, they’re missing?” [Anonymous Nights 2]
⤷ Right off the bat we feel aggression from the speaker, setting the tone for the blurb. Secondly, who’s missing? From context, we are only aware of one person who’s cared about by Sunwoo, whose perspective this is from. Because I can’t specify a name, this was interesting to write as an introduction
THE UN-ASKED QUESTION’S ANSWER
This is another one I really love because it implies that the story started before the narrative did. I like implying what question was asked without actually asking it. This doesn’t necessarily have to be an answer to a question, it can be any dialogue following something unmentioned.
“I don’t know.” [You First]
⤷ Clearly this is someone answering a question, but as a reader, you don’t get to know what they were asked until a bit later. I like this because it adds a bit of a “I want to find out” feeling -- at least in other things I’ve read
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“Um... B.B.... did I do something wrong?” [B.B.]
⤷ This is cute to me. Clearly BB is a nickname, and since the speaker uses the nickname, you can tell they aren’t upset, just genuinely asking what they’ve done to deserve whatever happened before the story started
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“But, what about your--” [#37 During an exam]
⤷ I think this one is interesting, it’s followed immediately by more snippets of an overheard conversation, and you don’t get to read the start exactly, but you know what was said in a way. This one started as a bit of an “eff you” to certain tropes... (no hate to writers, I just like doing the exact opposite sometimes). I’ll read a story where the two characters will fall in love and the popular guy will leave the popular girl to get with his best friend or something... and yeah, that’s cute in some ways, but what about the popular girl? Or just the “distraction”? I always wonder about them at the ends of stories. I guess that’s where the inspiration for this fic came from
THE POST-ACTION
Kind of similar to the previous type, this one is an action that follows something that happened “offscreen”. It kind of reminds me of when stories are started off right when the action starts like wham bam thank you ma’am but instead it’s in the middle. I really like this but I don’t have many examples :(
(Okay nevermind I just realized I have no examples moVING ON)
I think the ones up until now are good basic starters. From here on I’ll talk about more apparent patterns in my own writing.
THE FULL NAME AND THE RULE OF THIRDS
Now this one... this one isn’t a common starter, (I don’t think so anyways...) but weirdly enough, I’ve used it three times already. When it comes to listing things or using repetition, I almost always use the rule of thirds. (I know that’s not a writing term it’s used for photography but that’s what I call it.) I always list in threes. I don’t know why exactly, but I prefer the flow of it, I guess. The full name thing though... I don’t know if I have an explanation for that. When I use a full name, it usually means the story will be from second person point of view, because you normally don’t refer to yourself by full name, but that isn’t always the case.
It came as no surprise to you when you found out that Jacob Bae, the new kid in your neighborhood, the new kid at your school, and the new kid freshly moved in to the house directly across the street, was a weirdo. [#18 Across the street]
⤷ Full name, check. List of three, check. This one is strange to me mostly because this introduction is actually wrong. I don’t really make Jacob that much of a weirdo, at least not enough to be mentioned. I wonder why I didn’t change it before posting. Oh well, it still follows the pattern and still deserves to be on this list. I think it’s still a good starter since it introduces key information on Jacob’s character as “the new kid”
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You knew Kevin Moon’s name for a few reasons. [Talk to Me]
⤷ I won’t quote the entire thing here since the list of three spans a few paragraphs, but trust me, it’s there. This story in particular holds a special place in my heart since it was the first one I ever posted (and still my most popular to this day, but I’ll vent about that another time...). In this, the full name is actually more significant than the others. Being a soulmate au with the classic mark of having your soulmate’s name on your wrist (I did add a twist but you’ll have to read it to figure it out), names are incredibly important in this universe. I explicitly had the mc calling Kevin only by his full name for almost the entirety of the story because it’s just that important. The rule of thirds follows closely after, but you already knew that
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Kwon Soonyoung is a man of many talents. He’s the guy who could fit a whole orange in his mouth in fourth grade, the guy who always knew how to make the social studies teacher talk about his divorce instead of the world wars, and the guy who brought a live pigeon to school with no one questioning him whatsoever. [Bluff and Nonsense]
⤷ I broke my own rule here to show you two sentences, the second of which has the rule of thirds. Now, this one is interesting because nothing in the list of three is ever addressed again in the story (except the pigeon, briefly). This is more of an introduction to Soonyoung’s character than one to the story itself. The first sentence however, carries on later for the main message: Soonyoung is a man of many talents but lying is not one of them. The entire purpose of the story is to show that Soonyoung is a terrible liar, and this introduction is here to juxtapose that. (It’s also here to make the reader love Soonyoung before he can do anything stupid. I mean, more stupid than bringing a pigeon to school.)
THE CONNECTOR
This one is specifically for sequels or bonus parts. When I want to add onto a story or start a bonus or anything like that, my first sentence tends to connect to the original story in some way.
“Hey 12 Leader, heard you biffed it on the Algiers mission.” [Red]
⤷ The connection in this one is to Repeat: Do Not Improvise, where “Algiers mission” is a clear indication to the plotline of that story. I like this one because it easily introduces who the speaker is addressing and their tone/attitude about it
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Nowadays, when people ask what Soonyoung loves most about you, he pulls out the notes app on his phone. [Fluff and Context]
⤷ Because this is just a fluffy blurb addition to Bluff and Nonsense, I didn’t do much in terms of setting or tone, but this entire starting sentence refers to an important part of the main story. One thing I wrote that happened was Soonyoung not being able to say something he loves about the mc. Having this as the introduction made it so that we knew Soonyoung loves mc, and it means something more because we knew he didn’t the first time he was asked. I think it adds more emphasis this way, and it makes the addition that much more special to those who read the main story
THE SHORT AND SWEET
This one’s not an actual type, I just thought all of the ones I’m going to list are pretty similar.
You have few memories that come with the rain [#46 Under the rain]
⤷ I think when it comes to short and sweet intros, it really depends on how long the entire work is. For this, it’s a short oneshot, and the first sentence encompasses essentially the whole thing
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Seungmin doesn’t remember much. [Dream of Me When You’re Awake]
⤷ Now in this, the fic is a pretty long one. The first sentence doesn’t cover the entire story, but instead is more of a question-raiser. I put it in this category, though, because it reads exactly like my short-and-sweet type intro. A lot of my fics start with short sentences, and I usually prefer reading beginnings like that more than long-winded explanations, but still, every story is its own. If one starts with a long sentence, that’s just how it is.
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Sungjin doesn’t like skinship.
⤷ Another short one. The entire blurb is about the fact that Sungjin doesn’t like skinship and how that affects his relationships with others. Coming straight out with this sentence is interesting because skinship is usually something adored in fanfiction (I can’t say I don’t love it myself, but this blurb isn’t about that). I think it makes the reader want to continue because they want to know how that relates to the story
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Something clicked. [#11 In a classroom]
⤷ I like this one a lot for some reason. This story touches on depressive thoughts and is quite angsty, and I think this first sentence captures my imagery of Jae’s thoughts quite well. It’s short and simple, but exactly what I wanted to get across.
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It starts with a confession. [Bouquets for a Friend (From a Friend)]
⤷ This one is a prime example of diversion tactic! The “confession” actually comes from neither of the main characters, then the second one -- mentioned later -- isn’t the kind of confession you’d expect after reading the first sentence
THE NARRATOR WITH AN ATTITUDE
I use this when the tone of the story is comedic, or when I want to write a witty/sarcastic dynamic between characters. I didn’t put it as a main type of starter mostly because they’d also fit under other categories too.
The only rule Royal Advisor Whatever-His-Name-Was gave you was to not fall in love with the prince. [Citizen Crowned, Part 1]
⤷ The prompt for this one was “while trying not to” as a way to fall in love, and obviously, later in the story the mc will break the rule... I like this introduction because it easily brings to attention the main point of the story and the mc’s attitude on their situation. Not bothering to remember the royal advisor’s name really shows how the mc feels about them
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As Sunwoo ducked behind the world’s most disgusting, foul-smelling, gag-inducing dumpster, he thought this was perhaps — no, definitely — the worst idea you’d ever had. [Anonymous Nights, Part 1]
⤷ This one’s also forced perspective, but I put it here because the describing words for the dumpster sound very opinionated in my head. In this, Sunwoo has a very talkative and sarcastic attitude, and I tried to capture that within the first sentence. It also partially displays the relationship between Sunwoo and the mc
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Walking into any place other than your own home at the ungodly hour of whenever the hell it is was undoubtedly disorienting, but you had to admit, stepping foot in an artificially bright vortex like Denny’s when the rest of your world slept was the weirdest. [#68 In Denny’s at 4:00AM]
⤷ In this, I make it very clear how the mc feels about where they are and how much they dislike being there. I like this because it establishes the mc as someone with humour (or at least, my kind of humour)
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And that’s all folks! I have more lines that I’d like to put down, but first of all, I don’t know if I should subject anyone to that much reading, and second of all, I don’t know if I could categorize them. So that’s going to be it for now.
If you’ve made it this far... wow! Thanks for reading my ramblings... it means a lot if you did, honestly.
Hey, if you’ve read everything, here’s a prize just for you!
You know what? I fuckin love bears. Grizzly bears, black bears, polar bears, teddy bears....... Bears will kill me without hesitation (unless I'm loud and annoying in which they will just leave) and I think that's very cool of them. Where do I find bear posts on this hellsite.
Look the only reason I can’t write fake dating is because I cannot imagine ANYONE thinking that’s a good idea like holy shit,, I would shoot that idea down before it could leave the ground
