: Re: How early in the narrative should I start my book? I've just recently finished building the setting and plot of a fantasy coming-of-age story. I'm happy with the way it turned out; the character

Somebody said once that the right question bears half of the answer within.

Whether you have your story already written or not, it is clearly structured and well thought through. Your characters seemed to be defined and developed, and I have little doubt that your plot is solid. I think that your question is not how early to start your narrative, but how to deliver your story in a most efficient way, keeping the reader engaged and motivated to continue reading.

There is an infinite number of possibilities, and they all depend upon your style and taste, the genre of your story, the length of itâ€”as @KenMohnkern mentionedâ€”and the audience you are targeting.
If you see your book as a hard action thriller, do not be afraid to start with a scene where your main character and his sidekick are being chased by the authorities because a random thug they teamed up with for this particular heist, sold them up to save his hide, but not before saying something about their hometown which makes them want to go there and see what is going on. You can then bring all the backstory piece by piece as a series of flashbacks between the action scenes.

If you are aiming at a classic epic fantasy, do not be afraid to expand upon the expositionâ€”epic fantasy readers do enjoy throughly built worlds and beautifully presented settingsâ€”but just keep building tension scene by scene.

The choice it yours and only yours, and no one can really tell you what words to type and in what order.
For me, you answered you own question when you said

Main story arc begins

But it is just me :-)
Best of luck.

Load Full (0)

: How do you get a character to tell a short story? Writing noobie here. I'm at a point in my story where one of the characters recalls a memory from their past and talks about the impact

@Murphy332

Load Full 2 Comments

: Can I publish my book in the Russian language with advertising and selling online? I'm based in the USA. I wrote a book in the Russian language. My book had already been published in Russia

@Murphy332

Load Full 1 Comments

: Avoiding -ly Words "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs," said Stephen King. He went on to explain that they should be used sparingly, not as a crutch to avoid writing a more

@Murphy332

Load Full 1 Comments

: It is a bit stereotypical, but for good reason. The two are opposing forces. I don't mean in the sense of physical frozen water and whatever the hell fire is, but in the sense of endothermic

: Re: How early in the narrative should I start my book? I've just recently finished building the setting and plot of a fantasy coming-of-age story. I'm happy with the way it turned out; the character

More posts by @Murphy332

: How do you get a character to tell a short story? Writing noobie here. I'm at a point in my story where one of the characters recalls a memory from their past and talks about the impact

: Can I publish my book in the Russian language with advertising and selling online? I'm based in the USA. I wrote a book in the Russian language. My book had already been published in Russia

: Avoiding -ly Words "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs," said Stephen King. He went on to explain that they should be used sparingly, not as a crutch to avoid writing a more

: It is a bit stereotypical, but for good reason. The two are opposing forces. I don't mean in the sense of physical frozen water and whatever the hell fire is, but in the sense of endothermic

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top