: Re: Should my opening include a religious initiation ritual? I am about to start my first novel set in a fantasy world I am designing, and am struggling deeply with my first scene. I have read

@Vandalay250

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For your concerns about the particular scene itself, I think Amadeus’s answer is perfect.

But in a general sense, the first scene should tell the reader what to expect from the rest of the story. I have some anecdotal experience that might help.

The first time I watched the Studio Ghibli film ‘Princess Mononoke’ there was a scratch on the DVD which caused the first scene of the film to skip. I decided to keep watching anyway, and started with the second scene, where some sort of ceremony was happening. A boy had been cursed by a monster and was being sent away from his village. Cool. I felt like I hadn’t missed much.

But I found myself confused for the rest of the story. In my mind, this ceremony held more importance than it should have. Why? Because it was the first scene I saw, the very first point of reference from which I viewed the rest of the story. It introduced the protagonist, some side characters, as well as the birth place of the protagonist and its culture, most of which (to my confusion and disappointment) would never be seen again for the rest of the film. It also seemed to set up the protagonist as the centre around which the story would revolve. This also turned out to be false.

The actual first scene of Princess Mononoke is a narration describing the world in which the story is set, where gods of nature and humans used to live in harmony but now are in conflict. It only then introduces the protagonist and sets in motion the events that will be important, i.e. protagonist getting cursed and going on a journey. Now the audience is not surprised when the main arc is less about the protagonist himself but about the much greater conflict between humans and nature. Rather than his journey being the focus, he is only a small part of a larger story.

What I’ve learned from this experience is that the first scene will set expectations for the reader, whether consciously or unconsciously. If you can’t decide on your first scene, you may need to locate the primary arc of the story and decide exactly where that begins, at least for the reader, or how best you can set the stage for the events to unfold.

So if your plot is primarily about the protagonist and his involvement with the religion, by all means make the first scene be his initiation. If it is more about the protagonist going on a journey separate from this aspect of the plot, you could start with the hunting scene in the woods, where maybe he and his dad talk about the upcoming ceremony but there is obviously something else on one of their minds, or hints of something greater happening in the world around them. If the protagonist will continue to have visions throughout he story or is a ‘chosen one’ type, then a vision is a grand place to start. It all comes down to what you want the reader to expect from the rest of the story.

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