: Re: How to start a book off? I have been working on my book (on and off...) for about 6 months. I have a good bit planned out with the plot, story line, and characters. I even have a small

@Becky328

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Here are some pointers from what I have learned from experience and from what more experienced writers have told me:

If you're a beginner, it is better to stick with linear time. Attempt flashbacks, parallel story arcs and such once you get a good handle of story telling. In your case, consider starting just before the very first life changing / significant event.
Decide whether you're writing in first person, third person omnipotent or third person limited. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages (see related questions on this website). Each narrative style will allow you to cover past events in different ways. Read some of your favorite authors and see how they do it.
It's good that you have a story planned out. If you have the backdrop / history of your story already in mind, it will be easy to introduce them into the story later on (in the sci-fi genre, these are sometimes called 'info-dumps').
If what you are suffering from is the problem of mounting that hurdle between the story idea and the first sentence (where you just stare at the blank first page): one way to overcome this (and this depends on the genre) is to vividly visualize the scenes in your head without even thinking that its for a book. Try thinking of it as a movie you're watching. Then try describing the first scene. More often than not, this will get you rolling.
The difficult part is to string together scenes into events and then the events into a coherent story. It's difficult because each subsequent scene/event has to be consistent with all those that went before it, which naturally includes the back stories.
Don't expect to get it right the first time. The essence of writing, some say, is rewriting.

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