Start the story you plan to end.
I'll expand on that, since its kinda vague.
Basically, when you are telling a story there is a certain story arc you plan on having the narrative follow. Inevitably you have a certain climax in mind, an event or situation that you think is going to be the whole point of the story. This could be the Final Fight With Dr Evil or the Heart-Rending Decision To Give Up On Your True Love So She Can Be Happy or Finally Getting to Go Home From Oz or whatever.
The important part is that you decide what kind of story you are going to tell. Generally there are four types, which Orson Scott Card calls the MICE quotient. There are Milieu stories, which are about a certain setting and the exploration of that setting. There are Idea stories, which are about a certain idea or theoryt or mystery and the revelation of that mystery. There are Character stories which are about the development and choices of a certain Character. And their are Event stories, which are about the effects of a certain Event on the lives of the major protagonists.
You should start your story at the point in the world where your protagonist first becomes involved with the type of story you want to tell, and end it when that story is finished.
The quintesential example is the Event story. The Event story begins when Our Hero first encounters some sort of nastiness. Be it The One Ring or a natural disaster or something else. The important thing is that up until now there was a status qou and then some outside element comes in and disrupts that status quo. The story is about the hero (and his companions) dealign with the ramifications of this. The story ends when the status quo is reset, either to a new one or to the old one. Look at any number of fantasy novels for this story arc, from Lord of the Rings to Wheel of Time to Star Wars and so on.
The Idea story is your essential murder mystery. It starts by asking a question (Who killed this man? Why are ghosts appearing in the local hospital? What is the meaning of life?) and ends when that question is answered.
The Milieu story is your Wizard of Oz, Gulliver's Travels, El Hazard kind of deal. The story begins when your protagonists enter the setting, and ends when they either a) leave or b) decide to stay.
Drunkard's Walk, for instance, is a Milieu story. Note how the second step begins when Doug arrives in the BGC universe and then ends when he leaves. That makes it a classic Milieu story.
The Character story also begins with an event disrupting the staus quo but in the Character story this change is driven by the protagonist. The protagonist decides, for some reason, to change his lot in life. Either he wants to get to the girl, get a better job or what have you. The story ends when the character's search for a better life ends. Most romantic comedies are built on this model. They begin when the main characters start looking for something better (ie love), and end when they find it.
So, to answer your question you should begin your story with the scene you think begins your story. An important thing here is to remove the Myth of the story from the narrative. The Myth is everything related to the story, include background going back thousands or millions of years. You only start the story when your protagonist becomes involved in it, which is important.
I'll give you an example:
When I started Hybrid Theory I had to chose when to start the story. I wanted to tell and Event story ("What happens when a self-insert appears in a fictional universe and starts having actual consequences on events?"). This meant I deliberatly did NOT start the story with the self-insert arriving in the universe. I started it a few months later, when the self-insert decided to start mucking around with the continuity (in this regards, Hybrid Theory also has major elements of a Character story). If I had started with the arrival of the SI, the story would have been more setting based, as that was the expectation I was building in the reader. I also deliberatly didn't raise the question of -why- the SI was there until later, since this isn't an Idea story.
Bringing this rambling mess back to coherence again I'll reiterate the first line.
Start the story you plan to end.
Figure out what kind of story you are telling. Figure out when your protagonist first begins to interact with that story. THAT is your starting point.
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Epsilon
I'll expand on that, since its kinda vague.
Basically, when you are telling a story there is a certain story arc you plan on having the narrative follow. Inevitably you have a certain climax in mind, an event or situation that you think is going to be the whole point of the story. This could be the Final Fight With Dr Evil or the Heart-Rending Decision To Give Up On Your True Love So She Can Be Happy or Finally Getting to Go Home From Oz or whatever.
The important part is that you decide what kind of story you are going to tell. Generally there are four types, which Orson Scott Card calls the MICE quotient. There are Milieu stories, which are about a certain setting and the exploration of that setting. There are Idea stories, which are about a certain idea or theoryt or mystery and the revelation of that mystery. There are Character stories which are about the development and choices of a certain Character. And their are Event stories, which are about the effects of a certain Event on the lives of the major protagonists.
You should start your story at the point in the world where your protagonist first becomes involved with the type of story you want to tell, and end it when that story is finished.
The quintesential example is the Event story. The Event story begins when Our Hero first encounters some sort of nastiness. Be it The One Ring or a natural disaster or something else. The important thing is that up until now there was a status qou and then some outside element comes in and disrupts that status quo. The story is about the hero (and his companions) dealign with the ramifications of this. The story ends when the status quo is reset, either to a new one or to the old one. Look at any number of fantasy novels for this story arc, from Lord of the Rings to Wheel of Time to Star Wars and so on.
The Idea story is your essential murder mystery. It starts by asking a question (Who killed this man? Why are ghosts appearing in the local hospital? What is the meaning of life?) and ends when that question is answered.
The Milieu story is your Wizard of Oz, Gulliver's Travels, El Hazard kind of deal. The story begins when your protagonists enter the setting, and ends when they either a) leave or b) decide to stay.
Drunkard's Walk, for instance, is a Milieu story. Note how the second step begins when Doug arrives in the BGC universe and then ends when he leaves. That makes it a classic Milieu story.
The Character story also begins with an event disrupting the staus quo but in the Character story this change is driven by the protagonist. The protagonist decides, for some reason, to change his lot in life. Either he wants to get to the girl, get a better job or what have you. The story ends when the character's search for a better life ends. Most romantic comedies are built on this model. They begin when the main characters start looking for something better (ie love), and end when they find it.
So, to answer your question you should begin your story with the scene you think begins your story. An important thing here is to remove the Myth of the story from the narrative. The Myth is everything related to the story, include background going back thousands or millions of years. You only start the story when your protagonist becomes involved in it, which is important.
I'll give you an example:
When I started Hybrid Theory I had to chose when to start the story. I wanted to tell and Event story ("What happens when a self-insert appears in a fictional universe and starts having actual consequences on events?"). This meant I deliberatly did NOT start the story with the self-insert arriving in the universe. I started it a few months later, when the self-insert decided to start mucking around with the continuity (in this regards, Hybrid Theory also has major elements of a Character story). If I had started with the arrival of the SI, the story would have been more setting based, as that was the expectation I was building in the reader. I also deliberatly didn't raise the question of -why- the SI was there until later, since this isn't an Idea story.
Bringing this rambling mess back to coherence again I'll reiterate the first line.
Start the story you plan to end.
Figure out what kind of story you are telling. Figure out when your protagonist first begins to interact with that story. THAT is your starting point.
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Epsilon