How do you start your stories?

[Xelebes]

I was feeling an itch to have it happen and so it happend. It being that and that being it. All the more perplexing to the intricacies of something I call a widget.

 

[Jubal_Harshaw]

Once upon a time... and Long ago in a galaxy far, far away... work pretty good for me.

 

[CharleyH]

Pardon me if this has been asked before, but here goes. First, second time posting to the literotica boards (I often do not have many questions of this nature). Second, my question. How do you start your stories? I have the basic plot worked out in my mind (at least the middle) but can't think of how to start it. Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks.

Never as a writer. If you do not have the germ of an idea, you do not even have the middle, let alone the end. Just a reality. Great question, though.

 

[evelyn_carroll]

How do I start?

I imagine a person/people, perhaps they are someone I have seen or perhaps a composite of people I have known. I describe them in an opening scenario that would be familiar to them or one in which I imagine them. Then I ask myself, ‘how could they be at risk (sexually, politically, technologically, etc.)?’

The characters take over then; They seem to acquire a life of their own.. All I have to do is articulate their speech and thoughts and describe the room that they happen to be in.

With luck, I think of a plot about half way through. With more luck I can produce a twist at the end.

I never plan. Planning is the last refuge of Management. Management is the last refuge of the incompetent. Incompetence is the last refuge of the successful.

 

[CharleyH]

I imagine a person/people, perhaps they are someone I have seen or perhaps a composite of people I have known. I describe them in an opening scenario that would be familiar to them or one in which I imagine them. Then I ask myself, ‘how could they be at risk (sexually, politically, technologically, etc.)?’

The characters take over then; They seem to acquire a life of their own.. All I have to do is articulate their speech and thoughts and describe the room that they happen to be in.

With luck, I think of a plot about half way through. With more luck I can produce a twist at the end.

I never plan. Planning is the last refuge of Management. Management is the last refuge of the incompetent. Incompetence is the last refuge of the successful.

I never plan either, but I can tell you this. If you do not know who you meet and how you met them? Then there is no story. For one second imagine how you met that or all those people and then picture them in a location you want to be in ... imagine from there. Does a story require background to be hot? No.

Edit to add - sex is hot because its real.

 

[YendorHawk]

Okay, next question. Is he a hero...or anti-hero? That is, is he going to use mind control to save the girl and do in the bad guys, or is this going to be one of those stories about a mind-control geek using his abilities to get lots of sex and embarass the people who have done him wrong?

Mix of things. Anti-hero and hero. Lots of (hopefully) well written sex, some "dark" karmic acts (rewiring some people for his personal gain/gratification, others to make them better). I find myself unable to really write "dark" things, sure, anti-hero/grey areas (maybe twilight ), but never anything truly dark/gruesome.

 

[evelyn_carroll]

Oh!

Real is hot because it's sex. Your words; my order. When will I ever grow up?

I imagine them; I will always imagine them. If I am lucky, they will imagine me.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Um...isn't this The Dead Zone?

LOL!!

I had this brief flash today (our power went out for a few hours)... wrote this opening:

"Bobby and I didn’t know that anything had gone wrong with the rest of the world until the power went out. Oh, we knew things had gone wrong, alright, but only in our little neck of the woods. Right in our own backyard, so to speak."

and I was thinking... what if everyone gets sick... like the bird flu or something... all the TV/radio stations go out...

and then I realized...

oh, wait... That's "The Stand"

 

[Guest]

Once upon a time...

 

[3113]

Mix of things. Anti-hero and hero. Lots of (hopefully) well written sex, some "dark" karmic acts (rewiring some people for his personal gain/gratification, others to make them better).

Well, you CAN have it both ways, but I think you're making it harder on yourself. The "too many notes" problem (that's a quote form the movie Amadeus)--it means, trying to have it all. When you try to have it all--a guy who's good at Martial arts, is going to have psychic powers, hot chicks, manipulate people for gratification as well as do hero stuff....

When you try to have it all, you make it difficult to know where and how to begin.

Do you get the idea here? What I'm telling you is that you're having trouble getting started because you don't have a strong handle on the story/main character. You want too much from both. A laser focus is where you find that beginning. Laser focus on who and what the character is about, laser focus on what the story is going to be about.

For example: If he's a heroic type, using mind control to right wrongs (kinda like "The Shadow"--clouding mens minds), then you can begin with something like: him in the present doing some avenging deed--with flashback to his origin story of being wronged by evil men, almost dying but ending up with psychic powers instead. And so now, he can avenge himself and protect the weak.

If, on the other hand, this is going to be a story of a guy using his powers for gratification, personal gain and fun, then you can start with him as an average guy, wandering through the town, not having anything, being bossed around, rejected by girls, etc. Accident happens and, boom, he gets powers and "replays" his bad day, only this time as he wanders around, he bosses people around and gets the girls to do what he wants, etc.

It's only when you try to mix the two and have it ALL that things get fuzzy. Does this mean you can't mix? No. The gratification guy can do a good deed and the heroic avenger can indulge--but the ratio needs to be a 90%-10%, not 50%-50%. You have to know what motivates the character.

Is this any help?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Once upon a time...

in a galaxy far, far away...


oh, wait... that's Star Wars...

 

[YendorHawk]

Trying several writes so far, on my third (chuckles) The latest starts with the weather/area and why the main character finds the attempted mugging/rape. (just a heads up on the progress )