OTFM: The "What if_?" Question
How do you find the beginning of your novels? How do you know where to start them?
This may sound strange, but my beginnings tend to find me.
The timing of this topic is great, because I started a new novel on Saturday--new world, new characters, new concept. I hadn't been having much luck getting excited over the things in my Ideas Folder, so my writing productivity was...um...low. To celebrate said lack of productivity, I mixed a pitcher of sangria and watched a bunch of movies with my best friend. During the night, two random questions came to me. One of them was a "What would make __ do __?" While I pondered that, the second question became, "Who would they send in to deal with _?"
Those questions were still on my mind when I woke up on Saturday. I sucked down some coffee, grabbed some reference books, and started researching things. By noon I had characters, and I was ready to write. But where to start?
I started with my "What?" question, and it became the opening line. I started where my heroine's life takes a dramatic turn from what is, for her, normal. Looking back at several of my other first-in-series books, I realize I start all of them in a similar place. THREE DAYS TO DEAD begins with Evy's resurrection--dramatic turn. An earlier, unsold book begins with the heroine getting back powers she'd long thought dormant.
Since I rarely start a book without having some idea of the "What if_?" question, I start at the point in which it's impossible for the hero/heroine to ignore it.
This may sound strange, but my beginnings tend to find me.
The timing of this topic is great, because I started a new novel on Saturday--new world, new characters, new concept. I hadn't been having much luck getting excited over the things in my Ideas Folder, so my writing productivity was...um...low. To celebrate said lack of productivity, I mixed a pitcher of sangria and watched a bunch of movies with my best friend. During the night, two random questions came to me. One of them was a "What would make __ do __?" While I pondered that, the second question became, "Who would they send in to deal with _?"
Those questions were still on my mind when I woke up on Saturday. I sucked down some coffee, grabbed some reference books, and started researching things. By noon I had characters, and I was ready to write. But where to start?
I started with my "What?" question, and it became the opening line. I started where my heroine's life takes a dramatic turn from what is, for her, normal. Looking back at several of my other first-in-series books, I realize I start all of them in a similar place. THREE DAYS TO DEAD begins with Evy's resurrection--dramatic turn. An earlier, unsold book begins with the heroine getting back powers she'd long thought dormant.
Since I rarely start a book without having some idea of the "What if_?" question, I start at the point in which it's impossible for the hero/heroine to ignore it.