Yesterday, I started revising The King’s Councilor, starting
at chapter 1. One of the biggest
complaints that my betas had was that my characters had completely perfect
lives. They were all happy. In fact, Cassie achieves her goal in the first
chapter.
The first time I read it, I was surprised. I started in the action. That’s where the story begins. Cassie’s going to learn that her goal didn’t
start there, but it continued as she attempts to find her place on the king’s
council. So of course, she has to begin
by achieving her goal of becoming a councilor.
Right?
Then the second person said it, then the third. There was no denying it. Everyone thought it was too easy. It didn’t matter that the problems arose
after she got her new position. They
wanted to see the conflict, and they wanted to see trials — right in the first
chapter.
I’ve heard the advice to start with action. It’s good advice. I remember when I first began working on Servant
of an Empire, I started at the beginning.
The story started when the king dies, right? Sure, but that meant there were multiple
boring chapters before the actual story started. I started that novel so many times, just to
get stuck a few pages in. It wasn’t
until I was rereading my outline when I realized that I could cut the first two
pages of my outline (12 point font, single spaced) and start where the action
really started.
However, it wasn’t until this revision that I realized that
maybe it’s not about starting with the action.
It would be easy to throw the main character into some crazy situation,
maybe almost ran over by a cart or something.
Or even when I started with Cassie being presented to the king and
achieving her status as councilor. Both
of those are action.
So here's my new motto:
Start with the
conflict.
What’s the main conflict of the story? Where does your character run across their
first stumbling block? That’s what
drives the story.
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