Sorry I have been away from my blog but last week I managed to injure my lower back and that pulled muscle made it fairly painful to sit at my work desk. I am recovered enough to return to my desk, both here at home and at my day job.

Last night I attended the twice monthly meeting of the Mysterious Galaxy Writers Group and some of the feedback and discussion has gotten my mind churning on the elements needed to successfully open a story.

Of course, you want something dramatic, something interesting capturing the reader’s interest and imagination. I have also long maintained that the opening scene must be one of conflict, presenting a character with an objective and something that stand between the character achieving that goal. There an often used example of starting off wrong by stating in combat that because we do not yet know who the characters are and what motivates them it is difficult to have emotional investment in battle right from the start. This correct more often than it is wrong, but skillful deployment of character beats can allow a combat focused opening as well.

What I have been thinking and pondering since last night is the importance of the nature of the conflict that you opens the story. It seems rather obvious but sometime the most important elements are only obvious when seen in retrospect. The exact conflict that opens the story informs the reader about the nature of the character and situation. It lays down a lot of foundation for the tone and style of the story that will follow. Why this character is facing this particular challenge and that choices that are forced upon them to resolve it informs the reader who the character is and the nature of their personality.

The challenge doesn’t have to be the central challenge of the story or novel, but it should be there is give us these vital insights.

Consider a character who needs to get to work but whose car is out of gas. Already we know that this character has financial troubles, has work troubles, and is teetering on the edge. A person secure in their finances can easily maintain their vehicle, and someone doing well at their job can afford a single tardy or missed day. So that little conflict has already shared a lot of information. If the character resolves this issue by stealing money from their roommate’s wallet that’s one sort of person if they wake up hours early to walk three miles to get to work on time that a different moral character and either choice gives the reader a taste of who this person is.

When opening a story you have a very special window for establishing tone and character, make the most of it.