Don't start out our scene like this!

I find that a lot of writers get stuck when it comes to the task of writing a scene. All of a sudden they start to question themselves: Where do I begin? Should I describe the interior of the stone cottage? Talk about the dank smell? Maybe start with a line of dialogue?

I want to share several of the best ways I’ve discovered for starting out your scenes. Before I get to that, here are a few temptations to avoid:

1. Don’t describe the weather: There’s a reason that “It was a dark and stormy night” has become such a cliché: It’s because it’s not a very good starting sentence. In fact, talking about the weather is often a sign of a writer who doesn’t have anything else to say—much like those who talking about the weather in real life!

Of course, there are some exceptions. If you are writing a book about Antarctica or the Bahamas, by all means, mention the weather. But if you bring up the weather, be prepared to really describe the weather. In other words, don’t mention the weather in passing as you go on to describe other things.

If you bring up the weather, be prepared to talk about biting cold or blissful warmth or unending rain for at least a paragraph. Mentioning the weather in passing doesn’t add to a reader’s experience of your event. In fact, a reader usually glosses over the weather unless you take at least several sentences to truly make them experience it.

2. Excessive setting details: I have lots of writers who will take qualm with this tip. I’m not saying to never describe the place where your event is about to take place.

What I am saying is not to use setting as a fallback because you have nothing else to write about. You don’t have to describe every place in detail in your book just as you don’t have to describe the look, smell and feel of every taxi your narrator gets into. Sometimes a person just gets into a cab.

3. Don’t name everyone in the room: Another trap I see a lot of writers fall into is to start out their scenes with a list of everyone who is present at the beginning of a scene. It’s Thanksgiving dinner and they tell us that they are at the table with their mom and dad, their sister Jenny, their brothers Bob and Jim, their sister-in-law Sara (the one who’s married to Bob), as well as Bob first wife Sally and his second wife Laura. Okay, I went on a little too long there for comedic effect. But I often see writers give long lists of names at the very beginning of their scenes.

Instead, mention your characters one at a time as they become important to the scene.

Now, let's go over important tips to start your scene:

1. Put us inside your head so we know how you feel. Let’s say your scene is about getting fired. One way to start out your scene is by letting us know how you felt right before that. You might have that first cup of coffee at your desk, thinking to yourself that it is going to be a great day.

If it’s the day of your wedding, maybe you’re having doubts. You put on your dress wondering if you’re making the right decision.

By putting us inside your head at the beginning of the scene, you also create suspense. Your reader already starts to suspect that something is about to change.

2. Summarize the main event. Every scene needs to contain an event, something that will happen at the end of the scene to give it a reason to exist. A great way of starting out your scene is to mention the main event in your very first sentence.

Let’s say that the primary event in your scene is a car accident. If that’s the case, you can start out the scene by bringing up the accident. In other words, you might write something like, “The day I got into a car accident also happened to be Valentine’s Day.”

Once you have summarized your main event (you could use anything from a sentence to a paragraph), then go back and start the story of the accident from the chronological beginning. “I was at the drive-in ordering breakfast wondering what James had planned for the day.” 

By telling them what the scene is going to be about, they’ll then have the patience to hear you out from the very beginning of your story.

I hope that helps you better understand how to write your scenes without falling into clichés or overly describing the setting and characters. 

Happy writing!