Set Up vs. Diving In Headfirst

I hate beginnings. I never know where to start. Should I dive right in to the action, or give my readers a page to get to know my MC.

I usually lean toward giving my readers a little time to get to know my characters because...well, who really gives a damn if some random person they don't know is being hunted by a demon that's half-centipede and half-platypus? If you give your readers a little snippet of what normal life is like for the MC, they're more inclined to care about what happens to them. Think about every movie ever made. There's usually a quick bit at the beginning that shows the characters doing whatever it is they normally do. That's where you get to know a little about the character and start to care about their problems.

But set up can be pretty gosh-darn boring. If you put in too much set up, it'll send the reader into a fit of temporary insanity. Readers can be fragile like that. Too much boring information and BOOM!

Insanity ensues.

And before you know it, the world is overrun with temporarily insane people, burning stuff down and stealing all the chocolate chip cookies from the local bakery and breaking into your house to hide your car keys while you're sleeping.

And nobody wants to live in a world like that.

So, to avoid all that, you've got to find the right balance of set up and action. I usually shoot for a page of set up and then sink straight in to the good stuff. If you can fit in everything you need in less than a page, then more power to you. But I usually go with the One Page method.

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!