Trouble with the beginning

[Twelve]

I'm new to this, and I'm having more trouble with starting off the story than was expected. My character needs a way to get to the door that lands him in another world, in which he eventually fights in a great war.

This requires two beginnings, since I need to introduce 3 other characters before he finds the door, and I can't just introduce them. The reader has to get to know them a little, but if I take too long, the reader will get bored.

I also need a reason for why he found the door, why he went through it, and why he can't go back.

Then I need to know where he should end up after walking through the door. Should he end up in the castle? Should he end up in the wilderness? In a dark room where he is eventually found? What is the reaction of the first person he sees? What is his reaction? What happens after he meets the other characters?

I can't think of anything that wouldn't make things awkward.

I apologize if this is unclear, but I'll try and get a first draft up as soon as I can, just to help explain things.

 

[Thunderring]

ok first, you don't need to do all of that in the first chapter. make hints at it, keep the reader wondering what's going to happen. when introducing the char's do a breif little thing. talk about them just a little bit, enough to keep them cerious, and as for the door, i really don't know what you want to do with all of it, so i don't know. a little more info would be nice, or even a copy of your first rough draft.

 

[firzenr]

I'm having trouble starting my book off. My character needs a way to get to the door that lands him in another world, in which he eventually fights in a great war.

This requires two beginnings, since I need to introduce 3 other characters before he finds the door, and I can't just introduce them. The reader has to get to know them a little, but if I take too long, the reader will get bored.

I also need a reason for why he found the door, why he went through it, and why he can't go back.

Then I need to know where he should end up after walking through the door. Should he end up in the castle? Should he end up in the wilderness? In a dark room where he is eventually found? What is the reaction of the first person he sees? What is his reaction? What happens after he meets the other characters?

I can't think of anything that wouldn't make things awkward.

Hmm...reason why he found the door, why he went thru it and why he cant go back...
Tough. I'll give it a shot.

He found the door because he was destined to-in a way. He went in because he was playing with his pet and his pet ran somewhere and he had a strange feeling it was there--which it wasnt.
He cant go back--because he's trapped in a way. One second in this universe equals years in 'our' universe. So builders tear the house down with the door as well. So he can never go back.

 

[Twelve]

Hmm...reason why he found the door, why he went thru it and why he cant go back...
Tough. I'll give it a shot.

He found the door because he was destined to-in a way. He went in because he was playing with his pet and his pet ran somewhere and he had a strange feeling it was there--which it wasnt.
He cant go back--because he's trapped in a way. One second in this universe equals years in 'our' universe. So builders tear the house down with the door as well. So he can never go back.

Great ideas, firzenr, though I think I'm going to use the three characters that were left behind, and the main character will probably come back eventually. Wouldn't be much of an ending, though, the main character separated from his friends and family. I suppose I could provide another way for him to get back.
I still would like to hear the suggestions others have.

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

Stephen R. Donaldson covered all those aspects in Mordant's Need ( two books: Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through .)

***** BEGIN SPOILER ALERT *****






Essentially, a lonely young woman sat in her mirror-covered room whenever she was blackly depressed. Eventually, she began hearing distant voices, then seeing vague shapes move in the mirrors. One day, she vanished into another world.

She may have simply gone insane. Or she may have actually stumbled into a fantasy world where mirrors are used for communication and transportation.

Some of the characters were presaged in the voices she heard. Some of the events were somewhat shown in the images she saw. Her reason for having the door (the mirrors) was directly due to her own depression and self-loathing. The reason she couldn't come back was... well, you'll have to read the books for that




***** END SPOILER ALERT *****


Good luck!

 

[avatarblade2000]

Perhaps this door lies in an old house. An old abandoned house that no one dares go into. Perhaps the main character goes in on a dare, or is curious, or is lead into it by a person, animal, specter, something corporeal that would get his attention.

Upon entering the house, he gets lost. The more he tries to find his way out, the more lost he becomes. His escalating terror leads him to start thinking irrationally, or maybe just become hopelessly confused, and eventually, he finds the only door in a maze of corridors and identical walls. He opens it, steps through it without hesitation, since he believes it to be the way out, and steps into this other world of yours (which I will comment on in a moment).

Like firzenr was getting at, maybe the doorway itself is destroyed. If it's an old enough house, maybe the MC's running up and down its ancient halls caused it to fall in on itself when he opened the door, destroying his chances of coming back. Maybe the house was falling in when he was trying to find his way out, causing him to go flying through that door without ever thinking it through. In any case, the exit is gone, forcing him to find another means for returning in this other world...

I believe that the MC should enter into a place in the other world that is considerably different than those he had just come from, as to heighten the sense of shock and mystery. You could work up to it, however: he could enter a place that is mildly familiar, or looks like it could be a part of the old house, like ruins, or an antechamber, or a courtyard - but once he leaves, maybe he's in the middle of a huge field, or he walks into a medieval town square, or he steps around a corner and there's a dragon looking back at him. Something that shouldn't be there SHOULD be there to meet him. Then maybe, if he has found his way into a conflict, then maybe your other three characters (or at least one of them, or maybe another secondary character) could save him from that situation.

Does that help any? I love these kinds of threads. LOVE 'EM.

 

[Twelve]

Perhaps this door lies in an old house. An old abandoned house that no one dares go into. Perhaps the main character goes in on a dare, or is curious, or is lead into it by a person, animal, specter, something corporeal that would get his attention.

Upon entering the house, he gets lost. The more he tries to find his way out, the more lost he becomes. His escalating terror leads him to start thinking irrationally, or maybe just become hopelessly confused, and eventually, he finds the only door in a maze of corridors and identical walls. He opens it, steps through it without hesitation, since he believes it to be the way out, and steps into this other world of yours (which I will comment on in a moment).

Like firzenr was getting at, maybe the doorway itself is destroyed. If it's an old enough house, maybe the MC's running up and down its ancient halls caused it to fall in on itself when he opened the door, destroying his chances of coming back. Maybe the house was falling in when he was trying to find his way out, causing him to go flying through that door without ever thinking it through. In any case, the exit is gone, forcing him to find another means for returning in this other world...

I believe that the MC should enter into a place in the other world that is considerably different than those he had just come from, as to heighten the sense of shock and mystery. You could work up to it, however: he could enter a place that is mildly familiar, or looks like it could be a part of the old house, like ruins, or an antechamber, or a courtyard - but once he leaves, maybe he's in the middle of a huge field, or he walks into a medieval town square, or he steps around a corner and there's a dragon looking back at him. Something that shouldn't be there SHOULD be there to meet him. Then maybe, if he has found his way into a conflict, then maybe your other three characters (or at least one of them, or maybe another secondary character) could save him from that situation.

Does that help any? I love these kinds of threads. LOVE 'EM.

I love these threads too, and yes, that helps tremedously; thanks.

 

[IfIonlyhadabrain]

It's difficult to answer these not knowing the plot, but I'll try to give some ideas based on what you've provided.

My character needs a way to get to the door that lands him in another world, in which he eventually fights in a great war.

Well, the answer to this really depends on the kind of door we're talking about. Some people like to use mirrors as gateways to other realities, sort of alternate universes. Others like to use swirling portals in the air. There have been all kinds of different "doorways" to other worlds utilized in the history of writing. Unconsciousness, wardrobes, holes in the ground, crystal balls, television, board games, quicksand, whirlpools, death. The choice is yours really. It can be an arbitrary doorway, or it can be a doorway that somehow reflects the theme of the story.

Why does he go to it? Perhaps his wallet was stolen by a pickpocket and in the chase to retreive it he unwittingly goes through the doorway. Maybe he was scubadiving and went through an underwater tunnel and when he surfaced on the other side it was a completely different world. Or what if he was hanging out with friends at night and they were passing by an old abandoned house and they dared him to go into it, and inside he went through the basement door, but on the other side was a sunny hillside. Perhaps he is visited by someone from the other world and he is convinced to go there, for whatever reason. Maybe he's kidnapped by someone from the other world.

This requires two beginnings, since I need to introduce 3 other characters before he finds the door, and I can't just introduce them. The reader has to get to know them a little, but if I take too long, the reader will get bored.

This is difficult to answer. Perhaps you can introduce them into a prologue. In the prologue you can have them involved in high-pressure situations in which their actions reveal a good deal of their personalities. This way, you're introducing the characters before you actually get into the story, and the reader will get a good sense of the kind of people they are in a short time, and since they're involved in high-intensity situations, the reader doesn't get bored before he meets the MC.

I also need a reason for why he found the door, why he went through it, and why he can't go back.

I think I've probably said enough of the first to parts of this problem, so I'll just address the third, why he can't go back.

Well, there are many reasons he might not be able to go back. Perhaps the doorway is destroyed. Perhaps he didn't really understand how he got there in the first place. Maybe he has a very strong reason for not going back (ie, really crappy life, or someone he loves has been taken there and he won't leave until he finds that person). Maybe he lost the doorway, or didn't see where he was when he first came through it (ie, blindfolded). What if he required a certain talisman to go through it in the first place, and when he came through, he somehow lost it. See, lots of possibilities.

Then I need to know where he should end up after walking through the door. Should he end up in the castle? Should he end up in the wilderness? In a dark room where he is eventually found? What is the reaction of the first person he sees? What is his reaction? What happens after he meets the other characters?

This... is entirely up to you, and the direction you want the story to take. Likely, you'll know how to answer these questions after you've decided on what the doorway is, why he went through the doorway, and why he can't go back.

 

[sunstruckdream]

My honest opinion? You don't WANT solutions to these problems. What you want is to invent your own answers. It's all a part of writing and being an artist! Do you really want us to tell you what "should" happen? Try experimenting some. If it's awkward, you can change it later. Play around with some of your own options to GET your character through this door. I get the feeling you know a lot about what happens once he's there. So get him there, and keep moving. You'll learn more about him and the other characters as you move along, and I'm willing to bet that in the process you'll hit some strong inspiration for your beginning. Don't skip it - just come up with something that, for all intents and purposes, works for now. Maybe you'll like it. Maybe you won't. If not, let the rest of the story, as you discover it, inform the opener. Good luck!!

 

[avatarblade2000]

If you do end up taking sunstruck's advice - and I would severely think about that, she always has something solid and substantial to say *thumbs up* - THEN I AM USING MY IDEA FOR MYSELF. I've thought on it all day and wondered why I didn't write a story like that myself. ;p