A Request for EVERYONE in the guild.

[Haydn Phoenix]

I've got a fanfic, a fanfic in my head
But when I put my pencil down,
All that I see is lead.

K, with that little diddy out of the way... I really do have a fanfic in my head, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to start it... I've always been bad at that.

It's a Juicy Snape/Draco and Snape/Harry fic... Probably pretty long If I can just get going on it...
I don't want help starting that specific fic persay ((How do you actually spell persay?)) I'd just like some coaching on how to start out any story...  

[chocobeans]

Well...you could start it many ways, it depends on the effect you're going for. You can start with one of the characters doing some normal day-to-day thing, and have him interrupted by something that could get the plot going. Or you could write a bit of a final scene to catch the reader's attention, then backtrack to explain how it got to that. Or you could have somebody wake up from a nightmare. The possibilities are endless, really, it depends on what your fic is about.

Oh, and its per se. ^^  

[B4]

-=A=-
You could start by writing bits of it, as a bit of practising. Also, have you written many stories?

Btw: I feel inspiration for my own story now. C:
-=A=-

 

[Shi-koi]

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given, in regards to starting any story was this:

Grab your reader! Open up with something that seizes their attention and makes them fall into your world.

They then told me, that if you were an action writer, try opening the first scene with fight scene, something that got the reader's heart pounding. If you were a romance writer, begin with something steamy, for comedy, start off with something light and immediately funny and easily related to by the reader...and so on.

I've found this helps a lot, and If I don't like what I've written to start off with, then at some point I'll just go back and re-write the scene, which becomes easier the longer you spend writing that fictional universe.

Hope this helped.  

[Jill_Pole]

I write the interesting parts first, and fill in the spaces later. Or, you know, write the parts in random order, and then piece them together with any necessary segues.  

[silverwings87]

Like someone said earlier, start the story off with something that will make the reader want to read the fic. If the beginning sucks, no one will want to read it.

Also, what I find that works (with me anyway) is to write down what comes to mind and when you are in the mood to write, you can decide if you want that part to be in the story.

One last thing: be sure you know what the story will be about, from beginning to the climax to the end.  

[91_green bottles]

As has already been said, unlike reading, when one writes a story, it's often advisable to begin somewhere other than the beginning. Start at a point you can picture clearly, write something out, then search in your head for how it can go forwards, or how to lead up to the part you've written. This sort of thing also helps you see if your idea really is workable, without you getting half way through and thinking 'now what'?

I think I'm pretty much repeating other people here, but I wanted to try and help. =]