Trouble with writing beginnings to fics

[Clockwork_Knight]

Title says it all. Its a problem that drive me right up the wall. I seem to be able to write most the latter chapters but can't seem to ever to come up with a beginning. When I do I often have to rewrite it no fewer then three or four times and even then I often rewrite it latter.

I have the trouble in all my fics, adult and non adult.

It drive me to sheer frustration at times. My current fic, A Midsumers Nightmare, has had its beginning rewritten at least three times so far and Im might redo it yet again. Not sure why its so hard for me to come up with a beginning or a starting place but I can easily write the latter chapters with no problem.

[Danyealle]

I think this is most of us honestly. I don't remember who said it but someone said, "the hardest part of writing any story is the first sentence" and that's the truth. Just keep in mind that writing the 1st chapter is a jump off point where you start the journey it doesn't always have to gangbusters but a slow wave crashing onto the rocks gently.

[Clockwork_Knight]

I had to rewrite the first chapter at least six times before I was finally some what happy with it. I have to go back and edit some but at least I have the first chapter. Now I just have to get the second one out.

I always seem to have trouble starting a fic or a chapter since I have so many ideas its hard to choose a starting point. Took me half the night to decide what I was going to use to start the fic with, something that will hopefully grab the readers attention. Poor Vivi. I'm so mean to him. But its fun to be mean to muses.

It would be easier for me if I could keep all my ideas straight so they wouldn't crowd each other.

[Guest sylvir]

You are actually the first person I've run in to who has this problem, usually the beginning is the easiest and the rest goes down in flames. I base this on the number of stories on this site that start out strong then go nowhere. I think for every finished story there are about 500 unfinished stories because the first chapter just poured out before the author thought about where the story was going.

I'm just the opposite of you. I have several beginnings laying around waiting to become something more. The hardest part in the middle where the plot gets slow before the ending.

[La Flauta]

I also have trouble with beginnings. One thing that sometimes helps is if I write down all of the ideas that I have for a story (both plot ideas and character descriptions) then I go through all of them and decide which ones I will use and write an outline of the story. After that I finally start to write. This way I have all of my ideas organized and in one place before I start and I have a general idea of where I want to end up. I guess when I do this I'm creating boundaries for myself, otherwise it starts to seem like I can write anything at all and that usually means I won't write anything!

[Guest WallFlower]

Am I the only one who can't write anything AFTER the beginning? Beginnings are easy for me... it's the stuff later that really gets me >.<

Maybe I should just merge myself with someone whose good at later chapters, and we can become the perfect writer...

[megadeth425]

I'm fine with beginnings. What trips me up usually is that I start a fic in a sort of honeymoon stage, and in the case of them usually being one-shots, if I don't stick through and write it in one sitting, I lose my train of thougth when coming back to it a few days later and I just draw a blank. I have trouble getting back into things, but I always found initiating it to be fairly easy.

[Naragirl]

Am I the only one who can't write anything AFTER the beginning? Beginnings are easy for me... it's the stuff later that really gets me >.<

Maybe I should just merge myself with someone whose good at later chapters, and we can become the perfect writer...

I have that problem. I can usually get out a first chapter but its the next 3 or 4 where I get stuck rewriting them over and over and once that phase ends I get lots on how to keep it going without giving too much or too little. It makes me a slow writer and updater I can't stand it. Any advice? How do you know if a story plot is moving along too quickly or too slowly?