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I am writing my book, 26 chapters done. I am editing when l decide that what was the beginning cannot be the beginning as its more of a middle. Not sure if that makes any logical sense at all.
I spent 4 hours today reading my chapters, trying to decide where the actual beginning was. How l ended up in this message l have no idea l think when l started l knew. But as my creative self took over, the. words just fell onto the pages, time vanished and within days l had 26 chapters l had my end.
My problem is do l use the haunting as the beginning, or do l lead into it by introducing the family first. The family are all wytches.
Comments
How l ended up in this mess.
Editing can take time, and a number of drafts until it's ready, so don't worry.
It's helpful to start with a point of change, or action, or dialogue because they make the reader connect with the character/s.
Have you considered writing another beginning- if you can't see an alternative start point?
Decide whether you want to jump in with both feet, or wander around the scenery first: which works best? The former means you have to have a strong follow-on; the latter could either bore your reader, or draw them in - depends on how you do it. You won't know until you try it.
As a reader, I dislike loads of backstory at the beginning of a book. If it gets boring, then I won't continue, whereas if you hook the reader in immediately, they've got no choice but to read on.
As sm says, it can be difficult changing the order of something already written. I think the key issue is that as you're dismantling it, to save every chunk in separate files. Don't just delete a great big scene! And don't think that you have to use everything you've saved either. It's a good way of refining your work and realising what's important.