There is no single ‘right’ approach to how to start a story in first person. That being said, there are several ways to start a story using first person point of view and hook readers from the start. Here are 8 pointers for beginning a book in first person:
- Perfect your character introductions: Make the reader care
- How to start a story in first person: Begin with revealing actions
- Don’t tell the reader everything at once
- Make your protagonist’s voice identifiable from the start
- Make your protagonist’s voice active
- Make your main character confide in the reader
- Eliminate filter words and let the reader see through your protagonist’s eyes
- Introduce secondary characters via your first person narrator early on
To expand on these pointers:
1: Perfect your character introduction: Make the reader care
Many novels now considered classics open with character introductions in first person. This type of opening, where the protagonist extends a friendly hand to the reader, can be very effective. Consider the opening of Dickens’ David Copperfield:
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night.’
As far as introductions go, this is very matter-of-fact. Dickens doesn’t create a particularly strong emotional connection with the character right away. What Dickens does do, though, is create intrigue in the reader about David. We want to know whether he turns out to be the hero he refers to or not.
In subsequent paragraphs, Dickens adds details that make us care about his main character more:
‘I was a posthumous child. My father’s eyes had closed upon the light of this world six months, when mine opened on it. There is something strange to me, even now, in the reflection that he never saw me; and something stranger yet in the shadowy remembrance that I have of my first childish associations with his white grave-stone in the churchyard, and of the indefinable compassion I used to feel for it lying out alone there in the dark night, when our little parlour was warm and bright with fire and candle, and the doors of our house were—almost cruelly, it seemed to me sometimes—bolted and locked against it.’
Dickens makes us want to know the outcome of the story, then proceeds to make us empathize with his narrator through his story of loss.
Making the reader care doesn’t necessarily mean making the reader feel sorry for your character: Readers can just as easily dislike your cunning anti-hero or feel in two minds. The most important thing is to make readers care, whether about your character or the outcome of a situation they announce.
Besides making the reader care, there are other ways to make your first-person story opening enticing:
2: How to start a story in first person: Begin with revealing actions
Beginning with character actions is another useful device for drawing the reader in immediately. Instead of your character describing a memory or past experience, begin with your character doing something.
Think about the type of action your story opens with. To create immediate interest, try actions that:
- Create suspense or foreboding (E.g. ‘I lift the body as carefully as I can – no inexplicable bruises – and move slowly towards the edge of the boat.’)
- Create empathetic curiosity (E.g. ‘I hold it together until the last person passes through the airport terminal and break down only once i’m in the relative privacy of the car park.’)
Showing your main character in either a state of high emotion or in a process of perplexing activity teases the reader with a sense of there being much more to the story and promises the reader that more will be revealed.
3: Don’t tell the reader everything at once
Part of what makes the example openings above fairly effective is how little they give away about the first person narrator’s circumstances. For the first, the reader might ask ‘Whose body?’ or ‘Is the protagonist a killer disposing of the body or is the situation more complicated?’
This is an important element of how to start a story in first person: Leave some of the most interesting tidbits about your character for later. When we meet someone for the first time, it’s overwhelming if they tell us every minute detail about themselves. The same goes for your characters – a little mystery keeps us wanting to find out more.
4: Make your character’s voice identifiable from the start
Many writers make the mistake of making their first person narrators’ voices too similar to their own. Characters that feel like stand-ins for the author feel flat and one-dimensional. Instead, make your character distinctive from the outset. Do this with:
- Personality: Is your character mostly optimistic or negative? Poetic in the language they use or plain-speaking?
- Language: Does your character use lots of expletives or not? are they wordy or do they get to the point quickly?
Some other methods for making your first person narrator’s voice distinctive:
- Choose 4 or 5 words that your character likes to use and make a note of them. They could be adjectives they use most often for things they like or dislike (e.g. ‘fantastic’ or ‘weird’), for example
- As Jackie Cangro at Loft Literary reminds, it’s useful to think about tone. What is the tone of your character’s self-expression like overall? Do they come across as comical or serious, anxious or mellow? Sarcastic or sincere?
5: Make your protagonist’s voice active
Compare passive voice and active voice:
‘I was led to the hilltop house and told by my guide to wait while he disappeared around the side.’
Compare this to:
‘I followed my guide to the hilltop house. “Wait,” he said, disappearing around the side.’
In the second, active voice example, we have more of a sense of the first person narrator acting in his world as opposed to just being moved around in it. We have a stronger sense of the character as a real person who has choices and can make decisions of his own free will. We see the experience from his immediate perspective.
6: Have your first person character confide in the reader
One way to start a book in first person effectively is to make your narrator take the reader into her confidence. Secrets and intimate revelations create curiosity. As readers, being let into the narrator’s confidence makes us feel party to (and even complicit in) something important. Whether your narrator confides a misdeed in the reader or shares an intimate fact about their history (like David does in the opening pages of David Copperfield), this act makes the reader invest in the story by making the reader feel privy to privileged information.
7: Eliminate filter words and let the reader see through your protagonist’s eyes
Filter words are words that place the reader at one remove to seeing and experiencing what the character is seeing and experiencing. For example, a character might say ‘I saw that the building had started to collapse’. Instead, however, you could simply make your first person narrator say ‘the building had started to collapse’.
Ruthanne Reid has an excellent piece on filter words over at The Write Practice. Says Reid:
‘Filter words can be difficult to see at first, but once you catch them, it becomes second nature. “I heard the music start up, tinny and spooky and weird,” vs. “The music started up, tinny and spooky and weird.” One is outside, watching him listen; the other is inside his head, hearing it with him.
“I saw the dog, brown and shaggy.” You’re watching the character see the dog. “The dog was brown and shaggy.” Now you’re seeing what the character sees, and there is no space between you and the character.’
Reid does also make the important point that filter words aren’t always bad. Reid’s example of an acceptable use is the sentence ‘I see the shelves, and I see the counter, but I don’t see the scissors’. This is describing the act of seeing explicitly – you could write ‘The shelves are there and the counter but not the scissors’, but the former question conveys the character’s frustration at not finding what she’s looking for better. There is a keener sense of the character’s eyes roving over the counter.
Make sure that you aren’t unintentionally placing your reader at one remove to your first person character’s observations and experiences, right from the start of your novel.
8: Introduce secondary characters via your first person narrator early on
Just because you’re starting your story with your main character’s first person perspective doesn’t mean the focus has to be on them alone. Create intrigue by having your protagonist refer to a secondary character in your opening. Having your main character mention a cast member of your novel who is yet to appear will keep readers anticipating developments in your story and new entrances and exits.
Create a blueprint for your novel so you can find the voice of your first person narrator easier. Use the Now Novel process to start or finish writing a book.
58 replies on “How to start a story in first person: 8 pointers”
Hi, I am currently making a story on how my character is destined to become a murderer. She doesn’t find out till a certain age. Its a fantasy story. I just have no idea how to start it. Do I start from the top and give action and rise down to the beginning? I have no inspiration at all. Everything I come up with seems so basic or embarrassing. I’m not sure how to go on about this. I want it to be like a hook. Its for school and I really wanna impress my teacher with the story. I just don’t know how to professionally start it. Thank You.
Hi Eunice, thank you for sharing that. I would suggest going back to that first premise and asking:
I hope this has given you some ideas. Please feel free to ask any questions in our online writing groups, you’ll find people helpful in chat.
I’m considering first person for my next story, my first attempt at it, and keep reading that you shouldn’t change tense. What are some opinions on it, where the first few lines or scene are in first person present then switch indefinitely to first person past tense? An example I’m thinking of is interview with a vampire. He starts with the boy then tells his story. My story I want to hook the reader with the present then tell how the protagonist got to that point. Thank you.
Hi Tony, great question. Changing tense is fine provided that the two distinct time-frames are clear. ‘Tense drift’ is different in that it occurs when one changes grammatical tense while describing events occurring within the same time-frame (e.g. ‘I went to the store where I will want to buy milk’). As the example shows, it leaves the reader wondering where (or rather when) on earth they are.
Say, for example, you had a prologue in first person and then chapter 1 began with the same narrator in past tense, you could make the distinction between time periods very clear with a chapter subheading giving setting time elements. For example:
As for changing tense in the middle of a scene, it’s quite natural if someone is remembering earlier events, e.g.:
If the rest of the story stays in this past tense, the reader might well wonder why the presently unfolding ‘later’ time of the first present-tense narration was necessary; why they need to know about it at all (if there are no significant revelations within this present-time). I hope this helps!
I am writing my life story but in a fictional fantasy mix. A lot of the trauma I suffered and survived, and I overcame my obstacles with mental health and addiction by living life as my spirit animal which is a mythical creature. Sorry don’t want to give the story away, but I am trying to capture the reader by taking them first to the moment I realized this is who I am and then go back to how it started. How can I do this?
Hi Malerie, I’m glad to hear that you overcame these things. I would say starting with a low point in the mental health/addiction cycle could be a good way to begin, as it would contextualize the necessity of change.
Typically a great inciting incident in a story (be it fiction or non-fiction) shows characters on the cusp of momentous change, so if you find a turning point (for example, the situation or last straw that led to you finding out about spiritual/animist ways of living), putting that early in the story would create a sense of departure. Then you could always cycle back to earlier events as the new path unfolds, so the reader gets the context for what led to these changes; some of the emotional heft. Good luck!
Thanks a lot for sharing this! I’m planning on writing a story that’s basically about lying. I’ve always been fascinated by things like writing books. I’m actually just a lonely teenager who drowns himself in books all day. Anyway, thanks!
Hi Gus, books are a great comfort, aren’t they? It’s a pleasure. I’d say go for it and write it! Thank you for reading our articles.
Thanks! I’ve read a ton of articles already, and surprisingly, I really enjoy them. Thank you very much for the advice btw! (Oops! I accidentally posted it as a comment!)
It’s a pleasure, Gus. Not to worry about that ?
I’m starting a story with two characters switching POVs through the book. Its about nephilims. Having a issue starting because do I want the reader to know some or all of what is involved and why one of my characters is special in a way or do I gradually go into it? The other character is mad at them and should the reason come out in the beginning or middle? This is the only issues I keep having difficulties with.
Hi Krys, thank you for sharing that and for reading our blog.
I would personally lean towards revealing a little about the fact your one character is special upfront (enough to create curiosity) but revealing the fuller extent of this special aspect as the story goes so that there is a sense of character development and revelation.
As for the other character being mad at the first one you mention, when you reveal this would depend on when/how it is relevant to the story. For example, if the other character’s anger at them prompts the inciting incident (is the reason for whatever events set the story in motion), then it would make sense to reveal their anger at the start of the story. If, however, it’s an ongoing aspect of their relationship and the reason behind their anger is interesting for plot development purposes, then maybe showing the anger first and revealing its origins later would make more sense.
An editor could read the story as a whole and advise more on these aspects in context. I hope this helps! Good luck.
Excuse me, but I am entering a short story competition, and the due date is in pretty much a week. I want to write about a girl who is being cyber bullied, but I am unsure of how to start.
Thank you.
–Zoe
Hi Zoe, thank you for sharing that. Given the themes and subject matter of your story, you could begin with a scene that gets to the crux of the matter (for example, your protagonist reacting to a bullying post on social media, or else friends, family or teachers interacting with her and noticing that she’s more withdrawn and unhappy). Showing the ‘before’ situation before the story starts moving to an outcome (e.g. why she is being bullied, how life is before this circumstance changes) would help to supply the reader with your character’s goals, motivations and conflicts.
I hope this helps!
Hi there,
I have a brief idea of what my sci-fi novel will be but I don’t know how to start. The MC goes to University only to find out that she and every students are being watched for reasons unknown to them. I already know what the conflict is. Sometimes, scenarios pop into my head and I write it down. My main problem is finding the character’s voice and beginning the story. Any help?
Hi Ayeesha, thank you for sharing your writing challenge. That sounds an intriguing scenario. I’ve written a little about building narrators’ voices here and here. I hope these are helpful.
As for beginning the story, you could begin with their first day at university and the first signs there is something strange/creepy going on. For ideas on ways to start a story, here is another blog article you may find helpful. Good luck with your sci-fi book! Feel free to join our online writing groups where you can chat to other writers.
Hello
I have written a story based on a girl and her sister. The girl works as a bodyguard for a rich guy.
They fell in love. His secretary and his sister are the villains in this story.
But I don’t know know how to end the story.
Please help me
Hi Charissa, thank you for sharing that, it definitely sounds intriguing. I like that the girl is a bodyguard as it is represented as a male vocation much more often.
As for ending the story, perhaps brainstorm around each character’s goals, motivations, and how they impact the others’ desires. What do the girl and her rich employer want, presumably to be together? Why are the man’s secretary and his sister the villains of the story? Why would they want to stop the girl and her employer being together? Or how else might they make your main character’s life hard? The ending will grow out of taking these competing or opposing wants and needs to a conclusion.
Here is an article on ways to end a story you may find useful, too. Thanks for sharing your question!
“I yawned weakly as I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. Finally a moment of rest, I thought as I lay on the bed. ”
Can I use this as a opening, I mean of a chapter?
Like beginning of a story
Hi Charissa, you could do so (though I would suggest removing the adverb ‘weakly’ since the sentence captures a sense of exhaustion without it). I would say it would make an alright opening if the chapter then gets into why the viewpoint narrator is so tired and fills that circumstance with intrigue to create a hook (for example, if they’re tired because of the illicit relationship they have with their employer, as you mentioned in your other comment).
I would suggest thinking about how your opening is going to hook the reader, as yawning and lying in bed aren’t the most attention grabbing of actions.