I’ve got a couple of scenes in mind for the beginning of St. Martin’s #3 (in need of a title; Damned If You Do was close but no cigar. I’m voting for Damned Sexy next). One scene is backstory and it’s the “beginning”, but I’m not sure if it’s the beginning of the book. Maybe I’ll use it later on in the book as flashback. Maybe it’ll be prolog. I’m leaning towards prolog. It’s past. And then the next scene jumps to present day. Is it the “right” beginning? Do I have things in the right order? Time (hahaha) will tell. Sometimes I can’t tell until I’m a ways in what things go where.
Sometimes I decide a scene just doesn’t need to be in the story and I cut it altogether.
Fortunately, I don’t have to write in the right order. It’s so easy to move scenes around to where they belong later. Or axe them if they seem to bog things down.
You are feeling saucy if you’re starting a book with backstory. 😉 *g*
Hey, at least I’m putting it in a prolog instead of bogging down the first chapter! *g* It’s the logical beginning, though. I could be wrong, in which case I’ll cut it later. But I think it needs to be there.
Ask yourself…why you think it needs to be there. If you hear your head telling you, “I think my readers need to know this up front…” then, you can probably thread it in later. I should know…I’m famous for having to cut the first three chapters because I *thought* the reader needed to know it right away. LOL!
Patrice, I have my reasons. I’ll let you read it and see if you agree. I can always cut! But if I think it’ll work, I’m willing to try anything.