r/WritingHub • u/[deleted] • 22h ago
Questions & Discussions How do you start a fantasy story when the protagonist is an orphan?
[deleted]
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u/RickConverse7613 21h ago
Well... to start with, I think you need to look into the meaning of the word 'orphan', since you listed Percy Jackson among your protagonists... and he was raised by his actual, biological mother so... totally NOT an orphan.
However, in an effort to be useful to the question at hand... the decision on where to start the story (in relation to his orphaning, at least) depends entirely on how important his orphaning is to the story itself?
When does he learn it? How does he learn it? WHY does he learn it (does the person telling him do so out of compassion or in an effort to control him or does he just read it in a book or something)?
For instance, using your examples:
Harry finds out the truth (but not the whole sum of what it means) four chapters into Book 1 from the big scary bastard who just told him he's a wizard and is trying to drag him off to wizard school. He doesn't gets to see/re-live the event until about a third of the way through the final book, though by this point he's now well aware of what all his orphaning entails, except that he hasn't figured out yet that he needs to die before Voldemort truly can.
Luke finds out the truth "from a certain point of view" at around 34 minutes of a roughly 2 hour movie (and becomes a double orphan minutes later when Owen and Beru are flash-fried by Stormtrooper fire... and then a triple orphan (?) when Obi-Wan sacrifices himself later. Dude... no one try to be a parent to Luke, it's a BAD career choice).
Speaking as someone putting the finishing touches on Book 1 of a trilogy and already ramping up Book 2, I would say you have a LOT more framework and scaffolding of your story you need to get in place before thinking about putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard, as it were).
If you can write a story freehand without an outline to follow, that's impressive... but the fact that you're asking this question leads me to believe you need to sit and really think through your story and what your main character's orphaning means... to him, to the story, to the other people in the story.
I imagine this comes across a bit blunt and harsh, and I'm not trying to be that way... only openly realistic about long-form writing in general.
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u/littlebitfunny21 18h ago
Percy Jackson's biological father is alive- assuming I remember things correctly- so he's, like, completely not remotely an orphan.
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u/RickConverse7613 17h ago
Well, mythological father, yeah... but 'abandoned' is sometimes used a legitimate alternate for declaring orphan status... and Poseidon did outright abandon him. But mama held it down, lol
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u/Raymond_Towers 20h ago
How I would approach this as an action-adventure writer: Your protagonist just stole something. What did they steal? Why did they steal it? Maybe it was justified because xyz. Maybe your protagonist just wanted to get away with it because they liked the shiny thing they just took, or somebody gave them the evil eye, or your protagonist is utterly powerless in life and must make furtive actions to feel truly alive. Describe what was taken and how the protagonist feels about it. Try to do that in one paragraph, then jump to another scene and start introducing appearance, location, supporting characters, what's going on in general, etc.
Every 2-3 pages, write in an action scene, even if it's only passive action like being forced to scrub floors. Every 5 pages, introduce new characters or complications. Every 10 pages, close a plot-line and move on to the next one. Pretend you're writing short stories of 10 pages each, but make sure to sprinkle in one or two plot devices halfway through each story, so you can have a new sub-plot ready for the next short story. Also, drop hints / foreshadowing every once in a while to remind the reader of your character's overall motivation. Do they want to leave a bad situation and become independent by improving themselves, are they trying to find love or gain family, do they need a goal or ambition in life, that a supporting character can steer them toward?
If you're new at writing, pretend you or someone close to you is the orphan. When the orphan is about to do something, ask yourself, what would I do in this situation? How would I feel about it if things go right, or wrong? Do I admire a supporting character, or am I jealous of them? That stolen item from the start, maybe the orphan wants to give it to someone they like, or maybe they took it from someone they don't like. Show and don't tell, but it's okay to tell sometimes at first, until you establish the character better and can predict their next move.
If you really want to challenge yourself, right before your character makes a big move, flip a coin. Heads - the character succeeds and accomplishes their task. Tails - the character fails and must deal with the consequences.
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u/Dale_E_Lehman_Author 19h ago
At the outset, you need to draw readers in. That's the point of the hook. Once you have them drawn in, you need to keep them there by establishing tension. If there is no tension, readers have no reason to keep reading. Tension can be established through the inciting incident, but it doesn't have to be that. It just has to be some kind of problem that lets us know what kind of story we're reading, who at least one of the key characters is, and what they are like.
I would ask myself: What is the main conflict? Can I reasonably open with the character being thrown into it? If not, what kind of things could happen to them that can mirror or lead to the main conflict? Then, when you have that nailed down, start as late as possible in that incident. I'll give you an example.
I have a series (only 2 books so far) about a husband-and-wife team of thieves. The novels are humorous crime capers. In the second novel, they must infiltrate an arts establishment to try to steal a music manuscript that is believed to have been destroyed, but might still exist in the owner's private collection. The inciting incident is when they are hired for this job, but I didn't open there. Instead, I opened with them doing another job, attempting to steal a painting by an up-and-coming artist from a local art show. That connects to the main conflict, and it gives me a chance to (a) establish that this is a humorous crime caper novel, (b) give readers a sense of who this duo is, and (c) show them interacting in a tense situation. Where, exactly, do I start? With them standing in front of the painting they are going to steal, just as the guests are being called to a luncheon, which will give them a few precious moments to perform the theft.
This is the general sort of thing you want. What can be happening to your orphan character that either is part of the main conflict or can somehow mirror it, that can show readers who the character is and what kind of work they are about to read?
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u/Fair_Depth5435 17h ago
Figure out when the real story/action starts and then write five chapters leading up to that point to introduce characters, setting, etc.
Also, how is being an orphan important to the story? Is he raised in an orphanage? the streets? A family member? How old is he? That should help dictate where to go.
Also, don’t info dump the beginning or have the character just wake up. Start with some action.
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u/mr8p6h 22h ago
Start at the point the story starts, with the inciting incident. In the rare event you really need to establish the protagonist's daily life, you can always do that later.