#c&v

1. we get dark, only to shine 

Lucrezia twirled, laughing as her skirts unfurled around her, a blur of pink and white.

I remember that I started here—before the story really begins in Pesaro—mostly because I loved that image so much. I’m not terribly visual, so I definitely go with it when something’s that clear! And I did kind of like the idea of having this brief beautiful moment before it all goes to hell, where they’re very young and innocent despite everything.

(Of course, few canons are so profoundly visual as The Borgias.)

2. per ardua ad astra (AO3)

Jyn never forgot the moment when her mother’s body slumped to the ground.

This was one of the hardest to find a starting place for. I had my ridiculously detailed outline, but it started with Bodhi arriving, and actually positioning Jyn at the moment was just difficult. But I did want her to be in that place of loss compounded by loss, where she finally just refuses to relinquish people and to give up—that’s really what ad astra!Jyn is all about.

I also had only seen RO once, in the theatre, so I had to rely on memory for everything—it’s why there are some continuity breaks from the early chapters.

3. but thou didst not leave his soul in hell (AO3)

Palpatine had sensed Luke as a vague disturbance in the Force.

Again, a sort of positioning thing: this is Vader’s POV, not Palpatine’s, and there to contrast how he connects to Luke. Definitely a “lol fuck you” element there :P

4. Season of Courtship

Miss Lydia Bennet’s marriage to Mr Wickham had effectively ended a very promising source of gossip; and Miss Bennet’s engagement to Mr Bingley was hardly better.

I loved this beginning. It’s still probably one of my favourites—I wanted to start on the outside looking in, picking up with Darcy and Elizabeth after their engagement by starting in the minds of people gossiping about them. And starting with a snide omniscient narrator felt appropriate!

5. Ten Facts About Harry Potter

Professor McGonagall is Harry's favourite professor.

The fact is more detailed than that. :P 

This is actually for my Slytherin!Harry AU. I wanted to start in comfortable territory—and there are in-story reasons this is true. It basically splits off with McGonagall happening to really look at Harry’s address and sweeping off to investigate. Since that messes with the timeline, he meets different people and starts off with somewhat different attitudes, which ultimately affects the Sorting—but it all started with McGonagall going “no, this is Wrong” and he never forgets that.

6. Anomaly

Fitzwilliam Darcy was a man of principle and integrity, austere in his habits and discriminating in his tastes.

Heh, I think all of these begin with announcements of fact, but this one particularly so! It’s my grey-ace!Darcy fic, so again it’s starting with a familiar baseline in a scenario I knew people would be resistant to, before swerving into the “and that’s why he doesn’t realize” territory.

7. Contradictions and Varieties

On the third morning of their stay at Lambton, Elizabeth and her uncle and aunt set off for a walk through Lambton.

Probably the most like wgdots: the purpose is still signaling where we are in the story (...obviously), but with some approximation of action. I don’t think I do that much. It’s just setting up an encounter with Darcy in the store—I remember that this fic was written for a couple of specific challenges, so that’s why it’s a bit random as an AU.

8. Redemption (AO3)

He falls by stages to the Dark Side, from pride to fear to anger to hatred.

This is for my first and weirdest SW fic (I gleefully tossed out chunks of ROTJ/PT canon because ... uh, I felt like it). One of my very, very rare present tense fics—I read a lot of it, but personally I vaaaastly prefer past tense. 

Again, it’s sort of easing you into the fic. If I have any signature tics, that’s got to be #1. I didn’t have any wrangling to do, though. IIRC the fic itself sprang into my head with that line.

9. wandering inside this night (AO3)

Han resigned himself to the inevitable.

The Han POV was so fun for this one. I definitely dove right in, but I wanted it to be a bit ????? wrt what the hell was going on. Since that’s definitely how he feels, haha. And I wanted a kind of sullen, pseudo-pragmatic grumpiness right off the bat.

10. First Impressions

Henry Bennet and Charlotte Lucas had been inseparable companions as children, and at twenty-five and twenty-seven respectively, were as near friends as two young, unmarried people could be.

This was another one that I struggled with starting (and it also had a detailed outline!). I definitely didn’t want to conceal anything here, but to make it very clear that it was ... you know, m!Elizabeth/f!Darcy retelling of P&P. And I was genuinely very interested in the idea of this platonic friendship between Hal and Charlotte; I meant to do more with it and had ideas for the resolution that just never panned out (since I wrote the last few chapters in a rush to the deadline). So starting with them was probably a bit deceptive in the long run, but it gave me a sort of launching pad.

So: none begin with dialogue, none begin with action beyond walking/twirling, and most begin with a simple assertion about the characters and jump into their heads. I’m not really the in media res type (except in the irritatingly pedantic sense that all things are); I like to begin with beginnings.