What's on the page?

Shout out- I'm blogging at Romancing the Book and Seduced by History today. Check them out.

The first page.

The next process in writing my latest book, now that I have my characters graphed and the conflict and plot figured out, is to decide where to start the book. We've all heard the beginning sentence, paragraph and page have to hook the editor, agent, and reader. So finding the starting place is crucial in hooking a reader and keeping them engaged in the story.

The reason I do so much character delving in the beginning is to not fill the first pages with the dreaded backstory. By knowing my characters well to start the story I don't have to write all the backstory to bring myself up to speed with their emotions and life at the start of the book. And you don't have to bring your reader up to speed either. They can plunge into the heart of the story and learn the backstory in nice little snippets you feed them along the way.

My complication with the story I'm working on now is the fact I am using a real historical event as part the main conflict between the hero and heroine. He's a cavalry officer and she's a Nez Perce spirit. His regiment is chasing the Nez Perce on their flight to Canada. This is a romance so the hero and heroine have to have contact.

I had to research the the battles and the path of the Nez Perce to determine where the hero and heroine could meet. The history lover in me wants to tell everything that happened up until the day the Nez Perce took off. But that would be boring backstory and doesn't draw the reader into the story with my main conflict. So I started the book with the first major onslaught by the army. Where they attacked while the Nez perce were sleeping and killed women, children, old people, and warriors. This is a gruesome start but it not only shows the great cavern the hero and heroine must overcome but sets the stage for the conflict throughout the story and drops the reader into the middle of action. Not to mention it is the first time I could get the hero within the the heroine's playing field and bring them together.

Finding the right starting point took several weeks of reading, researching, and deciding how to bring the two together.

And that is how I started my latest project.

Anyone else have a story of how they decided to start a book or story? Any readers out there ever read a book they felt started in the wrong place?

What's on the Page?

Yes, Monday Mulligan stew has disappeared.A new year a little bit of a new look, and I'm planning to make Mondays a writing discussion day.

Since the new year also started a new writing project I decided to spend each Monday talking about the process as the story unfolds.

Spirit of the Sky is the third book in the spirit trilogy about three sibling spirits who watch over the Lake Nimiipuu(Wallowa county Nez Perce)I had the heroine for the story, the last sibling of the trio who had yet to have her story written. Sa-qan, Bald Eagle, soars above the Nimiipuu country watching the encroachment of the White man. Her story takes place while the Nimiipuu are fleeing from being captured and put on a reservation. Up to this point she has been a stickler for rules and following them. She finds impulsive actions must be taken when soldiers are killing her people.

The hero has been more elusive. I knew he had to be a hard core soldier. His commitment to duty and country will be tested. He also has a flaw- he blames himself for his families deaths during the civil war. The cavalry is his family now.

And those two characters and the plot of the fleeing Nez Perce is the start of my book.

I've read six books on the Nez Perce flight. Some from the Nez Perce Point of view and some from the Army's point of view and some fiction. All are helping me with setting description and the actions of both sides during the flight.

That's the beginning step in my latest book.

What steps do you take? Or if you're a reader how did you think a writer starts a book?