I'm planning and slowly writing a story that fits into the "Reincarnated into a fantasy world" category.

The main focus/hook of the story is that the main character suddenly gets drafted into the army and how he tries to survive the horrors that await in the dark continent.

I have been debating with myself on where to start the story and I would like some outside input. These are the two points where I could begin.

The first point where I could start is when the main character is born or reincarnated (excluding the portion where he/she dies in the previous world). Many reincarnation stories have started here. Some detailing or summarizing the majority of their infancy onto their adulthood while others highlight important events and make frequent use of time skips.

Starting the story from the beginning gives me more space for world-building, characterization, character progression, and building up relationships, but then my story would set up feeling like a happy slice and life type story for a lengthy period of time. The problem is that it would suddenly shift into a more bleak and conflict filled story after he gets drafted. Which is a no-no looking at a readers perspective. Even if the tags shows horror, gore and the like, the story wont get into it for a lengthy amount of chapters but then becomes prominent the rest of the story.


The second point where I could start the story is when the conflict of the story began. Which in this case was getting drafted into the army or when he got the draft notice. This is where i'm most comfortable at starting the story. It starts to get right into the main focus of the story but greatly shortens the build up of being separated from his family and homeland. The events and interaction with his family had greatly shaped who he is and not showing these parts of the story might leave readers questioning many of his actions and thoughts.

I am considering integrating flashbacks of his past as a way to add the missing elements of the story.

Any thoughts? or Examples?

This is also my first story. I'm scatter brained so a lot of planning is necessary. Other advice on writing would be greatly appreciated.

Where does the plot of your story begin for your POV character?
Starting from childhood or birth is silly if the real plot (or focus) comes MUCH later.

Decision making could be made apparent through POV.

I would suggest 'diving into the past' (Two Years Ago) if any events of the past are that important.

It sounds like you have a clear favorite in the second option, and I'd have to agree.

If the main hook / focus of your story is the draft and horrors of war, then begin with that. You could always start your story with one, or even a few, chapters that hook the reader with the war story you're trying to tell. After the reader knows what they're in for, you can use flashbacks or dreams to fill in the blanks. 

There's a lot of stories that show their readers a proof of concept by starting in medias res. If the story is about fights, it starts with a big fight. If the story is about drama/mystery/romance, then it starts in kind. Once readers understand what your story is about, then you can step back and give them worldbuilding. Plus, the better your hook is, the more people will care about the world you describe.

You could also start your story somewhere in his first battle. Something like he's already crouching in a ditch trying to survive then he flashback his previous life then go back to battle. It will have many flashbacks though so you have to be very careful managing those.

I would actually go a step further and start with an actual battle or something. Action scenes are very effective for gripping readers immediately and immersing them in your world. Then you slowly let on how they were drafted, and I'd recommend against a flashback simply because it's so overused but that's totally up to you. Good luck! ^_^

While it's easier to use action to draw the readers in, I would choose a start that represents the actual feeling of the story. If your story is about the horror of war and/or simple fear of the next battle, you can start with his first battle or maybe the time he was running away from the draft notice? If you start with the draft you can actually show a glimpse of his peaceful life to intensify the horror.

The most important thing for me as a reader is that the feeling doesn't change completely. So if it gets more tactical in a fight for survival you should show of some of this stuff. If it's more about the aftermath of a war, you could start it with the "non-drafted MC" walking across a battlefield, before he is catched and forced to fight.

But if you want to show the horror for the MC as a single person, it may be a good idea to start earlier. You can still have some horror in a daily life scenario (a monster attacked his village, etc) but it's better to show early what he'll lose. I dislike throwing in such things in flashbacks, if there wasn't any foreshadowing. Like "This burning village was my old village, this corpse was my wife, I'm feeling so bad right now, FLASHBACK!". Nope. That feels cheap for me, because it comes in like an afterthought. Same if you want to show the MC change because of the war. I don't want an old acquaintance to tell the MC about all the changes, I want to see them for myself.


It'll be harder to start before the draft notice, but it can make quite the impact if it's done right. With the draft notice as the highlight of the first arc where he actually fails. So in short I would start the story at a point that feels similar to the overall story...

I like the idea of the first battle start that has been mentioned. It's something that is definitely more gripping and pulls a reader in. The other option, well it just bogs a reader down with a crap ton of information and world building, as well as massive amounts of no action and time skips, which is why I have trouble reading those reincarnation novels. It takes forever for something to happen and I get bored reading it.

The problem is the flashbacks. They're notoriously hard to handle. You have to make them seem natural and make them flow right. Otherwise yeah, like LostLibrarian said, they'll just feel like an afterthought. I would keep them really short if you are using it to show the MC's mentality progressing. A paragraph or two at most. It would kinda make him feel like he's starting to loose it, which would be interesting. And don't make them story building either. An image. That's how I would do it. Make an image like oh I don't know, a girl standing in a field suddenly appeared before his eyes. The wind blew gently, playing with the loose strands of her hair. She turned towards him, and then she was gone. A bomb exploded beside him, flinging him up into the air. Or something.

A couple of other ways you might try handling it. You could start with the first battle chapter but have it as kind of a prologue. Then go into some peaceful life. It has some similar problems as the flashback, but it'd be interesting because you'd still have that peaceful scene, but it would be filled with a sort of uncomfortable tension as you kind of know what's coming. Or introduce a childhood friend in the first battle scene to get some background, someone the MC wasn't expecting on seeing. That is a good way of doing background.

The thing is. Story building or background building really bogs a plot down. There tends to be too much to read when I just want to get back to the main plot, same when it's from another character's point of view besides the MC's. Anyway, there are two real ways of building I tend to use. I like to use either dialogue to provide important information, or just feed it very slowly to the reader in short chunks piece by piece. It makes it feel as if they're feeling the world expand as the MC does. After all, odds are the MC doesn't know as much about the world they live in as the author does. I like discovering things as the MC does rather than knowing before they do.

I'd go a little before the battles and stuff... I have no idae about the story, but have his house bombed, have his country be defeated and follow him on his journey to the draft.. Find something that is interesting enough to hook someone. A battle seems easy, but you will have to explain in few words, WHY we would care about the battle? Do we care about the battle, just cause its a battle? Lots of people will stop reading if it doesn't engage their interest. Just a battle is not enough, we aren't invested in the battle or in the MC.