Comments on: The Origin Scene: Where Your Story REALLY Starts

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:55:13 +0000

In reply to tuilorraine. That is exactly what the origin scene is. I now write it before the rest of the book. If you're lucky, you can interject little snippets of it as dreams or flashbacks, but just writing it is a great tool because it guides your writing.

By: tuilorraine

tuilorraine — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 22:31:12 +0000

This is the first time I've come across the concept of an origin scene. I think the reason I find this post so difficult to understand is that there are no examples given of origin scenes in famous books.
But I guess its impossible to do that because you state, " An Origin Scene captures the moment, which occurs long before page one of your novel, when your protagonist’s defining misbelief takes root."
So I take that to mean it cannot be included in the novel because it occurs long before page one.
But if I've got that wrong, can you please give us some examples of origin scenes?

By: Rae Coleman

Rae Coleman — Fri, 26 May 2017 16:17:09 +0000

I linked to this from Lisa Cron's newsletter this morning and it made me realize that although I had a vague idea of how my character had ended up thinking she had to depend on others, I didn't have a concrete scene in mind. Sketching it out also inspired my first blog post in months. So thanks!

By: Joel D Canfield

Joel D Canfield — Fri, 26 May 2017 15:59:20 +0000

I'm a huge fan of writing more than one version of a vital scene (I'm a fan, not necessarily a practitioner ;) so that exercise resonates. I know the protagonist has to enter the story wanting something. Perhaps because I'm writing what I know (hee hee) I keep writing about people whose greatest desire is to maintain the status quo, for things to never change (one is a coming of age story, the other is a scifi adventure.) Loads of doubt about this, though after two reads of Story Genius and Wired for Story it still feels like the rest of the elements come together. Can a protagonist's "want" be "to maintain the status quo" or am I kidding myself?

By: Lynda Jo Schuessler

Lynda Jo Schuessler — Fri, 26 May 2017 15:24:22 +0000

I know Lisa does a Q&A regularly for WITS. Not sure if this is a good place to leave a question but I'll give it a try. What if you want to write a series? Do you find a mis-belief of the protagonist for each book? Or, is the mis-belief not quite resolved by the book and carries forward through the series? I realize that everyone probably has more than one major mis-belief in operation in their lives but I'm wondering how this would work.

By: Victoria Marie Lees

Victoria Marie Lees — Wed, 24 May 2017 16:04:31 +0000

Origin scenes can be tougher when writing memoir as I found out through my Story Genius courses. Because the scene needed to be true, I had to look back to find the pivotal moment in my childhood that set me up for my feelings of incompetence for college. Lisa’s mantra of specificity helped me find the moment in order to move on with my memoir about attending college as a mother of five children. Thanks, Lisa!

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Wed, 24 May 2017 04:24:55 +0000

In reply to littlemissw. Thanks so much, LittleMiss!!

By: littlemissw

littlemissw — Tue, 23 May 2017 23:38:46 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. Thanks for that Jenny. It sounds like a great story.

By: Patricia Tilton

Patricia Tilton — Mon, 22 May 2017 15:47:27 +0000

Very informative and powerful post. I had not heard of the term Origin Scene before. Thank you!

By: Writing 5/22/17 – Where Genres Collide

Writing 5/22/17 – Where Genres Collide — Mon, 22 May 2017 11:04:46 +0000

[…] https://writersinthestormblog.com/2017/05/importance-of-the-original-scene/ Watch your protagonist wants before page one. […]