The Person, Problem, Change Starter: Get From “I Want to Write a Book” to Page One
A tiny starter spell for turning vague book-yearning into an actual first scene.
Want to write a book, but your plan is fog, snacks, and one dramatic notebook? Good. Start smaller. A whole book is a castle with plumbing concerns. A first scene is one person having a bad Tuesday.
1. Pick one person who wants something today
Choose one person. Give them a want they can act on right now. Big feelings are welcome, but they need a tiny handle.
Use this shape:
- Person: who are we following?
- Want: what do they want before the kettle boils?
- Pressure: why today?
Applied example:
Flat version: A woman is sad about her father.
Starter version: June Parker has forty minutes to buy back her dad’s watch before the pawn shop closes, and the 4:20 bus has already gone past in the rain.
That gives you a person, a want, and a clock. The solemn hat may remain in its box.
2. Give them one problem and one tiny change
A scene needs something in the way. Then, by the end, one thing should be different. Tiny counts. Tiny is often better. A glance, a choice, a door opening, a lie slipping out before anyone sensible can stop it.
Use this shape:
- Problem: what blocks them?
- Change: what is different by the end of the scene?
Applied example:
Person: June.
Problem: The pawn shop is closing, she has no bus, and her phone is on 2%.
Change: She asks her quiet neighbour, Mr Miller, for a lift and learns he knew her dad.
Mini scene beat:
June knocks on Mr Miller’s door.
He opens it holding a tin of biscuits.
“I need a lift to Baker Street,” she says. “And possibly a witness to me being brave.”
Mr Miller looks at the watch ticket in her hand. “Your dad never did trust that shop.”
Now the scene has movement. The story has leaned forward.
3. Start with the smallest opening moment
Skip the childhood chapter, the family tree, and the weather report wearing a waistcoat. Put us at the moment the trouble arrives.
Try starting with:
- the knock
- the message
- the missed bus
- the hand on the forbidden door
- the sentence they should not say
Applied example opening:
June reached the bus stop just in time to see the 4:20 pull away, its red tail lights shrinking through the rain.
The pawn shop closed at five.
In her pocket, the ticket for her dad’s watch had gone soft at the corners.
There. One person. One problem. One change waiting to happen. Page one has stopped being a grand national ceremony and become a door handle.
Start with one person, one problem, one change, and the smallest moment where trouble begins.