Starting a novel and...?

Question

I dont know how to start the beginng. I know everything that is going to happen in the book, just the beginning Is where i get stuck. The first sentence is where I cant think. I want the beginning to start off as a girl is on a plane going to Montauk, Long Island from Florida. Any ideas! I really need help!

Answer 1

Answer some basic questions from your character's perspective.  Is she afraid to fly, is she apprehensive about the trip, is there someone next to her hogging the armrest?   Is she is first class for the first time and enjoying the accoutraments of the rich and famous because someone made a mistake with the seating and she got bumped up or does she have that horrible luck that has her wedged in coach between a sticky kid an overweight sweaty guy and in front of the lady throwing up because her last meal didn't agree with her?  Is the flight empty more or less and she can stretch out and thing about where she's going and just enjoy the sight of soaring in the clouds?  Is she shy and introverted, creative?  Is she worrying about what is coming up next is she harping on her past, did she leave someone behind who she's thinking about?

     Is she one of those people who can soothe others so she's making faces with a kid who is disrupting the flight, has she met a woman with similar reading interests and they begin a discussion.  Is she getting her ear talked off by a know it all older Florida retiree who's cousin's son is about her age, a dentist, no less, named Daniel Fisherstein who she thinks is ready to settle down and marry a good girl, and she slips her his card.

     Is she reading a book or writing in a journal, reading a paper, having a drink, rolling peanuts under her seat, humming to herself while listening to her favorite song on her i-pod or playing with the features on her new camera or looking at pix.

     Or maybe she's a people watcher and she's wondering what the flight attendant ate to make her so gassy and who is g*y or straight, who's married, who's having an affair, why women can't keep up with their pedicures, if the kid looks like the mother or the father, why wear socks and sandals, if the people are native Floridian's or Long Islanders.  

Hope you get something from all this but if not there's always once upon a time...