When to Start the Story

I've spoken about Christopher Vogler and his The Writer's Journey (patterned after Joseph Campbell's Man of a Thousand Faces) before, and while I usually "drop" my climax -- to me that means wait later in the book -- I believe he is exactly right in starting out with a slice of ordinary world. A slice, almost as little as you can get by with before the change that sends the protagonist (hero/heroine of a story) in a different direction. In my work in my READS on line, I would recommend looking at Heart Thief or Guardian of Honor, because I kept getting it wrong in Heart Thief and moving the opening around -- I think I must have five or six openings saved (I always save my work and have all five revisions to Heart Thief).

And since Guardian of Honor is a story about a Colorado woman Summoned to another dimension, I wanted to set up Lladrana and Colorado "ordinary world" before I changed both of them.

Love to all,
Robin