Where to Start a Novel

When a writer outlines a book, the nagging question is where to start.  The functional form of a thriller (my version of romantic suspense) is to start as late into the action as possible.  My character is thrown into a personal crisis midst great physical danger.   As I begin the second book of my Intervenus series, Betrayal at Crater’s Edge, taking place in futuristic Venus, habitable with an atmosphere, the hero, Marchand LaFond, is asked to help Dr. Scott O’Riley regain his own heath.  The neurosurgeon worked for evil BioMinds on Ice Age Earth.  Scott showed remorse over brain procedures dictated to him, and Marchand is loyal.  This quality is a major component of Marchand’s protective self-concept.  Marchand trusts the doctor whom he saved during the space race to Venus in book one, A Brand New Address.   Here is the start—Marchand’s goal is to help Scott regain his health, but an unexpected patient death arouses his reluctant (because he’s loyal) and sets him on a plan of action to find out what’s really been happening in the nearby crater.  The resolution is forced quickly when Scott’s associate, Vito Savage (from book one) decides Marchand must be killed to keep things secret.  I like my beginning hook.  It makes sense after having built the basic book’s structure.  Marchand’s opening threat of change answers the story’s question in Betrayal at Crater’s Edge.