Quote Originally Posted by deltamire View Post
That's how I usually do it too, and what is currently the second one does actually happen a couple of hours before, but the reason I've got it as the latter one is because it explains what happens in the first. So the Big Nasty Inciting incident happens timeline-wise second, but chronologically first, and then the explanation / development of the exposition behind it happens timeline-wise for the characters first, but chronologically second. Infodumps in the first chapter have always been a pet peeve of mine, so I like to keep the first 3000 words or so sleek. Or as sleek as I can get it, anyhow.
Hm. My usual approach is to have the very first scene set up the stage, so to speak: Pick a viewpoint other than one of the main characters, start the scene off like it's a normal day, end with side effects of the story trigger disrupting the normal day, and don't explain anything...sometimes to the point of not giving anything or anyone a name.

So basically, establishing the setting purely through action; simultaneously avoiding exposition, serving as a hook for readers to want to fill in the blanks, and building enough of a mental framework that it's easy for readers to fit the main characters into the world when they show up. And, as a bonus, since it's dealing with propagation of effects, the next scene can be concurrent or prior to the story trigger without the sense of disruption that an early timeline jump can cause. (Also, it pretty much forces me to ignore the inclination to shove in the tons of worldbuilding details that no one else is going to care about in the beginning)