Starting a Novel in the Wrong Place

No matter what I've tried, I can't make the opening of my novel interesting. The opening needs to establish the plot and capture a reader's interest, but housekeeping lists aren't going to get it done. I've rejiggered the back story every way I could think of ~ tried sprinkling in the important details, added characterization where it needed some ~ and still, my opening falls flat. I keep going back to the question of why someone would keep reading. I likely wouldn't.

While I've done my best to lay out the plot, what I haven't done is show the stakes. It's all well and good that my main character quit her band, but why should I care? And why should I care about the guys in her band, which for the most part are simply names on a page?

I have no idea why, but yesterday, frustrated, I flashed on the notion that maybe I'm starting the novel in the wrong place. No, that's not an original idea; many "experts" have said it, but I suppose because it was never an issue with my other books, it got wedged in the recesses of my memory.

So, I'm trying a new approach; beginning the novel just as the MC nears the truck stop outside of Chance. It's a bit past midnight, which brings in the dark and desolation of the countryside, blah blah blah, and her nervousness about what she's done. She's been driving for hours, and the truck stop's light is a beacon at last. Or something like that.

That's about as far as I've gotten. 😊 The idea came late in the day, after I'd spent a couple hours trying to polish up the same old opening, so I quickly jotted down a new sentence.

It may not work, but it may. At least it might make a reader curious enough to read on.

That'll still leave me with the dilemma of weaving in the back story, and honestly, I'm sick to death of it by this point. Plus, I'll need to weave it in naturally; find a place for it. It could be that I overdid that part, but a lot of the details are important; or at least some of them are. I could boil them down to:

1. All she's ever done is sing, and she doesn't know how to do anything else.

2. The situation became really bad for the band as their bookings dried up ~ which I still think requires showing the bad things, although maybe condensed a bit.

3. Introducing her cousin and her mother into the story, since they'll appear throughout.

What I take out, though, if I follow this guideline, is character; i.e., how her life spiraled, with drinking and having to sell off her belongings to pay her rent. Aspects that fill out a narrative.

Nevertheless, I'm getting nowhere sticking to the tried and true. A new approach is definitely worth trying.