Writing in the beginning ~_~

So when I write story's its hard to write in the beginning.. so like I normally start with 'In [year]' or just say their name and be straight forward! But those two that I only use make the (my storys) Sooo boring and short.. So like can someone please give me help with the sentence starters? (Hey so idk what to call the thing for the beginning, so I think its called sentence starters!)