What is the proper way to make a quest so it starts upon reading a note?

Make a script for the note that uses http://www.creationkit.com/OnRead_-_ObjectReference.

Mind giving me a brief tutorial on how to make it work like this? I watched one where a man gives you a note and it starts, but not you finding the note and/or reading it starts the quest?

Sure thing.

Let say the first stage in your quest is 5, and you only want this to do anything the first time it's read. The script would look like this:

Scriptname MyBookScript extends ObjectReferenceQuest Property MyQuest AutoEvent OnRead() If MyQuest.GetStage() < 5  MyQuest.SetStage(5)  MyQuest.SetObjectiveDisplayed(5) EndIfEndEvent

That would set the stage of your quest to 5, and display object 5 as well. It would only fire (do anything) the first time the book is read, because every time after that, the stage is equal to or greater than 5.

AJV