Beginnings
After our last Master Fiction class last week, my classmates and I headed to a local pub to quench our thirst and talk shop. (For a bunch of writers, there were a lot of non-alcoholic drinks consumed. In fact, I was the only one drinking hard liquor. Yay me! Keeping stereotypes alive!)
Ahem, as I was saying, we were talking shop. Some of us were discussing beginning a story and I realized that among those I was speaking with I go about it a different way. Not that I think my writing technique is original. But it was interesting to note the variance in approaching a story and writing the beginning.
First: Nearly all my stories come out of the left field of my imagination. This is not to say they have no basis in truth or my life, but that, more often than not, I don't experience something and think "I'm going to write about that." My characters emerge, muddy and half-formed, asking for something to do. Sometimes I gift them with an experience or conflict I've had, but often I make them endure a new conflict. It's more fun to watch.
Second: A lot of my stories start with a first sentence. Well, duh, you're thinking. Of course. No, what I mean is that lots of my stories start with a first sentence that pops into my head. If I like the sentence enough it's the start of a story. That first sentence doesn't always make it to the final draft. Editing sometimes proves that it's better to start 'further in' the action. But a few stories, including "Interior Design" start with that same first sentence. In that case it's "No one ever won at hide and seek but me."
Third: When I start I have no idea how a story will end. I may have an inkling, but more times than not I don't know how things will play out. That's good, because it leaves me feeling open and not boxed in. Claustrophobic writing is not good writing.
Fourth: I like to start with a tall glass of vodka. Kidding!
Fifth: I have several good beginnings that never made it to an end. These stories sputtered and died. I keep them around, thinking I'll untangle the yarn of the narrative, but I don't. They just clutter my computer folders.
Beginnings are great: they're full of promise and possibilities. It's the rest: the middle, the end, the editing, the critiques, the editing, and the submission, that demands endurance.