Sunday, March 15, 2015

First sentence blues? Forget about it.

How about that scene in many films or TV series, where the writer is surrounded by crumpled up pieces of paper and simply not able to start? Of course, in the time of the typewriter, if you didn't like the way you began, pressing back space was not an option. In fact, most writers I've talked with cite finishing or droughts as the major problem, not beginning. For that I have no answer, except comments I heard from a recent lecture saying, among other things, trying to make it perfect, or having the complete plot worked out, as main contributors to a mass of never finished books. The answer agreed on by most. Stop thinking, start writing.

I do, however, have a couple of smidgets for those who just can't get the first sentence written.

First, and this is not my idea. I can't remember who wrote it and have no inclination to research it. I think the initials were S. K. and that very well could be a product of my ever increasing decreasing memory. What was said is this. "Don't fall in love with your first line." If you accept that as a rule, then it doesn't matter if you like it, the reader likes it, or your mama hates it. Odds are it will be changed anyway, so get on with (as Paul Harvey used to say) "...the rest of the story."