Just about everyone is familiar with this beginning: "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep . . ." (Genesis 1: 1-2 RSV) In a sense we're playing God when we write a story. We create the characters, plot, and setting, turning a blank page-nothingness-into a compelling story.
Not only is your first scene the first impression of a story, it is the doorway that invites your reader on a journey. First scenes are what determine whether or not your reader is going to follow your characters to the end.
Your beginning must accomplish several things:
Introduce your characters
Establish the place and time the story occurs
Introduce the conflict or point at which change begins.
Your opening sets the tone, mood, situation or problem. It actually begins in the middle of things.
Looking at the first lines of Genesis from a purely literary standpoint, the first lines introduce God as the protagonist. The time and setting (simply) is the moment of Creation, same as the point of change. Before God created the world there was nothing. For the purpose of this illustration from a literary standpoint, Nothing was what happened before the story begins. It starts in medius res-in the middle of things.
Let's look at a few opening lines of other stories.
I could tell the minute I got in the door and dropped my bag, I wasn't staying. "Medley" by Toni Cade Bambara
This blind man, an old friend of my wife's, he was on his way to spend the night. "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
She told him with a little gesture he had never seen her use before. "Gesturing" by John Updike
Something has already happened before the opening line. The first line is actually the middle of the story. Each story has its own history. The plot is affected by something that happened before the first sentence on the first page. In Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter's book, What If? They describe story beginnings: " . . . think of the story as a straight line with sentence one appearing somewhere beyond the start of the line-ideally near the middle. At some point, most stories or novels dip back into the past, to the beginning of the straight line and catch the reader up on the situation-how and why X has gotten himself into such a pickle with character Y."
Take out an old story, or one you've been working on. Look at the opening scene. As yourself: Does the story have a past? Is the current conflict grounded in the history of the story? If you answer no, then you don't know your story's past well enough.
John Irving said: "Know the story-as much of the story as you can possibly know, if not the whole story-before you commit yourself to the first paragraph. Know the story-the whole story, if possible-before you fall in love with your first sentence, not to mention your first chapter."
About The Author
Rita Marie Keller has written and published numerous short stories, articles, and essays. Her novel, Living in the City was released September 2002 by booklocker.com, Inc. She founded the Cacoethes Scribendi Creative Writing Workshop in 1999.
executive chauffeured services Bradford .. Madison to Airport carIn the ten years that I've taught people how to... Read More
As a freelance writer, it is important to present yourself... Read More
The first five pages of a novel are critical.Editors make... Read More
Chances are, you'll be busy over the next several weeks.... Read More
If you become a writer for any publication, private business,... Read More
Why should you consider creating a memoir of your personal... Read More
10 - You will always have a job. As long... Read More
1) Can you summarize the story in about a sentence... Read More
I'm willing to bet that quite a number of you... Read More
It would be very selfless or noble of me to... Read More
About two weeks ago I received an article submissionthat immediately... Read More
IntroductionSince our early days of elementary education we have been... Read More
I'm a writing fool! 2 book proposals, 1 user's guide,... Read More
Some writers are just too kind.They hate to put their... Read More
Communication is effective when we follow certain rules. These rules... Read More
In the words of Aristotle, "happiness is self contentedness helping... Read More
For many years, I've been a tutor for students undertaking... Read More
In most aspects of business, we will be expected to... Read More
Poems. Just the mention of them makes me smile. Why?... Read More
We writers are a powerful lot. We control time. We... Read More
A UK based freelance proofreader should be able to provide... Read More
Writers are often are greatly surprised or disappointed by how... Read More
So, you want to freelance as an editor, writer, copy... Read More
How many times have you forced yourself to sit in... Read More
When you read a letter from someone, we are immediately... Read More
O'Hare Chicago prom limo ..Have you ever wondered why some people can make millions... Read More
How many times have you forced yourself to sit in... Read More
There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just... Read More
No one is born a novel writer. But do you... Read More
Balance your life ... Read More
Nothing is more daunting for any writer than having to... Read More
You're writing a story set in your local city, but... Read More
I went to school to be a teacher. In fact,... Read More
If you have an online home based business you know... Read More
Many writers write for the experience. Others dream of having... Read More
One of the biggest problems that inexperienced writers have is... Read More
Freelance editing opportunities are out there, you just need to... Read More
1 - Join a reading or writing group. Ask members... Read More
What am I going to write about?Which topic is the... Read More
Part 1 of this article discussed the experience you need... Read More
The only way to become a writer is to write.... Read More
Often, time is an enemy of writers. Sales seem slow... Read More
Virgil, the great Roman poet, wrote "Practice and thought might... Read More
The Scanning ReaderWriting for the Web is different than writing... Read More
Eight or nine times out of ten, picking up and... Read More
For many authors just starting out, it can be a... Read More
Way back in your early school years, you were probably... Read More
People want information, they want it quick, frequently in short... Read More
Creating written documents reveals so much about you and your... Read More
It would be very selfless or noble of me to... Read More
Writing |