Beginning

My Continuing Ed class was working on beginnings this week. The beginning is arguably the most difficult part of a story, novel, play, article, essay. If you don't grab readers in the first few sentences, you've lost them and might as well not have written the story, novel, etc. at all. If the first scene of "Romeo and Juliet" had the Montagues and Capulets playing bridge together, expressing their joy in sequential monologues that the kids had finally gotten together, where do you go from there? There's no reason for the story anymore. Even Shakespeare would have a hard time selling that.
So, how does one begin? How does one capture the attention of readers, make them feel they're in the story, rather than just being told about it (because that's what readers really want, right from the get-go)?
There are probably countless ways to begin a story, but I've tried to narrow it down to those that seem best to me, so my students wouldn't run screaming from the room never to return.
1) Lovely.
The purely lovely beginning, the gorgeous writing, the lavish and dead on description of place, character, or event is perhaps the most difficult way to begin. Only masters can truly accomplish it. But keep trying. It's my absolute favorite way that books and stories begin. If you learn to do it right, you'll be able to draw in not only readers, but editors and critics as well. Study Eudora Welty, Alice Munro.
2) Ka-Pow.
The writer begins with a ka-pow moment, in the midst of the action. This nearly always draws a reader right in. Think Da Vinci Code. Perhaps the easiest (and sometimes cheapest) way to begin a story. But again, done well, and with finesse, a good way to begin. Nick Hornby's How to Be Good begins with one of those ka-pow moments, the narrator confessing that she told her husband she didn't want to be married anymore on a cell call from a car park. This kind of beginning can almost force a reader to keep going, to find out what happens.
3) The Voice.
Usually written in the first person, and introducing a really amazing character. Huck Finn comes to mind, and Bridget Jones, and Jane Eyre. The reader wants to find out more about this person. Even if it's how they sort their laundry. The most boring things in the world become interesting if the right voice tells about them well. And the interesting things are enhanced no end. Sometimes too, the voice of the author is so compelling, it is his or her voice that we are drawn in by.
4) Just Tell The Story, Already.
Introduces place and characters and backstory, all in the first few paragraphs. Again, very difficult to do well, and easy to be boring. Check out Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies #1 Detective Agency books. He pretty much sets it all out, where we are (Botswana), who we are dealing with (Mma Ramotswe, the first lady detective in Botswana, and her family, assistants, and clients), and what has occurred before the books start.
5) The Combo.
Some writers can pull all these elements together, or a goodly number of them. The best beginnings of all are the ones that include fine description, a ka-pow moment, a compelling voice, and the story line, all wrapped up in a couple of paragraphs. See Louise Erdrich (particulary The Beet Queen). If you can learn to do this, you're golden.

So, these are some of my thoughts on beginnings. As usual, the key is practice, practice, practice. For an exercise, try to write at least three beginnings for your story, using the ways of beginning listed above. Which work best? Which need help? Which do you have the most fun with (if you are having fun, your readers probably will, too)?

Scrabble

I've been playing Scrabble a lot lately. And winning, despite my penchant for making interesting words (like "penchant") and ignoring the obvious "at" and "to" and "so," the words that can really rack up the big points in combination with other insignificant words. Perhaps this is because my Scrabble partner would also rather make interesting words, too. He's lying in wait, hoping to catch me off guard with something like "harquebus" (an ancient kind of gun).
In any case, when one of my students aked me how she would know WHEN to use all her little observations (scribbled on index cards at my suggestion), a Scrabble analogy came to mind. "Well, it's like playing Scrabble. You just see where the letters fit, and you decide where to place them to get the most points."
"But," she continued, "What if in the next move you could have used a tile you just put down, and gotten a jillion more points?" I didn't even need to think. "When you're writing, there are a jillion tiles. It's like a never-ending Scrabble game. There are always more ideas, and better ones."
And I think that's right. Why worry about running out of ideas when the world, in combination with our minds, always proffers more and more? I just wish it was that easy in a Scrabble game...

Close The Door

I've been having problems with a necessary component of writing lately: the ability to close the door. I don't generally have any difficulty writing in public places, and in fact recommend it to my students. Write at the library, a cafe, even the mall food court. It shakes you up and gives you new perspectives. Also it often affords you the opportunity to eavesdrop, and that is key to writing good dialogue.
However, there must be a time in every writer's life when a closed door is a necessity. When I go into a "writing trance" I don't want to have to come out until I've got my work done for the day. Now, when you're staying with your mum, this is just not possible. No matter how great a mum she is, it is unlikely that she will resist the temptation to throw the door open and yell, "Guess who's on Ellen's show? You HAVE to come see!" Or if you're visiting your fiancee, and you just sit down to a nice blank page, it is almost requisite that he drop whatever he's doing (posting snowblowers on craigslist, baking bread, felling trees) and find you to tell you every detail of the process. You find yourself listening in fascinated horror to his tales of crazy bottom-feeders on craigs, or how the dough is taking over the world, or how he almost sliced his leg off. And the pen and notebook drop to the floor, forgotten.
The sad truth is that those we love most also think we need their constant presence, advice, tales of woe. But really, we don't. Really, what writers need most is quiet time, away from people, even the people dearest to us. Especially them, actually. I've never had a perfect stranger come up to me when I'm writing, thrust a dripping index finger over my pristine notebook and shout, "Look, I'm bleeding!" And I have to tell you, this person was a supposed adult.
In any case, you will probably at some point need to convince your nearest and dearest that you absolutely MUST close the door and have it stay closed. This may work. But if it doesn't, you may find as I am that it pays to pay for a space, even a tiny space, a closet away from home. Where they can call you if they need you, but probably won't bother and will find the Superman bandaids and the Neosporin themselves.

Why "Save Your Life" Writing?

I asked one of my students to give me a quote regarding the class which I could use as a testimonial. She very kindly wrote: "The exercises and encouragement have helped not only to start my book project, but [Chrysler] has taught us to continually be aware of every sound and action in every moment of the day. I feel more alive! I cannot wait to start the next set of classes."

Now if I were to ascribe to writing rules, after Read A Lot Write A Lot, the second would be:

Pay Attention.

To everything around you, to your friends and family, to their conversations, to their beauty, to their quirks. To the natural world. To animals. To your thoughts and inventions and idiosncracies. To what you love. To what you hate. To the horrors and wonders you experience or imagine. Because it's all grist for the mill.

Then once you've sufficiently paid attention to the world around you, write as much as you can, as well as you can, about it.

If this rings true to you, if you want to live this way (for it becomes a way of life), try having a go at my blog www.happinesscansaveyourlife.blogspot.com which will give you some direction until it just becomes habitual. It's a good way to live. And it does change your life, whether you consider yourself to be a writer, or not. Hence the name. For whoever might wonder, why "Save Your Life" Writing? This is the answer.