Saturday, May 7, 2011

The dreaded first sentence...

I am such a terrible blogger. Perhaps I shouldn't even call myself a blogger, because of the huge gaps between blog posts. I am more a ... hmmm.... occasional poster. Well, that sounds lame, but we'll go with that for now. I am going to try to blog more, but I always say that and fail.

Anywho, to my point. The dreaded first sentence. I have a great idea for a story (at least I like it, my family likes it, and so do my lovely beta readers/testers/editors. I have a pretty solid outline, not including all of the story since I don't know yet how some parts will go, and I have a solid ending. What I don't have is a start. *Le Gasp* But seriously, that is my problem. I am at that part where I have to come up with an engaging start, that will pull the reader in, and make them want to keep reading. In theory, the reader has already read the hook/back of book, and that's what piqued their interest, but I have to keep that interest. I have to make them be so connected from page one, that they HAVE to keep reading to find out what happens. Even more so, I have to find a way to do that from sentence one.

That is where I am, writing an opening sentence, deleting that sentence, writing another sentence, then deleting that one too. What I have done: read through my favorite books to see how they started, read up on professional views of how to start (or how not to start), and asked some folks for there opinions as to what they would like to see. What I won't do: I won't start with a dream, and I won't start with a long drawn out description of something. With that decided, what will I do: GET WRITING. I have to write, I mean literally have the itch to write, so that's what I will do. I will see where I start, what words come out of my mind and onto the screen, and just let it flow. I have given it lots of thought, but it's time to just let go and be creative. It will either be pure genius, something that can use a little help, or complete rubbish; however, I won't know until I get it done. You can't eat if you don't make, gather, or obtain the meal, so here I go!

For anyone out there, what do you do when you don't know where to start or what to write to get you going?

And for next time: A review of THE IRON KING by Julie Kagawa. Yep, I am way behind, but that's okay. I want to do some mini reviews of stories (old and new), and this is a great place to start. Coming soon~

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