The Boy on the Porch: Beginning

Usually I begin writing a story when a clear and insistent image appears in my mind of a character and a place. That initial image often becomes the opening image of the book, as it does here:

I'm curious about that boy and the people who find him, and so I write the story to learn more.

I hope that readers will be curious, too, and will read the story to learn more. . . and will like what they read.

xx

Step Into My Garden . . .

Step into the garden

of the book

and see what lies within . . .

I really love looking at the beginnings of books (and this is not the first time on this blog), fascinated by the variety of styles and tones that greet you there. Some entice, some frighten, some bore, some beckon, some puzzle . . .

Here are a few beginnings pulled from books at hand, chosen randomly:

"I thought I'd been to Africa. Told all my class I had."

     --Small Island, Andrea Levy

"Our house is old, and noisy, and full."

     --Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

"When the MS Irish Oak sailed from Cork in October 1949, we expected to be in New York City in a week."

     --'Tis, Frank McCourt

"On a time there lived a king and a queen in Erin, and they had an only son."

     --Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland, Jeremiah Curtin

"The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door."

    --All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

"The old bus is a city reject. After shaking in it for twelve hours on the potholed highway since early morning, you arrive in this mountain county town in the South."

     --Soul Mountain, Gao Xingjian

Would any of these entice you in? Are you able to choose a favorite and a least-favorite among them?

xx

Beginnings

Until you turn on the faucet

the bowl is empty

Until you read the first line

the story is empty

Here is a first line I like:

On a continent of many songs, in a country shaped like the arm of a tall guitarrista, the rain drummed down on the town of Temuco.

--from The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Do you have a favorite first line?

Beginnings

Some writing books advise you to begin a story with a bang, to jump right into the action, to "shoot the sheriff on the first page."

I don't do that. I like a more leisurely opening - whether I'm reading a story or writing one. 

I like to invite the reader onto the porch of the story -

Come on up, have a seat, take off your shoes, sit a while . . .

I want readers to feel comfy - 

and to be surrounded by air and light and natural beauty - 

I want to offer readers something worthy of their time - 

So, maybe you will come on up, set yourself down, stay a while . . . mm?

Morning Has Broken

I love that Cat Stevens' song

"Morning Has Broken"

morning: with all its promise

like the beginning of a story

all that world

ready to wake up

so much world

so much

so

xx