Tuesday, September 20, 2011

In the Beginning

That Plato. He was one smart dude, right?

So the beginning ... always sucks for me. I never know where to, well, start.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Maybe because I've got about 10 storylines bouncing around in my brain and none of them have an actual "beginning."

But really, what constitutes a beginning when you first start? Is it your Once upon a time ... or the On a dark and stormy night ...

Or is it that little plot bunny that has gone from being just a cute little furry fluff ball to some sort of giant Easter basket carrying creature who drops eggs at random intervals in your brain causing you to forget what you're really supposed to be focused on. You know the one I'm talking about, the little rabbit that showed up and planted the seed of an idea in your brain. I don't know about you guys, but my plot bunnies do not leave me with directions saying "this is where you start." They leave me with "this is a perfect scene that should go on page 139."

Well, what do I do with that??

I've asked before and I'm going to ask again, because the thought fascinates me. Do you write chronologically? As in, you start with Chapter 1, page 1 (or what you hope will be a good ch 1/pg 1). Or do you do ... other? And if you do write chronologically ... how do you just know that's the place to start?

Beginnings. Like I said, they always suck for me, but I'm open to advice from anyone who's got thoughts on becoming a great beginner!

4 comments:

Stephanie McGee said...

I do write chronologically. Usually that start just comes to me, I'm sorry to say. I might get ideas for scenes that come later but I can't start writing until I've sketched out my plot to the point where I know where it starts.

That start might change drastically in edits but it's there.

Amanda Bonilla said...

I write chronologically. I have to. It's the only way the story flows right in my brain. As far as where to start...I've changed the beginning of every book I've ever written. I think it's more important to write the story first and come back to the beginning when every thing is said and done. Once you know the end, you'll know the right way to start. ;)

Alicia Gregoire said...

I write chronologically as well. There's always an exception to the rule, but barring those it's all about the order for me.

Angie said...

I always write chronologically because that is what works best for me. My ideas usually come as a beginning. But everyone is different. Maybe you just need to start where you want and come up with a beginning later on. That works for lots of people. When my son said that he couldn't think of a good beginning for his story this summer, I told him to write a bad beginning and fix it later, so that's what he did.