A New Year WHAT IF? Find the Beginning of Your Book in the Middle.

We often says to students, “Where do you start you story? With this, The trouble started on Wednesday.”  Begin your story on Wednesday, not on Sunday. Sunday is back story. (Be bold.  Begin with dialog, if that feels right.)

When we edit manuscripts, we often see the first pages rambling around the block, shuffling their feet and staring up into the sky.  Then we discover the first sentence, and perhaps an opening paragraph, on page fifteen.  Eureka!

This way of wandering around the block must be quite old, because Homer pointed his finger at writers and said, “Begin the story in media res!” In the middle of things.

Here we offer sentences from four different books, sentences found in the middle.  Your task, should you choose to accept it?  Create a short graph, several graphs, or a page – wherever you imagination takes you – and begin it using one of these four.  Have fun.  Writing is all about the joy!

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“He appreciated my honesty and understood exactly what I was saying.  After our lunch, I had a changed person on my hands.”  — The Pursuit of WOW! , Tom Peters

“He returns with a cardboard box, which he sets on the floor next to his sofa.  From it removes four thick three-ringed binders, all matched and perfectly organized.  He places them on the wicker table and says, ‘This is the story of…’.”  — Calico Joe, John Grisham

“’We’re going to watch you all the time you’re in town,’” Jesse said.

“’But you’re not going to harass me.’”

“’If we can put a case together on you, we’ll arrest you,’” Jesse said.

“’Until then?’” Crow said.

“’We’ll wait and…,’” Jesse said. — Stranger in Paradise, Robert B. Parker.

“Sara lives today at Colonia Roma.  She has her grandchildren.  We see each other seldom, yet we share an unspoken sisterhood.  That night in the garden here at my father’s house, Gustavo said to me that those who have suffered great pain of injury or loss are joined to one another with bonds of a special authority and so it has proved to be. The closest bonds are those…” – All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

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So choose a middle from the above, and make it a beginning! Most of all, let your imagination fly.

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