In the beginning…
First lines. One of the toughest parts of writing (along with all the rest of the parts of writing). Starting any piece of work is like peeling an onion; layer after layer stripped away and discarded until I uncover the words that set my story in motion.
First lines without that kind of pressure — if only.
The “If Only”
For this week’s writing challenge, I’m doing something a bit different. Instead of posting from my work-on-progress, I’ve decided to work on beginnings. Not of potential stories, but first lines without the pressure of peeling the metaphorical onion.
Beginnings Journal
The idea isn’t mine. I learned about it in my MFA program from my fabulous mentor Leslie Pietrzyk. The idea is to write nothing but beginnings, without the pressure of further development. You can if you want, but you don’t have to.
A beginnings journal, or in this case, a beginnings writing exercise, let my mind wander and toy with different starts without any pressure to finish them off later.
Freewriting sentences
- In the beginning there was silence and she was loathe to break it.
- Up, down. In, out. Wet, dry. Even the simple decisions where more than he could cope with.
- Living with a ghost from the 1880s was about the most annoying, yet enlightening thing she’d ever done so far.
- Swinging on a swing. She needed to do this more often. When the weather was warmer, say above freezing, and she wasn’t cocooned in boots, heavy coat, scarf and a hat that kept slipping over her eyes. Or if she persisted in swinging in the winter, she needed to remember gloves.
- Up, down. In, out. Wet, dry. She relished in the freedom to choose.
In the beginning…
there were words that may or may not have a future in a piece of writing at some point in the future. But, they were sentences for now; complete and whole and for now, it is enough.
