This is my third post concerning techniques for beginning stories and (primarily) novels. As I mentioned in the first two, beginnings can be generally divided into two approaches: distant and close. This post will consider “closer” beginnings. While distant beginnings start by providing the reader with visual, factual, or...
Distant Beginnings In my last post, I suggested some basic concepts that can guide a writer into beginning a story or novel — most importantly, John Gardener’s idea of “the contract” forged between writer and reader in the first paragraph. I then suggested that beginnings functionally distill into two...
Writing Technique: Beginnings Because I’m a novelist, writing teacher at Champlain College, and technical writing and screenplay consultant gun-for-hire, people often approach me for advice on writing. As far as novels go, I usually answer that I haven’t a clue how to write them. I’ve published six — including...