Openings

It is funny how varied the opinions of writers may be. While one may tell you that beginning a story is the hardest part, another may tell you that ending a story is far harder. One will write in a coffee shop, fueled by caffeine, with gentle acoustic music playing in the background, while another will tell you that the only way to go is in a lunge chair out in the backyard with a steady supply of wine by your side. And some will try to tell you that their way is the only way to go about it, while others will tell you to find your own path, because no two people will ever write in the same way.

But I would say that there is one universal truth to writing, and I would venture to guess that while not all writers might think of it if you asked them, if you presented this answer to them, they'd all agree. The truth is that every part of writing is hard. Knowing the rules is hard, and knowing when to break them is hard. Starting a story is just as hard as ending it, but also as hard as connecting that start to that end. Getting out the words that you want without losing anything along the way...

The hardest part of writing is writing.

And I think that's why so many people say that the hardest part is starting. Not because the opening itself is so hard, but because taking the first step is. It's hard to sit down and start writing. I know that pretty damn well by now. I've started over 300 times by now. Go ahead, count. I'll wait.

But making that opening can be pretty damn hard. Once you get a few lines down, then the logical next few start to come out, and eventually sentence after sentence is coming through your fingertips, and it may not sound all that good, but at least you're getting it down, because it's just the first draft and you can do it all again later, and you can polish it, and you can get rid of the turds that came about every other word, and you can eliminate all the long, drawn out, nonsensical sentences that probably should have ended two or three lines back.

That's kinda what happens in the opening though. Especially in your first draft, and when it's your first time with a particular story. You don't entirely know where it's going, so you don't entirely know where to start. But you have to get started, because if you don't, then you'll never figure out the details that actually tell you where you should have started. It's a scary, intimidating thought, one that probably makes you never want to start, but it's a thought you can't simply skip over because it's important. No matter how passionate you are about a story, it will never get as good as you want it to be unless you start it.

I've started plenty of stories where before the first sentence was even done I wanted to give up on them. They sounded like utter garbage. I'd say at least a third if not half of the posts on this very blog have been like that. But, clearly, I stuck with them anyway. And sometimes they were garbage. But sometimes they turned out a lot better than expected. And there have been plenty of stories that I've read that were just like that. I hated the first sentence, but I kept going and ended up loving the book.

The opening is important. It's what gets everything going. But you can't base everything off of the opening. You'd have a pretty short story if you did.