Beginnings...

I find beginnings difficult.  This is a truth about my writing and really, about life, for me.  Maybe it's that way for most people.

On one hand, you have the blank canvas - it's exhilarating and full of potential.  On the other hand, you know that all it takes is the wrong start to ruin it.  That's true for a story, a relationship-to-be, or even a day.  We all know the phrase "got up on the wrong side of the bed," after all.

My wife-to-be went over the beginnings of my current work.  She spent more time on this time, giving it a thorough examination as opposed to a read through.  She marked it up digitally, using the comments feature of Word and some spiffy highlighting.  She provided some good feedback - a good deal of things I knew already, but hadn't sought out to look at.  Certain redundancies or discrepancies that exist in a first draft, early, as you push on.  But having her point them out helped, as well as mentioning when a scene flowed really well or when a scene seemed disjointed.  And after all, as a reader, I need to know if she's drawn in, or if she's distracted by an overabundance of information or a lack thereof.

I knew the first chapter needed work.  We'd discussed before and really, I remain unhappy with the first chapter.  It's the beginning.  It has to be just right.  But it's also the most difficult to write, as a result.  You want to foreshadow appropriately, set up certain events, and so on.  You want to grab the reader.  Sometimes that's hard to do right off the bat - for me, it's nearly impossible.  So I trudge through the first chapter, setting some scenes I know will be reworked, some that may never see the light of day again, some that are just fine, and some that have yet to be added.  But what made me smile and, after having the first chapter appropriately eviscerated, was that as she broke into Chapters 3 and 4, the comments slowed, the highlights went away.  As the plot caught on and the narrative flow took over, the story began to write itself better.

That's what makes the first chapter so hard, often.  There's no narrative yet.  You're establishing the narrative, but as you do so, you're also generally using character exposition and development to draw the reader in.  Right away, that's difficult.  It's like going up to a woman at a bar or after class or after work and introducing yourself.  What will interest her?  What will draw her attention, what will repulse her, etc?  You want to make that lasting impression that makes her want more.  I never thought I was good at that, but being that I have a wife-to-be, I must have gotten it right at least once.

Stories are easier, in that regard.  Not because the beginning part is easier - it's not - but because you can shelve it.  I write out the beginning, enough to establish what I want to, and then push onward.  I let the narrative kick in and ride the flow of it, working on the rest as I go, knowing full well that when I'm done, I can come back to the beginning, knowing what I know from start-to-finish, and be better able to fine-tune the start.  A lot of that, to me, has to do with information - you want the reader to understand your world, but the question is how and when to do that.  You don't want to go all Tolkien on them and give them pages upon pages of laborious description.  Sure, it's good, but let's be honest - we all skimmed a LOT of that.  Do you care what color the leaves are in Rivendell?  Me neither.  That's stuff the imagination fills in by itself and I, personally, like to let the reader's imagination work itself.  Anyway.  I find that the tendency is to throw a ton of information out at first.  I refrain as best I can; knowing that a lot of information comes out during the narrative, or can be added later.  But you still want to impart a degree of understanding to the reader... without it being a written infomercial for a few pages.  That can be tricky sometimes.

Makes me want to write a modern/contemporary set story sometime.  I'm sure I shall, but I would like to get this one done first.