The First Sentence is not the First Step

Filed Under: writing

Published On: January 26, 2009

Sometimes a problem or project just seems too large to delve into. Concepts are too obtuse. Situations simply too large. Gravity, or the need for gravity, keeps some ideas flat on the ground while the others hover ahead, just out of reach. No matter how wide your arms are, there’s no getting them around the situation.

This was certainly a problem I found myself in when I returned from the war. It was a situation so large, so otherworldly that I could not find a place to sink my fingers in, to start to rip the skin off in order to get to the meat. That I had spent the majority of my time over there writing emails, short stories, and a modern lit novel was cause for great dismay with my literature professor from the Academy. I told him the war was too big for me.

The same problem was plaguing me when I recently sat down to start working on a novel. I had issues that I wanted to deal with, and characters that I wanted to have show them, and a desire for complexity both in the portrayal of society but also in the plot structure. The entire situation screamed out that it was big. Real big. As in “damn, where do I start?” big.

In the years since the war, I’ve grown to love the outline. I’ve learned to love multiple drafts. I’ve learned to love the phrase, “I’ll fix it in post.” I have acclimatized to a non-linear work process.

And I’ve got a ton of index cards.

Not my actual bulletin board

Not my actual bulletin board

The start of my story was that first index card. I forced that finger hold by writing down the very first thing I knew about my story. I then wrote one or two clarifying notes about that first though. I grabbed another index card, and repeated. Before I knew it, I was tacking up a rather detailed organizational structure onto my bulletin board.

After a single night, a significant amount of whiskey, and dozens of index cards, I suddenly had the playground on which on my novels would unfold.

The lesson? Sometimes, you just need to find “a” starting point rather than “the” starting point. After all, you can always fix it in post.

Tags: , , , ,

  • http://www.robotpoet.net Justin

    I wish I could find the discipline to work in such a structure. I usually work in messy bursts, never editing, never outlining, just thrusting a piece out and leaving it to fend for itself.

  • http://www.bradleyrobb.net Knownhuman

    Once you start on that path, it's actually hard to not to rely on the second, and subsequent drafts.

    From what I've learned by reading the blogs of agents, authors, editors, and publishers, an author's “final draft” starts to change the moment it's accepted by an agent. Perfection is thus, a myth.

    This first step is just the start. I'm going into more detail about how I work through creation in the next few days.

  • http://www.robotpoet.net Justin

    I wish I could find the discipline to work in such a structure. I usually work in messy bursts, never editing, never outlining, just thrusting a piece out and leaving it to fend for itself.

    • http://www.bradleyrobb.net/ P. Bradley Robb

      Once you start on that path, it’s actually hard to not to rely on the second, and subsequent drafts.

      From what I’ve learned by reading the blogs of agents, authors, editors, and publishers, an author’s “final draft” starts to change the moment it’s accepted by an agent. Perfection is thus, a myth.

      This first step is just the start. I’m going into more detail about how I work through creation in the next few days.

  • Pat T.

    I have volumes of short stories based on personal experiences. I have “started over” a dozen times in the last 3 years in pulling it al together with no postive outcome. I simply don't know where to start…it is just a lot of paper with a lot of words. Who knows? It may be meaningful only to me.

  • http://www.bradleyrobb.net Knownhuman

    Hi Pat, oddly enough. I'm working on a piece about outlining right now. With regards for organizing your short stories ask yourself this question and then answer it as honestly as possible.

    What is the thread that connects all of these stories?

    When you can answer that, organizing them is a bit easier – you follow the thread. If the connection is just that you wrote them, organization becomes harder. If they're personal enough, your shorts could be the basis for a memoir.

    Hope that helps.

  • Pat T.

    I have volumes of short stories based on personal experiences. I have “started over” a dozen times in the last 3 years in pulling it al together with no postive outcome. I simply don’t know where to start…it is just a lot of paper with a lot of words. Who knows? It may be meaningful only to me.

    • http://www.bradleyrobb.net/ P. Bradley Robb

      Hi Pat, oddly enough. I’m working on a piece about outlining right now. With regards for organizing your short stories ask yourself this question and then answer it as honestly as possible.

      What is the thread that connects all of these stories?

      When you can answer that, organizing them is a bit easier – you follow the thread. If the connection is just that you wrote them, organization becomes harder. If they’re personal enough, your shorts could be the basis for a memoir.

      Hope that helps.