Updated: Apr 17, 2021
9. Stories start with chapter one, right? Wrong!
5. What?? I hear you shout from the back. And you may well.
7, 8. Front, back, side, in out and shake it all about.
6. When the shadow from your pen hovers over an empty line - look around you.
14. Inspiration is everywhere. From the moment you wake up, look around you.
2. While you're making breakfast and pouring out coffee, look around you.
11. Whizzing to and from work on the train, look out the window
Use your senses. Ask yourself some questions:
What can you hear?
What can you see?
What can you smell?
What can you feel?
What can you taste?
Write it down. Make a list.
Ok, it's not a story yet... but it's a start. Just not the beginning!
But be warned! Those first ideas strike when you least expect them.
In the middle of the night, when you have no where to write them.
On the bus, just as you reach your stop.
As you open a secret Santa
Sat on the toilet - plenty of paper, but of no use of course!
Remember them, keep them safe for a rainy day when you have time to digest those early ramblings. Then choose one, close your eyes and imagine your dog running off with the toilet roll (a la Andrex) and watch those mental jottings unravel your mind.
Grab one quick though before those perforated sheets dishintergrate - or it won't be the only thing that's stuck.
So... where is the beginning, if it's not chapter one?
Prologue, index, title inscription... it could be anything you like.
Anywhere, any place, anytime (does that remind you of anything?)
Where does your story start? Right here! Right Now!
