There’s something mighty alluring about a beginning. Imagine that new relationship feel, where everything is bright and
every touch is stolen from a different future which DOESN’T ACTUALLY EXIST yet, and never did, until you decided to reach out to that other person, (both metaphorically and LITERALLY). That’s a powerful moment, and an obvious example of a beginning. There are smaller, less dramatic examples. When you wake up in the morning, you are faced with a beginning. Is the day going to be awesome? Or did you wake up to find that the animal you were curled up with is actual facing the wrong way? (If you know what I mean). And if it doesn’t start awesome, you can decide that you are going to be AWESOME anyway, and maybe you will be and maybe you won’t, but the focus here is on TRYING.
I think it’s an important as a writer to recognize the wonder of beginnings, and to realize that the
beginning is basically a set of choices. You want this, so you do that. Or, THIS happened, so you react by DOING SOMETHING.
Sometimes beginnings are good, such as staring down a blank word document and saying “Story, you are going to be SO magnificent when I’m through with you,” because you have THE IDEA, the beginning of an adventure. The potential is staggering. Or if you are a musician, you play a chord here, a rhythm there, and know that somewhere within the noise and the silence is your song, waiting to be made.
When I first hear a new song by a band I love, it is like an event. What is this song about? What is it saying to me? What undiscovered place will it take me to? As a writer (and a musician, I guess), this is a very important experience, a treasure. A beginning.
Beginnings aren’t always good. The beginning of the end can be all panic and chaos, and sometimes you don’t know what you were going through until much later.
Beginnings can be scary, such as comparing the couple-hundred-words-long beginning of your novel to all the blank pages, waiting just beyond the margins, ready for the opportunity to rush in and crush your enthusiasm. I’m currently dealing with a scary beginning at college. This has two faces. 1) The Beginning of the End, in which I must finish college and step out into the real world and be responsible and mature, I mean, Good Grief! I am going to be in charge of a whole classroom of children, and responsible for teaching them. 2) Beginnings are Overwhelming, in which I must take a blank calendar for August and September, and fill it with lessons and activities.
When faced with the task of creating the curriculum from scratch, I can’t help but see the similarity of starting a new novel. There is a charged excitement, yes, but also a sort of crippling indecision. What do I do first? What if I do it wrong? Like writing a novel, like the characters in your stories, the first step is making a choice. Even a small choice, as a small step, will take you somewhere.
