“First sentences are doors to
WORLDS”
 What
are the many different ways to
begin a short story?
 “It
was a dark and stormy night.” – A
Wrinkle in Time
 “It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times…” – A Tale of Two Cities
 “Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that
Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and
saying, the first step to eternal life is you
have to die.” – Fight Club
 “Besides
the neutral expression that she
wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman
had two others, forward and reverse, that
she used for all her human dealings.” –
Good Country People, O’Connor
 “Some of the caddies were poor as sin
and lived in one-room houses with a
neurasthenic cow in the front yard…” –
Winter Dreams, Fitzgerald
 In
Medias Res – In the middle of things
 The word “beginning” is actually a
misleading way to describe how you
open your story. Don’t take it literally!
Your story, whether it begins with
narrative, summary, dialogue,
description, or another method, must
begin in media res- or in the middle of
things.
 Don’t
worry about going into complete
detail about how your story got to the
point it is at.
 Story plots are affected by something
that has happened before your first
sentence on your first page, but the
history must be skillfully woven into your
story so that your readers won’t realize
they are reading about the past of the
story.
A
story lead that starts at the ending and
explains how such an ending came
about; plays with time and can surprise
the reader.
 To Kill A Mockingbird: “When he was nearly
thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly
broken at the elbow.” In explaining how the
injury came about, the novel takes the
reader on a journey filled with prejudice,
superstition, justice, and loss of innocence.
 Pan’s Labyrinth – the movie begins at the
end
 This
doesn’t mean starting your story
with “I am..” or “This is…”- rather, it
means beginning with a situation that is
character revealing to introduce
something important about the character
whom the reader will be following
closely.
 Example: “Howard Roard laughed. He
stood stark naked at the edge of a cliff.”
From The Fountainhead
 It
is very important not to give away too
much too fast. This is a technique that
both sets-up and protects the element of
surprise in your piece. It withholds
information from the reader and gives
only the faintest of foreshadowing for
what is to follow. Example: The Lottery
 There
are numerous methods you can use
to open your story, the predicament is to
choose a beginning that sets the stage
appropriately for your story.
 Do
I want my story to open with the
sound of voices of people discussing
something about their lives?
 Do I want to bring one important
character into the spotlight so the reader
can get a good long look at him or her
before the action begins?
 Do I want to begin with the action- one or
more people engaged in doing
something significant to the story?
 Is
your story going to involve the
attitudes and opinions of people and the
importance of how they voice their
thoughts?
 Will you story be concerned with the
traits, ideas, experiences, and emotions
of one person who should capture the
reader’s attention immediately?
 Is your story involved with an event(s) in
which the characters will take part- in
which case you want to jump right in with
actions?
 The
following are some methods to
starting a story. Making the best choice
for your story is contingent upon being
familiar with all the possibilities.
Consider how each example answers the
questions above and what techniques are
used
 My
mother believed you could be
anything you wanted to be in America. –
Amy Tan “Two Kinds”
 When people become characters, they
cease to be regarded as human, they are
something to be pointed out, like the
orange tree that President Kruger
planted, the statue in the park, or the
filling station that once was the First
Church Hall. – Nadine Gordimer “The
Last Kiss”
 He
was lifting his knees high and putting
his hand up, when I first saw him, as if
crossing the road through that stringing
rain, he were breaking through the bead
curtain of a Pernambuco bar. I knew he
was going to stop me. – V.S. Pritchett “The
Sailor”
 An
unfortunate circumstance in my life
has just recalled to mind a certain Dr.
Crombie and the conversation I used to
hold with him when I was young. He was
the school doctor until the eccentricity of
his ideas became generally unknown. –
Graham Greene “Doctor Crombie”
 “Don’t
think about a cow,” Matt Brinkley
said. – Ann Beattie “In the White Night”
 I’m
afraid Walter Cronkie has had it, says
Mom. – Jayne Anne Phillips “Home”
 During
the lunch hour, the male clerks
usually went out, leaving myself and
three girls behind. – Frank O’Conner
“Music When Soft Voices Die”
 After
dinner, with its eight courses and
endless conversation, Olga Mikhailovnam
whose husband’s birthday was being
celebrated, went out into the garden. The
obligation to smile and talk continuously, the
stupidity of the servants , the clatter of the
dishes, the long intervals between courses,
and the corset she had put on to conceal her
pregnancy from her guests, had wearied
her to the point of exhaustion. – Anton
Chekhov “The Birthday Party”
I
was already formally engaged, as we
used to say, to the girl I was going to
marry. – Peter Taylor “The Old Forest”
I
don’t have much work to do around the
house like some girls. – Toni Cade
Bambera “Raymond’s Run”
• First Person

I’m Push the bully, and what I hate are new kids
and sissies, dumb kids and smart, rich kids, poor
kids, kids who wear glasses, talk funny, show off,
patrol boys and wise guys and kids who pass
pencils and water the plants- and cripples.
Especially cripples.– Stanley Elkin “Criers and
Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers”
• Third Person

Climbing up with a handful of star decals to
paste on the bedroom ceiling, Claire sees a
suspect-looking shampoo bottle on the cluttered
top shelf. – Francine Prose “Other Lives”
On the wiki, open “Write the Beginning”
document.
 This is the ending to a short story. You must
WRITE THE BEGINNING
 You must remain consistent with the details
supplied (You can’t change Andy’s name or the
color of his jacket, for instance), all other details
are completely up to you. Your beginning should
lead smoothly and seamlessly into the ending.
The last sentence of your post should be “I don’t
want to die, he thought.”
Title Your Post: “Beginning” 30 points

 Post
the WORST beginning sentence for a
novel that you can come up with under
each genre.
When every student has posted- VOTE
for the worst beginning sentence in each
genre. You are voting for the WORSTmeaning that there is no way you would
continue reading that book after reading
the first sentence.
 There
are four genres. You have to write
an opening for each genre!
 Try to branch out from openings you
usually use. Try different methods of
opening stories for these WORST first
sentences!