26.7.12

Starting A Manuscript


There are hundreds of ways to start a novel, but here are some tips from the experts as compiled by Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters )
  • "Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write..." – NATALIE GOLDBERG
  • “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” - MARK TWAIN
  • “I never started from ideas but always from character.” - IVAN TURGENEV
  • “It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.” – WILLIAM FAULKNER
  • “The secret is to start a story near the ending.” - CHRIS OFFUT
  • "Start as close to the end as possible." - VONNEGUT
  •  “In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.” - ROSE TREMAIN
  • “Bring all your intelligence to bear on your beginning.” - ELIZABETH BOWEN
  •  “Lie. Put down on paper the most interesting lies you can imagine...and then make them plausible.” - CHRIS BOHJALIAN 
  •  "Every writer has his or her own method..." – JUDY BLUME

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