How Should I Begin

“How should I begin?” First person, narrator, or more academic? The short answer is, it depends on the topic. The longer answer is it may change once you get into the creature that is your written piece.

The simple answer is, to begin with the one that feels comfortable. Editing will come later, for now, tell your story. It can be as simple as, “My day started out” … The same thought can be said this way, “When she got up that morning, she had no idea what she was in for.”

Same message, different vehicle.

“What tools should I use?” First it helps if it’s a tool you’re comfortable with. Whether you’re a pen and ink person, a laptop man like my best friend, or an iPad guy like me. Use what works for you.

Next, software, there’s tons of it. Find one that has enough options for what your need, but not to many distractions. For quick flowing ideas, I use Apple Notes. For long form writing, I like Scrivener. It bridges the gap from brainstorming a thought to formatting a book, it’s a great workhorse.

Others like Evernote, Ulysses, or Word, my advice pick a tool, and start writing. You can road test tools on your second piece, write your first one, then explore the tools. More than one person spent so much time testing writing programs, they ran out of time to write.

Guess what three sentences in, you’re past the beginning. You’re not to the finish line, but you’ve probably finished a paragraph. As a rule, I aim for my paragraphs to average three sentences. While there are exceptions, I feel at least, paragraphs with more  than three look daunting to occasional readers.

There are a lot of writing guidelines that are just that, guidelines. While proper grammar and good sentence structure are important, famous works have more than bent even these rules. Many have went on to be called classics, but they didn’t start out that way.  They started out as a few words someone put together, so can you.