Words are easy

I think the hardest thing to do as a writer is starting. For example, it took me almost seven minutes to write that first sentence.

Wait…

Should that be an “I think” sentence?

Or should it be an emphatic statement: “The hardest thing to do is..."

Is that actually what I think?

What point am I trying to accomplish by this post?

Should that be “by this post” or “with this post”?

Back to the first sentence: I think the hardest thing to do as a writer is starting.

Should it be “starting,” or should it be “to start”?

Probably the latter.

And probably an emphatic statement, actually, now that I think about it.

(Ahem)

The hardest thing to do as a writer is to start. Period. I have never been more sure of anything in my life.

Or, as a writer, the hardest thing to do is to start… is starting.

Good grief.

According to a lady named Ursula (I didn’t make that up) on the Internet, “First sentences are doors to worlds, which is to say: in the hands of our greatest writers, opening lines cast an immediate spell, grab your attention like a starter's gun, set the tone and even foreshadow what is to come.”

Good grief, indeed.

That’s, like, a ton of pressure for those of us wanting to be writers… those of us who want to write great books, tells great stories, and actually have folks buy them.

So much for first impressions

First sentences are doors to worlds?

Let’s see about that. I have picked three of my favorite books of all time (no judgement, please. These are just the first three that came to mind), and will share their opening lines here to see if Ursula was right… about writing.

First up, a cop-out, To Kill A Mockingbird.

At the beginning of her classic, pulitzer prize winning, and world-changing story loosely based on her hometown near Monroeville, Alabama, Harper Lee writes the words:

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

Hmm. Let’s try another one.

C.S. Lewis, possibly the greatest theological thinker and writer and influencer of his or any other day, wrote a book called The Screwtape Letters, that knocked me fully on my rear end back in college. The first line of that remarkable book reads:

My dear Wormwood, I note what you say about guiding your patient's reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend.

I don’t get it.

Finally, let’s pick one from my friend, Jon Acuff. Jon used to be the junior to my senior-level advertising copywriter position at an ad agency back in the late 90’s. Since then, Jon has written approximately 347 books, and is quickly becoming the most famous person I have ever met — and I once flew on an airplane with Jimmy Carter. Anyway, Jon starts his (let’s just say third) book, Quitter, with the following sentence:

The trick to removing your clothes in a bathroom stall is to start with your shirt.

OK. That one’s not fair.

That one got me.

I’m in.

Door to world… open.

But not all first lines are like this one. Most, in fact, aren’t very good at all.

I’ve written two books (take that, Acuff), and here are the first lines of those (A Sea between Us and Long Is the Way, respectively):

My name is Yosely Pereira.

And,

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I would submit that neither of those opening lines are very good. But here’s the thing. This isn’t a blog post about the first line, is it?

It’s about the start.

The… starting.

What's the big idea?

Writers do not start with the first line. Ever. And if they tell you they do, they are either lying, or simply unaware that what they are saying is untrue.

The first line is never the start. For fiction writers, the idea is the start. For non-fiction, it’s likely the ideal we are trying to impart. Regardless, the start has nothing to do with the words we read at the beginning.

You want to be a successful writer?

Forget about the words. Forget about the sentence structure and the grammar and the punctuation and whether or not this sentence is going to effectively connect with the next.

What’s the idea?

What’s the ideal?

Words are easy.

Having something to say isn’t.

Start there.