How do you begin writing a short story? Most first time writers find it difficult to begin writing. Usually it is the first paragraph that is the most difficult. At times, I have sat at my desk trying to start and at other times there is this flood of ideas, images of many characters that keep moving about.
It can happen at the most unusual of locations. Traveling back in a long distance train at midnight hours and you are watching the only other co-passenger and the mind begins to wonder about them. At other times, you know that you are chatting with a very illustrious personality but you are not interested at all.
A good idea is to pen down a list of various points that can help you focus. On some days you get this most awesome idea that would definitely be larger than the number of words you need for a short story but can you be disciplined enough to sit and write or type it out? It would be a good strategy to list out the points of your terrific idea or of your yet uncertain topic.
Try to pick up the three essentials that you need to begin, i.e. the protagonist, the antagonist and the location of the story. These form the crucial triangle that you need to begin with your short story. The first paragraph sets up the tempo for your short story. It decides if your story is going to race ahead in its stream of events or will it go forward because of the dialogue structure.
You may suffer a writers' block for months and that is exactly why it is a good idea to start in the first para with whatever comes to your mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment