WRITING EXERCISE #6

My 1FS: As I was leaving the restaurant and walking to my car, this young gal walked right up to me and asked me if I had a hug today.

PART I. BEGINNINGS
Chapter 6) PAIRS OF BEGINNING SENTENCES
Sometimes less is more, and sometimes it is just less. But no matter what, writing with a strict economy of purpose can force useful answers to fundamental questions. Even from one sentence you can learn both who the character is and what the story is about. To provide focus, it is helpful to begin by writing sentences in arbitrary pairs with established parameters.

EXERCISE: Write the first sentence of a story about a birth. Now write the first sentence about a death. Try other pairs, such as falling in love and filing for divorce. Try pairs that are not in opposition, such as spring and summer. Then invent your own pairs.

OBJECTIVE: To write succinct beginning sentence: one that signals the essential "who" and "what" to come.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph. I have spent many months on a first paragraph and once I get it, the rest just comes out very easily. In the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is defined, the style, the tone. At least in my case, the first paragraph is a kind of sample of what the rest of the book is going to be. That's why writing a book of short stories is much more difficult than writing a novel. Every time you write a short story, you have to begin all over again."

My EXERCISE:
A Birth and a Death
1. "They said it's like a re-birth," he told me as I drove to the hospital for my regular visit to be with him.
2. With a firm but delicate voice, she told me, "I have some news that I need to tell you." I was pretty startled as I had no idea what she was referring to by that statement and she sounded weird to me. I thought I was in trouble or something and wasn't sure what her announcement would bring for me. She waited to share the dreaded information until we exited the car and entered the home where my father was waiting.

Falling in Love and Filing for Divorce
1. Does anyone really ever know? Or is it just a big leap of faith and diving into the ocean hoping you don't get swallowed by a giant great white?
2. Finding that woman is like sending the squad out to search through haystacks looking for that damn needle and getting pricked at the same time!

Spring and Summer
1. In April my lease is up with all sorts of change blooming around me.
2. By summer I will be living elsewhere and preparing for my dreams to be within my grasp all the more.