How to Start A Story

This is the basics of the basics. Step one of a story.

There’s a trick to start a story that I can share with you and I got it from Ernest Hemingway.

How to Start a Story like Hemingway

Hemingway! But Hemingway was a genius! This is what Hemingway said he did:

Sometimes when I was started on a new story and I could not get going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”

Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

How to Start a Story with One True Sentence

The idea that to start writing you first need to write One True Sentence.What they’re talking about it is:

What you are trying to say.

We want to change their mind.

That’s the question, you see: what do you passionately believe? What makes you want to grab people by the shoulders and shake them until they agree with you? That’s One True Sentence.

 

Don’t worry about characters yet, don’t worry about setting, don’t even worry about plot. Think about something that you think is true. Write it down. Make it the truest thing in the world

 

 See also--> Choosing the Right Name for Your Story

Choosing the Right Name for Your Story

Since I'm a story-writer, titles are important for a story. In this post I'll share a tip to choose the right title.

So what's in a title? Is it really that important?
You bet it is.

 

A Few Rules of Thumb:

>Titles should not be dull. 
>Titles should be easy to remember.
>Titles should be appropriate. It shouldn't be misleading.

A Few Sources to Jog the Imagination:

1. A title can be a popular expression. Gone for Good, Something's Gotta Give, The Horse's Mouth, The Usual Suspects, Good As Gold, The Whole Nine Yards.
   
   
2. A title can be a play on words. (Sometimes a "twist" of an existing expression.) Burglars Can Be Choosers, The Cancelled Czech, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, The War Between the Tates, A Hearse of a Different Color.
   
   
3. A title can have a hidden meaning, later revealed in the story. The Green Mile, Rain Man, Dances with Wolves, Catch-22, Hearts in Atlantis, Cool Hand Luke, The Shipping News.
   
   
4. A title can come from an existing work. (The Bible, Shakespeare, etc.) The Grapes of Wrath, The Sound and the Fury, The Sun Also Rises, Absalom, Absalom, All That Glitters, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
   
   
5. A title can be a person's name. Hannibal, Goldfinger, Carrie, Hondo, Rebecca, Doctor Zhivago, Shane, Forrest Gump.
   
   
6. A title can be a place name. Cold Mountain, Cimarron, Peyton Place, Jurassic Park, Lonesome Dove, Mystic River.
   
   
7. A title can be a possessive. Portnoy's Complaint, Angela's Ashes, The Optimist's Daughter, Charlotte's Web.
   
   
8. A title can be an association of ideas. Often these are words that have a "double meaning," and refer to more than one thing in a story. The Eye of the Needle, The Dead Zone, Misery, Silver Bullet, Lie Down with Lions.
   
   
9. A title can be an "event" or "activity." (Use "ing" in the first word.) Pleading Guilty, Romancing the Stone, Waiting to Exhale, "Riding the Bullet," Raising Helen, Finding Nemo.
   
   
10. A title can be a memorable line from the story itself. To Kill a Mockingbird, Tell No One, Sleepless in Seattle, The Eagle Has Landed, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
    
    
11. A title (if long) can have a "rhythm." Another kind of "play on words," this makes a longer title more pleasing to the ear--and easier to remember. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The Sins of Rachel Cade, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
    
    
12. A title (if it fits the story) can be simple. Jaws, Shogun, Cathedral, The Exorcist, Ragtime, Lolita, Deliverance, Airport, "The Swimmer," Roots, Centennial, It, The Godfather.

In fact, it has been said that most titles on bestseller lists are no more than three words long. (But they have to be the right words.)

Originality

Titles are not copyrightable. Whatever the source for your inspiration and whatever title you choose, remember that it needs to be a perfect fit for your story. If it isn't (and even, sometimes, if it is), it can get changed.

Alternate Titles

Since changes are known to occur, should you submit several alternate titles along with your novel or story? No. Select the best title you can, and leave it at that.

See also--> How to Start a Story