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A thread on story beginnings, since I& #39;m procrastinating the start of my current story...
At the beginning, a story opens itself for the heroine, & she chooses how to respond. It& #39;s the start of a relationship between her & story. 1/8
#StrictlyWriting #WritingCommunity
At the beginning, a story opens itself for the heroine, & she chooses how to respond. It& #39;s the start of a relationship between her & story. 1/8
#StrictlyWriting #WritingCommunity
Her choices may not be good ones, but after all that& #39;s what story is here for - to help her learn better choices, stronger ways of being her true self. 2/8
It& #39;s not really so helpful to talk about beginnings, though. Nothing is ever new. A heroine stands always in the residue of what has come before, and it never leaves her. Even in the deepest, darkest moment, when she& #39;s facing the dragon in its dreadful lair ... 3/8
... she brings with her childhood memories, and things her mother said, and scars from smaller dragons she& #39;s met along the way.
So a beginning is really just a reforming, often a deepening, of the long tale her soul is telling over and again. 4/8
So a beginning is really just a reforming, often a deepening, of the long tale her soul is telling over and again. 4/8
How she steps over the threshold into story, the choice she makes & the beliefs underpinning it ... eg believing she& #39;s not good enough, or that the world is a dark place ... is for better or worse what she needs to resolve to get her HEA. 5/8
In romance, the hero helps her with this. He offers a truth she may not have ever known about herself. Eg, that she& #39;s smart, beautiful, capable, lovable. He helps her create a better story about herself & the world. (And she helps him the same.) 6/8
Her story may involve fighting dragons or running contraband or falling in love, but it& #39;s always at heart about her relationship with her world, & with the stories she believes about herself. 7/8
And the ending should bring us back to the beginning in some way, but everything essential has changed, and from the bones and seeds of the story she& #39;s just experienced she can go forth to create others that are beautiful and true.
