In his Fictional International essay "To Begin, To Begin," Clark Blaise writes: "The most interesting thing about a story is not its climax or denouement--- both dated terms--- nor even its style or characterization. It is its beginning, its first paragraph, often its first sentence.... the story seeks its beginning, the story many times is its beginning, amplified."
Opening a piece with "At least" is-- so the words would
suggest-- is to open in medias res, that is, in the middle
of the action. For example:
At least she had a desk. Or:
At least the cake was white. Or:
At least they approved of the groom's gerbil.
etc.
How many opening sentences, all beginning with "At least" can you come up with in five minutes?
Source: http://www.cmmayo.com/d5mwearchives.april.html
If you'd like to share some exercises or prompts of your own, feel free to comment on this post. Or if you write something in response to this exercise and want to share it, comment or send me a link. I would, of course, love to see what you wrote. But you're not obligated to share. In other words, do whatever you want with this. I just hope it proves useful for someone. If you'd like to see the previous exercises I've posted, just click on the tag below. Happy writing!
Opening a piece with "At least" is-- so the words would
suggest-- is to open in medias res, that is, in the middle
of the action. For example:
At least she had a desk. Or:
At least the cake was white. Or:
At least they approved of the groom's gerbil.
etc.
How many opening sentences, all beginning with "At least" can you come up with in five minutes?
Source: http://www.cmmayo.com/d5mwearchives.april.html
If you'd like to share some exercises or prompts of your own, feel free to comment on this post. Or if you write something in response to this exercise and want to share it, comment or send me a link. I would, of course, love to see what you wrote. But you're not obligated to share. In other words, do whatever you want with this. I just hope it proves useful for someone. If you'd like to see the previous exercises I've posted, just click on the tag below. Happy writing!
