A quick word on beginnings.

As a writer, I know that it is my job to hook the reader immediately. If I don’t, they will put the book down and move on to something else, something better. Now that I’m in the editing process of my novel, I could not hate beginnings any more than I possibly do now. Or maybe I just hate mine. 

But I digress…

The beginning of my novel took place after a one night stand. Yep, Stella is mighty classy (not). But reading it after having a lot of space from it (I didn’t allow myself to edit or reread any sections for a couple months so that I wouldn’t procrastinate the finishing of said novel), I hate it. It’s not even the place but more the writing. I wrote the first 50 pages of this novel when I was nineteen(and into my early 20th year) so of course my writing style has changed as I’ve grown, taken more writing classes and experienced new things. Stella’s voice has changed with me because of this. She reads very flat in my beginning. The emotion reads strained. Even the very real reasoning behind her promiscuity seems wrong but only in the sense that she seems forced in explaining her reasoning which is something I hate because her reasons are very, very reasonable. 

So what does a writer do when they don’t like their own beginning? They write a new one. Stella’s story still starts on the same day but rather beginning the moment she wakes up after the incident, it instead starts at a tapas bar over lunch with her best friend since childhood who does not approve of her escapades. Why did I choose this instead? Because her best friend is a good buffer. If Stella is lying to the audience then her best friend will tell us. She will also provoke other feelings in Stella that she may not have had originally. Best friends are like that; they see us for what we really are.  

Maybe I’ll write this beginning and hate it too, but I don’t think so. 

Onward!