Bodacious Beginnings

Once upon a time...

It was a dark and stormy night...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Call me Ishmail...

Long ago and far away...

Okay, so those are only first phrases... by the way, my current WiP begins:



Lunch had buried us with its usual lack of consideration for my life,

I guess part of this salami is missing

But what I am here to talk about is the WHOLE SALAMI...



I can't believe we are to the 8th of the month and it's my first chance to write about the BEGINNING of a BOOK.



Now let me just clarify here... I am not talking about the beginning that makes it into the final product... I am talking about the WRITING of the beginning... the first draft of the first part... the place you fall in love with your book. The place you build your momentum and drive for the rest of the story...



Man, what a rush. I would be a serial beginner if I could get away with it. It's like you meet a hot stranger for a really wild week in Mexico and explore every nook and cranny... wait... maybe it's only a little like that... drunken, experimental, probing...

Boucher's Back Story found here

When I write beginnings I get to explore BACK STORY which I dig—get at the motivation of the main characters. I get to meet a bunch of new people and probe their brains and motivations and perhaps best of all the interactions between the characters. I get to design my little world while picking out some groovy details from the real place. I get to set a nefarious plan into motion... BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!





Now with a WriMo, I am forced to get to the main plot, which is a good thing... and I can't START until the 1st, so much of my back story that isn't meant to make the story CAN be written in my back-up file. It makes it SO EASY though, to write when I have all this fun exploration to do.



So because this is so easy, I write fast (I had 4 days last week I hit close to 4000 words). In fact I expect by the end of last night (which is really tonight when I'm writing), I should have hit 20,000 words.... in one week! Gads, that's a pace that means a whole FULL length novel in a month, not just a WriMo length...



But there comes a point when it slows... I reach a point in the action that it just isn't spilling like that anymore... sadly, like a new affair, there comes a time you realize he farts and scratches just like everybody else. Or worse, the point where he sees you are soft in the middle and too fond of rum. Yes... we all have to check into reality at some point.



But I am wondering... is my love affair with beginnings abnormal? I've seen people grumble about having trouble getting going... are there differences between planners and pantsers? What about you? Do you love or dread beginnings? How much planning do you do? How long do you wait between getting an idea and writing? (I'm thinking my stewing time might be why I love beginnings so much)





PS:  HA!  Made it and then some...

Microbrew Mystery
is 43% complete





021652 / 50000 words written