As the third set of lesson plans for Just Fine the Way They Are (“Writer’s Craft”) is posted and ready for you teachers out there to download, I realize how much I like the illustration my graphic designer chose for the “button” that clicks you to those lesson plans: A car in motion…a car obviously on its way somewhere…a car full of expectant passengers.
Writing a story is like taking readers on a journey. The first sentence of any story has to assure the reader that, yes, the journey will be worth the read – and the ride. There has to be a particular confidence in the first sentence of a piece that tells the reader that the writer knows where she’s going. No one would jump into a car driven by person who says “I’m going to Kansas…or maybe to New York City.” Neither are readers are likely to jump into a story that feels vague and tentative.
And a writer has to quickly assure a reader that, whatever the destination, the trip will be funny enough or scarey enough or adventurous enough. The decision to settle into a story – or into the back seat of a car – is a decision to trust the driver’s route and the driver’s destination. It’s one of the fundamental aspects of good story writing.
Come for a ride anyone?