Opening lines are easy.
That’s a lie. Opening lines are terribly difficult. Unless they are easy. Sometimes they are easy
Closing lines are easy.
That’s a lie. Closing lines are, by far, the hardest lines to write. Unless they are not. Sometimes they are not difficult at all. They just flow naturally. Sometimes you write the last line first.
Middles are always hard.
No lie there. That’s just the truth. No matter how hard or easy the first and last lines are, everything in the middle is terrifyingly difficult. You can have the start and end all worked out and still there will be issues with the middle.
Where do you start? Where do you end? What do you do in between?
I suppose you start with something strong. Something that grabs attention. Something that invites them in.
Then you absolutely must end with something that will stick with them. Something that sums up everything before, but also leaves room for more.
Simple.
In the middle, you go from thing to thing, but not in a boring way. You can never be boring in the middle. Even when you absolutely need to. Even when there are things you need to say that aren’t as important. At least not important to that one person. You know the one. You never want to bore that one person.
Start strong.
Middle not boring.
End strong.
That’s it really.
It will all be easy, because really, when you get right down to it, opening lines are easy.
That’s a lie. Opening lines are terribly difficult. Unless they are easy. Sometimes they are easy
Closing lines are easy.
That’s a lie. Closing lines are, by far, the hardest lines to write. Unless they are not. Sometimes they are not difficult at all. They just flow naturally. Sometimes you write the last line first.
Middles are always hard.
No lie there. That’s just the truth. No matter how hard or easy the first and last lines are, everything in the middle is terrifyingly difficult. You can have the start and end all worked out and still there will be issues with the middle.
Where do you start? Where do you end? What do you do in between?
I suppose you start with something strong. Something that grabs attention. Something that invites them in.
Then you absolutely must end with something that will stick with them. Something that sums up everything before, but also leaves room for more.
Simple.
In the middle, you go from thing to thing, but not in a boring way. You can never be boring in the middle. Even when you absolutely need to. Even when there are things you need to say that aren’t as important. At least not important to that one person. You know the one. You never want to bore that one person.
Start strong.
Middle not boring.
End strong.
That’s it really.
It will all be easy, because really, when you get right down to it, opening lines are easy.