Begin at the Middle
Begin at the beginning. But don’t. Begin at the middle.
See that blank page or screen? It just gets even blanker, or emptier as you stare at it wondering where to begin your story. Is it 10 years ago? 20?
My favorite book, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, starts at the narrator’s conception. But that seems a little far back, right? (You can click that picture and buy the book too. God bless the internet.)
Story starts when something is different, when something changes.
For me, story starts at a stolen rosemary plant.
Forgive me while I get a little meta here.
I was giving a talk on narrative and social media. I used an example of the beginning of a story — a tweet by a man I followed on Twitter. He wrote that he woke up that morning and his rosemary plant, which had been in the ground, was now gone. I said to the group that the stolen rosemary plant was the start of the story. It was a small thing that was different that day.
At the end of the discussion, a man introduced himself and took credit for the tweet. We chatted for a minute, then went our separate ways.
A week later he DM’d me and told me I was “charming” and if I ever needed printing to look him up.
A month later I asked for free printing.
A year and a half later we’re a couple.
Yes, I was born. Yes, I had some bad relationships. I was on Friendster by not MySpace. I joined Twitter in 2007. I moved to Portland from Malibu. I enjoy rosemary with my potatoes. All of these details are part of the story. Most aren’t important. All of them happened before I had my first brush with my handsome boyfriend, but the story starts with the stolen rosemary plant.
What’s different in your life today?
What story is starting?
