FIRST PARAGRAPHS Clifford Thurlow I have put off writing this piece for some weeks because I couldn't think of a first paragraph In this I detect a common dilemma Reading through a web collection of short fiction recently, I realised that several were outstanding – except for the first paragraph, the one sculpted to such flawless perfection they said nothing at all Think of a Barbie Doll and you get the picture The first paragraph is a sickness It is where writers feel the urge to show brilliance, this siren call reminding me of Samuel Johnson's haunting counsel: Read through your work When you come to a part that's particularly pleasing, strike it out I can't say that I fully subscribe to this viewpoint, but it's scribbled on a Post-it beside my desk nonetheless Last paragraphs can be just as troublesome It's the one where we feel tempted to explain everything, and is often best left out Writers can't live in a vacuum We write to be read Stories can take any obtuse tangent, but the first concern must be to communicate and, by extension, to entertain Be obscure, but clearly There are demands on our time from movies, soccer, surfing the web and the oceans, textmessaging, the pub In a novel, there is time and space for a range of ideas and mood swings, an understanding between the author and his readers that a new world is being revealed Short stories and articles must grab us immediately and hold our attention It is strange but true that some short story writers can't write novels and some novelists fail utterly with their short stories A lot of mainstream fiction is formulaic and predictable We are some say in a literary wilderness It is the rebels of web and selfpublishing who often find the courage to experiment, to carry the fire through the darkness But writers are failing in their mission when substance is outweighed by cleverness Stream of consciousness passages may floor us by the power of their beauty Like Belgian chocolate, though, a little goes a long way Surrealism and fantasy are in vogue, but the rules for good fiction remain fixed and only when you know the rules can you rearrange them to suit yourself When a writer reaches that level of expertise, he can then take Jean Cocteau's advice: Listen to first criticisms of your work Note just what it is that critics don't like – then cultivate it That's the part of your work that's individual and worth keeping Writers must strive for individuality but so by following in the footsteps of all the writers who have gone before us Painters follow another path; composers their own, juggling the same meagre set of crotchets and quavers until they dazzle with something sparkling and new This is not plagiarism, unless for writers reading is plagiarism, and no writer gets to be a good writer without following these three essential tips: read, read, read It is often said that analysis deadens our appreciation Whilst this may be true, it does not apply to the analysis of your own work Stories should be read many times before you can honestly say you're satisfied It's a good idea to read aloud If you pause for anything other than breath, pity the poor reader and crack open another can of Fosters It's going to be a long night Keep polishing Words for John Updike are little balls of wax to be burnished into a shiny corridor, a slippery bright path from conflict to resolution Remember, you spend as much time shaping a bad story as a good one One of the awful things about writing (apart from the isolation, rejection, poverty and not knowing what to say when strangers ask what you do) is that no matter how good we think a piece is, there's a part of us which believes it could be better That's why we keep going No one knows why we it and, when we've done it, more often than not, nobody wants it But writers have to write and we must always seek to make what we are writing as good as it can possibly be Reading through, I see I don't need the first paragraph Or the last © September 2007 Clifford Thurlow 700 words ... make what we are writing as good as it can possibly be Reading through, I see I don't need the first paragraph Or the last © September 2007 Clifford Thurlow 700 words