Beginnings: Part One

"Begin at the beginning, and go on till you get to the end, then stop." -Lewis Carol (Alice in Wonderland)

Excellent advice. And so much easier said than done. Let's start with the beginning. When writing, do we always start at the beginning? Should we always start at the beginning? How do we know where the beginning is?
There may be some gifted writers reading this who absolutely always know where to begin their work, be it story, poem, novel, article, or essay. Perhaps some of you have never stared longingly at your computer, typewriter, notepad, palm pilot, scroll, or papyrus; certain that words that would make Shakespeare weep with envy will surely pour forth if you can just figure out where to begin.
Speaking on behalf of the rest of us: Congratulations, and may your faucets always leak and your tires lose air. Just kidding. Mostly.
Not knowing where to begin is a common problem. I have a novel I am finishing up, that has taken me approximately forever and a year to write. This is about it's fifth or sixth major rewrite. It is also (I sincerely hope and pray) the last. Third or so rewrite, I had developed a plot twist or something that demanded a full rewrite. This was a novel that I had written at least one full time already, and had seen major editing. But for whatever reason, it was going nowhere. It was after struggling with this awhile, that I realized the book didn't begin where I thought it did. Another character wrote himself in, revealing sides of my characters that I'm not sure I knew where there. Was he a main character? No, not even close. But he has a few scenes that were a lot of fun to write, and I hope were fun to read. Once I changed the beginning, everything went so much smoother.
So, a challenge for anyone struggling with a writing project: try changing the beginning. Maybe your project has to begin at a certain place, in which case, you can skip this. But there may be more flexibility than you think. Besides, you can always change it back if you don't like it.
Next post: More about beginnings and prologues.

Really cool underused word of the day:
ante-penultimate: Before the one before the last.