Today's assignment is to begin the story, and how to do it. I have written my initial paragraph, at least in rough draft stage. But, lets have a look at Lynn's ideas.
The beginning is the start of the story until the first plot point. I don't think I've come to that stage yet. I need a hook. That can be a question, a crucial moment, an interesting picture, an intriguing character, an unusual situation. I think I put all of the above in my initial paragraph. Question: Would she be able to make it in a man's world? The crucial moment: commencement. The intriguing character: Grace with a B. An unusual situation: I don't know that a graduation is so unusual, but not so many women graduated from Law School in that era.
Each sentence builds on the previous sentence. The last sentence of a paragraph is the catalyst to the next.
What else?
~ introduce the protagonist. That is Grace.
~ establish the setting. Law school graduation
~ introduce the antagonist. That will be, I think, the status quo.
~ introduce a story question. Well, after graduation, will she find a job? That's a typical question.
~ introduce the theme. Independent women!
What to avoid.
~ back story or flashbacks. Stay in the present.
~ too much description. Use Unique and specific details.
~ introducing too many characters.
~ differing points of view of different characters.
~ changing locations
~ spoon feeding the reader. Don't tell everything in the first chapter.
Paragraph #2.
We know that Grace is graduating. Could talk about Drake University and why Grace went there. Is she worried about facing opposition from the status quo? (Man's world, old ideas?) Will anyone hire her? Father raised his daughters to be independent women. (REREAD book chapter about Robert Ballantyne.) Take her home afterwards and have her discuss this with Winafred. Stay in DesMoines for now.
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