One way to start a book

The first sentence…

Madeleine: I’ve got writer’s block at the first sentence.

Maurice: The start is crucial. The first sentence grabs the reader, sets the scene.

Madeleine: The writer is saying, in effect, attendez-moi, regarde ça?

Maurice: Forster’s Howards End began, “One might as well start with Helen’s letters to her sister.” Zadie Smith was impressed with that so she started her On Beauty with a brazen copy, “One may as well begin with Jerome’s e-mails to his father.”

A good start..

Madeleine: But my book is a book of reflections as I travel around Japan.

Maurice: Here’s just the thing. The opening of Soseki’s Kusa Makura: “As I was going up the mountain road, I thought of this."

Madeleine: So I should walk up a mountain road and be struck with a great realization?

Maurice: Good beginning. As I was walking up the mountain road, I had an epiphany.

__________

Voice-over

Maurice went on to say “Acknowledge if you borrow. As with Zadie Smith, a book of thoughts while traveling in Japan could benefit from a close reading of the original. And then decorate the story, take it in unexpected directions. And make sure it’s not just epiphanies, add some action.”