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.”

Voice in Writing (1)

A quiz question challenge…

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Beatrice: If you can identify the writer, I’ll give you a book voucher.

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Yolanda: How long have I got?

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Beatrice: A minute.

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Yolanda: Can I use my computer?

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Beatrice: Absolutely not. You’ll just Google it.

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Yolanda: OK. So show me the passage.

(reads)

Zadie Smith: Words and Music

An African-American female? Angie Thomas?

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Beatrice: Nope. Zadie Smith.

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Yolanda: You’re kidding me.

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Beatrice: Sure as hell I’m not.

_________

Voice-over

So Zadie Smith is not African-American, but being Jamaican-English is not too far off that. And she can do the voice of a New York African-American to a T. The vocabulary (scatting), the grammar (she was sat), the rhythm (inside out and backward), the context (Vanguard), the feelings (she made us cry), the social differentiations Anglo-Saxon-looking).

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