How does a writer start a story? According to Verlyn Klinkenborg, every sentence should be revised as you write it. In contrast, Julia Cameron says you should dump the contents of your brain into a journal and wait for something to emerge from your writing. Elizabeth Gilbert believes a story idea is a sentient thing that will visit you and urge you to give it life. The Kernelists spent some time considering the ways a writer can start a story and reflected on their own processes.
Natalia: I was reading George Saunders and he made a joke about what if the Russian literary giants started with theme and then proceeded to say that there’s no way a writer starts there. I had such a reaction to this! I start with theme! Before characters, before plot, before anything physical. I start with abstract themes. Something gets me to reflect on a subject and then I start to imagine situations, difficulties, and people.
For my novel, for example, I started thinking about aging and how difficult it is and how each stage of life feels so singular, and so these questions of maturity and whether or not people can change etc. started populating in my head first. With my short story called “Intimate Spaces,” it started with my struggle with how imprisoning the image of female sexuality felt to me today. These thoughts of how the sexual liberation movement—paradoxically—made me feel objectified, led to my desire to give a response in the form of a story.
Neidy: There is so much advice/thoughts on writing that speak in absolutes about how you should start or what needs to be at the origin of good writing. One that I hear all the time is that, in order to develop a plot, you need to know your characters first so you know what they'll do in a given situation, but I always know the plot first and figure out how the characters get there later. Who the characters are comes later, as I figure out who would take the actions and make the mistakes necessitated by the events of the story.
Sarah: You all are blowing my mind here! I had no idea that’s where you started your stories. Personally, almost all of my short stories have started from a moment of conflict: a conflict that I have either heard about, witnessed, or personally experienced. Only rarely is it a moment I have completely imagined. And that moment of conflict, or “emotional discomfort,” causes me to wonder: what’s really going on here? Then I build the story and characters around that discomfort.
For the novel I am working on, though, I am more like you, Neidy. I knew the basic plot points of the story, and from those I had to discover who my character was. That said, my novel is based on a real historical figure, about whom only a few plot points are known. The mystery for me was discovering for myself: who is the woman who did these remarkable—and sometimes self-sabotaging—things and why did she do them?
Shelby: Yes, same! The initial idea for my novel-in-progress came from one of those "spark" moments, but the plot revealed itself rather quickly, which was new and exciting! As I've been writing the novel, I've then had these a-ha moments where I'm like, Oh, my protagonist behaves this way because of X, but she doesn't realize by doing that she's created a self-fulfilling prophecy. And then I connect that to myself and learn that I have that in common with my protag. 😅
My "process"—if you can call it that—varies. Usually, something external for me clicks into place, like I witness autumn's spectacular lavender sky and am struck with an idea; or I spot my neighbor getting into her car that then helps me connect some mental dots. It's like my mind just needs that one moment to strike against something exterior and then the idea is aflame and I can build it out from there. But sometimes I am completely stuck and have to "force" that spark by responding to a prompt (which is how I got the idea for my speculative story in Black Warrior Review that explores the feelings of isolation after a breakup).
Where do your stories come from? Do you have a tried-and-true method or does your process change depending on the format? Drop us a note in the comments.
Our kernel of advice: Lean into what process works for you.
Inspiration, Information, & Insight
This week was crunch-time for Sarah’s graduate school semester, so she has been working round-the-clock at drafting four short stories and a personal essay. She finally tried her hand at some flash fiction and a new point-of-view: the first-person plural. She also attended the last of the public readings by the graduating third-year students in her MFA program and was inspired by the quality of their prose and how their craft has progressed in just a few short years. Sarah can’t believe her first year is already drawing to a close.
Shelby’s sleep schedule has been out of whack this week, so she’s leaning into a routine of maintenance as she strives for more rest and energy. If anyone has tips for how not to dissociate for an hour on your phone before bed, Shelby is all ears!
Natalia finished reading The Song of Bernadette in time for her pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, and she was grateful for the richness the reading lent to the experience. In other news, Natalia was accepted into a political science PhD program this week and is looking forward to using her last fully free summer for the next five years to finish up the first draft of her novel and leave it in a good position.
Neidy is almost finished reading Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. She is really impressed with Kim’s ability to weave in curiosity, tension, and misdirection. On Thursday Neidy attended CeCe Lyra’s Writing Tension workshop. She enjoyed it so much, she’s already begun rewatching the recording of the three-and-a-half-hour presentation and has signed up for CeCe Lyra’s Writing Interiority workshop in June.
i tend to start with something completely imaginary. i am inspired by the craziest idea i can come up with and start writing. usually during the actual writing process then more and more gets revealed that hints at where that made-up first spark come from lol. it’s a very painful realisation sometimes as it can go on until after publication where i’m like “that’s where that came from”. i’ve started journaling now before writing anything ficionally 🤪
lol @shelby i am struggling with dissociation on my phone before bed so much too - i have now set up a downtime for my phone starting at 11pm going until 11am. i am only allowed into Spotify, my ebook app and Substack. i wanted to catch up on my subscriptions and also read more before bed, so I’ll keep you updated how it goes. *writing this while downtime on* i wouldn’t have read this interesting take on starting one’s stories - so good so far, let’s see if it’ll stick :)