the number one rule of writing

jumpingjacktrash:

i mean obviously the number one rule of writing is “just write” but that’s a bit meta. when you get down into WHAT to write, here is my personal before-anything-else first rule of how to do the fiction thing:

never start with your viewpoint character being bored.

i see it all the time. complete beginners will actually go ahead and write “so-and-so was bored” as a first line. after a few goes, we graduate to “it was a day like any other.” we must outgrow this completely. if it really was a day like any other, you wouldn’t be writing about it, i should hope, so that’s non-information; or else you’re genuinely going to make your reader sit through a lot of boring routine before getting to the good bits.

like the song says, “if you’re bored then you’re boring.” you don’t want to bore your reader. so go ahead and write something interesting. even if it’s the only interesting thing that’s ever happened to this character, start with it.