Looking for inspiration to start that novel or chapter? Look no further. Here are five opening lines of books you must read.

1. Aeneid – by Virgil – Translation Robert Fitzgerald

I sing of warfare and a man at war.

2. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel – Susana Clarke

Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians.They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic.

3. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s (Philosopher’s) Stone – J.K Rowling

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

5.  Moby Dick – Herman Melville

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on the shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

Have you ever had a time in your life when you asked people for advice on something you already knew the answer to? Sometimes, saying it outloud is enough to realize the answer. Other times, it takes a lot of talking to circle back around to your original suspicion. The problem is the answer is hard, or it is not something you want to do but, in the end, you give up seeking validation and do the right or original thing you should have done all along.

As a writer, or in any area of life for that matter, it is sometimes hard to admit that you are stumped or wrong. For the last few weeks I have been at a crossroads. I have been frustrated. When I’ve sat down at the keyboard and dedicated an hour or so to my story I found all my energy sapped. I would try to write a few sentences and force my story onward but it came out so clunky and so incredibly misspelled that I scrapped it. This happened many, many times and many thousands of words were deleted trying to find the plot threads I knew that were there. In the end I felt defeated by my own work.

This cycle went on for several days. I even tried to convince a few of my friends that I was headed in the right direction and it would be great and trendy and new. Many of them were kind, per usual, and encouraged me. A few others told me that I was not being honest to my story and that it would require me to go back and edit the rest of it.

I now look back and see that when I came to this crossroads I chose the wrong path. This is one of the most difficult things in the writing process. Knowing when you are wrong and do what good ole William Faulkner says,“In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” And kill my darlings I did, all of them. I had to do it for the betterment of my story and, it worked.

Fresh starts in writing, or life, are sometimes all you need. Last night, I started a new word document and began writing and found the path. It was so tremendously satisfying I wrote for only a half hour and finished over seven hundred words. This is not a pat on the back for me, this is me celebrating that I was a mouse in a maze that kept finding dead ends. Now, finally, I see the path and perhaps, I am nearly out. 

Have you ever experienced this? That one plot obstacle that kept popping up? How did you overcome it?

Keep writing my friends.

Have you ever thought of trying something new, something that required tremendous amounts of work like a new degree, remodeling the kitchen, or reading  Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ? I have, it’s called writing a novel.

Now imagine yourself diving into one of these, let’s say the new degree. After signing up for fall classes in a flurry you immediately begin dreaming about being the valedictorian of your year. Proudly you strut up the steps toward your classroom and sit down at the front of the class. Soon the professor begins talking and, to your horror…you understand nothing at all. This would not be that big of an issue  if you did not harbor the  feeling that you absolutely, unequivocally, must get an A or your life will be over!!

Let’s take a step back. I am not sure how many people believe on their first day of classes at university that they will be valedictorian or even heap that sort of pressure on themselves. However, I submit to you, this is exactly what we do with our beloved infant novels.

We begin, like one would with the thrill of a new career, a bucket list cross-off, or our dream kitchen in mind (we will write not just the great American novel but one that will shake the foundations of the literary world!) only to have it come crashing down when we lose momentum as we stare at yet another blank page. Soon we scrap the idea, announce that we shall forever be a dog walker and sulk through life thinking we are a failure (if you are a dog walker, I mean no offense, but you want to be novelist remember?).

The reality is all along you were set up to fail — like having never climbed a little hill let alone a mountain, and one morning  you wake up and march to the foot of Everest with the idea of reaching the peak. You’ll probably die, and if not, your dream will.

If you are like me, when you finally have a scrumptious morsel of time to write, you sit down at your desk, table, car, wherever you write, and think you should be able to do five hundred words in thirty-two minutes and then edit them in five minutes and then write another five hundred words in the next sixteen minutes. But, in the end, you stump yourself.

I believe this is one of the big reasons people begin and then stop reading. This could be the reason you either struggle with your novel or have given up on it altogether. We place oppressive amounts of expectations on ourselves. If we don’t stop working, we sprint through it instead of allowing the story to come together leaving holes in our plots. Instead of enjoying getting to know our characters we cookie-cut them making them stale and boring. So the next time you take up your story, give yourself permission to take your time.

Think. Close your eyes and let the story unfold because giving yourself space to think and be creative may be all you need to overcome that all consuming blank page. Then begin.