The First Sentence

I was reading this book last night, sitting in bed with my blanket over my shoulders and my fingers delicately flipping pages, and I had this super enormous thought.

‘Hold on a minute…’ I stopped reading, looking up through my glasses lenses to stare critically at the crooked photo hung on the opposite wall. ‘How is this possible?!’

I’d just been introduced to a new character, to someone I have never met before in my entire life (duh, they’re fictional *eyeroll*), and it felt like I already knew them.

Now I know this must be a super weird beginning but there’s a point to it, I promise.

I went on reading, but kept going back to that page that held the first thing that character had said (welcome to the mind of a writer, folks) and thinking: ‘How is this possible? I’m not supposed to know you yet.’

And yet, I did.

It was like I knew this person’s internal thoughts just by knowing what came out of their mouth. I knew them, on the inside, by knowing them on the outside.

And, of course, I turned to the front cover, finger holding my place between the pages, and I stared at the author’s name (Brandon Sanderson, of course) and I mumbled, ‘How did you do it?’

A few days later, I came upon an Instagram question poll (where the creator writes out a question and the community answers it) created by one of my favorite writing and martial arts (*smiles sideways at you* Let me tell you right here, right now, I don't to martial arts, but she teaches all about how to write good fight scenes...) coaches, Carla Hoch and she asked: ‘What do you think makes a great author great?’

And I had the guts to write a reply and say: ‘A great author can tell the entire character’s backstory with the first thing they say.’

This was the exact thing I had experienced when I met that new Brandon Sanderson character. I knew them by their words.

And I began to ask myself (again, your welcome): ‘How do I learn to do that?’

'Well, you could start by planning out your plots and characters.'

*glares at the text* eh…good luck trying to do that.

But, like, how do I make that possible in my writing?

And, even better, how do I analyze how other authors do it and find a way to turn this into something implementable?

I sat with that thought for a while, running back and forth through all the ways I could write this down and make it easier to implicate even on here, where all I really do is vomit my thoughts. (I'm sure you know what I'm saying, even if I don't)

Do I

• Just go with it, turning these characters into what they said first or editing the first thing they said to later follow their character arch?

• Or maybe I should go further into this thought and make some connections?

That was a good idea because here I am staring at a blank screen…barely able to get my words on paper.

No, don’t listen to that. Listen to this: When you hear the words ‘In the beginning’ what do you think?

Well, if you had any logic, you would think of the beginning…logic or sense. Because I literally just repeated what I just said so I apparently have neither.

You should think of Jesus and God and Adam and Eve. Like me!

:)

You should think of: ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’

The first thing the Bible (God) did was create. And after, we now get to hold this small (it’s actually not, but that’s okay) book that is entirely dedicated to showing God’s character.

This is the first thing He says. And it’s followed by the continually repeated phrase ‘and He saw that it was good.’

Know this character, know His inside thoughts by knowing His outside words.

Does this connect as directly for you as it does for me? I sincerely hope so.

You all have some great days, blessed days, kind days. And remember, God loves you. Through and through. ♥︎

Stay Strong,

Claudia

Find Brandon Sanderson with his Blog, his Youtube channel, or his Instagram.

Find Carla Hoch with her Blog, her Podcast (via Spofity, but you can find her anywhere) or her Instagram.

P.S I went on through the story with this character named Kimmalyn (callsign: Quirk) and she is pretty much the lost evil little sniper/bestie to the main Character i could have ever imagined. (Except you didn't have to imagine her, Claudia, she was already imagined for you.... Yeeeah...never mind me.) And, just so you know that was sarcasm, Kimmalyn is great. We love her.... :)

(Book title: Skyward by Brandon Sanderson)

Okay, now I can sign off, Good night everybody!!! I'm going to bed. *bows low, pulling my hat off my head and spreading my arms wide*

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*the stage turns black and the curtain closes and the crowd goes wild (que you guys)*