We're going to talk about openings. How do we begin the thing we're going to write about ourselves? What do we do? I want you to keep in mind that there are no rules to writing. That's one thing, and yet, things aren't random. Authors, they practice, they think about how they're going to put things down on the page. It might seem seamless when you read it as a reader, but authors are constantly trying to figure out what's the best way that something might work? So, we're going to subvert the adage that is very famous that we've always heard, "Don't judge a book by its cover." I'm going to actually suggest that what we do constantly, maybe not even consciously, is that we're judging. We're judging the thing we're reading. When it begins, we're already making assumptions about what the story will be about. Even in the first few lines. So, as a writer, keep that in mind. Keep in mind that the reader is trying to jump ahead of you slightly. Let's look at something that's not writing. We're going to listen to some pieces of music, and just a few seconds of it. I want you to listen to it, the beginning of the song and then think about what this song might be about. What mood is it evoking? Can you tell what the characters will be? Maybe not. But there's going to be something in you that will begin making assumptions of what this song will be. So, listen to this. So, you heard that. Doesn't matter whether or not you've ever heard that song before in your life. In fact, if you have heard the song before, your job in this game we're playing is to imagine that you have it. So, what will that song be about? Is it going to be about love? Is it going to be about loss? Is it going to be about violence? Whatever it is. But you're making certain assumptions just on the opening notes before any word has been spoken. Okay. So, we're going to do another one. Let's listen to this. Again remember, if you've heard this before, your job is to pretend that you've never heard it before. You're reading, you're listening with fresh eyes. Okay. So, again, same questions. What will this be about? You haven't heard one word. There's been no dialogue. There's been no narrative, and yet, the notes are indicating something. Is it indicating love? Is it going to be a love story? Is it going to be a comedy? Whatever it's going to be, you're already making these assumptions. All right. So now, we're going to do the last one. You've never heard this before, even if you have, listened to this. Okay. Again, love story, comedy, horror, what will this story be about? What's the narrative? But wait, I want to just go a few more moments into this particular song, and listen to what happens now. So, what happened there? Eminem tricked you a little bit. He sets you up for something. He said this story is going to be this, and then he changed, and he went into something else. So, he created a surprise in you, he subverted the narrative. I know what you're saying. You're going, "Okay, that's great." We're talking about songs. But what we're doing here is this is supposed to be about memoirs, this is supposed to be about personal essays, this is supposed to be about us writing about ourselves. But I want you to keep in mind that it doesn't matter what genre you're working in, it doesn't even matter what medium you're working in, that there are storytelling elements that remain true for whatever we're doing. So, in the next lecture, we're going to look at specific opening lines, and see what effect they have.
