Whether you're a writer or a reader, and whether it's a novel or a piece of copy, a piece of writing must get off to a good if not thunderous start. If it doesn't you can kiss your reader or potential customer goodbye.
So how do you do it? A book I read today advises starting from the middle instead of the beginning. Sound advice, says I! Deleting opening paragraphs tightens up copy. Sometimes it creates new angles to approach writing from. Power structures aren't only a political thing, you know!
But what if you could do it in life too? If you could start your life at any point, when would you choose?
For instance, would you go back to when you were five years old and starting school? Would you go back to teens with maybe memories of your first kiss?
Perhaps you'd just skip all that malarky and start in your adult years, maybe in your first job? Or even leapfrog all that and start when you're already doing well at work and have mouths to feed and bring up?
I think I'd start at the summer either side of my first year at uni. I couldn't fail to be happy back then. One because I was starting a new stage of my life, the other because I'd successfully completed the first year. I had a job that fed me and supported my studies. Good times.
Maybe even the best of times.
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