Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Pen has hit paper on The Wolf Tree.

Admittedly, it’s nothing to shout about. I’ve merely written and rewritten the opening line about two dozen times. We talked about opening lines a while back, and the decision I made then was to take more time working the opening line for this book. Well, I’ve been doing that.

Ever worked on a single sentence for three days?

The opening line for The Wolf Tree has gone through several major revisions and multiple minor ones. “The” versus “an”. Using an impersonal pronoun instead of a name. Enumerating objects or labeling them as a group.

What have I learned? I learned that this isn’t easy.

It’s asking a lot of a single sentence; to engage a reader, introduce a character, incorporate action and sensory description, set up the conflict, and do it all without being turgid, wordy, or convoluted. My versions have run from Spartan to Proustian as the pendulum swung between extremes. First Reader was helpful, wrinkling her nose at some versions and pointing out clichés that had snuck in under my radar. (Yes, I used a non-standard regional variant past tense verb form there. It’s what I grew up with. Deal.)

Each time I re-worked this sentence, though, it became clearer where it failed. I wrote a new version on the bus, this morning, and I’m pretty happy with it. It sets the tone, the conflict, and the scene in twenty-seven words.

I’ll have to live with it for a while and see if I still like it this afternoon. I’m still not wild about the word “while” being in there.

Call it overkill if you want, but it’s my process, and it works for me.

k