I think many times writers start a story, but they don’t know where they are going with it.
Instead of thinking your story begins where you started writing it, how about making that the middle?
When you think about it, writing the middle of the story is the hardest part.
Doesn’t this represent life?
I know I was born and I know I will die, but I have no idea what is going to happen between birth and death.
Just like I can get stuck in life, I can get stuck with my writing and maybe this is why we get stuck when we write: it mirrors the unknown future of our lives.
Wally Lamb spoke about his book, “I Know This Much is True” when he appeared on Oprah back in the 90s. He wrote what he thought was the beginning, but in the writing process, realized it really was the middle of the story.
Ask yourself, is this the beginning or the middle of my story?
And maybe you’ll find that your beginning isn’t actually where you thought it should be, but instead belongs to part of the middle—the bridge—between beginning and end.