Jean Simmons

I woke this morning to news of the death of actress Jean Simmons. Ms. Simmons figures large in my education as a movie lover. With her roles in Spartacus and Guys and Dolls, she left a huge impression on me about what a great actress can achieve in a career. When she moved to working on TV, a move a great many actresses of her generation never managed but which would have saved their careers, I was delighted to find her in roles in The Thorn Birds and Star Trek: The Next Generation (in an episode in which she out-acted everyone else on screen) among others--wonderful character roles the left me almost more impressed with her than her leading-lady roles ever did.

Not only was she extraordinarily beautiful, she had a husky, distinctive voice that I can still summon in memory.

Respect and admiration, Ms. Simmons. And thanks for the wonderful hours of entertainment.

It's Caturday!

To cheer up a sad morning, I'm reposting a video I found in the wtf_nature community to share with my cat-loving friends. The video is about sand cats, small wild cats native to the north African desert. They're fierce--and adorable! Enjoy!

Starting in the right place

I recently mentioned that I was participating (or attempting to participate) in a three-stories-in-three-weeks challenge that therinth mentioned on her LJ. My plan was to write the first story for submission to a particular anthology, and to use it as a way into a character who features in the long-dormant magic-as-technology novel that's been sitting on my hard drive half written for quite some time now. I needed to know more about him and was following a friend's model, writing short fiction about the character to find his place in the longer work. Well, as far as the challenge is concerned, I'm already behind so I'm going to stop worrying about that. But I do want to talk about the process I'm going through.

I started working on the story in the middle of last week (or maybe a little earlier) and about 400 words in realized it was just the wrong place to start. Any story that starts with the viewpoint character blacking out shortly after the opening is just the wrong beginning--it's a sign that I just didn't know what I wanted to do. This morning I attempted to begin the story again--150 words later, I knew I'd chosen the wrong place again. So I started yet again, and I think I've finally gotten it right...but I could be wrong, because I may need to move even further into the action than I have. More writing will tell, but I can see that node in the action and it may provide another entryway in.

Writers often talk about starting the story where it actually starts. A story shouldn't open with a character walking to the cliff; the story should start with the character in freefall, the cliff edge in their metaphorical rearview mirror. I was once accused by someone who was critiquing a story of mine via iChat of strolling into my story. He then pointedly wrote to me, and I quote, "::yawn::". I'm not nearly as thick-skinned as I'd like to pretend I am when it comes to critique, and that really hit me hard. It shut me down to anything else he had to say about the piece he was critting (most of which, as I recall, was negative anyway); it shut me down on that particular piece of writing for weeks; and it's stuck with me until this day. I've been really sensitive about my openings ever since (despite the fact that I've been complimented by writers I really admire about the very same element of my work).

So I'm curious. Writer friends: How do you know the right place to begin? Is it instinctual? Is it a calculated choice? And do you find yourself starting pieces more than once to find that right point of entry? Thoughts?