The First Piece of Advice

The First Sentence

But thank you all so much for checking this out. I can offer advice that can help you be creative, because if you can’t be creative, you might as well be dead. If you don’t have a way to express yourself, you are already in a prison, staring at a television where you keep saying “I can write this.” The first lesson I impart to you is, do it. Make time for it.

You’ll say “I don’t have time” and I’ll say, “In 2021, I don’t see anyone going anywhere, so now’s the perfect time.” As we are all sitting inside our houses, hiding away, let’s all remember what's important. You need some time to yourself. So, tell the kids “Dad,” or “mom needs some time to herself.”

So, you got this great idea, and I want you to look up the beginning to A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Mouthy first sentence right, but it’s not so bad. This is a roundabout way of Dickens writing about all the things that described the French Revolution. It seems like Dickens couldn’t make up his mind on what he wanted to say, but it does keep you thinking about what he couldn’t comprise in a single sentence. It’s a sentence that is not bound by one or two factors that the reader must know about. He was describing an ethos. A way of life that he couldn’t see in one single sentence.

“You can also have a real simple beginning too. The famous opening line from Moby Dick is “Call me Ishmael.” That’s probably the least confusing way to write an opening sentence as it describes a character as he’s calling out his name for everyone to hear. It’s not describing a time, but telling readers what his name is. It’s not like Eminem when he says, “Hi My name is…” but it’s not that bad of an opening sentence. If you are going to write in first person, you must understand the beauty and poetry of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. (Get all your laughing out now!) It’s a book that is American in every right. It’s as monumental as the algorithm that Zuckerberg created to make Facebook. It’s the catalyst for all American Fiction and every writer fears to read but wants to be.

I read Moby Dick when I escaped the jaws of a blood clot at 21. I felt wiped and shattered and in Moby Dick, Melvillle helped me understand what I almost died to become. A creative writer who now had character, and grit. I needed an escape from the monotony of a day job, and Herman Melville, when I sat in the bookstores, was lost in the wonder and splendor of his sentences. I don’t think I got it, but to describe poetry into prose, would hinder the poetic sentences Melville uses to describe Ishmael’s journey on the Pequod.

So, I won’t bore you with the rest of a lesson, but these two sentences are the whole of English and American literature. Through these two sentences, you will find your own path. I encourage you to read both Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities” and Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” But don’t worry, all in good time.

Thanks for reading.

-Louis