Natasha of Maw Books Blog recently interviewed Ingrid Law, the author of Savvy. This quote struck a chord with me:

I decided to write the craziest sentence I could think of without judging it too much.

It’s such a simple idea, but the more I think about it, it’s frickin’ BRILLIANT.

Because when you sit down to write—after you’ve killed time on Facebook and used a toothpick to flick, flick, flick out the crumbs between the keys on your keyboard—what’s the biggest obstacle to getting words on the page? That pesky internal critic, right?

So if you start out by writing the craziest sentence you can think of, you’ve given yourself permission to let the craziness continue. You’ve set the crazy bar. That internal critic will still be there, of course, but that first sentence can be the shiny object you distract her with. Make it so crazy she’ll go on about it for days and days before she gets around to noticing what you’re writing after that.

Let’s try it. To start us off, here’s the first sentence of Savvy:

When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.

I’ll go first, but I know you can be crazier than this:

  • I wish I could pinpoint the exact moment that I started believing my dog Sadie was Ronald Reagan reincarnated, but it’s too late for that.
  • Lynn opened the library doors and snapped her eyes shut—with blue books next to red books next to green books and black books everywhere in between, she might as well turn around and go back home.
  • If I ever find the kid at our school who started everyone making Top 3 Teachers I’d Totally Do lists, I’m going to punch him in the face.

Okay, now go crazy! And please share your craziness in comment form!

Photo by barefootinfla1.

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