Once upon a time

Philip Pullman believes "We all have such an appetite for narrative…" and like Scheherazade's husband, "…for knowing what happens next." As E.M. Forster explains in Aspects of the Novel, stories satisfy our "primeval curiosity."

Pullman (whose Guardian piece on playfulness I linked to previously) shares some advice on beginning stories: "Get the main character on stage as soon as you can." Timely advice to have arrived in my aggregator (courtesy of my PubSub: Storytelling subscription) as I’ve been agonising over my own beginnings too much of late.