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How to Begin: The Find-Given Method

Outlining a story of your life is like solving a math problem. When starting a complex math problem, there are two things methodical students write on scratchpaper. First they write “Find” for the type of answer they want to solve. If the problem is finding the height of a staircase, then students begin a problem with “Find: height in feet” as a plan to find the units. Secondly they write “Given”. If the problem has a length of 24 feet and an angle of 60 degrees, then students “Given: 24 feet long, 60° angle”. (The answer is 12.) If they don't know the answer right away, they do a variety of things like drawing pictures of stairs or a triangle. They might look in the back of a math book for a formula, copy a theorem or use a calculator. When they solve the problem, they end with a solution. Not  mathematically inclined?

 Outline your story by first writing (or typing) “Find” and “Given”. Instead of finding a fixed answer, you'll have a rough outline of what your story's about. Knowing, or at least estimating, what your story is about will create structure based on the outline.

After “Find” list all the goals you remember ever having. Did you at one time want to pass a difficult class, win a contest or get married? Did you start out wanting a fun vacation, a great job or with a New Years resolution? Rack your brains and remember all the things you've wanted to 'Find'. These can end up being mentions, short stories, long stories, or entire memoirs. After brainstorming, call each goal you want in your story a “Chapter”.

Now start a new piece of paper for each of your Chapters. Write out “Given” and brainstorm every piece of data about your quest. Did you work really hard to find what you were looking for? What were the pivotal turning points? Draw pictures. Write down what smells, name, images and specific places you remember. Repeat the brainstorm for all the things you wanted to “Find”. Don't stop with your memories. Search online, ask anyone who might remember and dig through anything you've saved or written. These are all starting points for writing a full story.

The essential part of the outline, your 'answer' is to form a beginning, middle and ending to each of your chapters. This is requires honesty, as you might have always wanted to get married or always expected to go to college. Try to specify a wedding or a college campus or whatever made an impression as a child, to have a solid beginning.