The Page 49 Exercise

Two years ago, when I was participating in my annual NaNoWriMo, I experienced something that every writer runs into at some point: writer’s block. Like most of my NaNoWriMos, I had decided to spend the month mainly writing short stories, with hopes that one would eventually stick and I could work on it for more than just a couple of days.

To generate some possible story ideas, I headed over to NaNoWriMo’s forums. They’re always a hit-or-miss for me, but it’s worth a try. And on this particular day, someone had given the suggestion of reaching for the nearest book, flipping to page 49, and then whatever the first sentence was that appeared on the page, it would become the opening line of your story.

Theoretically, you could choose any other page instead of 49. But the argument was that it was a page number early enough within the book where the action was beginning to take place, so it should provide exciting material. Also, every book should have at least 49 pages. (And I think, because it’s an odd number, it’s just more convenient to glance at the right hand of a novel rather than the left.)

So I picked up the first book sitting on top of my unread pile, turned to page 49, and then typed that specific sentence out as my opening line. This suggestion actually worked quite well for me – I ended up writing 38k words for it.

Now I’ve gotten into the habit of recording the very first full sentence on every 49th page of every book I begin to read. I scribble it into a notebook of mine, ready to use as a launching point for any sort of future story. The subject of some sentences certainly make it obvious which book I was reading, but I’ve found that the more “vague” the lines are, the wider the range it is for me to take the story into any sort of direction I choose.

Some great lines I’ve recorded that I haven’t applied to a story yet:

• He’s talking to her again. 
• You’ve probably heard that he never ages. 
• Her stomach tensed. 
• She unceremoniously withdrew from school and said good-bye to friends in awkward little conversations. 

(If you can figure out which books each of the above quotes are derived from, I applaud you. Because I can only remember two out of four of them.)

Perhaps it’s a weird habit of mine, seeking out every 49th page to see what the first full sentence is, but it’s now become a fun little activity. I think it’s so interesting to see what kind of story you can spin on your own based on those couple of lines.

I hope I’m not the only one who has such “silly” techniques to help ease writer’s block.