The young people have a phrase for this now, which is “slay in your lane.” That’s a very important principle of writing. You have to work out what it is you can’t do, obscure it, and focus on what works.
It’s difficult to tell the truth about how a book begins. The truth, as far as it can be presented to other people, is either wholly banal or too intimate.
![Zadie Smith Quote - For me, George Saunders novel [Lincoln in the Bardo] is about a problem of pain.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/for-me-george-saunders-novel-lincoln-in-the-bardo-.jpg)
