Start with a Word
Start with a Word, Marilyn McEntyre. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883162) 2026.
Summary: A book on writing using the works of other writers and creative writing exercises that help writers find their own voices.
I’ve faced it as has probably every writer. The blank screen or page. Figuring out how to pour onto the page the story or ideas that have lived within. As with other crafts, aspiring writers take classes, workshops, or even enroll in MFA programs in writing to learn their craft. Many of the programs afford the opportunity to learn from accomplished writers. Or, you could read and practice this book. Marilyn McEntyre is a writer who cares deeply about words and how we use them and she is a teacher who has taught writing in a number of classrooms.
This is not a manual of style or an instruction manual. Rather, it combines examples of good writing with exercises that “work all the different muscle groups” involved in good writing. She begins by encouraging writers to read good writing and to become attentive to the ways each writer tells a story or conveys an idea. She also makes a telling observation about good reading. Good reading gives consent, or if we cannot give consent to what we are reading, understands why.
Each chapter begins with an imperative in the title. “Begin Beginning,” “Move the Camera,” Develop and Digress,” and so forth until we get to “Know When to Stop.” Each chapter uses a variety of literary passages to illustrate an aspect of the writing craft. In “Move the Camera,” for example, she cites a passage from the work of Willa Cather of scene changes as the narrator walks with her grandmother to a prairie garden. In “Find Out Who’s There” on character development, she quotes a passage portraying Old Jack from Wendell Berry’s Memory of Old Jack. Likewise, in “Get to Know Your Narrator” she uses the example of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby.
Then, each chapter also includes numerous exercises. The first, from which the book gets its title, is “begin with a word.” Specifically she suggests words like ticklish, rocking, gracious, custard or dolphins. The idea is almost any word will do. And go from there and see where it leads. Also, it’s alright to start over seeing how some beginnings work better than others. Throughout the book, there is a sense of playfulness, similar to the “studies” artists do where they try different techniques.
However, I thought one of the most significant chapters was “Do the Word Work.” McEntyre’s care for words comes shining through, and one glimpses her sense of the holy calling of writing. For example, she states:
“I’ve also written about what can happen when you pause over a word or phrase, ponder it, look up its history, pay attention to associations that come from it, reframe it, and share it in lines that make it new. I deeply believe words can be channels of healing and grace. They can have a sacramental character: they can help bring into being the things they name” (p. 45).
She goes on to list some of the ways we do good “word work” including telling the truth, caring about precision, not tolerating lies, and practicing poetry, and many more.
McEntyre also believes we write from the inside out. She explores a range of life experiences we may have and encourages reflection to discern what we may have to say. She asks us to identify “What truths have I come to that need or deserve to be told?” She then follows serious self-exploration with playfulness, particularly holding up the writing of Anne Lamott.
As already noted, she advocates writing poetry even if we focus on prose. Poetry attunes us to rhythm, images, and precision with words. Sometimes, it may be simple as taking a longer sentence and breaking it into phrases, line by line. Then, we notice how we see and hear it differently and become aware of its cadences.
The book concludes with an Afterword on editing. One of the axioms of writing is “there is no good writing, only good rewriting.” McEntyre gives a number of tips of things we might scan for in our work: verbs, time markers, sentence structure, sentence starters and endings, sentence variations, abstractions, images and metaphors, cadence, tonal cues, omissions and more.
This is a useful guide for anyone who writes, whether it is a blog (a form of essay) a podcast script, devotional reflections, sermons, poetry, or longer form fiction or non-fiction. The whole book challenges us to keep company with good writers. In a time when words are used both poorly and with ill intent, she calls us to the good, the true, and the beautiful in writing and offers us examples and prompts to how it is done. She both trains us in the craft and offers us a taste of the adventure. And it all starts with a word.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
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