I started wondering why I would bring my girlfriend over to see this deer hanging in the garage and what both she and I were thinking. I started writing around this and one thing led to another. He still feels uncertain about the beginning.
First paragraphs are murder.
I felt I needed to begin with something that explained what was going to come to hold it together a little bit. A lot of my revision was about how to revise the beginning. The essay was not accepted for a while and he attributed this to its length. I thought it was too long and have a revised version which is 10 pages shorter. I went through hell trying to cut it.