valeria luiselli on sound, memory, and new beginnings

valeria luiselli, in the the new yorker:

When you are still in the early stages of constructing a story—whether in life or in literature—a good beginning is probably one that opens possibilities, rather than narrows them. But in literature, like in life, you never know if a beginning is good or not until much later; sometimes not until the story is finished. It’s a type of knowledge that comes only with hindsight.