In the beginning

Last month we looked at endings and how they impact on short stories, and this month we’re going to look at beginnings. The story I’ve chosen for this month, A Beneficiary by Nadine Gordimer, has a gripping and intriguing opening line and we’re going to look at how the rest of the story delivers on this opener. As always, you will get the most from the master class if you read the story for yourself: writ.rs/abeneficiary.

 . This is the line Nadine Gordimer chooses to open her story. It sows the seeds of much of what is to come. We have a reference to graves, which will lead us into a story about someone who has died. We have a visual image of a ‘cache’ of papers. And we’re told you shouldn’t open them. Why not? We’re about to find out. We’re going to get a story in which death is important, and in which someone is