‘va6r2018 10 Ways o Start Your Story Beller | WritersDigest.com Hoss Register Logln ‘Searcy The Writing Prompt Boot Camp ‘Subserbe to our FREE eal newalitr and recave 3 ‘nter your ema adress here Finvnotavobot ae ai SS 10 Ways to Start Your Story Better er tone By: Jacob M. Appel | March 29,2011 ‘The sertnce you are curently reading has the potential o band isa indelibly upon our cultural consciousness anda altr the course of Westom Cvlzaton. OK, maybe thas an exaggeration, Bt what author doesn't dream of eating an opening tn tha wil achiowe the ical acogniton of Call me aha or he say power ata he Begining, God eretad the Heaven an the ert ."? awa, 8 ating and busines, intl reactions mater. You dont gels second chance, a8 mouthwash commercials often remind ue 0 make fst imareeson ‘This posts by Jacob M. Appel ‘Appoisa physician, atomoy ae Diethiit based Now Yor Cy ‘eth author of more than two hundred pushed shor stares and ‘9 pastwiner ofthe Boston Reviow Shor Fiction Compattion, ‘he Wiliam Faure. Witom Wisdom ‘Award for tho Shot Story, the Dart ‘ward the As &Letere Pr for “icon, te North Amarcan Review's Kurt Vonnegut Prize, and mor. Vist tim atjacobmappet com Sols unfortunate tt opening sentences frequently receive shot shin wetng workshops. Whe ing aspiring tera on the sublets of charactarzaton sr po, ew, any, wing instructors ale lessons on ‘rating ars Ine, or even an intoductry paragraph—though many agents and eto, i nt impressed ‘tara sentance or wo, wl read no further. started dvoting an entre session of my wing clas to ‘opening Ines when | ealzd that th ast formal insuston Thad onthe subject was tho grade school ‘onion tha tres should Begin wth a hook Inthe yours since, Te come to elee that the fate of ‘most trary endeavors stale wii the nal paragraph—and that the seeds of thal umph o defeat ‘are usually sown bye endo the very rst sentence ‘Think of every opening ne you wie as pebble assed down a mourtainie: The tone may ot back and forth within aie path, bung up force, ut he tajactory os ital release largely determines is subsequent routs. Nove forgo thatthe entire cours of sor or nova, tke an avalancho, is gel ‘etned wit is it seconds. To ra compeling tory, you must rt launch tin the rh recon, Hore are 10 ways odo 1 But momenta, ‘The est earinal ae of openngtness that hey should possass moto the indvidualcraft elements that ‘make up the stry a8 a hla. An opening line should have aasincive vice, a paint of view, arudmeniary Plot and some hint of chareterzaton. By ho end ofthe fst paragraph, we should ao know th sting ‘and conte, unless ther is a particular reason fo wild thisnfrmation hp www writersdigost comwritng-ariclesiby-writing-goallwitetrst-chaptor. got started/10-ways-to-startyourstory-botter 19‘va6r2018 10 Ways o Start Your Story Beller | WritersDigest.com ‘This need not ead o elaborate or complex openings. Simplicity wil sues. For example, be opening senlenes of Flannery Connors A Good Man Is Haro Fin ol he reader “The granmether dit want to goto Florida Aeady, we have a tte vice—somenha dn, poasbly veneer to {he granametner wth a definite arte. We have a base Po: comet over aourey. And wo have a sanso of charactorzation: a subbom o datermined elderly weman. Although we donot know the precise soting, we can ule out Pao Athos, kal under the Borgia and countless others Allo hat n eight words. Yot what ‘mato mosis that we have drecion—that © Connor's opering i ol at, Inmet, we fac a sores of potent question: Wty didn te grandmother want ogo Flr? Were alse, anyhoo, she wish to go? Wh dd want o go a Fld? A sueceastl opening ting raises mutipe uestons, but rot an tne number nother weds, eames momentum ULE, y (et 18 of ur mest popular resources for wrtors (wre you nd answerst al your wring questions) {or one low price, Lirited tne offer Ors hor, 2. Resist the urge to star too early. ‘You might be tomples to begh yournaratve before the action actualy stars, such es when a character wakes up to wnat wi aventuay be a challenging or dramatic day. But ules youre rewrting Sleeping Beauty. waking upis rarely challenging or tama. Oa, when wo sat his way. i's baceuse we're struggling fo wrt ur way nto the narrate, rather than ting the story dovelop momentum fis own. Far beta bgin athe frst moment of large-scale con. the potagoits eay-moening ral ae seri the store, or merely entertain, they can alas be include i backstory or fasbacks—or later, when ne wakes up fora second ime ‘3. Remember that small nooks catch more fish than big ones Many wntere ar aught hat tn mare unveua er extreme th opening lin, the mare likely hey aro “ook” the reader. Bul what were rot taught hat such large hook also have the power to easly ésappoint reader he subsequent nvalve doesnt measure up. yeu begin wring athe most dramatic for tense momentin your oy, you ve Nomhere tego but dowel Senay your Nook extremely strange of msleaing you might have trouble Ivng upto is 2d expectatons. AS fishing buddy of mine ‘explains, th ticks use the smallest hook possible o make a cach—snd then o pull ke crazy inne opposi direction. 4 Open ata eistance and loss In In modein chem ns commonly bpin wi he camera focused clos upon objec and then craw back panoramiealy, afte o revelry ae, such as when wha appears to be a rude for is actualy revested tobe a place of ut. Ths teciqu arly wort in prose, Most readers preter to be"ourded” In cortaxt and than to focusin. Opan your try accoainghy 5. Avoid gating ahead of your read (One of he easiest pital in staring a story so bogin wih an opening tne that confusing upon fist reading, but hat makes perfect sense once the reader learns céitonal infrmation nein the sory. The problem is that ew eader, i contused, wil ver make hat ar. Ta noo saya yu cnt inckide Information n your opening that acquires addtional meaning ones the reader lens more Ta ech gue ls cftan a highly rewarcing tool. But tha opening shoul make sane on both evels—wth and without knowledge he reader wil acquire ltr. 6 Start with a minor mystery. \Wiite you dont want o confuse your readers, presenting tem wih puzzle can behighlefective— paral i the naar also puzated. Ts has he natant act of making the reade” and naar artes in crime. An unanswered question ean even encompass an entre nove, as when Davie (Copperlé ask, "Whsher | shall tum cut oe the hereof my own fe, or whetar ha tation willbe helt by anybody ose these pages must show” 17. Koop talk to minimum. iyo fee! compat bogin a story wit logue, keep in min thal you're thstng your readers ecty Int a malarom a which i eay 6 ose ten, One pose way round ts to Dog wth 2 Sg Ine ‘ot dalogue and then to raw back and ooferadetlonal context before proceeding wi the ret of he conversaton—a rr insiance in which stating cose up and then proving @ panorama sometimes won. Butlong sequences of ialogue a the outset ofa story usualy prove atic ofl. 8. Be mindful of what works. ‘Once you've given some concentrated taught 6 your own opering Ine, obtain copes of anthologies the ‘The Bes! Amoncan Short Stoves and The PENIO. Hany Pnze Stories and red only the fst Setance of hp www writersdigost comwritng-ariclesiby-writing-goallwitetrst-chaptor. got started/10-ways-to-startyourstory-botter 219‘va6r2018 10 Ways o Start Your Story Beller | WritersDigest.com ‘ach story. As with any ter aspect of wens, openings are their an stn art form—and exposure tothe rastervrk of thors ane ofthe best ways le loan. (OF course, the challange of his exe ito aid being edit tory with uch 2 competing opening that you arent able op it down!) 8. When in doubt, test several options Wires are oten advised io make a shot ist ftes ana ty them out on nds and fay Try doing the ‘same with opening sentences. An opening na, ke ail, sometimes seems truly prfoct—unt you come up with soveral oven bot choles. 10, Revisit the begining once you reach the end. Somatimes story evolves $0 sigan daring the wing process that an pening ne, no mater Now bilan, na lenger apples ote sary that allows. The only way to otis sto recorder the opening sentance, Ik thet, onc the fra raf of the stays complete. Oten anew opening is called fo. That ‘doesn mean your rst opening needs tobe scrapped entirely instead, lt away fr use na fate projec. "Noo fo sy, bilan opening fre cannot salvage a story that lacks ater mars, nor will your story be accepted for pblcaon based on he opening alone, Bul ina trary envionment where journals and publishing ouses receive lage qunties of submissions a itintive opening ne can Nap define a pace [Avtng opening can even serve as shorthand for ananire soy, o that haad eat, ling around table a they evaluat the crdme del slush pl, ay refer toyour pce not byt it, but asthe one that bogins wi the clocks stikng 13" (a5 does George Orwel's Ninetoon Eighty-Four, Evan ator he ros of ho ‘tory has ovnporled rom conscious memory the opening may sek wih ctor, an ron peg pen whe to hang ter ats—and, with any luck, wil have tha fet on readers, to. [My oun persona favoite opening is the st ne of Etzabeth Grave's tory “The Body Shop, which appears in The Best American Short Stari 1991 begs: “My mother hed me srthe eyes.I dare you notte go out andrea what comes next ‘Check Out Thess Great Upcoming Writers" Conferences + duly 28,2018: Get Puleres" Conference of Tennessee (Nashville, TN) + duly 30, 2018: Coteado Wing Conferance (Denver) + Aug. 12-4, 2006: Wier’ Digest Conference New York Cy) + Sept 9, 2016: Sacramento Cavfrenos for Witers (Sacramento, CA) + Sept 10,2016: The Cnesapeaks Wing Werkshop (Washington, OC) + Sept 10,2018: Whing Workshop of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA) + et. 15,2018; Books by te Banks (Cinna, OM} + Oat 28-90, 2016: Wer’ Digest Novel Vining Conference (Las Angeles, CA) + Now 19, 2016: Les Vegas We Now Conference (Las Vegas, NV) You might also ike: + Smart Ways to Get Organized and Be Productive + Wits @ Standout Chapter + Bator Approach to “Wr Every Day” + When You Novel Wing Gcks + The? Teal f Dialogue Haven't Weten Anything Yet, Weng fr Beginners, How to Improve Writing Skis, How to Start Wing @ Book, tt Chapter, How to Writ a Horror Story, Weng Horror, How to Write a Mystery, Wieting Tilers, How to Write « Romance Novel, Romance Writing, Literary Fetion Weting, Spintual_ Wiring, Writing for Children & Young Adults, Wrting Sclance Fiction & Fantasy, Writing Short, Tacs craftechnique, creativity exercises, getting started, novel RELATED POSTS 5 Wiring Perspectives to Be Thankful Fr htpJwwnwritersdgest.comleditr-blogsgulde-te- terary-agens/Sowrting perspectives thankful] 65 Pifate to Avoid When Writing LGBTAH+ Characters in Teen Fiction Litt: waltersdigestcomiedtorlogs/guidedodterary.agents/guesticolumnelépital Igotalcharacters-ten-letion) ‘The Great Debate: To Prologue or Not to Prologue? [tip:lwww.wrtersdgestcomiettor blogs!guie-to-itrary-agotslratt-and story boginningslgrat-debat-prologue-not prologue] {Launching Into Scenes with Action [htplWwwwwrtaredigest.comieditor-logs!here ‘eaiexcerptalaunching-ecenesacton] ‘The ABCs of Story: Pots, Subplots, and Sub-Subplot [tp:Iwww.wrtersdigest comer. blogsthere-are-no-ules/excerpts/abes-storyplots-subplots] hp www witersdigost comwriting-arclesby-writing-goalwitetrst-chaptor.got-started/10-ways-tostar-yourstory-botter 39‘va6r2018 10 Ways o Start Your Story Beller | WritersDigest.com DID YOU LOVE THIS ARTICLE? 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