Questions to ask yourself before you think about the opening lines

If you’re about to start writing your opening for the first time, you’ll need to be clear about the core
elements of your novel.

And if you’ve finished your first draft and are looking to liven up the opening or first few lines, check
whether the answers to these questions are there—even if they’re simmering below the surface.
You can also see whether your initial answers to these questions are still satisfactory in light of how you’ve
moved the story forward. Rethinking some of these might not only give you the compelling start you’re
looking for, but actually revolutionize your entire story.

Who is telling the story? An outside observer? A first-person narrator?

Who’s the main character? Whose actions will we be following?
Who/what is the antagonist?
Where and when are we?
What’s the situation/problem?
Why should the reader care?
What question does your novel answer (or ask!)?

Components commonly found in cracking openings

If you want to start your stories in a way that sticks with readers, this checklist is a good place to start.

Armed with some of these tools (and note these are not ‘rules’—you won’t need every one of these for your
opening!), you might whittle your opening into something even more spectacular.

A hook/question/mystery/omission
Interesting character(s)
What that character wants and/or needs—and what stops them from getting it
Stakes!
A strong setting
Clear tone and mood
A statement/thesis
The problem(s) of the first chapter...

6 Rules for Great Storytelling

“Storytelling is the greatest technology that humans have ever created.” — Jon Westenberg

1. Great stories are universal

Great storytelling is about taking a piece of the human condition (so things like birth, growth, emotionality,
aspiration, conflict) and conveying it in a unique situation.

Acclaimed Pixar director Pete Docter puts it perfectly:

“What you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to write about an event in your life that made you feel
some particular way. And what you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to get the audience to have that
same feeling.”

One way you can do this is to pull apart the stories you like.

Break down every little element about what you love about them. Those are real feelings you’re having and
you have to recognize them in detail in order to tell a great story yourself.
In other words, self knowledge and awareness are at the the root of all great storytelling.

You are part of the human condition and people will relate to that.
2. Great stories have a clear structure and purpose

Part A (Structure)

One of my favorite ways to develop a compelling story is to use “The Story Spine” formula created by
professional playwright and improvisor Kenn Adams.

Pixar has used this story structure to create so many films we know and love today.

It goes:

Once upon a time there was [blank]. Every day, [blank]. One day [blank]. Because of that, [blank]. Until
finally [bank].
Part B (Purpose)

As Pixar writes:

Why must you tell THIS story?

What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of?

What greater purpose does this serve? What does it teach?

That’s the heart of really great storytelling.

By crafting a story that you are passionate to tell because it serves a real purpose, your stories will have
bigger impact on the world.

I think that gets lost a lot of the time.

3. Great stories have a character to root for (an underdog)

Believe it or not, people want to root for you (the main character).

AND they love a good underdog.

This might seem straightforward but it’s worth keeping in mind anytime you’re creating a story.

Pixar explains that we as the audience admire a character for trying more than for their success. In other
words, it’s more about the character’s journey than it is their actual destination.

When your character is battling against all odds, facing adversity, or their back is against the wall, well then,
you have yourself the makings of great story.

In our modern society, for example, everyone loves a good “rags to riches” story. How many times has
Forbes published an article about the fearless entreprenuer that dropped everything, almost failed dozens of
times along the way, yet still managed to create a multi-million dollar business?

Give the people an unexpected hero to root for.

4. Great stories appeal to our deepest emotions

Psychologists generally agree that there are six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and
surprise.
If you ever watched the Pixar movie Inside Out, you’ll recognize these emotions as characters in the movie.
The more you understand how/when your own emotional levers are pulled, the more you’ll appreciate how
that works in other people (and the more you’ll be able to hone those emotions in your stories).

Consciously being to recognize these various emotions in yourself —and think about the “why”.

Why are you feeling a certain way? How might you be able to take the “why” behind your emotions and tell
a story?

Continuously question yourself in order to understand your own emotional reactions to stories so that you
can learn to tell more authentic stories that reach and move people where it counts.
5. Great stories are surprising and unexpected

We’ve all seen the classic “fairytale” storyline: a helpless princess in need and a charming prince swooping
in to save the day.

Boring (and totally outdated).

What makes modern stories compelling are when our perceptions of reality are challenged or changed in
some way.

Creators like Pixar and Walt Disney use animated movies as vehicles to address real-life phenomenons,
issues, stereotypes, and norms.

Movies such as Brave, Coco, Tangled, and Moana help us to understand and reflect on big, human-centered
topics that we might not otherwise take time out of our day to think about.
Many times those topics or themes are surprising and unexpected, leaving the audience thinking about the
story well after it is over.

If you’re stuck on coming up with something truly unique, Pixar recommends to get rid of the 1st thing that
comes to mind — and then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Challenge yourself to dig deep.

6. Great stories are simple and focused

We as audiences know a good story when we see or hear one.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where you had to keep asking yourself (or someone else)
what was happening in the plot?

Not a great experience.

As creators, we naturally want to include as much information as possible in our stories. We want to pack
the story full of characters and plot twists and dialogue.

And often times we might not even realize that we’re adding layers that don’t need to be there.

Pixar’s advice here is to “combine characters and hop over detours.”

While you as the creator may feel like you’re losing lots of valuable stuff, it’ll set you free in the end and
will allow your audience to get lost in the narrative.

One way to find out if your story is easy to follow is to tell it to a friend or family member who has never
heard it before. Watch their face as you read it and try to see where they pause and what questions they
might have.

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Begin your story well and you will spark readers' interest in your writing project

Every story has to start somewhere. It almost doesn’t matter how you start, but it matters that you start. So
start your story. Whatever it takes to get you writing.

Later, the start of your story will matter very much, because it’s the first thing people will read, and if it
doesn’t work, they won’t read on. Even if you’ve written the most brilliant piece of fiction this century –
especially if that’s what you’ve written – pay particular attention to the beginning so that the rest of your
work gets the chance it deserves to shine.

So, how to begin a story? Let's start with just one basic tip: you don’t have to begin at the beginning. You
can start it at any point in the process. You don’t have to stick with the first line you think of. Or the second,
or the third. The only thing that matters is that the beginning of your story hooks its reader and makes them
want to read on. It’s worth taking time to think of good ways to start your story, so follow our tips on how to
write your beginning.

Spark a reader’s interest

At the start of a story, all you want is for readers to read on. So make sure you begin in a way that makes
them want to with our tips. Pose a question; introduce a character; set a scene; lure them in with enticing
prose; lay a clue to the direction the novel is going to take; plant the seeds of an idea; create a dramatic
impression; give them a taste of action. There are lots of ways to start a story but what they all have in
common is that to be effective they need to make a reader want to carry on reading. The first few lines are
the calling card to get readers (which vitally means agents, editors and publishers) interested enough in your
story to read on.

Put a character in a setting

No, we don’t mean ‘it was a dark and stormy night’, the flowery opening to Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Paul
Clifford that is now regarded as a benchmark of bad writing. But you could introduce a place and create an
atmosphere. ‘Grandma was laying out the cups for the funeral tea when I remembered I’d left the safe open’.
‘Mingus always slept on the red blanket in the back room’. ‘Laurence realised he’d left his phone in the
office’ and ‘He couldn’t see the road for mist’ all locate someone in a place at the same time as introducing
elements that invite people to read on. Whose funeral? What is in the safe? Why does Mingus sleep on that
particular blanket? What are the implications of Laurence going back to the office? Whose journey is being
stalled by mist, and where are they? Straight away, we have characters, locations, and questions begging to
be answered.

Introduce a main character

If you’re writing a character-driven novel or short story, begin with the character. Let the reader see
something about that character that will make them want to get to know them better. Think of it as being
introduced to a real person. ‘This is Emma and she works in HR’ is dull. What are you going to talk to
Emma about? Client confidentiality? ‘This is Emma and she collects taxidermy frogs’ is a conversation
starter.

Don’t try to shoehorn in a full description right at the beginning: ‘Emma had yellow hair and blue eyes and
was madly in love with her boyfriend Greg’ is a terrible start because the reader doesn’t know who Emma is
or care about what she looks like or what she feels about her boyfriend. (You have to make them care).
‘Emma had blue hair and yellow eyes and had just eaten her boyfriend Greg’ is much more intriguing
because it reverses conventional expectations. But better yet, make it something that relates to the rest of the
novel or story. ‘Emma watched the cars crash in the distance,’ is the kind of line that suggests something
about her (she’s the kind of person who watches cars crash/she’s a person who has just witnessed something
dreadful). It also hints at what might be explained in the novel (why the cars crashed and why Emma
watched them) and gives a clue to the writer’s style and what kind of narrative might follow (detached,
dystopian).

If the narrator is first-person, show something intriguing through their eyes and let their voice speak. ‘I’m
watching the cars crash again. I got here just in time.’

Start with action

Starting with action in a dramatic first scene is a good way to create impact and can be a really effective
opener. Begin in media res, literally in the middle of things: at dramatic point in your story. It might be the
discovery of a body if it’s a crime novel; the breakup with an unsatisfactory lover in a romcom. Put your
reader in the middle of a scene rather than build up to it over pages and pages. Keep it active. ‘Emma woke
up, got out of bed, cleaned her teeth and put the kettle on’ is humdrum. ‘Emma jumped out of the helicopter’
is dynamic. Use active verbs. But be careful here – if you want to start writing a novel with a dramatic scene
you have to leave yourself somewhere to go throughout the rest of the story, so build up your story and hold
your big guns in reserve for when you really need them later in the story, to create a dramatic showdown.

Hook them in

How you do this will have a lot to do with what kind of story you’re writing. If it’s literary, it’ll be by
creating a unique voice and a tantalising proposition that will make readers think ‘I haven’t read anything
like this before.’ If it’s crime, your first task may well be to home in on the inciting incident – ie, the crime
that sparks the investigation. ‘The stab wounds precisely corresponded to the positions of the stars in the
constellation of The Plough,’ might make you want to read on and discover about a serial killer with a
penchant for astronomy. If it’s horror, you’ll be wanting to create a suggestion that all is not well: ‘It always
felt damp in that room’. If it’s historical, you’ll need to introduce setting and period as well as character:
‘Abigail wished she had the freedoms permitted to her brother, and was allowed to ride up front on the
coachman’s seat’. It’s amazing what you can do in a sentence when you really think about it.

Make it clear

Although you want to intrigue your reader, you also want to invite them to read on, which means putting
them at their ease so they can comfortably carry on reading. If you can evoke the atmosphere of your novel
in the first few lines, or suggest something about its storyline, or introduce a main character, you’ll be giving
readers a taste of what they can reasonably expect the rest of the book to be like. Readers will be looking for
clues about what to expect right from the beginning so anything you mention at the start will assume a
particular significance.

As readers are actively hoping to be invited in by the start of your work, you want them to be intrigued
enough to carry on reading but not bewildered – even if you’re conjuring a dark wood full of murderers you
need to make your reader feel ‘safe’ – in the sense of understanding that you have created a fictional world
that they can rely on to deliver a satisfying reading experience.

Have a distinctive voice

One of the most important elements at the start of a story is the voice in which it’s told. Your opening is the
first and most important opportunity for the reader to encounter your narrative style, or voice. So give them
a taste of it. Think of the beginnings of stories you love, and how each one could only have been written by
that particular writer, whether it’s Stephen King, Charles Dickens, Zadie Smith or Virginia Woolf. Be like
them, as in write those vital first lines in a voice that’s unique to you. But don’t try and copy them – find
your own writing voice and showcase it to best effect right at the beginning of your story.

If your story has a first-person narrator, you need to establish their voice right at the beginning, so make sure
their first words create an impression, and evoke a sense of the person saying them.

Make it dynamic

Drop readers straight into a scene; give them the impression that they have caught something really
interesting as it’s unfolding. Rather than build up to a climax, put the reader right in the middle of an event.
Think cinematically. The opening scene of The Handmaid’s Tale on TV showed a family being chased
through the woods. At that point viewers didn’t know who the family were or the significance of the chase,
but it made for a gripping start to the series. You can replicate narrative style to dramatic effect in your
writing by plunging the reader into the middle of a scene. No set-up, just action and impact. Later, you will
need to make sense of it but this is a striking way to begin a story if you have an opening scene that justifies
such impact (ie, it might be a great way to launch a thriller, with a fight or chase, but less useful for a rural
romcom, where the village knitting marathon will not lead to the same element of tension).

An arresting line of dialogue

Just as you can be stopped in your tracks by hearing someone say something – in real life, in a play, in a film
– you can grab a reader’s attention from the start with a great line of dialogue. Just make sure it’s either
really great or at the very least has dramatic impact. And remember to add context as soon as possible after
the dialogue, to start to fill in the picture to give the reader a sense of the context in which the words are
spoken. This does not mean starting with ‘I want a divorce’ and adding a mundane line like ‘said Emma as
she filled the kettle while her husband Ian ate his toast.’ You’d need to show how the sight of Ian munching
his way through yet another slice of wholemeal fills Emma with existential despair.

Here's everything you need to know to write dialogue in a story!

The start of your story is so important it’s worth experimenting several different introductions to see what
works best. It may be that you know exactly where your story begins, or it may be that you’re looking for
the best way in. As with everything with creative writing, there’s no one-size-fits-all method, and you need
to apply the best one for your particular story. Test it several ways. Be prepared to revise it when you’ve
finished and refine it until it’s perfect. We hope these story-starting tips will help you. Good luck!

Use a hook sentence

Another way to hook readers with your story opening is to use a hook sentence. A hook sentence is a catchy,
provocative, or intriguing statement that grabs your readers' attention and makes them curious about what
comes next. For example, you can use a hook sentence that poses a question, makes a bold claim, reveals a
secret, or creates a contrast. A hook sentence can also set the tone, mood, and voice of your story. However,
avoid using a hook sentence that is too vague, cliché, or misleading. Make sure your hook sentence is
original, relevant, and true to your story.

Create a mystery

A third way to hook readers with your story opening is to create a mystery. A mystery is a puzzle, a problem,
or a gap in information that sparks your readers' interest and makes them want to find out more. For
example, you can create a mystery by introducing a mysterious character, object, or event, by withholding or
hinting at crucial information, or by raising a question or a dilemma. A mystery can also create tension,
suspense, and anticipation in your story. However, avoid creating a mystery that is too complex, confusing,
or irrelevant. Make sure your mystery is coherent, logical, and connected to your story.