A Great Big Piece of The Writing Puzzle

"Your opening should surprise. It should contain the best sentences of your piece, the ones with the most energy and the ones that take the reader right into your world." 

The quote is from Jessica Smock who is an editor at herstories, a site for women in mid-life that write personal essays. She listed numerous things of importance when submitting your work for publication. Then, she stated emphatically that there was one more important than all the others. What is it? The opening hook.

Nearly every book on writing will tell you that you must pull in your reader immediately or you might lose them. True? Yes, I think so. Years ago, people assumed that an English author was going to march you around the mulberry bush a hundred times before getting into the meat of the story. Same with English movies. I don't think that is the usual case any longer. English writers have also learned the importance of hooking their readers/viewers. 

What do some writers do instead of grabbing the reader's attention immediately? They open  with background information or an introduction which eventually leads to the actual topic. They might use paragraphs and paragraphs. In today's world, time is our enemy and no one is going to spend that precious time reading something that is boring. Opening with a bunch of facts and figures or a this is what I am going to write about farther down the page is kind of a 'who cares?' thing. When we say to grab the reader, we mean 'grab them and then hold on.' 

Jessica reads myriad essays submitted for the website. You are going to have to grab her attention (or any other editor) before your piece even has a chance to hook your eventual reader. She's like the barking dog at the gate--placate it with a choice morsel and it will welcome you. 

The poster we have today gives you suggestions for a good opening. We want to have an opening that makes the reader sit up and pay attention whether we are writing fiction, personal essays or ever a poem. Let's take a look at these 5.

1. Ask a question: That can pique curiosity, especially if the reader does not know the answer already.
2. State an interesting fact:  Note the WOW afterward. That tells us that the fact should be very interesting, something to make us open our eyes wider and read on.
3. Imagine...: Pull the reader in by putting him/her into a situation or place immediately. Make them think about what it would be like and they're likely to read on.
4. Use action or onomatopoeia:  If you open with a man being chased through dark alleys, the reader immediately wants to know why he is being chased and who is doing the chasing. They will definitely keep reading. The onomatopoeia suggestion doesn't do much for me but you can use words that sound like what they are--cuckoo, meow, honk for instance. That alone will not grab and hold the reader, however. I'd go with the action first.
5. Use a quote or dialogue:  A quote by a well-known name will be a draw/ You might even use the quote and a question.  Do you know what blind and deaf Helen Keller thought about life? She said......

Do all the things that are important before submitting your work to an editor but pay special attention to your opening.