Writing Those Opening Lines

You've got an idea for a wow of a story. You have an experience you want to turn into a personal essay. You are ready to begin your memoir. You have your novel outlined and are eager to begin writing. You  have a science article in mind for kids aged 8-12. You...

Yes, you have lots of ideas for things you want to write. You're perplexed as to how to begin. What to write for that crucial opening senence, or first paragraph. Why is that bit of writing so important? Because you want to hook your reader immediately. Make them curious. Create something that will make a reader want to move on to the next sentence or paragraph or pages. 

Writers who open with a great many words describing a place where the story begins is likely to lose their reader pretty quickly. Your description might be lovely, but does it pull the reader into your full piece immediately? 

My state authors group contest has a category for writers to enter asking for the first chapter of a novel. Doesn't that tell you that openings are important? 

Kinds of Opening Sentences: 

A. An action:  If you open with your character, human or animal, doing something, your reader is immeidately introduced to a living being. Descritpion can certainly be a part of this opening.

B. A Character:  We learn the name of a character right away and something about him/her. 

C. Setting: If you make the setting memorable in your opening, your reader will want to continue.

D. Dialogue: There is more than one school of thought on this one. I learned from a fine writer that you should not open with dialogue. Have a sentence preceding it to set the scene, then the dialogue. Writers's choice on this one. In the example in our poster, all you'd need to do is reverse it. Show the mother and daughter setting the table, then what the girl says.

E. A Thought:  In this type of opening, a character's thoughts are used to draw the reader in. 

F. A Statement:  With this opening, you'd better make that statement one that leaves a question in the reader's mind, makes him/her move on to see what else you have to say.

Good opening lines make us curious. They can set the theme, be a strong narrative, or make bold statements. 

As a writing exercise, go through your files and select a few pieces you've written but have not been published. (yet!) Look at your opening line or paragraph. If you were a reader, would it make you want to go on? Would it pique your curiosity? Would it make you sit up and take notice? Try rewriting that first paragraph to make it stronger or bolder. 

When you're reading a book, give special attention to the opening line(s). Consider which ones appeal the most to you. 

A few classic opening paragraphs:

The Book Thief by Markus Suzak:  Here is a small fact. You are going to die."

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:  It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celese Ng:  Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over. After the burning, the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too.