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How To Write Killer Opening Lines: 6 Principles the Best Writers Know
Don’t open with boring descriptions, drop us right into the story
If writing is war, composing your first line is the handcuffed escape from the enemy’s prison. Do it right, and it’s likely your story will be told for ages.
Do it wrong —and you’re dead.
First, understand this: you’re right to be concerned about your first line. It’s the door every potential reader will walk through to reach your treasured ideas. Although not every one of these principles will need to show up in every first line, at least one should show up in all of them.
I worked in sports and news journalism for five years. During that time, if someone wrote a 1,000-word post, they spent 20% of their time writing 982 words, and then the group would collectively spend the other 80% trying to craft the perfect headline, subhead, and first line. It’s that important.
These first sentence principles apply to all genres. You can use them across fiction or nonfiction, novels or blog posts. Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to spill out your wealth of knowledge into a book, or a young fantasist ready to create your worlds, this post is going to help.
