WRITING TIPS
Opening
An Element of Fiction
Here’s another key Element, for if you botch the opening, rest assured that the reader is not going to read much further, and if her or she is browsing in a bookstore or online, well, that’s one book sale you won’t see.
On the other hand, a great opening, such as this from Ambrose Bierce, is bound to entice the read to read on, “Early one June morning in 1872 I murdered my father — an act which made a deep impression on me at the time.”
I really like William Sloane’s observation, “You can tell a book worth reading by its title and the first sentences.”
Valerie Marin also makes a great point, “The desire at the start is not to say anything, not to make meanings, but to create for the unwary reader a sudden experience of reality.”
Susan Langer also puts it brilliantly, “The first line must tear you out of your world and drop you into the world of the story.”
As does Marianne Moore, “If you can’t catch the reader’s attention at the start and hold it, there’s no use going on.”
Quips Lewis Carroll, “Begin at the beginning, go on till the end, then stop.”
As for Flannery O’Connor, “If you start with a real personality, a real character, then something is bound to happen; and…
