Let’s face it. The first scene of your story is like the front door of your house. If it’s dingy, dusty, falling off the hinges, and covered with bric-a-brac and dead ivy, no one’s gonna want to come inside.
But it it’s well lit, clean, and organized, folks are more likely to take a step inside.
I’ve written a number of stories, and have gotten a lot of advice on how to start a new story in the most appealing way. And quite often, the way I choose to start it initially and the final beginning are very different.
Some of the advice I’ve gotten:
- Start with short sentences to make it easy for the reader to enter the story
- Start in the middle of the action
- Change the starting part of the story
- Add more exposition to ground the scene
- Cut out some of the exposition – it’s getting in the way
- Clarify a question/confusion that’s keeping the reader form moving forward
Not that there’s a “formula”, per se, for writing the perfect intro, Every story is different. But what advice have you gotten or given for the perfect first scene?
I always think of The Da Vinci Code… I mean wow… how do you not read on??? He grabs the reader immediately with a unique situation that makes us curious.
I think invoking an emotion is the best way but it should make the reader want to continue. Who’s your target audience? If you want to sell books geared it towards what they would respond to… Since I write romance I start with something that allows my readers to care right away (romance readers want to get firmly in the corner of the POV character) sometimes I show something hot & juicy…
It depends on the story and your audience.
Hugs, Z.
Z. – totally makes sense. I love it when a story pulls me in right away and doesn’t let go.