It is perhaps unfair that story beginnings are the hardest part of the story to write, yet also the most important part of the story. Strong story beginnings are what makes the reader decide whether to keep reading the story or to find another book to read. The perfect beginning should be intriguing, inviting, and interesting.
Intriguing Story Beginnings
Dennis Hensley tells his writing students, “Keep in mind that what you write only has about ten seconds to win or lose a reader. If your [story beginning] is something fascinating that intrigues the reader, he or she will stay with you. If your opening is unimaginative, slow, or routine, your reader will desert you—and fast!” (How to Write What You Love and Make a Living at It, 2000).
Every author should ask themselves what makes their story different than every other story out there. What makes this story new and intriguing? What is the core of the story, the thing that will demand a reader’s attention and have them asking questions and wanting more information? Start with that—a few details, a hint at what is to come. Make it lively, colourful, and new. Don’t use old, clichéd story beginnings like “Once upon a time...”
Inviting Story Beginnings
The perfect beginning perks the reader’s interest and invites them to keep reading. Elizabeth Yates calls the story beginning an “invitation” to the reader (Someday You’ll Write: Secrets of a Story Maker, 1995). Consider what an invitation contains. It must be exciting and interesting, offer a few details so that the person invited knows what is happening and where, yet must show up to find out more. Beginning a story should be the same; give enough details to invite the reader in, yet not so many that they know it all and get bored.
Interesting Story Beginnings
What will capture a reader’s interest? That depends. It can be something new and different, like a strange planet in a sci-fi novel or a deserted island in an adventure story. But it can also be an everyday topic, something the reader already knows, with a new twist or new information. The author may consider what perks their own interest or to think about the audience they are writing for. Even something that seems dull and ordinary can be made interesting with the right twist.
Writing the Perfect Beginning
Knowing what the beginning sentences of the story must contain is one thing, but how does the writer actually write the perfect beginning to a story? Take a look at how other writers have started their stories and novels. Write the story, and then go back and write the beginning last. Leave the story alone for a few days or even a week after writing it, and then ask, “Is this beginning inviting, intriguing, and interesting?”
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