|
Most readers choose whether or not to read a book based on
three things; the cover, the jacket and the first page. If you publish with a
publishing house you will have no say about the first two, so it is essential
that you have a wonderful, grabbing opening.
“I value beginnings. I will write the beginning to a
story five, ten, fifteen times, looking for the right mix, an exact feel,
because I know that the beginning will determine how the rest of the story will
shape itself.” Todd James Pierce
Even if chapters 2 through 12 are
works of staggering genius, if the beginning of your story is not interesting,
only your family will read your book.
So what makes a good opening? The
answer is high-quality prose and tension.
Good writing will allow the reader to trust that you have a handle on
the story and are worth listening to. The tension will make them start to
wonder what will happen next. These wonderings are what will keep the reader
turning pages. Let’s look at some successful beginnings.
“On the morning the last Lisbon
daughter took her turn at suicide - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills,
like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where
the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which
it is possible to tie a rope.”
That is from Jeffrey Eugenides’s first novel, The Virgin Suicides. Here is
the first paragraph of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
“I became what I am today at the
age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the
precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley
near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say
about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws
its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted
alley for the last twenty-six years.”
Both of these paragraphs give only
a little information and leave us with many questions. Both hint at dark,
deeply emotional events. Both are about people. If you can include these three
elements in your beginning, readers will want to keep reading.
|
