: Getting Started
Ern Carne gives some sound advice on how to grab a reader's attention, creating the desire to read on.
At different times this column will give you some tips on writing a good story. Today I’ll talk about beginning your yarn. Hope it helps.
‘Your first words better be good, or else.'
These words were the opening shot by my tutor in a lesson about beginning a short story. His intention was to drive home to the class how important the opening sentences needed to be to ‘hook’ the reader.
The beginning of your story has to grab your reader, glue them to the page and make them keep reading. In a short story you must make the first line, or at the least, the first paragraph do this for you.
There are other things your opening should do. It must introduce the setting for the story and hint at tensions and problems to come.
Intrigue your reader! With a novel you might get your book picked up in the bookstore because it has an attractive cover, or you are a well-known writer. Then the reader will flip it open and read the beginning. If not hooked immediately, the book is put back on the shelf.
The following are some recent ‘openings’ I have read which do grab attention.
'When we were thirteen, the coolest things to do were the things your parents wouldn’t let you do. Things like have sex, smoke cigarettes, nick off from school, go to the drive-in, take drugs and go to the beach.' - ‘Puberty Blues’ by Kathy Lette.
‘There was once(said Reginald) a woman who told the truth. Not all at once, of course, but habit grew upon her gradually, like lichen on an apparently healthy tree.’ - Saki in ‘Reginald on Besetting Sin’.
'It was the afternoon of the storm when A finally decided to fall in love with Nola Pomeroy or try to shag her or do something special with her in some out-of-the-way place.’ - Gerald Murnane in ‘The Only Adam’ This opening certainly would ensure further reading.
At a Writing class I tutored a friend produced a brilliant short story with the first line, ‘Today is the first anniversary of my rape’ That was an excellent opening to a gripping short story. Who could resist reading more.
Keep in mind the following points for the beginning of your story.
* Grab attention.
* Introduce protagonist.
* Introduce setting.
* Hint at tensions and where the story is going.
Good writing. See you in the bookshop.
