One of the most important steps in writing a story, any story, is your beginning. The opening sentence, the beginning paragraph, the first page - That's your chance to hook your reader into turning the page and being so intrigued that they are compelled to buy the book.
Sounds easy, right?
Not as easy as you'd think. One of the mistakes new writers tend to make is to start the story in the wrong place, or opening with an action that isn't exciting, like waking up in the morning. Many of those in the know suggest starting in media res, that is to start in the middle of the action.
Out of curiosity I decided to pull a couple of my favorite books and see how they started:
From the book I'm currently reading: THE RED NECKLACE by Sally Gardner: "This is Paris; here the winds of change are blowing, whispering their discontent into the very hearts of her citizens."
From GRACELING by Kristin Cashore: "In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind."
From HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins: "When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold."
From TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer: "I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this."
From HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE: "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."
What do you think of those opening lines? Which one is your favorite?
My agent, Kate Schafer Testerman and another agent, Kristin Nelson, held a first pages panel in Denver recently and Kristin blogged about their thoughts on how to best start your story. You can read the entire post here. I can tell you this much: They would have requested to read one (1!) out of the 20 first pages that they read.
There's another good article on setting the hook from editor Alan Rinzler which you can read here.
Here's the opening line of my current WIP:
From PULSE by Kiki Hamilton: "The day they found the first dead girl on campus started out like any other day."
What's the first line of your current WIP? Post it here and let's share!!
