When I first started writing, I never gave a thought to developing the
It is nearly futile to worry about the
When you get to that point, you’re ready to think about your
You want something snappy. Something that will reach out and grab the reader by the throat. You might want to use heavy alliteration. You might want to scare the daylights out of the reader. That first line will grab your reader and pull them in. This is called “setting the hook”. Sounds like fishing, huh? In a way, it is. You’re fishing for the reader, and trying to keep them from passing your story in favor of another one.
Would you rather read a beginning that says, “Dad had to kill chickens that day so I ran away and cried.” Or would you rather read, “Dad entered the house with bloodshot eyes, carrying a bloody axe. I scrambled for the back door, screaming.”.
This is misrepresenting a scene, but it works and seasoned authors use it all the time. Use all the excitement you can muster to hold the reader’s attention.