Early on, I made the mistake of trying to answer questions about a character’s motivation or critical elements of the plot, knowing those were essential, and thinking the earlier they were out, the more the reader would appreciate it. I’m not much of a first sentence type of guy, but I am a first paragraph or two sort of guy, and I think those paragraphs are crucial. The truth about a situation is always big enough to sustain someone’s attention.įrom Opening a Story the Right Way by Charles Baxter It’s better to start with a small mystery and build up to a bigger one. Besides, screen culture does violence better than written culture, so leave the big violence to the movies. But hooks are hard to live up to you can’t stay at that level. The assumption is that we have the attention spans of chimpanzees. We’ve all watched a lifetime’s worth of TV and movies that put big and often violent events into the first five minutes as a hook. You don’t have to set a Chevrolet on fire or have someone murdered on the first page to get the reader’s attention. Once your characters develop and the plot grows in directions you didn’t expect, you may see the perfect scene to start things off with.įrom 4 Tips for Breaking the Seal by Andy Weir
#PLACE TO WRITE STORIES HOW TO#
And as you work forward in the story, you’ll get an idea about how to work backward. The first words you write might end up being the middle of Chapter Three. The first line of a book is critical-but there’s no rule that says you have to start there. If you don’t know where to start, don’t bother deciding right now. (Biographile is Penguin Random House’s site dedicated to biography, memoir, and truth in fiction.) These excerpts come from Write Start, a new Biographile series that shares tips, advice, and poignant personal stories from popular fiction and non-fiction authors.
Read on for ideas from eight authors on how to kick-start the writing process. Getting the first sentence on paper can be one of the most difficult challenges a writer faces.
0 kommentar(er)
