REVISE BEGINNINGS

Many first drafts do not begin where they begin, meaning that the initial paragraphs of a first draft can often be cut away or replaced in later drafts. From the first to the final draft, a writer needs to consider the following points about beginnings. A strong opening will have at least one of the following characteristics, usually more. The opening of a story needs to...

 

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Contain Possibility

"to say at once what ought to be said" (Horace)

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"Set the World" (Ford)

Do the readers know where (setting) and who (POV) they are in the first paragraph?

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Begin Medias Res (in the middle):

"He ever hurries to the crisis and carries the listener into the midst of the story as though it were already known"—Horace
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Introduce Mystery or Impossibility  

A degree of challenge helps at the start  

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Set Words Carefully & Promise Heavy Writing  

"You've got to lay stones one on top of the other so they fit together, but you've got to have the strength to lug them around," says Bass (55), as if playing a 500-pound violin."

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Collide Words

"The opening has to be as absolutely compressed as possible, literally jammed together. You take out every spare word, every spare piece of punctuation, so the words are colliding," says Melanie Rae Thon (55). Concision sets a quick pace.

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Ask for the Reader's Attention (Helprin)

A writer's story gets the reader's attention when the writer establishes the lead by paying attention. Use concrete language to construct images with nuances.

 

Other Comments

            "A story is a manufactured thing whose purpose is to get you through it" (Ford).

            "You've got it made if you can get some momentum in the first sentence" (Bass).