• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

How to Start a Story

Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Paul Whybrow

Full Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Location
Cornwall, UK
LitBits
0
Given that enormous importance is placed on how a story begins, with literary agents commonly asking for the first three chapters in a submission, there are some useful tips in this article:

How to Start a Story: 9 Tips From Our Editors

It's commonly said that it's the first five pages that determine the saleability of a novel, so anything that helps is useful. Although I can honestly say, that I have never ever chosen a novel by browsing the opening pages. I've certainly been annoyed by some beginnings—not a thing to do to a reader at any stage—from agent to critic to the customer in a bookshop.
 
That really is an interesting article Paul and it is great to hear from editors, who quietly beaver away helping to create great books.

One of the examples used is George Orwell. It just occurred to me that Orwell writes, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Now when you are considering writing an opening line just bear in mind that as far as I can remember Orwell never ever uses a clock striking thirteen again. I am fairly sure I am correct in saying that. So your opening line is about defying expectations and creating a question as one editors says that the reader has to read on to find the answer to. If it is good enough for George Orwell it's good enough for me!
 
Forget five pages. I can tell within the first few lines whether I would toss it across the room or keep reading. :)

Absolutely. Though this is generally with "new" names. A moderately effective first line can be forgiven given a killer first paragraph. But if the author has not grasped my attention by then ... I return it politely to the shelf and abandon all desire to read anything further.

Are we more forgiving of authors we know and have previously appreciated?
 
Do most people start at the beginning when browsing - or just open at random? Might be 2 different decision points: agent catching or sale grabbing. I wonder if they can bind books so they automatically drop open at the best bit.
 
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • Advertising and Social Media
    There has been much discussion in writing circles about how much a writer has to self-promote these ...
  • Future Abstract: Fights at Night
    SATIRE ALERT: The following abstract is entirely fictional and does not represent actual events or s ...
  • Great Novel Openings Quiz
    As writers, we all know how important it is to grip the reader from the very start. Intriguing, surp ...
  • In The Summertime
    In the early seventies, I had a semi-Afro hairstyle and a shaggy beard. . I thought I looked like th ...
  • Working with a Literary Agent
    The Querying In a previous post I mentioned that I was back in the query trenches. To recap, my earl ...
  • Danger! Danger!
    What is perhaps the most feared creature of the Borneo rainforest, I hear you ask? Who is the King o ...
  • The World Has Missed You
         May 2021… COVID lockdown restrictions had eased, so Mrs Treaclechops and I headed to the I ...
Back
Top