Occasionally, I’ll get an editorial request that makes me sit straighter in my chair.
“Hi. Hello. What is this?”
My eyes race down the screen like there’s an Olympic medal for reading… Then the sample ends, and I’m flooded with disappointment. I need more story!
There’s a certain magic to scenes that propel readers throught the story. Let’s break down the alchemy of golden first pages.
Master the opening line.
“It’s a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight-thirty a.m. on any given morning.”
~Elle Cosimano, Finlay Donovan is Killing It
“Today was the day a thousand dreams would die, and a single dream would be born.”
~Mary Pearson, The Kiss of Deception
“When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.”
~Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist. And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”
~Laini Taylor, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Instead of Googling “best first lines,” I kicked back and asked myself, “What are the best opening scenes that you—Becky Wallace—can remember.” My brain kindly provided these novels; lo and behold, they all have excellent opening lines.
So, let’s break down what we’re seeing in these quotes: humor, heartbreak, an unkind observation, and lovely, lyrical prose.
Even though these opening lines are from different genres, each accomplishes four things:
- They make the reader curious.
- They set the conflict.
- They supply an unfamiliar detail.
- They capture the tone.
How many of those items can you work into your opening line? All of them? Two? It takes workshopping and effort…and sometimes powerful first lines don’t pan out.
It’s not the end of the world. If the opening line isn’t happening, make it a strong opening paragraph.
Give the readers something they can’t ignore.
Of all the novels I’ve read in the last fifteen years, there’s one opening scene that I will never forget. It’s from Beth Revis’s Across the Universe.
The opening line is good, but it’s not overwhelming.
“Daddy said, ‘Let Mom go first.’”
The rest of the opening page, however, is unreal. Here’s the opening paragraph:
DADDY SAID,“LET MOM GO FIRST.”
Mom wanted me to go first. I think it was because she was afraid that after they were contained and frozen, I’d walk away, return to life rather than consign myself to that cold, clear box. But Daddy insisted.
It got you, huh? The bullet points above apply here, too! It creates curiosity, demonstrates conflict, provides an unfamiliar detail, and captures the tone. *chef’s kiss* Perfection.
Don’t be afraid to start in the middle of a scene.
Beth Revis could have started the novel with the main character, Amy, and her family arriving at the space station. She could have demonstrated the conflict between child and parents or explained in detail that Amy and her parents had been selected to join a mission to find a new planet. Part of the mission required them to be frozen so they could live for hundreds of years of space travel.
At what point did your brain start skimming that paragraph?
The author made a smart choice. She showed the reader the glitter, so they’d stick around to find the gold.
The explanation for why Amy and her family are being frozen isn’t layered in for six more pages, but the writing is so compelling that if I stuck around for six pages then I’d definitely stick around for sixty more.
Starting the opening scene in media res—the technical way of saying “without preamble”—adds a layer of tension, suspense, and mystery.
In grade school, we’re taught that every story has a beginning, middle, and end. That’s true. A story has to start somewhere.
But the best part of being an author is that you get to decide what’s the beginning and what’s just backstory.
