Grabbing the reader

As mentioned in previous blogs, opening lines are crucial in story competitions and first chapters going to publishers because you need to do something to grab a judge’s attention straight away.
A number of writers go for openings that start quickly, no slow-burns but statements or scenarios that grasp the reader immediately.
When you have grabbed the attention, it is you alone who can lose it. Yes, over the years I have read great beginnings followed by awful stories and yes, I have read great stories with less-than-impressive beginnings (there is a real art form to stories which start slowly then deliver the punch in the final sentence).
But I have also read great stories with great beginnings, stories that grabbed the attention from the first words and did not let it go.
So worth spending plenty of time getting that first line right.

 

John Dean