DISCLAIMER: If the contents of this post about how to write effective beginnings seem familiar to you, you’ve got a good memory. You’ve also probably been reading the MUF blog for at least two years. Let me explain.
A couple of years ago, I posted about key elements that should be present in a story’s opening lines, and I used Wendy Mass’s Every Soul a Star as a model. Today’s post is going to revisit the same book. And I’m so lazy, most everything else is the same, too. But there’s one key difference:
Wigs.
Now, instead of reading, sit back and relax. Grab your favorite beverage. Then take just 3 minutes to watch my video on what you can do with your story’s opening lines in order to hook your readers.
So . . . what’s a book you’ve read that pulled you in from the opening line? What struggles and/or successes have you had at crafting your own effective beginnings? Feel free to post in the comments below.
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Along with his MUF posts, T. P. Jagger can be found at www.tpjagger.com, where he provides brief how-to writing-tip videos as The 3-Minute Writing Teacher plus free, original readers’ theatre scripts for middle-grade teachers. You can subscribe to his e-newsletter and/or his YouTube channel in order to be notified when new videos are posted in “The 3-Minute Writing Teacher” series of how-to writing tips. |
This is great, TP! Love the wigs, and voices! I adore the opening line of Sarah Weeks’ So B. It. “If truth was a crayon and it was up to me to put a wrapper around it and name its color, I know just what I would call it – dinosaur skin.”
Thanks, Michele–glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for sharing the opening line of So B. It. Definitely a winner!
-T. P.
Great video, love how you illustrated the multiple POV’s. Some of my favorite author opening lines include “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife (Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman) I always found it interesting that he chose to feature Jack’s POV first.
I also really like this one, so I included the first two passages “If I had to do it all over again, I would not have chosen this life. Then again, I’m not sure I ever had a choice. These were my thoughts as I raced away from the market, with a stolen roast tucked under my arm (The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen).
Thanks for sharing, Brenda. Those are both some terrific beginnings! 🙂
-T. P.