Tuesday's Writer's Tip - More on Where to Begin #MFRWauthor #Amwriting #Beginnings

Remember, the first paragraph is what leads the reader to move to the second. So how do you make this bit so intriguing they can't resist reading on?

It's a matter of presentation.
You can make this opening unique. I started a book with She was the first woman to turn him down. Starts matters buzzing doesn't it?

There is also something unexpected. One of my books starts with the villain hiding in a cemetery across the street from the hospital. I didn't realize that this was both unique and unexpected until I had an editor remark that she never heard of a cemetery across the street from a hospital. Well, the burial groud was and is still there.

Show a deviation from the routine. Most mornings, John ate a hearty breakfast. Not this morning. Once again the curiosity if raised and the reader wonders why this has happened.

Show a change is about to take place. Suppose you're writing a story where a flood, a storm, something like this is about to change the lives of the characters. The dark clouds rolled across the sky like a giant run unfolding sending chills along Mary's spine.

Or begin with a lot of detail about a mundane object. I began a book when a heroine in the high meadow making a wreath of wild flowers that were known for their healing properties. Immediately this raises questions.

So that opening paragraph is the rope for the reader to catch and be drawn into the story.