Great Beginnings
-Essential to get people to read your book
· 13 Lines is all you get to pull the reader in. Have you included an introduction of your main character and either the introduction of the main conflict or a foreshadowing of it in that time? You should have.
· Grab the Reader- You’re not in Kansas anymore. The beginning of “Wizard of Oz” with the black and white footage will never fly in a novel. Get right into it.
· Main character and conflict up front- Make me care. There has to be some emotional connection that yanks in the reader and keeps them there. Unanswered questions turn pages.
· Foreshadow- Even if your novel starts elsewhere, a hint of what to expect should be at the front of the novel. Within the first chapter or so you need to create a contract with the reader of what they anticipate. Although they love twists and turns, a writer still has an obligation to fulfill that contract for the reader to be satisfied.
· Biggest Mistake of New Writers- More than dream sequences, flashbacks and unexpected surprises that have nothing to do with the plot, the biggest mistake new writers make is not starting at the beginning. Your story begins when your character is thrown from his normal existence into the conflict that is the heart of the story. Many first books don’t really begin until page 100. Don’t be surprised if you have to drop that much writing and put the information in dialogue exposing back story.
How to begin?
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1. Interesting description.
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2. Sound.
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3. The past in the present.
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4. Exclamation.
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5. A thought.
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6. A complaint.
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7. A surprise.
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8. A question.
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9. Sound, repetition, and simile.
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10. Exclamation, repetition, strong feelings.
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11. Extremely strong feelings.
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12. A series of questions.
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13. Scary, exciting, or intense moment
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14. Main idea.
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15. Something interesting to come.
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16. Conversation.
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17. Reveal something unusual.
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18. An unsettling description.
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19. Unusual image of a character.
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20. Anecdote.
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21. Describe the setting.
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22. Address the audience.
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23. “Show” feelings.
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24. Comic story.
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25. Challenge the reader.
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26. Focus on something important.
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27. A list.
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28. A scenario.
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29. Fantasy or fairy tale-type language.
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30. Simple action to complex realization.
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31. Startling statement.
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32. Thesis.
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33. Something outlandish
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34. Fast action.
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35. A saying.
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“The beginning novelist is apt to dally around till he gets in gear… he meanders until he gets his bearings. In a play it’s called ‘the horrible scene” where a playwright tries to explain who everybody is. It isn’t good in a play but it wrecks a novel.”
-Editor Ellis Amburn
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