The rhinoceros in the room

I often write about beginnings and one sure-fire way of starting a good short story or novel is to pose a question in those first few lines, something that makes you want to read on.

Why is the person in that situation, what are they nervous about, what are they about to discover, what ordeal are they about to experience, why is there a rhinoceros in their living room?

Or perhaps it is a few lines about a character who immediately intrigues us. We have all walked into a room and found our eyes drawn to one person in particular and found ourselves wondering what they are like.

Writing is like that, too, and a good way of starting stories is to draw the reader’s eyes to your character in a way that makes us want to read more, because they have, after all, walked into somewhere that we have created.

Or perhaps, neither of the above fits your writing style. Perhaps it is simply a piece of descriptive writing that is so wonderful, so evocative, so beautifully crafted that your reader simply has to experience more of it.

Whichever option you choose, there is one golden rule on which we can all agree. Don’t bore us in those first few lines - grab us at the start and you’ve won the first battle.

 

John Dean