Ready, Steady, Write - Day 6
Opening lines…..
Opening lines
A good opening line or paragraph is one of the most important ingredients for a story. If you have a good opening, your reader will want to keep reading. Ideally, a good opening should tell us something about the main character and the setting but also have something exciting or intriguing about it. A good opening will answer some of your reader’s questions (like, who the story’s about and when it takes place) but it will leave some questions unanswered (such as, who committed the murder or why the character is standing on the ledge.) Although it can be helpful to mention the place and person fairly early on, it’s usually a good idea to get straight into the action.
If you’re stuck for an opening line, have a look at your bookshelf and steal the opening line of someone else’s book and then write from there. It doesn’t matter because writers are generous people who are happy to share, and your story will end up completely different to theirs because all writers are unique with their own voices and ideas.
Here are some more opening lines you can borrow.
‘Don’t look down,’ said the voice. But George couldn’t help it. He looked down and immediately wished he hadn’t.
The door creaked open to reveal……
There was a loud bang and then nothing.
‘Who sent you?’ asked the voice.
The letter lay unopened on the mat. He knew that if he opened it, it could change his life forever.
‘Grandma’s lonely, rattling around in that old house on her own,’ Mum had said as she’d waved him off on the train. She’d neglected to tell him that the reason she was rattling was that she was a skeleton.
Polly was starting to regret having told Matilda that she didn’t believe in fairies.
Jimmy wanted a pet.
When Juno said goodbye to her dad that morning she had no idea that she was saying goodbye for the last time.
Annie pushed the trap door to the attic open and there it was.