 |
 |
 |
|
 |
You only get one chance to make a first impression. Open with an exciting, intriguing or amusing first line and you’ll have grabbed the reader’s attention; begin with a dull line, and they’re already thinking, ‘oh no, this is going to be boring.’
There are two simple tricks to make sure you have an exciting first line.
 |
Open with exciting direct speech. When you are under pressure in an exam, and you can hear the clock ticking away, it can be difficult to get started. Exciting direct speech is the easiest way to begin. It has the advantage of forcing the reader straight into the action, and introduces one of your main characters. |
 |
If you are writing in the first person (‘I’), tell the reader something surprising about yourself, i.e. To look at me, you’d never know I’m a grandmother trapped in the body of a seven year-old girl. |
Read the following first lines, all written by girls I’ve taught. Which make you want to read on?
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
The rule is that the first line should suggest that something really important or exiting is happening, or will happen any moment now.
(c) Nick Hitchen 2007 |
 |
Last updated on
August 14, 2007
|