I’m one of those readers who scans the first paragraph of a book and puts it down if it doesn’t rope me in. If I’m feeling ornery, I’ll give the author only one line to snag me. So, as a writer, I make a point of trying to opening stories with a pop to avoid losing those readers who are as unreasonably quick to judge as I.
I’m not a fan of setting the scene before diving into a story. Why should my readers be interested in what a character feels or how a setting looks unless they’re already invested in that character or wonder about that setting. As Elmore Leonard—who knew a thing or two about writing—famously advised, “Never open a book with weather.”
Perhaps cozy, romance or “literary” readers have more patience than noir or hard-boiled fans, but my readers want to be hurled, limbs flailing, into the story.
That doesn’t mean that you have to start with something like, “His face hit the pavement hard,” as one of my story begins. You can be gentle if you start with a twist. The unexpected can stand in for the shocker.
Here’s the opening to my story, Honeymoon Sweet:
“For a sweet house, right on Santa Monica Beach, it was unbelievably easy to break into. Mickey found a window he could open with a putty knife, so the double-locked doors were a joke. And Lana disabled the alarm within the forty-five-second grace period before it would have triggered. They were in and no one knew. What a great way to kick off the honeymoon.”
Did it grab your attention? A twisted open implies, right up front, that more surprises are in store. I like that in a story. Sue Grafton used the device to launch an empire. Here’s how she opened A is for Alibi: “My name is Kinsey Milhone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind.”
She lulls you with a straightforward description of a divorcee detective, then smacks you awake with the unexpected.
Another opening tactic is the suggestive hook. In the first paragraph of my first novel Go Down Hard I use an image:
“I look through the spyhole. Gloria has a bottle of gin in her hand and a pair of cuffs hanging from her belt loop. A deadly combination.”
It’s a soft open for a noir thriller, but doesn’t Gloria pique your interest?
Michael Connelly opened The Poet with a suggestive concept: “Death is my beat. I make my living from it.”
How can you put that book down before you’ve satisfied your curiosity about the narrator? Make readers wonder and you’ve got them hooked.
These are just two of a multitude of possible opening tactics, but I hope you got the idea. Bottom line: hit ’em fast and hard and where they least expect it.
Trace Evidence 