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The moment I realized my opening hook was killing my story
I spent about 3 years writing fantasy short stories and always started with weather or scenery because some writing guide said to 'set the scene.' Then I joined a local critique group in Boise last fall and the first comment on my piece was 'does the rain matter to the plot at all?' and I realized I had been wasting every reader's first paragraph for years. Has anyone else had a similar wake-up call about a writing habit you thought was standard?
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sandra1463d ago
The funny thing is that hook doesn't even have to be dramatic action. I cut a whole two paragraphs of a chase scene once and started with a character noticing their shoelace was untied. That tiny detail set up their distracted personality way better than any sword fight could. Sometimes the smallest, most boring thing tells the reader what kind of story they're actually in.
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angela_wilson783d ago
Gotta ask @sandra146 did you ever worry that starting with something so small might lose readers who were expecting more action upfront? Or did that worry go away once you saw how well it worked with beta readers?
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