6 Tips for Writing Your Opening Scene

The first few pages are often the most intimidating to write, but they don’t have to be! Young Writer Claire S. is joining us today to share six key tips on how to write opening scenes:

Sometimes I spin a story idea in my head for a day or two, imagining the characters and creating the story’s fantastical world. When I finally sit down at my computer with a blank document, I’m totally excited to write the story that I had been creating in my mind! Then I write out a couple of paragraphs and realize it’s not what I thought or imagined it to be. 

It’ll take me a couple of days, weeks, or even months to dig out the feeling or idea I really wanted to transpose. But in those few days, weeks, months, I’ll be trying to find my inspiration. I’ll be playing around with ideas, listening to music, drawing, even, so I can build the story I so desperately wanted to write.

So a couple of tips for writing your first pages? No problem. Here are some tips that I try to keep in mind when I sit down to write the start of a story.

1. Draw in your audience.

Remember that your first sentence, the sentence to lure in the audience (not to mention yourself), is the Rube Goldberg to your whole novel or short story: it’ll set your story in motion. It’s got that “first sentence power.” And, remember, you are your novel’s first audience, so it should interest you. But also keep in mind that nothing is perfect! If it doesn’t sound exactly right, you’ll get a chance to revise it in later drafts.

2. Show your characters.

Think about how you want to introduce your main character(s). The scene, the dialogue, the entire mood can be introduced in the first couple of pages. You may even want to try and transform yourself into the character, (well, not really) by thinking in the way you’d want your character to think and respond to what’s happening at the beginning of the story.

3. Don’t worry about messing up. 

Forget about errors or mistakes, they are the antagonists of story writing. If you see an error, or that you spelled a word wrong, forget it (for now). Leave it for editing later. Why? Because you’ll feel like re-reading what you wrote, and you’ll start to criticize your work, and you might overthink about what you’ve written. It’s happened to me tons of times.

4. Use music as inspiration. 

Music is an incredible ally. What I mean by that is that there are so many different songs that invoke feelings in you that can make you feel super inspired and ready for the novel creation path. You can even create a “Novel Soundtrack” for songs that help you get into the writing mood.

5. Take breaks when you need to.

If you need a break, take it. I get writer’s block all the time, and sometimes I get frustrated because I just want to write but I can’t. Instead, I’ll just think “Okay, no reason to get mad at my book, I’ll just play a game or go on a walk, and come back to this later.”

6. Get to know and love your story.

Your story can be your best friend. You already started writing a story, and now you have a relationship with the story. It’s up to you to give up on it, or keep going, and make a masterpiece out of something you worked hard on, cherished, cried over, even hated sometimes, because that’s how friendships go too. There’s no strong connection without hardship.

Finally: This isn’t a tip, but I just want to say: You’ve got this. Keep writing, and keep on soaring, because the world is your oyster. Whether you break out or keep hidden, either way, you’re a beautiful pearl.

Claire is a proud resident of California. Going into sophomore year of high school, she’s already thinking about college. She loves dogs, cats, and all animals, and loves to write, draw, and of course, read. Discovering the world of writing was like discovering a piece of herself, and she swears “I will never stop!” Armed with a pencil and a notebook, she plans to take down the world, one idea at a time.

Top photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash