Random Writing Tip #5: Begin at the Beginning

If you want readers to want to read past the beginning of your story, it’s important to put some thought into those opening lines or paragraphs (for a short story) or opening chapter (for a longer one.) It’s not hard to do, but you can’t expect to just start throwing words at the page and hoping they’ll stick. You need to answer five basic questions, the five “Ws”, Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Or, to simplify things even further, look at it this way. The beginning of any good story does three things:

It sets the scene in a vivid and interesting way–the “where” and “when” of your story.It introduces the main character or characters in a way that makes us want to read more about them. We should learn “who” the story is about. This doesn’t mean you can’t introduce important or surprising characters later, but we should meet the main character right away.It hints at complications or trouble to come. This is where the “what” and “why” of the story are at least hinted at, if not fully explained. After all, if all was bliss and ease in the world of the story, most readers would soon lose interest. People want lots of bliss and ease in their actual lives, considerably less in the stories they read.