Avoid Opening With Dialogue
It’s a typical pet peeve of editors and agents: Stories that begin with dialogue.
In the latest Glimmer Train bulletin, author Benjamin Percy explains why a dialogue opening is so often ineffective:
When a reader first picks up a story, they are like a coma patient—fluttering open their eyes in an unfamiliar world, wondering, where am I, when am I, who am I? The writer has an obligation to quickly and efficiently orient.
Which is why writers should avoid opening with dialogue. I know, I know—you can think of ten thousand awesome stories that do exactly that. I don’t like any them.
Read more of Percy’s essay—in the latest Glimmer Train bulletin—by clicking here.
Or read two other essays from the bulletin:
“Good writers figure it out on their own,” says Micah Nathan.
What is writing? Why do we write? Johanna Skibsrud discusses.
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Jane Friedman
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When I write, I start with painting an opening scene for my readers. I want to slowly draw them into the story and help them get their feet wet first and foremost. When a story opens with dialogue, it makes *my* eyes roll up in my head even before I finish the first two sentences, and I've assumed that has the same effect on readers who choose to read my stories.