fascinate your reader from the opening lines: how to raise hell and cause trouble

1

Rules, of course, are made to be broken. As your understanding of fiction deepens, you can start working (and experimenting) with the principles behind them.

Here are a few rules about how to open your novel:

DON'T open with description.

Description is static. Static means boring. It doesn't matter what you're describing: description is passive and inert and sits on the page.

You need to emotionally engage the reader and get them curious and worried. Description doesn't do that.

DO trust...