Pointers for Story Lines

Openings And All That Jazz

What do you see when you first begin reading a book?

Its cover? Nope. You saw it before you began reading it.

When you begin a book, you see the first paragraph, aka the opening. (Duh )

So here we are going to talk about good openings and how to make them hooking. To understand how to write a good opening, lets see how a good opening is read.

Example:

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."

I'm sure many of you must have guessed where this is from- Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone Opening paragraph by JK Rowling. Right from the start, you know something is up with these Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. You sense sarcasm in the author's voice and get suspicious right away. Are the Dursleys really normal? What are the 'strange and mysterious' things the author speaks of?

 Anyways, are you hooked yet? (Well, you must be because this is a huge franchise) But if not, here's another one for you:

"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping. "

This is the opening of The Hunger Games Book 1. Suzanne Collins paints a very vivid picture in your head and with this picture she makes you ask what this 'Prim' means to the narrator. What is reaping?

So as readers, what do we conclude?

Every opening should make the reader question things. If there is no question, there are no answers to seek. And when there are no answers to seek, why would the reader bother to read ahead?

Lets summarize what are the things that not only make us read a book, but continue reading it.

1. Narration voice

2. Hook

3. Reader's perception

I'll elaborate.

1. Narration voice- Sometimes when you are with a good-looking guy, your friend warns you 'Don't mix with him. He just wants in your pants.' You hear it and steel yourself against all his charms. You know he left your sister, cousin, best-friend and all other girls that live to speak of this demon. But the moment he looks into your eyes and opens his mouth to say 'I admit, I have had my share of girls. But now I just want to settle down in a serious relationship.' BAM. You assume that girl is you. You can already feel your heart melting, and you can't do anything about it. You know this is total bs, but you still fall for him anyway.

Narration voice is pretty similar to this. A good author can talk about dancing polar bears in the middle of a crime scene and you'd still drink it all in without a single question. Such voices are rare to find, but if you happen to find them, you don't care what the book is about anymore. To explain this aspect, I'd have to give you an example. Lets take some examples from some wattpad books this time because we wattpad folks are getting left out here, aren't we? *encore*

"Its early in the night when I find myself walking down a seemingly abandoned street. The rain thunders down, a wall of water seeping into my clothing, filling my shoes, flowing down my arms and dripping off  my fingertips."

- Cold Fire by shayebay

What the author did here was neither create a hook, nor create a question. Hell, she didn't even give you a proper scene. She simply showed you her prowess in story-telling by building a picture and now you are already hungry for more such imagery. This only solidifies my earlier stated rule- It doesn't matter what you write. It matters how you write it.

Let me give you another such example

"Lightning streaked and forked into three, the thunder pounded in waves of two, and silence fell at once."

-Lailah by TheStyclarSaga

See? Same story here too. A stormy night described in one single line still manages to create as vivid a picture as ten lines worth of description. The narration voice bowls you over and you overlook what the story is about altogether.

2. Hook- Hooks can be barbed or curved; they pierce your skin and make you feel something. But most importantly, they make you follow. So these are the two things that your story's opening should make the readers do- Feel and Follow. (No, I don't think you are a fish)

How to create a hook? A hook is not a formulaic tonic. You cannot know which concept will, or will not hook the reader. But then how will you write a hook if you don't know what it is?

Simple. When you feel confused as a writer, think as a reader.

Write the book that you would want to read. You like reading vampires? Write about vampires. That way, you will also have your own favorite vampire writer to take inspiration from. Usually, as readers, we do a lot of daydreaming about our favorite books (yeah, you are not alone) so that really helps when you write in the same genre. Since you are an avid reader of that genre or concept, you can measure the awesomeness of your own plot by simply asking yourself 'Would I enjoy reading this?'

If the answer is yes, then chances are that 90% of similar vampire fans like you would enjoy reading it too.

This is the same reason why only fans can write the best fan-fictions and why they are so successful. They think like readers and put their own daydreams onto paper.

3. Reader's Perception-  There are two kinds of readers who would enter your story and they would start looking for two different things.

Reader-type 1 will look for things that they can hang on to. They only look for reasons that make the book worth reading ahead.

Reader-type 2 will look for things that would encourage them to leave the book. They only look for reasons to drop the book. 

As an author, you will have to cater to both types of readers. And believe it or not, Reader-type 2 are the people who become your strongest fans if you can manage to make them love your book. Hence, you can't ignore them.

How to tackle this nemesis that is Reader-type 2? Make your opening grammar-conscious and put the best you can in your opening. Blow away their minds with the first chapter. Show them that your writing is worth turning the page. And once you win them in the opening, you can use that leverage to push them through a few filler chapters as well.

This entire book is about tackling Reader-type 2.

Reader-type 1 can be easily impressed since every book has at least some redeemable points. But a book with no bad points, are the ones that turn an author into a star.

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Hope this chapter helped you :)

We are back in business now, so feel free to ask questions in the comments or Pm us your thoughts. And yes, don't forget to press that star!

~Feminist_Ideologies