The Place For My Writers Notes

Writer's Digest, October 1990, pages 10-12, had an article by Nancy Kress talking about "your story lives and dies on the strength of your opening. Here's how to live."

Nancy starts out by putting us in the head of an editor looking at the slush pile, with all the other work that the editor also has, and asks, "How far do you get before you decide to either finish the story or put it in its SASE?" (aka, reject it!)

Ideally, the writer hopes that the editor is going to give that story the same kind of attention they did, reading it all the way through without any distractions… However, the truth is, "you have about three paragraphs to capture that editor's attention enough for her to finish her story."

Nancy suggests that there are four elements that help an editor (and a reader!) get interested: character, conflict, specificity, and credibility.

Right off the top, the character, "who goes there?" gives a reader someone to focus on. So, introduce them right away, make sure they are integral to the main action of the story, and make sure they are an individual.

"Most successful openings give the reader a genuine character because most stories are about individual human beings."

Second, conflict! "Coming to a scene near you." You don't have to start with the body crashing through a window or something else like that. "Some stories feature overt, dramatic conflict; in others the conflict is subtle perhaps contained completely within the skull of one character." No matter what kind of conflict your story has, the first few paragraphs need to hint at it, give us a clue about the nature of the conflict ahead.

Third, specificity, "a new one on me." Specific details. Speech, setting, thoughts, something that is fresh and original for the readers. This also convinces the reader that you know what you're talking about.

Fourth, credibility, "can this prose be trusted?" Part of this is trust, built by those details, good handling of the language, and so forth. A tight portrayal? The right words, not the almost right word. Language that brings us into the story, not eloquence and erudition that makes us pay attention to the language.

Finally, Nancy suggests that writing "an opening that immediately introduces an interesting individual, hints at the conflict to come, uses fresh and telling details, and convinces a harried editor that you are a master of English prose" is not something that most of us can do immediately. Instead, you get to rewrite. Polish it until it shines!

So, four things to look for in your beginning. That character that makes us want to keep reading, at least a good hint about the kind of conflict that's coming, some really good details, and the right use of language. An obvious exercise is to take something you've written or a work in progress and look at the first three paragraphs, or whatever you think your beginning is (books have a slightly longer beginning than short stories, but you still need a good beginning!). Try writing a variation (or two or three!), emphasizing Nancy's four elements.

Write?