Tips to Polish the Opening Paragraph of Whatever You're Writing

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth

In the beginning . . . no.

It was the best of times, it was the worse . . . um, no.

It was a dark and stormy. . . definitely not.

The beginning of a devotion, an article, or a book can be the hardest part to write. And if you are writing from cover to cover, it will be the first hurdle you face.

We have such a struggle with writing the beginning because we expect so much of it. Sol Stein, in his classic, Stein on Writing, says the opening paragraph should have three goals:

• To excite the reader’s curiosity.
• To introduce the setting and characters.
• To lend resonance to the story.

I recently had a beta reader look at one of my books. She suggested I get rid of the first four chapters. CHAPTERS. (Sorry. I should have warned you I was going to shout.)

And I had to agree with her. I had done what many new writers do. I filled the start of my story with too much backstory. Backstory is a character’s past, his or hers history. It is important that the reader knows the character, but it is easy to give them too much too soon.

Since I am a pantster, a seat of the pants writer, I am especially vulnerable to do this. It was important that I wrote them so that I could get to know my characters and their personalities. But the chapters weren’t vital to the story.

A plotter, or someone who plans their stories, has often gone through this same process when they did character sheets or studies. They’ve spent days or weeks asking their characters questions or studying their personalities. (If this was a regular blog, I’d be worried you would think I was weird. But since this blog is for writers, I know you completely understand.)

Being especially careful with the opening isn’t just important for books. Cindy Sproles and Eddie Jones run Christiansdevotions.us. They have a template to help structure a devotion that begins with a hook. The hook is the beginning of the devotion and should catch the reader’s attention with a story or interesting statement.

A newspaper article should always start with the lede, a sentence of what the story is about and the most important facts.

Often times, the beginning was the last thing I wrote. When I wrote devotions or sermons, I would complete the lesson, then I would look for a beginning that 1) got the reader or listener attention, and 2) that helped connect the main points of the story. The reason should be obvious, I didn’t know the main points or teaching of the text until I worked through it. Haven’t you gone home after church and you couldn’t remember the text or the point the preacher made, but you remembered the story?

This is why I always question writers who write straight through. Did they really know what they were writing about? Especially in fiction. Characters have a habit of going in unexpected directions.

Sometimes I’ve been able to pull off writing a short piece straight through. But this is also why rewriting is a writer’s best friend. (That and a good chair.)

So the next time you finish your writing, go back to the beginning.

• Does it catch your reader’s attention?
• Does it set up the atmosphere you want?
• Does it lead the reader into the story?

Another reason that the beginning is so important is that many contests look at your first few pages. At first, I thought this was unfair. How can they know if I have a good story, or (who’s kidding who) a great story, unless they read my dramatic and impactful ending?

But it doesn’t take long to gauge if someone knows the craft of writing. The writer shows by how he or she handle tenses, POVs, and active or passive voices. It only takes a couple of pages for the reader to decide to finish the story or put it down.

So what makes a good beginning to you? Have you ever put a book down because you didn’t like the first few pages? Have you ever forced your way through the first pages to find the book was pretty good? (The Count of Monte Christo comes mind. Loved the book. Moby Dick, not so much.)

I would love to see your comments below. Thanks for reading.

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Tim Suddeth has been published in Guideposts’ The Joy of Christmas and on www.christiandevotions.us. He’s working on his third manuscript and looks forward to seeing his name on a cover. He is a member of ACFW and Cross n Pens. Tim’s lives in Greenville, SC with his wife, Vickie, and his happy 19-year-old autistic son, Madison.  Visit Tim at www.TiminGreenville.com and on Facebook and Twitter. He can be also reached at timingreenville@gmail.com.