This month’s
theme is about new beginnings, so I thought I’d talk about the beginnings of
stories, referred to as “leads” or “hooks.” When I teach this concept to my
fifth grade writing students, I break leads up into seven categories as
follows:
1. Description
of Setting: A great way to start a tale is to set the stage for the main
events. A well-described setting can put your reader exactly where your
characters are and that’s always a good thing. You want your readers to feel as
if they have left wherever they are and have been transported to a new time
and/or place.
2. Description
of Character: Your reader is going to be traveling with your character throughout
the story, so showing what that main character looks like, sounds like, thinks
about will help your reader connect with your hero/heroine. That connection is
important to establish as soon as possible.
3. Dialogue:
Readers immediately get sucked into conversation between characters even if
they aren’t sure what it’s about initially. Writing dialogue that sounds real
and draws the reader in can be a wonderful way to begin a story. It helps
readers feel as if they’ve been hanging around these characters for a while
already and establishes a sense of familiarity. Dialogue can also arouse
curiosity so readers will keep reading to see where the conversation ends up.
4. Onomatopoeia:
One of my favorite words! This refers to sound words such as crash, bang, and boom. Using
onomatopoeia appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing, which can often be
neglected when it comes to including sensory details in a piece of writing. I
always like trying to come up with unique spellings to sounds like schlup, schlup, schlup for the noise of
my dog drinking from his water bowl.
5. Thoughts
and Feelings: This is a great one especially if you like to write from first
person point of view. Getting readers instantly into the heads and hearts of
your characters always creates a strong lead that will carry the readers
throughout the story. It’s especially fun if you have a sarcastic character who
can’t always say what they are thinking aloud. With this lead style, you can
provide the reader a glimpse into what the character wants to say, which can
often be hilarious.
6. Question:
Beginning a story with a question automatically hooks a reader, because he/she
will have to read on to see what the answer is.
7. Interesting
Fact: This is a good one for writing nonfiction, but I have seen it used in
fiction too. Here, a writer chooses a relevant and true fact to begin his/her
story. For example, 99% of humans cannot lick their own elbows. Interested in
more? I’ll bet you are! And wouldn’t this be a great beginning for an erotic
novel? Hmmm…I think my Muse just woke up.
While there is nothing
overly complex or magical about these lead techniques, I think it helps to be
reminded of them if you are a writer and to be aware of them if you are a
reader. Writers can try to diversify their opening lines of their books, and
readers can better understand the “how to” of what writers are doing in their
novels. Check out my books at www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com and see what lead techniques I use!
Toodles,
Chris
3 comments:
Extremely interesting information. I know I learned something today. Thank you.
I never thought about leading off with a question, but I like it! Great list, Chris.
I like the way you broke the theme into smaller chunks easily understood.
Nice.
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