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The first few pages are often the most intimidating to write, but they don’t have to be! Young Writer Claire S. is joining us today to share six key tips on how to write opening scenes: 

Sometimes I spin a story idea in my head for a day or two, imagining the characters and creating the story’s fantastical world. When I finally sit down at my computer with a blank document, I’m totally excited to write the story that I had been creating in my mind! Then I write out a couple of paragraphs and realize it’s not what I thought or imagined it to be.

It’ll take me a couple of days, weeks, or even months to dig out the feeling or idea I really wanted to transpose. But in those few days, weeks, months, I’ll be trying to find my inspiration. I’ll be playing around with ideas, listening to music, drawing, even, so I can build the story I so desperately wanted to write.

So a couple of tips for writing your first pages? No problem. Here are some tips that I try to keep in mind when I sit down to write the start of a story.

1. Draw in your audience.
Remember that your first sentence, the sentence to lure in the audience (not to mention yourself), is the Rube Goldberg to your whole novel or short story: it’ll set your story in motion. It’s got that “first sentence power.” And, remember, you are your novel’s first audience, so it should interest you. But also keep in mind that nothing is perfect! If it doesn’t sound exactly right, you’ll get a chance to revise it in later drafts.

2. Show your characters.
Think about how you want to introduce your main character(s). The scene, the dialogue, the entire mood can be introduced in the first couple of pages. You may even want to try and transform yourself into the character, (well, not really) by thinking in the way you’d want your character to think and respond to what’s happening at the beginning of the story.

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