Ever pick up what looks like a good read, only to drop it after the first couple of\u00a0pages?<\/p>\n

You’ve probably encountered a weak opening – something even an experienced writer can fall prey to. Sometimes it’s hard to decide just where the action really starts, or just how much backstory the reader is going to need.<\/p>\n

Just how do you tell when you’ve been trapped by a weak opening anyway? It’s not as easy as spotting a typo. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself\u00a0to figure it\u00a0out:<\/p>\n

When does the tension start<\/strong>? Most of the time, you can skip everything you think you need to add in order to “build up” to the tension. Just start when the main action starts and fill things in later.<\/li>\n

Does this advance the plot<\/strong>? No matter how much you like a passage, if it’s not absolutely necessary to move the story forward, cut it. If it’s really needed, you’ll find a way to work it in later.<\/li>\n

Does the reader need this now<\/strong>? Always keep this in mind. Anything the reader doesn’t totally need to know should be saved for later in the story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The important thing is to hook your audience into the tale. You can amaze them with your eloquence and backstory after you’ve gotten them involved in your characters’ lives.<\/p>\n
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Ever pick up what looks like a good read, only to drop it after the first couple of\u00a0pages? You’ve probably encountered a weak opening – something even an experienced writer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-onwriting","category-plot","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1679,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions\/1679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}