Starting you short story by introducing your main character can be an effective way to draw the audience in emotionally—especially if this character is written in first person, thereby establishing their worldview. Try giving your main character a unique voice or quirk that makes them interesting and intriguing to your readers. When readers ...
A story beginning should grab attention, intrigue, surprise, shock, or spark an emotional reaction in your reader. This will lead them to finishing the story. If you can’t hook them at the start, you might lose them entirely. Here are 8 short story opener strategies, a few tips, and some writing prompts to get you started!
Story Starter Sentences to Ignite Your Mind— We’ve made it easy for you to start your next story. You see, we put together a wonderfully fun and creative list of 51 story starter sentences. Hopefully, these ideas will give you the inspiration you need to get started on your next creative writing project.
Let’s dive in and find the perfect way to open your story. How to start a story: 12 methods + examples 1. Dive into the inciting incident. How it works: Starting with the inciting incident plunges readers directly into the moment when everything changes for the protagonist. This approach creates immediate tension and raises questions that ...
Beyond that, there are so many ways to go. Here are ten ways to start a story you might consider: 1. Strong Voice. Example: “Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August 1960. A church baby we like to call it.
Example of an Effective Short Story Beginning. Let’s break down an effective example to see how these steps come together: ... Starting a short story can feel like standing at the edge of a diving board—exciting, a bit scary, and you really hope you don’t belly-flop! Remember, the key to a successful beginning lies in grabbing your reader ...
5. Start with an interesting idea. Short stories don't necessarily have to squeeze as much action as possible into the space of a few pages. Sometimes, you might want to simply play with and explore ideas.. Jorge Luis Borges is one of the most famous literary writers to have used the short story more for playful thought experiments than riveting action.
Chandler, the master of hard-bitten crime noir, makes it obvious that this story is not going to end well. You can almost hear the smoky, whiskey-soured, world-weary narration in your head. And this quote comes from one of Chandler’s half-forgotten short stories. 12. Inviting
Hi, nice tips. I was wondering how to start a short story for 2 boys named Luke and Max stranded in their canoes. They were set on a research expedition on the animals in Antarctica but they got lost and couldn't find anything. They are trying to head home by following the North star so they could reach their lab in Argentina. Pls, help me start.
7. How to Start a Story: Interesting Language. Charles Baudelaire once said “Always be a poet, even in prose.” Following this advice, sometimes all you need to start a story is some interesting word choice. Take, for example, the story “Bread Week” by JoAnna Novak.
Start in a scene. Many short story writers will try to start their stories in a scene, usually a scene that feels important and engaging. ... For example, in the short story “Oceanic” by Greg Egan, the first lines focus on establishing the setting of being in a boat in the ocean: "The swell was gently lifting and lowering the boat. My ...
He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more.
A short story of under 1,000 words is called “flash fiction.” A story over 7,500 words that’s not long enough to be a novel is a “novelette” or “novella.” The short story vs. the novel. The short story and the novel aren’t only separated by the number of pages. While a novel is about emotional depth, short stories are about ...
When you start to write a story, you might not know where it is heading. That's okay. Play with possibilities! Try one or more of these strategies. Strategy 1: Begin with action or dialogue. I crouched in starting position, hands poised on the track and back coiled like a spring. "On your mark! Get set!" The starting gun boomed. I launched ...
There are countless other ways to start a short story, but these are three of the most common techniques that work in any genre, for just about any length of story. Again, for even more useful examples, check out the “short stories to study” at the end of this post! ... Here are 10 short story examples that, in my opinion, represent the ...