Beginnings (part IV)

I'm continuing my little series on beginnings. The next two post are going to be on the short side. I'm traveling to New Mexico to speak at SCBWI NM Handsprings Conference next Saturday. Nothing like getting out of town to shake down the cobwebs from the corners.

I want to mention a few more approaches to that first line. One of the most classic approaches is to grab the reader by throat and to start shaking. This is also called jumping into the action. "Where is Daddy going with that axe?" A leading question is a common way to get the ball rolling in a story. It releases that first thread to the web that is going to trap your reader.

Here's the deal. Blow something up, crash a plane, fall off a bridge, send in a tornado, hurricane, flood, volcano, meteorite -- a huge action scene is a powerful place to start the action and is particularly helpful if you have a somewhat unlovable anti-hero protagonist.

Is there a way to start your current work in the middle of the action? Think about this week.

This weeks' doodle is "Spider spins web."


Remember: ©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles, ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permission!

Today's playlist hit is called "Light on the Hill" from Margot and the Nuclear So & So's.


The quote for the week:

I think there is something, more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision. W Clement Stone