Quick Tip #7: Start Late

Posted on | June 29, 2010 | No Comments

It’s an old writing adage “In late, Out Early”.

What it means is that you need to start your story as things are already happening. It doesn’t necessarily you have to begin in the middle of a firefight, but something has to already be in motion when your story starts. It doesn’t even have to be related to your main plot. if there’s nothing going on, your reader has no reason to keep reading.

This goes double for whole chapter scene descriptions. There are writers that can get away with this, but they are masters of the art, otherwise…it’s just dull.

A classic example of a great opening is in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The very first line hooks you into the action: “The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.”

It drops you into the middle of something you don’t understand yet, but it doesn’t matter because you are immediately drawn into the action.

I’ll cover the the out late part tomorrow.