In this five part series we're looking at how to write a page-turner--the kind of book (or script) people can't put down.
Get your story off to a quick start.
The most important page you want people to turn is the first one. If your opening is not interesting, they won’t get beyond that.
This doesn’t mean you have to start with an explosion or shooting. Just find an incident or a person that intrigues us. For instance, a little boy standing in the middle of a busy shopping center, crying and asking for “Doctor Anna” makes us want to find out why he’s there, why there aren’t any adults with him, and who Doctor Anna is—and we will have to keep reading to find out.
Let's look at three books from my pile of books to read next. I enjoyed Marina Lewycka's "A History of Tractors in the Ukraine," so I also picked up another one of hers, "We Are All Made of Glue." Here's the first line:
"The first time I met Wonder Boy, he pissed on me."
OK, that motivates me to keep reading. The next one is non-fiction, Tim O'Brien's account of being a soldier in VietNam, "If I Die in a Combat Zone." The first sentence:
"It's incredible, it really is, isn't it?" (Second:) "Ever think you'd be humping along some crazy-ass trail like this one, jumping up and down out of the dirt, jumping like a goddam bullfrog, dodging bullets all day?"
If you don't like war books you might put it down, but I'm guessing a lot of people would be intrigued.
The last example is Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Played With Fire." It starts:
"She lay on her back fastened by leather straps to a narrow bed with a steel frame."
See what I mean? By the way, I'm not saying these are the three best openings I've ever read, this was a fairly random selection but you can see how in different ways they each capture the attention of the reader. The goal of a book is to keep the reader wondering what happens next; if that curiosity isn't aroused from the first sentence or at least the first paragraph, you've lost your chance.
PS: Yes, I know that many classic works of literature start off slowly with a long description of the weather or the countryside, but those were different times. In those days, books weren't competing with television, the internet, smart phones, and a thousand other distractions.
(For help writing your book, consider my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program--get details at www.jurgenwolff.com)
