There are many key points to powerful writing, and in my journey, I’ve heard many disagreements on what’s more important, i.e. plot, voice, style, dialogue, character development, etc. I’ve seen, a consensus, though, on one thing: a strong opening. Busy agents and editors only have a few seconds to gauge your writing and your opening will either grab or drop their attention. As a beginning writer, my biggest problem was the amount of words I used to describe a setting or a character’s action. At conference critiques and workshops, I heard phrases like “less is more” and “show don’t tell”. With time, I learned to apply the following techniques to my opening lines and paragraphs:

1. Eliminate unnecessary words, such as adverbs and adjectives and come up with a single noun to replace them (instead of “He was an extremely nice, good-hearted man,” say “He was a saint.”)

2. Avoid using the verb “to be” in any tense. This will force you to come up with strong verbs (instead of “He was angry because she was not there.” say “He threw the plate against the wall when she didn’t show up.”

3. Avoid clichés and go easy with comparisons (i.e. “He ate like a beast.”)

4. Learn to use punctuation correctly. Once you’re comfortable with its usage, there are many fun ways to manipulate punctuation to make your writing stronger.

5. Read your opening pages aloud and keep an ear for repetitions, echoes, sentence fragments, and awkward wording.

6. Have a trusted reader and have them critique your opening pages.

7. Focus on your work’s very first opening line and study other opening lines that grab your attention. Break them down word by word. Take note of the punctuation used and listen to the flow and rhythm of the words. Read these author’s lines aloud and type them out. You’d be surprised how much you learn from typing works created by talented authors.

There are many other techniques for strong openings, but these are the ones I focused on when I began my journey. In the coming newsletters, I will elaborate further on each point mentioned above. Happy writing!