And now, I’m going to tell you something very interesting and dramatic. It will be sudden and surprising. Ready? Okay, it’s coming up next!
That opening paragraph is an announcement that I am about to tell you something surprising. Of course, it better be interesting and surprising, or you’re going to be disappointed or think I’m being a bit overly dramatic.
Wouldn’t it be better if I just told you something, and you found it interesting and surprising?
It works that way in fiction too. Do you announce to your readers when a big scene or moment is coming?
Here are some actual examples from manuscripts I’ve edited:
And then, just when I least expected it, something exciting happened.
What happened next made her scream in terror.
Things got even worse after that.
So here’s what he decided to do.
The rest of the night went like this.
Later that day, something very strange happened.
For the rest of the trip, we had one stroke of bad luck after another.
Wrongly a…
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