A great book, a great story, has to be great all the way through. It can’t just have a great opening and then turn boring, of course.
But if you have a dull or lifeless opening to a story that gets great later, most readers may never get to the good part. So perfecting that opening is critical to make sure readers read the rest of your great story.
If you’re submitting to agents or publishers, they generally will only read the first few pages before deciding whether they even want to see the rest of your manuscript.
We’ve previously talked about ways not to open your story, some better options for opening your story, and the importance of first sentences.
Let’s go a little deeper than the first sentence.
One of my favorite ways to plan or analyze a story is using Nigel Watts’s Eight-Point Narrative Arc, overlaid on the three-act structure. This method really shows the overall structure and organization of a story to make sure everything is in place and working as intended, and it illuminates parts that aren’t working. Yet it’s flexible enough to allow for many different storytelling methods and creativity — it doesn’t lock a writer into any formula that must be followed precisely. That’s why this is one of my favorites. I don’t like formulas, but I want to make sure the story works and will hold a reader’s attention from beginning to end.
Act One contains two of the eight-points of the narrative arc:
Stasis
Trigger
Stasis is “the world and the character as they are before the plot kicks into motion.” Stasis is Cinderella living in the basement, sweeping up cinders, living as a servant girl in her stepmother’s home while her father is away on business. Or Harry Potter living with the Dursleys. Or Katniss living with her mom and sister, hunting for food with her bow and arrow while living in a dystopian society under an authoritarian regime.
The trigger is the inciting event — the occurrence, action, moment, or decision that kicks off the plot. The vile stepmother receives the invitation for all single ladies to attend the prince’s ball, but won’t allow Cinderella to attend. The letter arrives for Harry. Katniss steps forward and yells, “I volunteer as tribute” to save her younger sister from certain death in the Games.
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