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I lurked on an excellent RWA University class last month. It was about contests and making your first 5,000 words stand out.
I still feel openings are the hardest part of writing, and the presenter offered some super advice that I've heard before, but resonated with me this time:
I still feel openings are the hardest part of writing, and the presenter offered some super advice that I've heard before, but resonated with me this time:
You must create empathy
BEFORE introducing any negative flaws in your character, anything that will
distance us from the reader.
There are five ways to create
empathy: (Need to use AT LEAST two of these.)
Sympathy
Jeopardy
Likeability
Power
Humor
Totally agree the reader must empathise with the character. If you start with him/her in a negative way, you'll never pull back your readers. I'd also add curiosity to the list of starters i.e. making the reader curious about why he/she had said or done something right at the start of Chapter 1.
ReplyDeleteGreat list.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree about needing that likability factor before introducing negative things. It's like in a parent teacher conference when you bracket the difficult things you need to say in the middle, surrounded by a positive opening and closing!
Interesting things to consider, Ana, thanks!
ReplyDelete