by Lisa Beach

Created on: June 16, 2009   Last Updated: June 17, 2009

All writers - whether they realize it or not - start conversations with sentences meant to capture attention. That is also the function of one's first sentence while writing. Being ignored while talking to a friend is just as off-putting as knowing a reader has tossed one's story aside. In fact, the significance of that first sentence is of such importance, I have listed 7 reasons below to consider when writing one's story - all of them demonstrate why opening sentences need a lot of thought.

1.) It grabs the reader

Like people walking and talking, if that first sentence has no punch, it loses the readers interest. Perhaps the reader will peruse the second line out of politeness, even the third and fourth, but rest assured, the story will be tossed aside by the end of the first paragraph.

Think of the first sentence as a door to a house under construction: it is being built by the writer, but will only stand the test of time if the entire structure is sound. Without reader questions being raised by that first sentence, no reader will step through the story pages to see what's inside: nor will [s]he care.

At the same time, however, the first sentence must introduce the story; merely being provocative will not help. Just a glance at the story will reveal nothing, and it should

2.) It pulls the story forward:

The second thing a first sentence does is pull not only the reader's eyes down the page, but also propels the story forward. If it does not, the writer needs either a new story, or a new first sentence.

For instance, a murder mystery should start with hints of the murder or complication leading to the murder; a literary novel with a setting-up of the situation to come; a courtroom drama, why the person is on trial, or something related: and a suspense/thriller a taste of the tribulations to come.

Always, always, always that first sentence is special. As mentioned earlier, it is the door to one's "story house". Is that house crumbling? Its rafters eaten by pests, falling down from the decay of reader boredom?

And the most burning question of all - is the writer the only one who sees the first sentence as being interesting? It's possible. In fact, it happens quite often. The writer knows the story in his/her head - where it will go, the turns and twists it will take - and therefore is enthralled by that open door.

What is needed is an objective reader. One who will tell an author the brutal truth, and why. Usually the answer is because the opening

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