by Lucy E. Zahnle

Created on: September 06, 2009

Les Edgerton's instructive book, Hooked(Writer's Digest Books, 2007), focuses on how to write opening paragraphs and book chapters that will grab readers. The main goal of an opening is too get a reader's attention, hold it, then pull that reader into the body of the story. Edgerton says that the opening lines of a story should plunge the readers instantly into the action instead of making them wait for backstory or lengthy setting descriptions. The story should open with the inciting incident; that is, the catalyst, the event which causes all the other actions in the story to occur. He gives examples of what works well and what should be avoided when writing openings for today's audiences.

According to Edgerton, modern readers are less patient than those of the past. Unlike readers of Dickens's time or even those of the early to mid-twentieth century, today's readers expect to be dropped into the middle of a story's action. They do not want to wade through three or four pages of description or a massive amount of dry back-story. Edgerton feels that that sort of approach will lose modern readers, who are accustomed to the instant excitement of television, movies, and video games, within the first few pages.

Instead, Edgerton recommends that necessary back-story should be woven into the fabric of the current action using dialogue, character thought, and character observations. These techniques enable a writer to set up a scene without giving pages of dull explanations before getting to 'the good stuff.' Using a character's thoughts, memories, and observations allows the writer to introduce readers to the character immediately and to get into the character's head while learning his or her history. The readers feel as if, by the second paragraph, they have already begun the actual story instead of wading through the dullness of scene setting and back-story.

Descriptions, Edgerton says, should be short and to the point. A few telling adjectives and short descriptive passages that sketch important details to set the scene are enough. Readers will fill in the rest with their imaginations. Descriptions can also be worked into action scenes. For instance, instead of saying, "He drank his ale," a writer could incorporate description like this, "He swilled ale from a cracked, wooden tankard." The second sentence paints a much more detailed picture of the scene.

However, Edgerton warns against using time-worn, cliched openings like dream sequences, a character being

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