Writing Tip: Start with a Bang!

Every good novel or short story sets the mood and sets the scene quickly. I’ve written in these Blog Posts about why I like the author Dean Koontz and why I recommend his books to writers to read, to see How it’s done.

Koontz starts his books with a bang. He sets the mood and the scene on the first page, many times in the first paragraph. Realize, the mood doesn’t have to be spelled out in long prose. And, the opening bang doesn’t have to begin the plot or the story line. The opening bang sets the mood for the reader. It lets the reader know what the rest of the book is going to give them. One of the best scene settings I’ve ever read was from the first sentence of a Koontz story – Have you ever killed someone? That opening line really grabbed me. As the reader, I knew what was in store for me. I knew what I was about to read.

When a publisher or an agent is choosing their next new author, that is one of the first items they look for, a fast start. If they are ten to fifteen pages into the story and they are still reading a set-up, it’s not good.