1. Openings
•Openings are an important tool in writing. They are what is
used to grasp your audiences attention, so that they will not
replace your story with something they feel to be more
adequate.
•An opening is much like an introduction when writing a
letter, or a thesis statement when writing a thesis paper.
•Without a proper opening your story may not be read for all it
is worth. If the first twenty to thirty minutes of a movie are
boring, many would probably go to sleep.

2. What is an Opening?
•An opening is the beginning of your paper, story, speech, etc.
•At the beginning is the most important time to grab your audiences
attention. This is usually called a hook. Just like fishing once someone
finally decides to bite on your idea, you must yank that hook into them and
keep them stuck on it. Without a decent hook you will lose your flock of
fish.
•This is why thesis statements are so important, because without capturing
the readers attention, confidence, and interest the paper loses worth.

3. How to make the best of your
openings.
•As I have said the best openings are like a hook. The best openings
grab the attention of your reader. To do this one must understand
their audience, exactly who is going to be reading this?
•Attempt to intrigue your target audience without exceeding the
limits of your imagination. After all, you still need a plot and climax.
•In order to do this one must not start too far away. One must provide
enough context to begin the film rolling in the audiences minds. The
story cannot start too far back and leave people wondering where it is
going, nor can it start ahead of itself leaving people to wonder how it
happened.

4. Continued best of openings.
•An opening should be exciting, yet informative. Do not blandly tell your
audience what you are going to do, that would be similar to revealing the
end of a long awaited film.
•You must convince your audience that reading the story will be worth the
time it takes to read it. The opening must open their eyes to a whole new
set of thrills.
•Without direction or purpose in your opening your reader may become
bored, Keep them interested. You do not need to reveal the story, nor
should you, but do provide enough purposeful direction to give the
audience an idea of where they might end up.

5. More best of openings.
•All openings must engage the audience, grabbing their attention. They
must also provide enough context and direction so that the reader does
not simply read the first paragraph and then do away with the story in its
entirety.
•An opening must show focus on its intent to entertain. It must also show
authority declaring that it has the knowledge to broach its topic. Without
focus and authority the reader is left like a passenger on this bridge.
•Since it is not good to bore the reader, the writer must find ways to
close the gap, and give the story direction and focus.

6. What to do and what not to do.
•What you want to do when writing an opening is first of all create a
compelling hook. Secondly you want to ground the audience in a viable
direction usually with context related toward your protagonist.
•An opening is like a double rainbow, which is great to look up and see a
full-on double rainbow, but it is only a complete arc within itself that
should lead to something more. The double rainbow is cool, but without
promise of an adventure to get the gold or the leprechauns at the end.
•Some things that you should not do is for one bore your reader from the
beginning. Do not reveal the climax or resolution only give hints as to
the road taken to get there.
•Do not contradict yourself. Establish authority and a focus and follow
them. If you lose direction so does the film playing in the mind of your
audience.

7. Examples of openings
•From our reading this week in “The Things They Carried” the first
sentence is exemplary. Usually when starting a opening one
should try reading the first two paragraphs of their favorite novel
and see what entices them about it.
•“The things they carried” starts with a single sentence that not
only grounds us with the protagonist the First Lieutenant, but also
gives us context as to his situation. The first paragraph is an
extension of that first sentence, declaring the time, place, and also
the protagonists attitude to both.
•The other story we read this past week “Girl” was far different.
Since the entire story was only one long paragraph it doesn’t stand
to reason to have a long opening. It does not give you much
information about the protagonist nor does it give you a very in
depth understanding of the setting.

8. Opening Conclusion
As I conclude my presentation of opening, some things to consider.
First of all, the initial capturing of the audiences attention is called a
hook. Secondly it is important to begin with context as to where you
got to the beginning, authority to start down this road, with the
writer driving of course, and focus that you don’t get lost along the
way. Thirdly do not bore your audience, if at any point the audience
loses interest than you lose your audience, so keep reeling in those
fish as you would keep the tape of a film rolling.

9. Works Cited
Cushman Kyle. Openings: Writing effective introductions. The learning
center exchange. 16 Feb 2006. 31 Jan. 2012. Web.
http://www.learningassistance.com/2006/february/openings.html
Yirinic Jennifer. How to write an engaging introduction. Writing Commons.
n.a. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.
http://writingcommons.org/process/organize/paper-structure/396-how-
to-write-an-engaging-introduction
Jenkins Stephanie. How to write a good story opening. eHow. n.a. Web. 1
Feb. 2012. http://www.ehow.com/how_6356675_write-good-story-
opening.html
Bates Joseph. Components of a good opening scene. Writing-world.com.
n.a. Web. 1 Feb. 2012. http://www.writing-
world.com/fiction/opening.shtml