To begin at the beginning...

[John Dean]

I’ve recently been involved in a couple of discussions in social media groups about the best way to start a crime fiction story so I thought that I would pass on some of my thoughts.

One of the key things I tell those writers that I advise is that the opening lines of their crime stories are crucial because harassed publishers, overworked agents and readers with a mass of choice all need grabbing within moments of them picking up their book/short story/manuscript.

A good start is like the writer reaching out of the page, clutching the reader by the lapel and saying ‘don’t you dare go away, this is going to be good!’ You need to create momentum right from the off.

The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual elements that make up the story. An opening paragraph should have a distinctive voice, a point of view, a rudimentary plot and some hint of characterisation plus something to pique the interest.

You might be tempted to begin your narrative before the action starts. Far better, though, I would say, to begin at the moment of something interesting happening, which is more likely to grab the reader‘s interest.

All stories begin in the middle, things have happened in the past, will happen in the future.