Where it all begins

[John Dean]

I have just started writing the next Jack Harris crime novel and, as with every new book, it’s at once exciting and daunting. Exciting to find out where the planning I’ve been doing over recent weeks takes me, daunting because a lot of work lies ahead and a blank computer screen is a scary thing.

I’m only 700 words in but they are words which have had plenty to do because beginnings are crucial if a writer is going to grab a reader’s attention in a competitive world with so many books and authors to enjoy.

One of the key things a crime writer, indeed any writer, must bear in mind is that a good start is as if the writer has reached 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. In the case of a crime writer that’s a sense of a drama already under way. That’s because all stories begin in the middle, things have happened in the past, will happen in the future.