Hone That First Paragraph

I'm not sure if you follow Nathan Bransford's blog. If you don't, you should check it out.

Nathan is a literary agent and does some seriously interesting stuff in his blog. For example, last week he hosted a contest for the best opening paragraph to a novel.

The winner

The winner of the contest was Travis Erwin, with:

Coming-of-age stories are often fraught with symbolism, hidden metaphors, and a heaping mound of other literary devices. Not this one. I came of age while working at a dusty, Texas feedstore. A place where To Kill a Mockingbird involved a twelve-year-old and a BB gun. Of Mice and Men was a problem easily solved with rat poison. And David Copperfield was nothing more than a dude that made shit disappear.

What's more interesting and inspiring than Travis's great first paragraph is Nathan's commentary on what went through his head while he was making his decision on the winner. This is a "must read" blog to see what agents, among others, look for in an opening paragraph.

What the opening needs

In short, Nathan believes the first paragraph needs to:

• establish the tone/voice

• get the reader into the flow of the book

• establish a trust between author and reader.

That may seem like a lot for one paragraph to accomplish, but take a look at finalists in this contest. You'll see it's absolutely attainable.

Scripts too

If you're a screenwriter, you might not think this would apply to you, but give the blog a read. Storytelling is storytelling, and that opening scene of a movie also needs to set a tone, bring the audience in and establish trust in the storyteller.

If anything else, after reading this blog you'll have a whole new appreciation for opening paragraphs.