Six Ways To Start A Story
Opening tricks to keep the readers interested in your stories
Most people are superficial when it comes to reading. They probably won’t judge a book by its cover but they will start spacing out if a story fails to grab their attention in the first few lines. Because there are always too many options to read but only limited time. Therefore, to hook readers with a great opening line is very important in storytelling. Here are a few types of opening I find useful to get people to engage in my stories:
1. Ask a question and then answer it briefly.
As an introvert writer, I always feel a bit awkward to start a story. So one of my favorite ways to kick off is to ask myself a question about my topic and then answer it with a short brief. It’s also easy to follow up the opening with more relevant explanation or examples.
2. Make the readers wonder.
If I’m super passionate about a topic I’m going to share, I will start with a catchy statement or a beautiful quote. Put a question in the readers’ mind, make them wonder, and let them have these kinds of questions, like “Huh really?” or “What does that mean?”
3. Begin at a pivotal moment.
If I want to share a story, I like to start with the most dramatic moment to catch people ’s attention and make them curious about the cause and the end of the story.
4. Create a resonating environment.
A description is good when it can easily resonate a picture in readers’ mind. People like to find out what they have in common with others. So describing a specific feeling and experience that can connect to my target audience is a very welcoming way to attract people to keep reading your stories.
5. Start with an unusual situation.
Sometimes discordance can be a good trigger for the readers to keep reading. I like to start by telling something unusual and try to get people to stick around to see how the story ends. But it can be risky if we end up in a circumstance totally irrelevant to the readers, so be careful of finding the balance of different but related.
6. Begin with an authentic narrative voice.
Even though the principle of starting a story is to put the most exciting things on the table and get the readers interested into the content. But let’s not forget silence sometimes can speak volumes, sometimes opening with an authentic narrative tone and try to be as sincere as possible is also a good strategy to encourage the readers to keep reading.
