Experienced writers have all sorts of ways to begin a story. They can start with dialog…two people talking to each other.
Or, they might begin the by describing a scene, like a “large barn just outside of town that the old-timers say is haunted.”
But here’s a really simple idea I learned from an advertising copywriter. “Don’t waste time,” he said. “Announce the story’s major problem in the very first sentence.”
After he told me this, I started paying attention to more print ads. Many of them actually stated the problem in the headline. Example: “Would you do more walking if your feet didn’t hurt?”
Practice today on how you might begin the biography of a fictional character. Example: “Little Red Riding Hood left her house to take cookies to Grandma, but her path led through dense woods full of dangerous animals.”
