Escape the Slushpile with ACME Guide to Great Beginnings
by
Paula Graves

At a recent writer's conference, I heard an editor say, "If I'm not hooked by page three, I usually don't read any further." Knowing how many solicited and unsolicited manuscripts the poor woman has to plow through weekly, I'm not surprised. We writers have to face the fact that competition is fierce. It takes talent, drive and know-how to get published. And one of the most important things a writer needs to know how to do is write a great beginning.

We've all heard about starting our stories or novels in media res--in the middle of things. But even when starting right in the middle of the story, there are four important elements to creating a beginning that will hook both readers and editors. I call it the ACME Guide to Great Beginnings.

ACME stands for ACTION, CONFLICT, MYSTERY and EMOTION. Action, conflict, mystery and emotion are important elements of any work of fiction, but nowhere are they more important than in the beginning of a story or novel. A good beginning includes at least two of these elements. A great beginning includes all four.

Action is a good way to start a novel. In the tradition of "show, don't tell," action jump-starts a reader's senses, drawing them into the story. Action allows a reader to see, hear, smell, taste and feel what's going on. Think of the popular movies of the last few years. How do they start, with a long, internal monologue? Probably not. Most start with action--a velociraptor gone berserk, a mountain climber plunging to her death, a Navy historian foiling a terrorist kidnapping, a one-armed man murdering a doctor's wife. Action plunges the reader into your story with sensory impact.

Action often leads to conflict, the driving force of your plot. Conflict keeps your story moving, taking the reader along for the ride. The earlier you can reveal your basic conflict or conflicts, the earlier you'll hook the reader. In Winston Groom's FORREST GUMP, the basic conflict of the whole book is evident in the first paragraph, when Forrest Gump says, "Bein a idiot is no box of chocolates."

While it's a good idea to reveal conflict early in a story, a good writer knows the value of a little mystery. Readers don't want to know everything at once. Too much information waters down the suspense you're trying to build to keep a reader turning pages. How exciting would a story be if all the questions were answered in the first few paragraphs?

Finally, a great beginning should contain some element of emotion, whether it's anger, hatred, love, fear or any other emotion known to man. Obviously, the stronger the emotion, the stronger the beginning. Emotion helps a reader become involved with your characters, coaxing them into cheering the good guys, jeering the bad guys, and wanting to know what's going to happen next.

The ACME Guide to Great Beginnings works best when you have an interesting story to tell, of course. No writing tip in the world will save a bad story. But if you pump your beginning full of action, conflict, mystery and emotion, your manuscript has a better chance of making it out of the slush pile and onto an editor's desk.


© 1994 Paula Graves