Ways to start a novel strong and capture readers' attention

Like many people, Shane Millar wrote a novel ... and shoved it in a drawer, rarely to be seen again.

But he did eventually come back to it and to writing.

Once he'd learned more about the craft, he was able to identify what was so bad about that first novel.

And one major area of weakness was its opening.

Fortunately for Millar (and for other writers), he's figured out not just that it was weak, but why it was weak — and how authors in a variety of genres can avoid that mistake.

His conversation with Joanna Penn about strong beginnings (and other writing topics) is up in audio and text form at The Creative Penn.

Related posts 

• 2 pieces of advice on starting your book strong 

• An author considers opening pages from a reader's perspective