What to have and avoid in your story's opening

Posted on 06/17/2020 at 11:17 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The most compelling part of Zara Altair’s post on starting your mystery, for us, might have been the section on...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: First lines and first chapters, Mystery, Zara Altair

Five steps for writing a strong start to a story

Posted on 03/19/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Our favorite advice about running is “don’t think, just go.” And while variations on that exist for writing, there is...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Dave Chesson (the Kindlepreneur), First lines and first chapters, The business of writing

Ask yourself these 5 questions about your novel

Posted on 02/11/2020 at 10:07 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

If you liked the excerpt from Kris Spisak's new book, The Novel Editing Workbook, that we shared last week, we...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Characters, Editing, First lines and first chapters, Writer's Digest

How to start a story — and what to start writing

Posted on 02/03/2020 at 10:38 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Fittingly for a Monday — the beginning of a traditional workweek — our RSS feed featured two different posts offering...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, First lines and first chapters, Writer's block / writing prompts, Writer's Digest

C.S. Lakin: More reasons to examine your first page with great care

Posted on 01/25/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

One more time, as if you haven’t heard it: The first page of your novel is absolutely essential for capturing...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, First lines and first chapters

C.S. Lakin's first-page checklist for novels

Posted on 01/13/2020 at 04:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

C.S. Lakin is previewing her new book, First Pages of Best Sellers: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why, on her...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, First lines and first chapters

Jane Friedman: Steer clear of these five story openers

Posted on 01/10/2020 at 01:28 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Jane Friedman isn’t trying to ban the use of five specific story openers. She does want to point out, though,...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: First lines and first chapters, Jane Friedman, Writing advice

What your novel's setup scene should — and shouldn't — do

Posted on 09/23/2019 at 04:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Your setup scene isn’t always the first scene in your book, but — as its name suggests — it definitely...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: C.S. Lakin / Live Write Thrive, First lines and first chapters, Plot / narrative, Writing advice

You be the critic: Strong openings to memoirs

Posted on 09/07/2019 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Award-winning author Peter Selgin recently critiqued the first pages of two memoirs, to gauge how well they captured the reader....

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: First lines and first chapters, Jane Friedman, Plot / narrative

Editor: Here's how your opening pages can welcome readers in

Posted on 08/31/2019 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Developmental editor Katie McCoach served as a judge for a writing contest earlier this year. In total, she read a...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Characters, First lines and first chapters, Plot / narrative, Writing advice