Will you help me? I don't know how I am supposed formulate my answers.
A story's beginning should interest the reader and draw him or her into action. What would be some effective ways to start the following stories?
1. A first-person narrative about your greatest accomplishment
2. A third-person narrative about an adopted person going to meet his or her biological mother
3. An omniscient story about experiences in the military
4. A first-person story about an encounter with the police
5. A story from any viewpoint about a person with a serious illness
2 answers
In each case, you need an opening sentence that captures the drama of the situation. For example, "Climbing the sheer face of Half Dome is not a task to be undertaken lightly. I had trained for a year, but still faced the steep cliff with a degree of fear that I knew I had to overcome." Use your imagination. What is a bit dramatic in each of these situations?
2. "She was excited and anxious all at once. Ivy had wanted to meet her biological mother since the day she discovered she was adopted, but she was now worried that her biological mother would not be as great as she imagined. This woman had abandoned Ivy after all, hadn't she? She couldn't be that wonderful."
3. ?
4. "For as long as I've been alive, my association with the police has been very limited. I have had very few encounters with them. You might think I'm lucky, but my first encounter with the police would make you think differently; it was an absolute nightmare.
5. "They all said the same things. 'We know how difficult this must be for you. We know it hurts. We know, we know, we know.' They pretend to be survivors of leukemia as they try to shed an ounce of encouragement and light on the dark, hopeless situation. The truth is, it makes me sick. Sicker than I already am. They don't understand. They don't understand how much the chemotherapy makes me wish I was dead, or how it really feels to watch all your hair fall in clumps from your skull. They don't understand that I'm going to die and that it is foolish to believe otherwise."
3. ?
4. "For as long as I've been alive, my association with the police has been very limited. I have had very few encounters with them. You might think I'm lucky, but my first encounter with the police would make you think differently; it was an absolute nightmare.
5. "They all said the same things. 'We know how difficult this must be for you. We know it hurts. We know, we know, we know.' They pretend to be survivors of leukemia as they try to shed an ounce of encouragement and light on the dark, hopeless situation. The truth is, it makes me sick. Sicker than I already am. They don't understand. They don't understand how much the chemotherapy makes me wish I was dead, or how it really feels to watch all your hair fall in clumps from your skull. They don't understand that I'm going to die and that it is foolish to believe otherwise."
4 answers