Even when a writer discovers a topic worth writing about or a story worth telling, there’s always the burning question in their mind: “How do I begin?” An interesting lead is an important hook to get your readers engaged in your piece. Consider these types NARRATIVE leads when trying to ignite a beginning to your next cool project.
How Do I Begin my Story?: NARRATIVE PROJECTS
The Internal Monologue Lead: Begin by showing a character’s thoughts and feelings.
NO ONE IS STARING AT YOU, I PROMISED MYSELF. NO ONE IS staring at you. No one is staring at you.
But, because I couldn’t lie convincingly even to myself, I had to check.
As I sat waiting for one of the three traffic lights in town to turn green, I peeked to the right – in her minivan, Mrs. Weber had turned her whole torso in my direction. Her eyes bored into mine, and I flinched back, wondering why she didn’t drop her gaze or look ashamed. It was still considered rude to stare at people, wasn’t it? Didn’t that apply to me anymore? – Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn
The Action Lead: Begin by showing specific action happening.
They pushed us into a big white room and I began to blink because the light hurt my eyes. Then I saw a table and four men behind the table, civilians, looking over papers. They had bunched another another group of prisoners in the back and we had to cross the room to join them. – Jean-Paul Sartre, The Wall
With a hiss and a clunk, the doors whisked shut, depositing the woman by the bus stop. Apparently indifferent to the whipping wind and the pelting rain, she stood watching as the vehicle rumbled into motion again, grinding the gears as it wound its way laboriously down the hill. – Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, Deeper
When I wake up, the other side of my bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with out mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping. – Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
The Setting Lead. Begin by carefully painting the picture of a place.
The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.
– Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
The sky had been overcast since early morning; it was a still day, not hot, but tedious, as it usually is when the weather is gray and dull, when clouds have been hanging over the fields for a long time, and you wait for the rain that does not come.
– Anton Chekhov, Gooseberries
A soft fall rain slips down through the trees and the smell of ocean is so strong that it can almost be licked off the air. Trucks rumble along Rogers Street and men in t-shirts stained with fishblood shout to each other from the decks of boats. Beneath them the ocean swells up against the black pilings and sucks back down to the barnacles. Beer cans and pieces of styrofoam rise and fall and pools of spilled diesel fuel undulate like huge iridescent jelly-fish. The boats rock and creak against their ropes and seagulls complain and hunker down and complain some more. – Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm
It was one of those super-duper-cold Saturdays. One of those days that when you breathed out, your breath kind of hung frozen in the air like a hunk of smoke and you could walk along and look exactly like a train blowing out big, fat, white puffs of smoke. It was so cold that if you were stupid enough to go outside, your eyes would automatically blink a thousand times all by themselves, probably so the juice inside of them wouldn’t freeze up. It was so cold that if you spit, the slob would be an ice cube before it hit the ground. It was about a zillion degrees below zero. – Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go to Bermingham – 1963
The Character Lead. Begin by carefully describing a character.
Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways . For one thing, he hated summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard. – J.K. Rowlling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabana
Although Berth Young was thirty, she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at – nothing – at nothing, simply. – Katherine Mansfield, Bliss
There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself – not just sometimes, but always. When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he’d bothered. Nothing really interested him – least of all the things that should have. – Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
The Dialogue Lead: Begin with somebody saying something.
“Luther T. Farrell, you got to be more careful.”
Sparky climbed into the front seat and slapped something brown and squarish on the dashboard of my ride.
My wallet! – Christopher Paul Curtis, Bucking the Sarge
“Opportunities,” my father says after I bail him out of jail. He’s banging words into the dash as if trying to get them through my thick skull, “You’ve got to invest your money if you want opportunities.” – ZZ Packer, The Ant of the Self
“What are you doing up there, Kwasi?” Amari asked her eight-year-old brother with a laugh. He had his legs wrapped around the trunk of the top of a coconut tree.
“For once I want to look a giraffe in the eye!” he shouted. “I wish to ask her what she has seen in her travels.” – Sharon M. Draper, Copper Sun
The One-Sentence Shocker Lead or Intrigue Lead. Begin with a shocking statement.
I used to beat people up.
– Russell Wilson, Let’s Talk About It | The Players’ Tribune
By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the butts of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909. – ZZ Packer, Brownies
True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am!
– Edgar Allen Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart
The cop climbed out of his car exactly four minutes before he got shot.
– Lee Child, Persuader
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from a troubled dream, he found himself changed in his bed to some kind of vermin (insect). – Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
I was arrested at Eno’s diner. – Lee Child, Killing Floor
Doris Yates stood in the empty sanctuary and wondered if the world would really end in a matter of hours. – ZZ Packer, Doris is Coming
