Try not to overthink the opening. Simplicity can be effective too. Remember that you can show the relevance to the question in your opening line which will impress the examiner immediately.
What do you need in an opening? I think a combination of character, setting and problem designed to lure a reader into your story world.
Let’s look at a very famous opening by Daphne Du Maurier: ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’
Here we have a narrator repeatedly haunted by a place with a magically evocative name, bringing us into her world intimately and creating immediate intrigue. Why would anyone dream compulsively about a return?
And here’s another, this time by Sylvia Plath: ‘It was a queer summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.’
This narrative opening introduces us to a wistful even lost narrator who places us with her in an eerie place literally and metaphorically. The reference to execution is unsettling and we wonder about its link to the narrator’s aimlessness.
And here’s a fun one by Dodie Smith: ‘ I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.’ The eccentricity of the opening communicates a strong sense of narrative voice and inescapable humour! Why would anyone write in a sink?
So look at a door image and ask yourself who is in front of the door and when we they there ? And where is there?
The door said no entry: naturally I ignored the warning because I’m more arrogant than Napoleon. Or at least I used to be.
Last summer I needed a job badly and the job centre assistant asked me if I had a sensitive nature. ‘ Not especially ‘ I said telling the truth for a change.
‘Well there’s a house in need of a caretaker ‘ said the assistant whose name turned out to be Natalie.
As you might guess, I took the job. I was down on my luck or so I thought’
How does the information guide students on opening their stories with effective hooks?
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