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During the month of NaNoWriMo, the Captains of Writership will be participating in this great sprint to write a novel in thirty days. In lieu of the news and recent posts we usually share in the Daily Port of Call, we’ll be passing along links to some of our favorite articles and resources on a variety of topics. In our year-long, online writing program, we follow the steps of the writing journey from idea to publication. We’ll mirror that structure here, spending a week exploring each of Writership’s Anchors: Dreamtime, Writing the First Draft, Revision, and Publishing and Marketing.
This week we’ll dive into resources to help with the first draft, and in today’s Daily Port of Call, we explore where to begin.
“Begin your story with the strongest words you have.” Check out the five ways every story should begin.
Here are seven extremely good reasons to write the ending first.
And here are four things to avoid on the first page of your manuscript.
Also, avoid boring opening lines. “The opening line should be a puzzle piece that makes readers need to figure out the larger picture of which it’s a part.”
Use the unexpected to grab the reader’s attention, but don’t overdo the monkeys.
In medias res: One writing teacher shares his thoughts on story beginnings.
What are the seven deadly sins of prologues?
Include a measuring stick at the beginning of your story: Write a scene that reveals a normal day in the life of your main character as scene two.
