February Craft Focus: Beginnings

Now that I’ve got a month of blogging under my belt, I think I’m ready to cut into the meat (or meat substitute, if you like) of storytelling. This month that focus will be on how to snag readers, including slush readers, from the beginning of the story. I plan to delve into the opening paragraphs and the initial setup of each story, with attention to establishing characterization, setting, genre, and tone.

But don’t think I’m trying to get off easily this month by just reading the first thousand words of each story and letting the middle and end fall by the wayside. I’ll be addressing how the beginning meshes with the rest of the story, too. After all, you can’t really get an appreciation for how a leg works by slicing it off the rest of the body.

Enough talk.

Let’s get February started.