Loading…
3
Pro tip: stop opening every prompt with 'The door creaked open'
I was judging a local writing contest last month and 14 out of 30 entries started with someone opening a door. It kills the tension before anything even happens because readers already know that move. How do you start a scene without falling back on basic movement like walking or entering a room?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
phoenixk643mo ago
Friend of mine judges a crime fiction contest and she said half the entries start with someone waking up. I get it, you want to show a character isn't dead. But just skip to the part where they're already in the room and something matters. Start with the weird detail or the feeling instead of the motion.
8
olivia_lopez983mo ago
Oh man, that's rough. Half the entries? That's wild. I get why people do it, waking up feels like a natural starting point, but it's so overdone. Your friend probably has a stack of "alarm clock goes off" pages she wants to burn.
7
jessica9213mo ago
Wake-up openings work because everyone knows that feeling of disorientation. That confusion between sleep and reality hooks a reader fast, makes them feel what the character feels. Sorry @olivia_lopez98, but an alarm clock start beats a boring info dump any day.
2