THE EDGE OF THE BEGINNING

You know that you’ve got the right story idea when that idea energizes you. That energy is your key to completing the marathon that is writing any full-length work. Use that energy well, and it will sustain you throughout the process. Squander it, and your story will falter and maybe stall out altogether.

You start, as we all must, at the beginning. The best story openings are those that capitalize on the energy of the right story idea. Take a look at your current opening. Where’s the energy? Where’s the juice? Where’s the momentum?

THE SCENE ONE FAIL-SAFE STARTER KIT

There are a number of tricks to making sure that you get your story off to a hot, hotter, hottest start, no matter what your genre. I know, literary fiction authors are thinking, “I don’t need a hot start to my story.” Well, think again. Even beginnings for literary stories must aim for, at minimum, a slow burn.

I live in the Northeast, where winters can be brutal. When