You might be tempted to begin your narrative before the action actually starts, for example, when the character wakes up, to what will eventually be a challenging or dramatic day. But unless you’re rewriting Sleeping Beauty, waking up isn’t challenging or dramatic. Often when we start writing this way, it’s because we’re struggling to write our way into the narrative, rather than letting the story develop momentum of its own. It is better to begin where there is a huge conflict. If the protagonist’s early morning rituals are essential to the story line, or entertaining, they can always be included in backstory or flashbacks – or later, when he/she wakes up for a second time.
Remember: small hooks catch more fish than big ones.
Large hooks can disappoint readers if the subsequent narrative doesn’t measure up. If you begin writing at the most dramatic or tense moment in your story, you have nowhere to go but downhill. Similarly, if your hook is strange or misleading, you might have trouble living up to its odd expectations. The trick is to use a small hook and then pull in the opposite direction.
Most readers prefer to be grounded in context and then to focus in. Open your story in the same way.
One of the easiest pitfalls in starting a story is to begin with an opening line that is confusing upon first reading, but that makes sense once the reader learns additional information later in the story. The problem is that if a reader is confused they won’t continue reading. Therefore, the opening should make sense with and without knowledge the reader will acquire later.
