One of the most important aspects of writing a novel is creating an enticing opening scene. The opening scene of any book sets the scene of what is to come. A great opening scene grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning, making them want to keep reading and wanting to know more of the story and follow the characters in the book. Here are some pointers you should consider when developing the opening scene of your story.

Avoid clichés

The worst way you can begin a story is by starting it with a common strand. This automatically denies you the opportunity of engaging the reader right from the beginning. The reader will likely breeze through the opening scene without giving it much thought. They might not even remember what they have read.

One common cliché that writers use as part of their opening scene is a description of the weather in that particular scene. While such descriptions may be essential later in the book, the opening scene is not where they belong. You need to start with a gripping scene that will draw the reader right in and including details related to the weather is not the way to do so.

Another common cliché is describing a character’s physical appearance. This will by no means entice the reader into reading more about the story. Descriptions such as these should be avoided or included in other parts of the book where the pace should be slower. In the beginning, you need to start with a bang and hence you should craft an event that delivers this effect to the reader.

Include movement

Creating an opening scene with any type of motion has a greater impact on the reader than developing one where the components of the scene are static. The movement need not be too striking such as a plane crash or a speeding car. It could be something as simple as the rolling of a ball or the flying of a bat. Whatever movement fits in the scene, include it as it will create a powerful impact on the reader.

Movement creates anticipation of what is about to happen. The reader is keen to follow the character or object in the opening scene where movement is involved to find out the outcome.

Incorporate sound

Just like movement, sound engages the reader and offers the chance to include something suspenseful at the beginning of your work. Sound engages the senses and therefore captures the attention of the reader. When you include sound in the scene, keep the story going so that movement works hand in hand with sound to create impact within the first page of the book. Do not slow the pace of the scene by increasing the volume of details explaining the scene.

Another key aspect of including sound at the beginning is the idea, again, of clichéd words. Sounds that have been used and reused over time will kill the effect you are going for. You do not have to go for a grandiose impact; simple unusual sounds can create the effect that you want.