To Help Thy Directioners (Reviews and More)

The first chapter to your story is gold, it has to lure your readers in, it has to hook them. Like my elementary school teachers taught us, pretend it is a fish hook that you are throwing out, and have it hook to their cheek and suck them on in. That's what you want to do, reel in your readers.

You can reel in readers by a few different things.
1.) One catching sentence.
2.) A question that makes the reader want to know the answer.
3.) very popular one, a cliffhanger.
4.) a glimpse of the past or future, that makes the reader want to know what's going on.

I am a personal favorite of starting stories with prologues, not everyone has to do it, but I like to use it to get the reader to take interest, because unfortunately the one down fall of stories is explaining your main characters, that will dull your reader, but you have to do it. That's why I throw a prologue in so that they know the story will be interesting that they just need to be patient and get through that boring introductory of characters.

I'll give a few examples of starting chapters/prologues I've seen, that will give you an idea of how to start things off, to let you decide what you think is the better way to go.

Examples number one (Question):

“Curiosity killed the cat.” That one phrase fits in so many ways for life, but the main one it tends to fit in, is what large amounts of money can buy or not buy you. The rich see a price on a handsomely made mansion, and they will buy it, seeing what makes it so much. The poor will fight to get their hands on something overly priced. People want to know, curious to why the creator put such a high price on it, from lovely homes, to grand ships, to cars that men would kill for, or a handsomely priced whore. Men and women alike want to have what is out of their reach, what is priced so high on the scale that people would kill others for. Do you agree to that statement? So much so that you find even yourself curious to the wonders of expensive things?

What happens though, when one person makes something so ridiculously over priced, with so little of stock; would you let your curiosity run wild, or would you wait patiently in hopes that they would make more? What if they never do? Would you kill to get your hands on it? Or if it fell into your lap, would you dare to touch the one thing that the world desires for?

What would you do? Let your cat live, or let it die?

Example number two (Glimpse of future):


I sat there, staring out the window, watching the trees race by, as the lyrics sang loud and clear:

Funny when you’re dead how people start listening

I agreed with the lyrics, people usually never really listened until someone died, or was very close to death.

I glanced down at my phone, the email not fully complete. I started typing the rest of the email, smiling from remembering where I just was. Niall’s gentle hand, his soft lips, everything about him was amazing. I thought of Harry, my best friend forever, how he was so far away and how I wanted him here when I needed him the most, how happy he was. I thought of Gabby, my other best friend, how she was the biggest pain in my butt and how badly she fought against me for Niall. She never did enjoy losing; she always had to have what others had first. I thought of the new friends I got that I never thought I would meet. My parents that were harsh to me and weren’t there for me. And lastly, my sister, Kayla, she was everything to me; and how I wished she would just wake up now.

I finished the email, putting my phone away without sending it quite yet. There was going to be a special time to send it, and right now was not that time. I continued watching the trees blur, as I made my way to the hospital first thing in he morning, seeing if Kayla had woken up yet or not. This was the last piece to the puzzle, and I just hoped today she would wake up.

example number three (Cliffhanger):

“Winter! Winter!” The boy screamed.

“You are foolish boy; you call for someone who is no longer here.”

The boy took off running through the streets, crashing right into someone, “Help me! Something happened to our school, these, these thi…” the boy stopped in fear.

“Do please continue.” The stranger said in a soft luring tone.

“Just like Winter…” the boy whispered, slowly backing away from the stranger.

“Oh, you want to play tag? Unfortunately, that is not the game of choice. I desire to play hide and seek.” The stranger chuckled and continued, leaning on the light post, “Yes, the last challenge is play hide and seek with oneself, or have yourself be devoured by no other than you.” The stranger closed his eyes, counting slowly to the boys impending doom.

Example number four (One good sentence):


"6.8 billion people live in this world, and I still don't understand how you were the only one who could figure it out."


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See how those make you want to read what is next? Or maybe they aren't too eye popping for you, but it gives you an idea of the way to catch a readers attention.

Hopefully this little segement could be of use!

Notes