John Dean – Crime Writer

As work progresses on producing a final draft of my latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel, that means going back to the opening pages, so it’s a good time to recap on some of the rules of beginnings.

One of the key things that a crime writer, indeed any writer, must bear in mind is that a good start is as if the author has reached out of the page, grabbed the reader by the lapel and said ‘don’t you dare go away, this is going to be good!’

It is not possible to over-estimate the importance of the opening pages – they have to be the author at their very best, in order to capture the attention of the publisher, literary agent and, further down the line, the reader

You need to create momentum right from the off, to make sure that the reader is so intrigued by what they are encountering that they keep turning the pages.

The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual elements that make up the story. The opening paragraphs should have a distinctive voice, a point of view, a rudimentary plot, some hint of characterisation and a sense of a drama already under way, the latter because all stories begin in the middle, things have happened in the past, will happen in the future.

There’s a lot for those first words to do and also important for the beginning of a story is The Question, something that piques the reader’s interest.

Get that right and your novel is off to a flying start.

If you want to read more of my useful tips for author, you can find them in the Handy Hints sections of my website here at www.johncrimewriter.co.uk