A Strong Opening: Crafting Memorable First Chapters with Laurel Cohn

Beginnings are crucial. If the beginning of a story is weak, chances are no one will ever get to the middle, let alone the end. In most cases, a publisher, editor or agent will be making an initial decision about whether to support your writing project based on your opening chapters. You don’t have to grab the reader by the throat to engage them (although that might work), you can gently seduce them with a beguiling voice, you can tease them with a curious premise, you can charm them with an interesting character.

How do you go about crafting a beginning that will keep the reader wanting more? This workshop examines the importance of the opening sentence, opening paragraphs and opening chapters.

This course combines critical reading – looking at a range of beginnings across genres to help understand what works and why – with writing exercises, to explore the effects created by starting a story in different ways.