How To Write A Strong Start For Your Novel

I revised my Civil War novel Hearts of Stone many times before selling it to Dutton Childrens Books. My editor only had one major suggestion: Consider a new beginning.

If youre revising a novel, considering the first scene should be one of your last steps. Its hard to know how best to begin until youre sure how the story ends. And although everyone needs to revise in a manner that works for them, writers who perfect every sentence along the way can fall in love with sentences or scenes that ultimately dont best serve the story.

Skilled novelists convey character, conflict, setting, and voice in the first page, paragraph, even sentence. Its a tall order! But here are eight strategies that command readersand editorsinterest.

1. Grab readers attention.
Katherine Paterson begins Lyddie, one of my favorite childrens novels, this way: The bear had been their undoing, though at the time they had all laughed. Or how about this, from Richard Pecks A Long Way from Chicago: You wouldnt think wed have to leave Chicago to see a dead body. Who wouldnt want to keep reading?

2. Begin with Action.
Heres Walter Dean Myers powerful opening of...