Intro to the Intro: Hooking the Reader

This class will make you a bestselling writer! Okay, probably not. But if that sentence caught your attention, it did its job. Grabbing a reader's attention is one of the writer's biggest challenges, especially when you're trying to stand out in the slush pile or catch a producer's eye. Whether you're working on a short story, novel, or screenplay, the opening page of your project needs to accomplish the same thing: keep the reader from turning to something else. In this craft talk, we'll explore the core principles that make for a strong opening and break down five of the most common strategies a writer can employ. Whether it's an engaging prologue or a compelling flash forward, we'll examine how the right beginning can set the stage for the story to come. We'll also look at how it can jump-start the creative process and help you overcome writer's block. Through discussion and targeted writing prompts, this class will give you the tools to help you hook readers while staying true to your narrative voice. Though the focus will be on fiction, examples will be pulled from movies, TV, and nonfiction work to explore how to attract in the age of distraction.