How to open a story so the marker keeps reading
Markers read hundreds of scripts. The opening line decides whether yours stands out. Five hooks that work — and the one that almost never does.
A marker reading the fiftieth script of the morning has seen every "It was a normal day" opening there is. Your first sentence is doing one job: earning the second. Here's how to make it work harder.
Start in the middle of something
Don't warm up. Drop the reader into a moment that's already moving — a decision, a sound, a problem. The context can catch up a sentence later. Action first, explanation second.
Five openings that earn the next line
- Action: begin mid-movement, so the reader has to keep going to find out what happens.
- Voice: a narrator with a strong, specific attitude in the very first words.
- Image: one sharp, concrete picture — not a vague scene, a single object or detail.
- Question: a small mystery the reader needs answered.
- Dialogue: a line that implies a whole situation around it.
The opening to avoid
Waking up. "I opened my eyes and yawned" tells the marker nothing and wastes the most valuable sentence you'll write. If your story starts with an alarm clock, cut to the first thing that actually matters.
Practise it
Take a piece you've already written and rewrite only the first sentence five times — one for each hook above. You'll feel which one makes you want to read on. That's the one to keep.
Try it on your own writing
Coach Pen marks what you wrote and coaches the exact technique to fix next — one at a time.