{"id":63,"date":"2012-01-05T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/05\/how-to-start-and-finish-with-a-bang\/"},"modified":"2012-01-05T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T20:00:00","slug":"how-to-start-and-finish-with-a-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/05\/how-to-start-and-finish-with-a-bang\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start and Finish with a Bang!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hoist anchor! There\u2019s a reader on the line! Sure, the middle of your novel may be grand, but without a hook to catch readers, they\u2019ll swim off to another, tastier story. There are plenty of books on the shelf as it is. OK. Enough with the finishing metaphor. My point is, if the opening of your story is bland, readers can only assume the rest will be too. Make it exciting. This rule holds true for the ending as well. What\u2019s worse than reading a good book and it ending in the most predictable manner possible? Here\u2019s a few simple do\u2019s and don\u2019ts to avoid a lackluster start and finish. <\/span><\/div>\n
Do Use:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Action:<\/strong> As the saying says in the title: A Bang! Riveting action not only attracts readers to a story, but simultaneously leaves them wanting more. More is good. <\/span><\/div>\n
Dramatic Dialogue:<\/strong> Plain dialogue won\u2019t do. People don\u2019t want to take part in mundane conversations, let alone read them. Be sure to use dialogue that is right in the thick of things. <\/span><\/div>\n
Flashback \/ Flashforward<\/strong>: Timeskips can work wonders. Unless you say the time is different, readers won\u2019t know you\u2019ve employed this technique. It\u2019s up to you, but I\u2019m partial to keeping them guessing. <\/span><\/div>\n
Symmetry<\/strong>: This is something that can be coupled with any of the other methods. I adore stories that have an equal weight about them. Whether it\u2019s a cyclical or mirrored narrative, it works.  <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Don\u2019t Use:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Prologue\/Epilogue:<\/strong> Some people swear by these. But I can\u2019t find a literary device I detest more. If it belongs in the story, it doesn\u2019t need external bookends. That is all. <\/span><\/div>\n
Clich\u00e9s:<\/strong> Please don\u2019t start or end your novel with a clich\u00e9. Just don\u2019t do it. See my previous rant<\/a> as to why. <\/span><\/div>\n
Description:<\/strong> You have an entire book to describe what\u2019s happening. Make the reader\u2019s entry and exit a thrill, not a bore. <\/span><\/div>\n
Give-aways:<\/strong> Under no circumstances should you give-away important information too early or too late. Too early and you can kiss readers goodbye. Too late? Well they\u2019ve already left. <\/span><\/div>\n
With all that said, I hope you remember the golden rule: Keep it exciting. Oh and one more thing. This is easily the most important fact. Never. Ever\u2014<\/span><\/div>\n
Oh, reader on the line. Hang on. <\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoist anchor! There\u2019s a reader on the line! Sure, the middle of your novel may be grand, but without a hook to catch readers, they\u2019ll swim off to another, tastier story. There are plenty of books on the shelf as it is. OK. Enough with the finishing metaphor. My point is, if the opening of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[48,58,26,57,52,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cliches","category-ending","category-how-to","category-opening","category-structure","category-writing-tips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YHlB-11","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}