Tips for Writing A Great Story Introduction

Imagine diving in to read a story, and you’re presented with this intro:

One morning, the sun was shining bright on a hot summer’s day, and I discovered that I was a bird.

Now, compare what you just read to the following:

This morning, I woke up from a bad dream, only to wonder if I’d actually woken up at all. I sat perched up on a telephone wire, the sun beaming down on me as it usually does on a hot summer’s day. Only I couldn’t remember going outside. In fact, my last memory was of going to bed filled with resentment, but that strangely felt like a lifetime ago.

I don’t know about you, but I personally find the second version of this intro more engaging. You’re placed in a setting, with enough information to keep you aware of what’s going on, but also a bit of mystery to keep you interested in what happens next. By the time you’re done with that one paragraph, you’re wondering, What was the bad dream? Why doesn’t this character remember going outside? Why on earth are they on a telephone wire?

Like I’m sure many other folks have done, I’ve spent a good amount of time reading articles centered around storytelling. While I have gotten quite a few helpful tips from that info, I noticed that I’ve also gathered some tidbits of information (to keep in mind) from the years in my writing program in college that don’t appear as often in those articles. However, I think they can still be pretty helpful to some writers out there looking to craft an intro that will draw their readers in. They’re tips that aren’t just about the rules of writing an intro, but rather the things that you should know about your characters and world which can make a ton of difference in how you go about writing your intro.

Tip #1: Why is your protagonist the focus of the story?

It’s one of those questions that’s easy to see and go “Well, because they’re the protagonist. Duh!” But from a storytelling perspective, it’s important to think about why you’re choosing to focus on the protagonist instead of the other characters in your story. What is it about their perspective that’ll make this story more worthwhile? That’s where we start getting into our character bio. More specifically, your character’s core need(s) and tragic flaw(s). What is the need that drives your protagonist throughout the story? What is it about the world you’ve placed them in that makes their need all the more prominent?

A classic example that would be used in most of the classes I took is Breaking Bad. Walter White’s goal? To make as much money as he can to leave for his family before he dies of lung cancer. The need driving said goal? To feel respected in his life (as a teacher, father, and husband, with his perspectives on his own sense of masculinity serving as an undertone for much of it) and to assume his desired role in the lives of the people he cares about. His flaw? He cares about this so much that it results in the classic, Macbeth sort of fate, with the need consuming him to the point that it ends up arguably having the opposite impact that he intends in the long run. It’s clear from the setup of the show that Walter White has to be the protagonist. His chemistry background, his tragic flaw, and his core need serve as the perfect storm for the great character arc he undergoes and by extension a great story.

Tip #2: Why now?

Why does your story need to kick off when it does? How is it going to serve the following series of events? In other words, thinking about how your inciting incident serves your story (instead of just picking some place to start) can go a long way for crafting a great intro. Returning to Breaking Bad, Walter White’s story kicks off when he gets diagnosed with lung cancer. It’s what forces him to do something about not just his circumstances, but also the internal need he’s had all along. He has an experience that kicks off the events which highlight the characteristics that had already been laid out beforehand.

With as subjective as storytelling can be, it can be difficult to always know whether you’re on the right track to getting yourself a great start to your story, but these tips can at least be useful for understanding some of the driving forces behind attention-grabbing intros, and for getting yourself to the intros you’re going for more often.