Mr Ed goes on to say there are five no-nos when it comes to story openings. Never start with a dream (where you tell a whole story and then finish by saying “It was all a dream.”) If you do start with a dream, like Biggie does in “Juicy,” […]
I did not reflect on the last chapter, because it was essentially a recap. So quickly let us recap. According to Mr Ed, all good beginnings have, to various degrees, the following: Backstory (or events before the book) Setup (events leading up to the start of the story) […]
The next chapter in Les Edgerton’s book resonates with all of me. I think it’s one of the greatest chapters on story problems. And life problems. Hitting me right on schedule. It begins by looking at the relationship between a story’s two types of problems: story-worthy problems and surface-level […]
Fun fact: the mascot at my university was a longhorn bull and our motto was “Hook ’em!” Sad fact: rarely do writers grow horns and hook their reader in the gut. In a sense that’s what Mr Ed’s book is all about: not so much throwing a line into the […]
The next book on my journey is called Hooked. The book, written by author and professor Les Edgerton, takes an 11-chapter look at the craft of writing beginnings. The opening sentence, like the opening paragraph or opening scene, must convince the reader to continue reading. It’s pretty self-evident — given […]