Question: what if the opening being breakfast or going to work is establishing the character (eg interactions with parents, siblings, co-workers, and/or treatment of technology [hitting vending machine showing impatience and irritation or sighing and walking away from vending machine showing defeatism], etc)?

​@@ChasePhifer-hj3wlprobably would be a very poor opening unless we are given a reason why we want to read the story (a question) then shown the characters life/feelings

Yeah, it's a great hint at backstory

I love the opening line to one of The Dresden Files series books. "The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault." Which arouses so many questions, especially given Harry Dresden's propensity for fire via his blasting rod. :D

YESS IKR

Follow up with some tasty wing sauce slathered on the pages so they have something to lick. Maybe some ranch...

I absolutely agree!

Cheers Andrew!

Glad it was helpful!

Cheers Rolando! Send me an email with full details and we can discuss :) - jed.herne1 (at) gmail.com

Always happy to make you reconsider, Luis :D Hope it helps!

Thanks!

They truly have the need for speed

Ha, thanks! Was a boiling hot day when I took this photo - just about gave myself heatstroke from having all the lights under the sheets

That's a great idea. Good luck with your channel!

My pleasure!

Might do! Which story was yours?

​@@Jed_Herne It was called 'iron will', I am sure there are better ones submitted though, would be cool to see you go through more of them! Thanks.

I have the same question

Sure, there are readers who are looking for that type of thing. Just comes down to how you market it. Also, I'd say that while you can have an opening with minimal action (which is what most people think of as 'fast paced') ... you want to avoid having an opening where nothing meaningful happens.

Appreciate that Jed.. great advice 👍

Nice!!!

Hooked me

this is just my opinion, but I like option one better. because it explicitly says what his thoughts are and gives us some of the character’s history. but you don’t need to say “haunting” words, because when we read the thoughts, we can already tell that they’re serious accusations that haunt him

But did she hold her breath?

I think you might mean "arsonist," instead of "anarchist." Otherwise, I think that sounds like a really good book! I'd like to read the whole thing when it's finished!

@@HaroZylrun-zc7iz I think you're absolutely right, that word would make so much more sense. I just rewrote the guys intro in the video the way I'd like to read it... Alas, it is not my work and hopefully the guy will finish it for you to read in the future :) thanks

geniunely very intruiging makes me wanna know what’s going on

​​​​@@lunarzaveta Continued... From above... "How very old - skool of you... An old, thick, multicoloured sock...possibly smelly... Nostalgia is so... blasé, don't you think?" Datch hands moved at a lighting pace and he had plugged Nyne back into the living world with a spare oxygen tube, and grabbed the sock. Sniff... Sniff... "It could be smellier..." He looked down at his sister hunched on the floor, taking a moment to recover from her exertions. "Probably too soon for wit in this inferno?". "H...h...h...ho...ho...how...did ye.. Kn.." Nyne tried to splurt out, her lungs adjusting to the the rubbery, synthetic taste of the apparently "odourless smell." "Ahh... How did I know to bring two oxygen masks... Simple my dear Watson, Plot Armour... We're the main characters we can't die... Right?! She glared at him. "I see someone woke up on the wrong side of the sun." He cried followed by a curt smile and a silence filled in by Nyne recovering her breath. "Eh...I'm organised, what can I say... A good start is half the battle... And besides, you're a Lava Lord, and I don't know if you paid attention at Knogdents but... Lava Causes things that aren't lava to go on fire! Then again you were expelled! ... Mind you, I didn't think you'd go all cave woman again... We're three floors up in a floating cloud, not exactly a good time for campfire and smores." She fixed him a stare." I didn't set this cloud on fire you idiot." "Really, Arsonist Annie... didn't do this?" "I told you, never to call me that." He gazed at her, her facial reactions,her contempt for him, the look of honesty radiating from her, he knew she hadn't set this place alight. He knew when she lied. She was now face to face with him, after heaving herself up. " OK... I believe you... But it's going be hard to defend this inferno in a court of law, well, that's if we get caught." Their eyes met, her red eyes glinted and she motioned her head towards doubledoors leading to what appeared to be a hallway. Datch used the multi coloured sock to pry open the left door and peered out into a maroon hall littered with gilded golden framed pictures. "We really should upgrade our kit, a sock for fire and fingerprints... Really?!." Sand slid down from the sock and onto the marble tiled floor. "You're leaking, turn off the Réalt (star). Turn off the draíocht (magic) we'll need it, yknow to make a sand castle whilst we burn to death." "See, there's that wit that is both unnecessary and needed at a time of imminent doom, it cuts the tension." The hall seemed removed from the fire, it seemed like they stepped into another world. No flames or smoke could be smelt or felt. No other life seemed to move in this room. It was silent except for their footsteps that echoed. The floating mansion appeared to be a colossal labyrinth. Paintings littered the wall, they were mostly abstract, obscure designs of shapes and colours merging and meandering together, except one, the one they ran towards at the bottom of the hall. It overshadowed a crimson door with a green and white illuminated sign just above the door and below the painting announcing - Slí Amach (Way out) It was a portrait of C.H.I.E.F Hallameen - Chief, head of International Engineering and Foreign expeditions, the man who owned the floating mansion on fire. His rotund red cheeks and dull grey eyes leered down at them as they approached coupled with a malicious grin that unsettled Nyne. The man who made masses float and saved the world from extinction - read the caption engraved into the gold frame. "Perfectly normal, modest portrait to have in your house..." Datch murmured. "One more thing did you get the thing." Datch queried again placing the sock around his Réalt hand. Something written on my lunch 😂 so perhaps it's not so good!!

2 things are what I look for when I'm trying to find a book to read. First, cover art. The cover is the first thing I notice, so it needs to capture my attention. Second, I need a great intro. A great first line is a nice start, but I need a solid couple pages to get me invested. It's the same for screenplays.