Opening Lines, Scenes, Chapters: Best, Worst, Fix Them, Write Them

Today is a compilation of previous posts on the topic of how to open a story or novel. These are among the most popular posts here on Fiction Notes, so I gathered them in one place for you.


  1. 12 Ways to Open Your Story: The Story in Miniature
  2. First Page: An Editor Discusses Why It Is Important
  3. Prophetic Openings: How to Set Up the Ending at the Start
  4. Openings: 5 Ways they Go Wrong
  5. How to Improve Your Weak Opening
  6. SCENE 19: Special Scenes: Openings
  7. 4 Goals for the Opening Chapters of Your Novel
  8. Just Write It: Stop Second Guessing until You Revise
  9. 9 Tips on Opening Lines & Opening Chapters of Your NaNoWriMo Novel
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