Use Story Questions to Get Your Story Off to a Compelling Start

If the opening of your creative writing project starts at the wrong spot or in the wrong way, it won't matter if the rest of your story or novel, essay or book, is perfectly paced.

- SHARON SHORT

Readers will give up before they get into the heart of your writing.

Yet for many writers—including, very much, me!-knowing where to begin can feel overwhelmingly challenging.

To the rescue: story questions!

THE READER'S POV

With a well-crafted beginning, story questions immediately begin to arise for the reader:

• That oblique aside about a difficult past. What happened?

• The character who's insisting she will keep on her coat even though she's indoors in a warm restaurant... is she just cold? Is there something in her coat pocket she must protect?

• Images of turtles keep popping up... why is that significant?

As opposed to reader questions that arise from confusion and that throw readers out of your work (wait, weren't these characters driving south on the previous page, but now they're 75 miles north of where they started?), these are examples of the kinds of good story questions.

Good story questions arise from readers' curiosity about what's next, and curiosity keeps readers turning pages. Really good story questions stir in the reader's subconscious, without them having to consciously think about the questions-because they're so engrossed with what's happening on the page.

For example, let's say you're writing a story about a 32-year-old woman, Paula, returning home for the first time in 10 years since her graduation from the nearby college in order to attend the funeral of her beloved grandfather. The premise already inspires big story questions:

• If her grandfather is so beloved, why hasn't she returned home?

• Is Grandfather beloved by Paula or by everyone else but not her?

• Will Paula run into someone she went to college with, and will this factor into what happens next?