How to write an engaging opening
Once you’ve chosen the best, hookiest way to open your story and thought about your GMCS, it’s time to start actually crafting a scene. Here are some ways to think about writing the opening. These are great elements to focus on to get your reader hooked, and thinking about these elements as you continue to write will keep your reader engaged.
Writing with precision and detail
Specific Detail is a way of creating interest for the reader by gesturing to an important piece of backstory or history without giving the whole thing away. When you boil something big down to a Specific Detail the reader can notice and connect to, it significantly enhances their experience of the story by making them feel like they’re discovering something. It also keeps your reader’s attention much more focused, because it’s easier to take in and remember one Specific Detail than a lot of fuzzy generic details.
Key language principles for writers
Reading is an intellectually demanding task. Even the most fun, gripping story demands a lot of effort from our brains in terms of translating words into images and emotions. This effort is called “cognitive load,” and it refers to how much working memory a task takes up. Even when it feels effortless, reading takes a lot of brain power. A distracted reader has less cognitive load available for reading, because their attention is split with other inputs.
A guide to line editing
Line editing is the process of going over your writing sentence by sentence to make sure your prose is polished and working well to keep your reader captivated. We’ll go over some quick ways to make your prose feel more Immediate. These tips are useful for any chapter you’re working on, not just the first, so be sure to come back to this in the future.
Self-editing checklist
It can be challenging to edit your own work. Lots of writers find it helpful to use a list to check for common editorial issues. We've put together a list for Wattpad creators like you to follow when your draft is complete and you're ready to enter the editing stage.
