| Reader situation | Opening technique | Works best when | Planning use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plot-driven story that needs momentum | Mid-action opening (in medias res) | Something is already happening and the reader can follow it | Choose it when events carry the story; clarify who and where within the first paragraph |
| Unsure which opening to trust | Scene plus brief summary | You want to orient the reader and still open in a moment | Make it your default for short fiction, then pivot into exposition |
| Quiet, character-led piece | Slow opening with no obvious hook | Tension surfaces gradually and the prose is deliberate | Use it only if the writing earns attention while tension builds |
| Strong moment sits deep in the plot | Teaser opening | A captivating scene can be shown early and revisited later | Plan the return to that scene as a structural choice |
| Blank page, no idea where to begin | Draft first, then find the line | The real first line is likely buried in the draft | Write on, then search the early pages for the true opening |
Opening techniques and their conditions are drawn from Literature & Latte’s guide to starting a story and Mountford Writing’s advice on short story beginnings.
The best way to decide how to start a story is to match the opening to your story’s needs: momentum, orientation or slow-building tension. Draft several versions, then keep the one that sets up the basics.
The techniques below are grouped by the situation you are probably in, because the right opening depends on what your story does best. For the wider skills behind any opening, see how to improve your writing.
When you need momentum straight away
Mid-action, surprising and sharply worded openings suit stories whose pull comes from events. They carry one real risk: a reader who cannot tell what is going on may stop reading.
Mid-action opening (in medias res)
An in medias res opening starts in the middle of events. Literature & Latte’s advice is to skip easing the reader into the setting and to drop them into something happening, noting that nothing drives momentum like starting mid-action.
Mountford Writing adds a warning about the confusing version of this technique. Dropping readers into a scene they cannot decode is very risky, because magazine editors are likely to give up before they work out what is happening.
- Choose it when your story is driven by events and the first scene has a clear physical action.
- Avoid it when the situation needs lots of background before it makes sense.
- Make it safer by letting the first paragraph answer who is acting and where, even if the reasons stay hidden.
A surprise as the hook
A hook is whatever makes a reader want the next sentence. Literature & Latte calls surprise one of the best hooks. A surprising detail, an odd action or an unexpected statement all qualify. The surprise has to belong to the story, because it also tells readers what kind of story they are in.
A short, sharp opening line
Opening lines work best when they are confident and specific. Literature & Latte sums up the style as “Think Hemingway, not Dickens”, which means a short, sharp sentence rather than a sprawling one. It also prefers vivid imagery to stock description, such as “The sky cracked open like glass” in place of “It was stormy.”
When you study great first lines in literature, look at what each line sets up as well as how it sounds. Mountford Writing observes that a strong opening often sets up character, tone, setting and conflict, and sometimes theme. A good opening line therefore gives the reader an early commitment to your story’s voice and problem, not just a clever sentence.
When you want the safest start
If you are unsure, begin with a grounded scene and a little context. This is the lowest-risk approach for most short fiction, and it settles the usual action-versus-setting question: open in a scene, but do not leave the reader without bearings.
Scene plus brief summary
Mountford Writing describes a balanced opening that starts a scene, adds a brief summary, then pivots into exposition, and calls it probably the safest type of opening. Use it when your story has background the reader needs but you still want a moment on the page from the first line.
The scene supplies action and setting together. The summary then lets you cover time or backstory without stalling. Writers who find pure action too abrupt and pure description too static often settle here.
Orienting the reader in the first paragraph
A first paragraph has to give the reader footing. Mountford Writing’s process advice is to get the reader, and yourself, oriented first: lay out who the story is about, the premise and the situation. This is also a useful check for the writer, since a paragraph you cannot orient yourself in will not orient anyone else.
Try this when you keep rewriting a first line without being happy. Write a plain orienting paragraph, then look for the most interesting sentence inside it.
When the story builds slowly
Not every strong story opens with a hook. Slow openings suit quiet, character-led work, but they put more pressure on the quality of each sentence.
Slow opening with no obvious hook
Mountford Writing notes that some admired short stories have slow openings and no obvious hook. In examples such as Brokeback Mountain and Nemecia, it takes a couple of pages before the reader begins to detect a source of tension.
That is a useful guide to how long a hook should take. A hook does not have to arrive in the first sentence, but tension should surface within a few pages, and the writing has to hold attention until it does. If your story has no gripping event early on, put your effort into voice and specific detail rather than faking drama.
Keeping exposition lean in short fiction
The National Centre for Writing says that short stories don’t need tons of exposition, and that everything on the page has to be precise and deliberate because everything relates to everything else. In a slow opening this works as a discipline. Each early detail should earn its place by connecting to something later.
This is a reason to prefer short fiction openings that state the premise plainly and move on. The reader will accept the rules of your world once you have set them out, so you rarely need long explanation before the story begins.
When your strongest moment comes later
If the most compelling scene sits deep in the plot, you can show it first. A teaser opening gives you the energy of in medias res without starting at the beginning of events.
Teaser opening
Mountford Writing describes teaser-style openings as beginning at a captivating moment well into the action. The story then goes back and gets back to that opening scene about half to two-thirds into the piece. The author’s own example opens with the narrator being told to go shoot an alligator in the head, then cuts away.
- Use it when an early peak will give readers a reason to tolerate the background that follows.
- Plan the return to the opening scene as a deliberate structural point, not an afterthought.
- Skip it when the chronological start is already gripping, since the extra structure adds complexity for no gain.
Testing whether your opening belongs later
Sometimes the opening you wrote first is not the real beginning. The author of the Mountford Writing piece describes moving a first-draft opening later, to page three or four. If your first pages feel like warm-up, mark the first paragraph with real tension and test starting there, keeping any necessary context for a brief summary afterward.
When you are stuck on the blank page
Writers often cannot find the first line until the story exists. The fix is to stop treating the opening as a prerequisite and make it something you discover and revise.
Draft first, find the line later
Literature & Latte makes the point that the writer’s real first line is often hiding on page five or ten. When you finish a draft, read the early pages for the first sentence where the voice, situation or tension becomes specific, and consider starting there.
This answers how to start a story when nothing feels right. Begin anywhere that lets you move, then return to the opening with knowledge of where the story goes.
Write several alternate openings
Instead of polishing one sentence, write a handful of versions that use different techniques: one mid-action, one with a brief scene and summary, one with a striking image. Writer’s Digest has gathered 25 ways to start a story as prompts, including premises such as a woman waking up in a ditch. Pick one that suits your genre and write the opening both as a prompt and as your own idea.
Compare the versions by asking what each one sets up: character, tone, setting and conflict. Keep the opening that does the most with the fewest words.
After the opening is chosen
A strong first paragraph only pays off if the people in it feel real. Once your opening is set, see Character Development Examples: 7 Essential Arcs and Scene-Level Techniques (2026 Guide) for building the figures who inhabit it, and learn how to write dialogue for the first exchange your characters share.
Frequently asked questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How do I start a story? | Pick the technique that fits your story: a mid-action scene for momentum, a scene with brief summary for safety, or a slow build for quiet fiction. If nothing comes, draft first and find the opening afterward. |
| What makes a good opening line? | It is specific, confident and sets something up. Literature & Latte favours short, sharp sentences and vivid images over generic description, and Mountford Writing notes that strong openings often establish character, tone, setting and conflict. |
| Should I open with action or setting? | Neither alone is the safest choice. A scene that combines some action with a little summary orients the reader. Pure action works when readers can still follow what is happening. |
| How long should an opening hook take? | It can be immediate, but it does not have to be. In slow-opening stories such as Brokeback Mountain and Nemecia, tension appears after a couple of pages. |
