ABSTRACT
Steve walking about in slippers and dressing gown? And there’s a little humour in
there too.
The whole point of a strong start to your story is to make the reader want to carry
on reading. So a good opener is one that delivers a fast emotional punch (a shock,
a shiver, a laugh), raises a question or mystery, or at least drops the reader into the
middle of some action. If you are writing a short story (as opposed to something
much longer) it’s important to get on with the plot: don’t hold things up with long
explanations or descriptions. Just jump in and get going.