Three common pitfalls that prevent a compelling beginning
One of the pleasures of reading a new book is sinking into the world of the story. But almost nothing annoys me more than being ripped out of my dream state by having to back up and re-read the beginning of a story to figure out what is going on.
I experienced this recently and in my quest to be a better writer, I decided to analyze a few stories to figure out what was pulling me out of the story world. Here’s what I discovered:
The author introduces too many characters at once. Readers have a hard time keeping the characters straight and knowing their roles in the story because they haven’t had a chance to get to know them yet. Read more
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