Writers Writing: First Impressions – Strategies for Effective Openings

Discuss and practice how to hook readers from the very first line.

This is an in-person program. Registration is required. Masks are recommended at all in-person library programs.

Most writers can quote their favorite opening line from a novel by heart (and the words of Herman Melville, Jane Austen, or Gabriel García Márquez are probably swirling in your brain right now). No matter what kind of story you’re writing, the first page is an incredible opportunity to make an impression on readers right away. In this workshop, we’ll discuss different strategies for taking advantage of that opportunity. If you have a beginning of a story that you’d like to work on, bring it with you. Or if not, we’ll try some prompts to help a future story put its best foot forward.

Eileen Sather is an Assistant Professor of English at Central Oregon Community College. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University. While she tends to dabble mostly in writing fiction herself, she loves to read and teach a variety of genres. She is also on a constant quest to find as many good children’s books as possible to keep her toddler daughter happily reading.