In the struggle to produce something publishable, many of us believe we'll eventually reach the pot of gold. For some, the rainbow appears out of the blue, for others, after a downpour. In my journey, I've been pelted with hail, threatened by lightening, and swept away by more than one hurricane.

I've lost count of how many times a storm has come out of nowhere and destroyed a story that wasn't built on solid ground. Perhaps there was no change in the existing situation. Maybe it lacked fully developed characters including an equal opponent. Or maybe there was too much of everything in the beginning and the reader became confused.

Passive characters are boring. They need an objective, a conflict, an equal opponent, and tension.

Trust Dwight Swain (Techniques of the Selling Writer) to make the development of a strong opening seem so simple and yet I keep returning to his text. I wrote a first draft, climbed the rainbow to the highest point. As the rainbow arcs back down, I start looking for hail damage on page one. Is there a unique opening line within a unique paragraph? Swain suggests zooming in on what's commonplace about the setting or the character to raise curiosity in the reader. A bloody knife reveals a lot, maybe just as much as fur-lined handcuffs or a stack of twenties in the freezer. Within such a limited space, every word is important. Think minimalism.

There should be an accepted situation, something routine to the character. Add change. The characters are forced to act, to fight. Passive characters are boring. They need an objective, a conflict, an equal opponent, and tension.

While all the right elements must be included, Swain suggests some things should be left out. Past history - leave it all out. There's no suspense in it. The reader isn't sitting on Grandpa's knee, satisfied to hear the same story again.

Fewer characters and precise details are what keep a story moving. Once the reader sees the stack of twenties or the handcuffs on the bed she won't be interested in the gardener or the Picasso reprints on every wall. Backstory and detail can be filtered in after the reader is hooked in the beginning.

The reader wants to know the main character and her objective, goal, or call. There must be a question in the reader's mind about whether the character will win or lose. The reader wants to see the character struggle, to refuse the call and come up against an opponent. The situation cannot be such that the character can walk away from it.

To paraphrase Swain, a story starts with a change plus an affected character plus consequences. Together they equal desire plus danger. The beginning ends when the character makes a decision to act, to fight, or to accept the call.

With the right beginning, I'm one step closer to the pot of gold.

Karen Heidrich writes a variety of gripping openings in sassy chick lit and hot short contemporary.

Copyright © 2005 Karen Heidrich. All rights reserved. Used with permission.