When setting up the beginning of a novel, the author has many tasks. He or she must introduce the characters, set up the time and place, put the story question in motion, inject conflict and construct the framework that the rest of the novel will follow. While including all of this, the author must also give the reader strong reasons to keep reading. The audience is looking to experience three emotions at the outset – curiosity, empathy and anticipation. When these ‘magical three’ emotions are felt, the reader will follow the author through hundreds of pages and lifetimes of characters with great satisfaction.

Curiosity

Within the first couple of sentences, some sort of mystery or puzzling action must present itself. This can be as obvious as an explosion or as subtle as a glance from a stranger, but it must cause the reader to wonder what is going on. Placing a normal character in a strange situation or setting can create the mystery:

• A nun is sitting at a high stakes poker table, a fortress of chips in front of her.
• A beautiful woman in a wedding dress is running through the woods in a panic.
• A construction worker is trying on high heels in a shoe store.

Dropping the reader in the middle of an ongoing conflict will cause instant curiosity. Who are these people? Why are they struggling? Which one should I be cheering for? Deliberately starting in the middle of an action is a good way to make the reader feel as if they are spying on a long-standing conflict. The history of this conflict can be filled in later after the reader is already hooked and committed to the story.

A good opening line of dialogue has a way of creating instant curiosity:

• “You’re probably wondering why I’ve handcuffed you. It’s for your own protection.”
• “How could you – with my sister?”
• “You’ve got about five seconds to hand that bag over, before I decide to see how big a hole this bullet can make.”

Even in stories that do not lend themselves to explosions and murder, some sort of provocative action should begin the novel. Give a few pieces to a larger puzzle and make the reader wonder what the entire picture looks like.

Empathy

Readers enjoy following the actions of characters that they can identify with. Even the villain of a novel should be a person that is fun to hate. As soon as possible, the author should make the protagonist memorable and sympathetic to the reader.

Perhaps the easiest way to accomplish this is to place the hero in a situation that is recognizably difficult. This will not only cause instant empathy but will also give the reader insight into who the character is, based on the type of predicament that they are in.

• The hero is waiting backstage, in a cold sweat waiting for her dance number to come up. Most people have a fear of public performance, so this will strike a chord. This also lets the reader know that our hero is shy.
• The hero is fleeing from someone/thing. Dreams and nightmares of flight are fairly common. The decisions that the hero makes show the reader if he is agile or clumsy, good under pressure or panicky, resourceful or reactionary.
• The hero notices an attractive woman at a party. Nearly everyone enjoys a good love story. How he approaches the situation will reveal what type of person he is.

Characters can also generate empathy by engaging in conversations with other characters. This can be anything from a loving parent-child conversation to a panicked exchange between a man with a gun and his potential victim. How a character interacts with his friends, family, business associates and enemies can cause the reader to closely identify with him.

NOTE: It is important to be faithful to the personality that you have set up for each character. If characters behave wildly different from one scene to the next, the reader will have a hard time identifying with them at all.

Anticipation

Once the reader has been intrigued by curiosity and found empathy with the characters, he will start to anticipate the next scene. The key to strong anticipation is to set up a powerful story question that hints at various upcoming developments and outcomes. The more interesting directions that a story question can take, the more fascinated the reader will be with which paths the author will choose.

Pacing is also important. An overzealous author may want to cram all of his plot twists into the first dozen pages, giving away all of the story secrets upfront. It is better to space out the narrative hooks, giving the reader a little nudge at any point that the narrative seems to sag or become stagnant. A well-structured novel will keep the reader at a high state of anticipation from the first page to the last.