An excellent article found on io9.com is a great way to get the blog up and running again, don’t you think?   This article is written under the premise that it is the opening which carries the short story; it grabs the readers attention and compels them to read the rest.  As I read the article I found myself thinking back to my most recent fiction attempt, which never got past 20k words for NaNoWriMo, and wondering which opening mine was, or even if it was applicable in what was/is ultimately a novel.

The 7 types of openings are:

1.  scene-setting

2.  conflict establisher

3. the mystifier

4.  third person narrator speaks to you

5.  first person narrator speaks

6.  the quotation

7. the puzzler

What’s great about this article is not only does it go into great detail about what each type is, it gives examples from great stories AND discusses when you should and shouldn’t use the opening in your story.  This is a great read and very helpful for writers, check it out!

It’s that time of year again, where summer vacation is new and exciting and full of promise and expectation.   I have time to read again and more importantly, to write!   What separates this summer from the last is that I am no longer a student!    I am now a fully trained and certified secondary English Language Arts and Social studies teacher.   Yay!!!   What remains is to actually find myself a job, which in the current climate of government cuts  to education seems pretty doubtful, unfortunately.   In the mean time I can write and educate the public about books and how to write good stories.  Every now and again I’ll come up on a book that’d be great for the classroom and I’ll write about that, too.

So, hello again, I’m back!