You've probably been told a million times that the first sentence of your story has to be amazing. Now, I'm willing to bet that at least some of you scoff at this because why should it matter if just one sentence in particular blows the reader's mind?

I'll tell you why. The first sentence is the first thing that possible readers will see after the cover and maybe the blurb. If that drew them in, they'll probably flip to the first page to see how the start is and what your writing is like. Human beings are impulsive. If the first sentence is dull, we tend to come to the conclusion that the rest of the story is, too. On the other hand, if the sentence is fantastic and makes them want to read more, they'll probably buy it. So that is why you need an awesome first sentence, and I'm going to give you some pointers.

There are many different ways to approach the first sentence. The first sentence in a story tends to actually change multiple times before the writer is satisfied with it, or before the book is finished. For the layout in this chapter, I'm going to give you some basic guidelines to creating the best first sentence possible.

The most important thing you are going to take away from this chapter (but not the only important thing) is the following. Your first sentence should almost always make your readers ask questions. Because the human brain works in curious ways. Key word: curious. Once we find ourselves wondering things it takes a lot not to search for the answer. This is where you realize how much power you, as the author, have. That answer that your readers are dying to find? You are in control of it and it is in your story so, naturally, this will pull in readers.

Back in elementary school, you were most likely told effective ways to start a story. One of these ways was with a sound effect. Now, this was understandable because you were young, but also because your teacher was referring to children's stories.

Let me tell you something. Every time I see a novel starting with a sound effect, I slam that book shut louder than the actual sound was supposed to be. Do not do this. By any circumstances. There will always be a more effective way to begin the story. You aren't seven any more and I think we can all agree it's time to step it up a notch.

Have you ever started a story with dialogue? I'm not surprised. Why is this such a common way to start a story? Because it's easy and human beings like easy things. However, easy isn't the best way to go in writing. Nothing about writing is easy and it's about time you accept that fact if you're ever planning on getting anywhere.

Dialogue can be effective but a lot of the time it really isn't for the same reasons that people don't like an entire story told in dialogue. Other people shouldn't be relating the hero's journey; the narrator should (for the most part). Now if you have this killer idea but it can only be done with dialogue, don't let me stop you, but 99% of the time there is a better way to form the first sentence. Don't take the cop-out. My challenge to you is to find a way not to use dialogue in all of your first sentences. Be original.

Different genres have different starts to stories. For instance, an action novel often starts with action and a mystery starts with suspense and generally pretty clever one-liners that make the reader go mad. Consider this when you are choosing your hook.

I told you before that your first sentence should raise questions. There is an exception to this, however. In humorous stories, a lot of the time there aren't many big reveals. It would be more effective to give your readers what they would expect from a funny story: something funny. If you think of something pretty witty it's like you are proving your worth to the reader. Like you are saying "look, I really am funny".

Avoid clichés! This is really common in romance novels. Don't try convincing me that "it was love at first sight" or "I trusted the bad boy and he burned me" haven't been done before. Not to mention that if you actually say the word "bad boy" I will lose all respect for you completely. It's one thing to have a bad boy in your story but quite another to actually have your character call him that. I don't know about you, but I don't go around calling the dicks at my school "bad boys". I have more self-respect, thank you very much.

Don't let yourself think for a moment that as long as you have an awesome first sentence the rest of the following paragraph doesn't need to be anything special. I told you that people judge your book off of the first sentence and that is true. . . to an extent. If you don't follow it up well your first sentence may as well be horse shit (excuse my French but it needed to be said).

Those are the seven main guidelines I can give you. I thought I'd provide some examples from my own stories that I'm writing. Remember that I'm learning, too, and I am not perfect. I'm not saying that these sentences are the best out there, but they follow the guidelines I have given you.

Example #1: The first thing I think when I hear my name over the speakers is that this is the end; no one survives what comes next.

Think to yourself why this is effective. (And I say this because that is the general opinion I receive from people I've asked.) If you have questions as to what happened and why my character believes they are about to die, I've done my job.

Example #2: Over the past year, Jeremy Clearwater had been rejected an impressive total of 365 times.

This one is a bit different. Does it raise questions? Quite possibly, but the real charm (or so I've been told) is the ridiculousness of it. It's actually for a short story I'm writing and it falls somewhere on a scale between humour and coming-of-age teen fiction so that's why it's different from other first sentences. Maybe it made you laugh or snort and maybe it didn't but if the plot appealed to the person reading that first sentence, they would probably read on because I gave them what they would expect from my story.

Overall, the main idea is that you should be unique, creative, and cause a million questions to crop up in your reader's head. This is the ultimate formula to making people drool. Good luck!