Had an editor tell me my opening paragraphs were all wrong

I was at a writers group in Portland last month and a retired newspaper editor named Linda read my first page. She said I was burying the lead by describing the setting for three paragraphs before anything happened. She told me to start with the moment the car crashed through the fence, then work the scenery in later. That one piece of advice completely changed how I approach every story now. Has anyone else had a reader point out a bad habit you didn't know you had?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_miller2526d ago

Oh man, "burying the lead" is exactly what I was doing too lol. A beta reader told me I wrote two pages about a character eating breakfast before I got to the part where her mom shows up with divorce papers. I thought setting the mood was important but she said "nobody cares about the toast, Riley." Now I always ask myself "what's the first thing that matters here?" and start there instead.

christopherwilson26d ago

My Uncle Gary once spent three paragraphs describing a character's coffee mug before the actual story started. We still bring it up at Thanksgiving to mess with him. Honestly, that "what's the first thing that matters" rule has saved me more times than I can count. Tbh I think about it every time I catch myself describing a front door before someone walks through it. Ngl my own beta readers probably wish I'd learned that lesson a lot sooner than I did.