Pro tip: A bus driver's compliment flipped my whole approach to story hooks

I was sitting on the 42 bus last Tuesday jotting down prompt ideas and this driver saw my notebook at a red light. He goes 'You look like you're building a world in there, hope you got a good entrance.' That 'entrance' comment stuck with me because I usually spend hours on lore and setting but forget to grab people in the first line. Now I test my opening sentences on random strangers at coffee shops to see if they even look up from their phone. Has anyone else gotten writing advice from someone totally outside the usual loop?

3 comments

3 Comments

alexj9925d ago

That driver was onto something though. I had a similar thing happen years ago at a laundromat. This old guy folding his shirts sees me scribbling in a notebook and says "The best stories start like a punch to the gut, not a warm handshake." Never forgot that. I used to spend forever on beautiful descriptions before ever getting to the action. Now I start everything with someone making a bad decision or realizing something terrible. Makes people lean in. Though I gotta say testing openings on coffee shop strangers sounds terrifying but also kind of brilliant. Might steal that.

the_cora25d ago

That laundromat guy nailed it. A punchy start hooks people way faster than a slow build. Coffee shop strangers are a perfect test audience since they have zero reason to be polite.

mark_nguyen9525d ago

How long before you scrap the coffee shop test? I tried something similar at a diner once and the waitress just nodded along to everything like I was a ghost. Makes you wonder if strangers being brutally honest only works when they actually care enough to be rude. What was the worst reaction you got from a test audience that actually changed how you write?