How to Write a Compelling Opening Scene in a Book or Screenplay

The opening pages of a book or screenplay are a critical part of the story. Whether or not your audience (studio executive, literary agent, or reader) will continue turning the pages depends on your opening scene. So how do you write a beginning that will keep your audience wanting more? "You have to hook your reader immediately," says author and editor Sara Anne Fox. Because it's such a competitive market, readers need to be interested or emotionally invested by the bottom of that first page...