A sizzling start is a beginning to a piece of writing that immediately grabs the reader's attention and makes them want to read more.
It is not boring.
Why? When a reader picks up a book, usually three things happen: they look at the cover; read the blurb on the back and read the first paragraph to see if they like it.
A sizzling start is vital! That first paragraph has to grab the reader's attention instantly, so start fast with action and impact.
There are lots of strategies to create a sizzling start, here are just some.
* Start with a bang (where the action is.) I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
* Make the reader curious. Let me explain about the accident, the beach house and the bacon.
* Use humour. Never let your three year old brother hold a tomato.
* Ask a question. Can you guess what happened to me last night?
* Use dialogue. "It's just a rat," I said breathing hard. "It's an old house. "Rats don't growl," whispered Mike.
* The Power of three. Location, location, location. Mind, body, spirit. Past, present, future.
* Surprise the reader with the unexpected. There were too many elephants in Eric's house.
One of the first steps is to recognise sizzling starts in texts, movies, commercials, novels and picture story books. We are fast becoming experts at spotting sizzling starts.
What do you think about these beginnings? Display the sizzling start picture if you feel it has sizzle. Why? What was it that grabbed your attention? What do you like about the writing?
I got up early and got dressed and dad and I cooked pancakes for breakfast. They were great. Then we walked to the train station. We were going to a football match. We went to the football every week. On the train ..... Goal! The crowd cheered loudly. Dad and I always went to the football, but our team didn't usually win. Today they were and so I was cheering louder than anyone.
There were too many elephants in Eric's house. (Too many elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarsky).
Through the charred forest over hot ash, runs dog, with a bird clamped in his big, gentle mouth. He takes her to his cave above the river and there he tries to tend her burnt wing. (Fox, by Margret Wild).
Once upon a time there lived a princess in a big castle. (Classic fairytale)
Morris Lessmore loved words. He loved stories. He loved books. His life was a book of his own writing, one orderly page after another. He would open it every morning and write of his joys and sorrows, of all that he knew and everything that he hoped for. (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore by W.E. Joyce)
I am snow bear. I am sea bear. I am white bear. I wander far and wide, king in my wild white wilderness. (The Rainbow Bear by Michael Morpurgo)
Marisol was an artist. She loved to draw and paint, and she even had her very own art gallery. (Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds).
On the weekend I went to the shops with my mum. (student sample)
So you want to hear a story? Well, I used to know a whole lot of pretty interesting ones. Some of them so funny you'd laugh yourself unconscious, others so terrible you'd never want to repeat them. But I can't remember any of those. So I'll just tell you about the time I found that lost thing. (The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan).
i know you think you saw him first, but I'm pretty sure it was me - he was over there by the underpass, feeling his way along the graffiti covered wall and, i said, "Look, there's something you don't see everyday." (broken toys by Shaun Tan). deliberate misuse of punctuation by author
Benjamin Brewster was a very particular little boy. Each morning he would count the nine hundred and seventy-two steps that it took him to get to school. (Dandelion by Calvin Scott Davis).
Be on the hunt for sizzling starts to share.
Movies provide great examples of sizzling starts.
Was the start interesting? Why? Why not? Why does it make you want to watch more? How was it a sizzling start? How have the filmmakers gained your attention?
Authors and filmmakers make decisions about starting where the action is and getting the reader/viewer hooked. The following clips are ideas that were NOT included in the movie.
Can you explain why?
Creative & Imaginative Writing Tasks
Start with a BANG (where the action is)
TASK 1 Start With a Sound
"Starting a story with a sound can take the reader to right where the action is." Jen McVeity.
Examples "Shhhh! The bear is finally asleep." "Beep! Oh no, what did I just press?" "Argh, it's going too fast!"
What creative ideas do these words inspire?
BANG WOOFBUZZSHH
FIZZ THUMPZOOMPOW
ZIPARGHCRASHPOP
BAMOHMEOWBEEP
Surprise the reader with the unexpected.
TASK 2 Imagine you are looking out of a window and can see something strange. Draw and write what you see.
Remember we want to surprise the reader with the unexpected.
Where are you? What window are you looking through? What do you see? Is it unusual for that place? What does it look like? Think about colour, shape, size, texture, material, age, distinguishing features. What does it sound like? What does it smell like? What would it feel like? How does it make you feel?
Let loose your creativity and imagination.
The following example was collaboratively constructed by students and teacher.
As the teacher asked the class to work quietly I gazed out the window and then burst into fits of laughter. Have you ever seen a principal wearing snorkelling gear?
The words; teacher, class and principal set the scene in a school. What word choices describe the location of the window that you are looking through? Every day the class will stretch their creativity and imagination by completing this task as a writing warm up where they can explore many different possibilities and vocabulary choices eg gazed, glanced, glared, stared, gawked, etc.
TASK 3: Complete the sizzling start.
Where can our imagination take us when we fill in the blanks? Remember we are still developing skills in surprising the reader with the unexpected.
I was shocked to see a ................. in my ................. last night.
We came up with these possibilities in a class joint construction:
I was shocked to see a big monster knocking on the window in my bedroom last night. I was shocked to see a green, slimy alien in my pyjamas last night.
Try these ones.
I will never eat another ...................... after what happened at school today.
I have discovered a new use for my ..................................... and my mum is not impressed.
Quick! Run! The ............................. is getting closer to the ............................!
Oh no! The ................................ escaped from the ................................. again!